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PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


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Purchased   by  the 
Mrs.   Robert   Lenox   Kennedy  Church    History   Fund. 

BR  145  .H9  1897  v. 2 
Hurst,  J.  F.  1834-1903. 
History  of  the  Christian 
church 


THE    LIBRARY    OF 

BIBLICAL  AND  THEOLOGICAL  LITERATURE. 


EDITED    BY 

REV.  GEORGE  R.  CROOKS,  D.D.,  LL.D., 

AND 

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VOL.         I.  INTRODUCTION  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HOLY 

SCRIPTURES.     By  Rev.  Henry  M.  Harman,  D.D.  $4  00 

II.  BIBLICAL  HERMENEUTICS.     By  Rev.   Mihon  S. 

Terry,  D.D.,  LL.D 3  00 

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ODOLOGY. By  Rev.  George  R.  Crooks,  D.D., 
LL.D.,  and  Bishop  John  F.  Hurst,   D.D.,  LL.D.,     .     3  50 

IV.  CHRISTIAN  ARCHAEOLOGY.    By  Rev.  Charles  W. 

Bennett,  D.D.  With  an  Introductory  Notice  by  Dr. 
Ferdinand  Piper.  Revised  by  Rev.  Amos  William 
Patton,  D.D.,  

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Miley,  D.D.,  LL.D 3  00 

VI.  SYSTEMATIC  THEOLOGY.    Vol.  II.    By  Rev.  John 

Miley,  D.D.,  LL.D 3  00 

•■       VII.  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH.     Vol.  I. 

By  Bishop  John  F.  Hurst,  D.D.,  LL.D 5  00 

"     VIII.  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH.   Vol.  II. 

By  Bishop  John  F.  Hurst,  D.D.,  LL.D 5  00 

IX.  THE      FOUNDATIONS      OF     THE     CHRISTIAN 

FAITH.     By  Rev.  Charles  W.  Rishell,  Ph.D.,  .     3  50 


LIBRARY 


OF 


BIBLICAL  AND  THEOLOGICAL 


LITERATURE 


EDITED  BY 

GEORGE  K.  CROOKS,  D.D., 

AND 

JOHN  F.  HURST,  D.D. 


VOL.  VIII -HISTORY  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

VOL.  II. 


NEW   YORK:    EATON   &   MAINS 
CINCINNATI:   JENNINGS  &  PYE 


PUBLISHERS'  ANNOUNCEMENT. 


The  design  of  the  Publishers  and  Editors  of  the  Biblical  and 
Theological  Library  was  declared,  before  either  volume  of 
the  series  had  appeared,  to  be  the  furnishing  of  ministers  and 
laymen  with  a  series  of  works  which  should  constitute  a  compen- 
dious apparatus  for  advanced  study  on  the  great  fundamental 
themes  of  Christian  Theology.  While  the  doctrinal  spirit  of  the 
separate  works  was  pledged  to  be  in  harmony  with  the  accepted 
standards  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  it  was  promised  that 
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tians of  all  evangelical  Churches.  The  following  works  have 
already  appeared : 

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tures. 

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Miley — Systematic  Theology.     2  vols. 

Crooks  and  Hurst — Theological  Encyclopedia  and  Meth- 
odology. 

Hurst — History  op  the  Christian  Church.     2  vols. 

Rishell — Foundations  of  the  Christian  Faith. 

A  few  other  works  will  follow  these,  in  order  to  complete  the 
circle  of  fundamental  theological  science  as  originally  contem- 
plated by  the  Publishers  and  Editors. 

The  reception  which  has  been  accorded  these  works  has  been 
so  prompt,  cordial,  and  sympathetic  that  the  Publishers  are  led 
to  believe  that  the  Christian  public  is  satisfied  that  the  pledges 
made  at  the  outset  have  been  faithfully  kept. 

In  every  treatise  in  the  future,  as  in  those  of  the  past,  the 
latest  literature  will  be  recognized  and  its  results  incorporated. 
May  we  not  hope  that  the  same  generous  favor  with  which  mem- 
bers of  all  evangelical  denominations  have  regarded  the  undertak- 
ing from  the  beginning  will  be  continued  throughout  the  series  ? 


HISTORY 


OF 


The  Christian  Church 


BY 

JOHN   FLETCHER    HURST 


VOLUME   II 


NEW    YORK:    EATON   &    MAINS 
CINCINNATI :    JENNINGS  &  PYE 


Copyright  by 

EATON  &  MAINS, 

1900. 


Eaton  &  Mains  Press, 
150  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York. 


TABLE   OF  CONTENTS. 


PAET  I. 

HERALDS  OF  THE  BETTER  CHURCH. 

CHAPTER  I. 

Grosseteste,  William  of  Occam,  Bradwardine,  and  Langland Page  3 

Grosseteste's  ' '  memorial  " — Grosseteste's  Protestantism — William  of  Occam 
— Occam  on  infallibility — Thomas  Bradwardine — De  Causa  Dei — William 
Langland — Piers  Plowman's  Vision. 

CHAPTER   II. 

Wyclif 15 

Wyclif  's  lofty  character — Wyclif 's  career — Church  and  State — Wyclif  on  trial 
— Indictment  of  the  friars — Letters  of  fraternity — Wyclif 's  writings — Wyclif 's 
Bible. 

CHAPTER  III. 

Wycltf's  Itinerant  Preachers 26 

A  scathing  tract — Preaching  exalted — Depreciation  of  Wyclif. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Wyclif  as  a  Protestant 31 

Wyclif  on  the  papacy — The  papal  schism — Wyclif  on  the  Church — High 
Church  criticism — Wyclif  on  politics — Wyclif's  view  of  Scripture — Miiller  on 
Wyclif — The  Limit  of  Wyclif's  advance. 

CHAPTER  V. 

Wycltf  as  a  Defendant  in  Heresy  Trials 39 

Wyclif 's  teaching  on  the  Lord's  Supper — The  Earthquake  Council — Letter  to 
Urban  VI. 

CHAPTER   VI. 
From  Wyclif  to  Cranmer 43 

Froude's  estimate  of  Wyclif — The  Lollards — The  "Conclusions" — The  Fire 
Act — Oldcastle — Cobham's  death — Persistence  of  the  Lollards. 

CHAPTER   VH. 

The  Dogmatic  Prelude  in  Bohemia — A  Wyclif  Postlude 52 

Mathias  of  Janow — Hus — England  and  Bohemia— Hus  and  Wyclif— Hus  ex- 
ecuted— Hus's  position — Hus's  offense — Hus  on  the  Church. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
Hus  and  the  Council  of  Constance 65 

Wyclif  and  Hus — Bohemian  reform  movement — Hus  in  the  footsteps  of 
Wyclif — Hus  and  King  Sigismund — Sigismund's  perfidy — Concealment  of  lit- 
erary traces  of  reform — Jerome  of  Prague — Jerome — Jerome's  final  firmness^ 
Jerome's  execution. 

2  2 


xii  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  IX. 
Savonarola — The  Moral,  Prelude 77 

Savonarola's  parentage  and  education — Eef  ormation  of  manners — Savonarola 
as  preacher — Political  influence  of  Savonarola — Attempt  to  reform  the  Church 
— Savonarola's  visions — Savonarola's  prophetic  vision — Savonarola's  doctrines 
— Savonarola  and  the  pope. 

CHAPTER  X. 

Intellectual  Preparation — German  Humanism 93 

Conrad  Muth — Agricola — Nicholas  of  Cusa — John  Wessel — Reuchlin — Pfef- 
ferkorn — Ulrich  von  Hutten. 

CHAPTER   XI. 

Erasmus 103 

Sketch  of  life  of  Erasmus — His  sharp  pen — Erasmus  on  nuns  and  monks — 
Scholarly  work  of  Erasmus — A  pioneer  in  biblical  criticism — New  Testament 
of  Erasmus — Erasmus  and  the  Reformation — Doctrinal  differences  with  Luther 
— Rogers  and  Froude  on  Erasmus. 


PART    II. 
THE  REFORMATION. 

I.  On  the  Continent. 

CHAPTER   I. 

Luther  and  the  German  Reformation 125 

Luther's  leadership — Luther's  personality — Luther,  the  man  of  Providence — 
Luther,  a  working  force — Heart  basis  for  Reformation. 

CHAPTER   II. 
Luther's  Parentage  and  Childhood 129 

Luther's  ancestry — Changes  in  family  residence — Martin's  birth — The  Mans- 
field home — School  and  home  training — Religious  instruction  of  Luther — The 
lad  Martin  at  Magdeburg — A  Lollard  touch  on  Luther — Luther  at  Eisenach — 
Luther's  teachers  at  Eisenach. 

CHAPTER   III. 
Luther  as  a  Student  at  Erfurt 136 

At  the  university —Luther's  attraction  to  philosophy — Luther's  religious 
trend— Drawn  toward  the  monastic  life. 

CHAPTER   IV. 

Luther  Enters  the  Augustinian  Monastery 140 

Decides  to  become  a  monk — Luther's  fear  of  death — Takes  the  Augustinian 
vow— Luther's  theological  studies — Luther  studies  the  Bible — Luther's  devo- 
tion to  the  Church. 

CHAPTER  V. 

Luther's  Religious  Struggles 146 

Luther's  wrestlings  of  soul — Luther's  sense  of  unworthiness — Help  found  in 
his  "  preceptor  "—Help  from  Staupitz. 

CHAPTER  VI. 
Luther  at  Wittenberg 151 

Faculty  at  Wittenberg— Luther's  visit  to  Rome— Luther's  love  of  Bible 
study — Luther  and  the  Humanists. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS.  xiii 

CHAPTER  VII. 
The  Ninety-five  Theses 156 

Indulgences — John  Tetzel — Luther  preaches  on  indulgences — The  Theses 
— Effect  of  the  Theses. 

CHAPTER  Vm. 

From  the  Theses  to  the  Burning  of  the  Pope's  Bull, 162 

Luther's  appeal  from  the  pope — Luther's  appeal  to  the  rulers — "  The  Baby- 
lonish Captivity" — Final  breach  with  Leo  X — Bull  of  excommunication. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Luther  at  Worms  and  the  Wartburg  Castle „ 168 

Luther  before  the  diet — Luther's  firm  stand — Varying  opinions  concerning 
Luther  —  Luther  under  ban  —  Luther's  seizure  —  Carlstadt's  aberration  — 
Thomas  Miinzer — Luther's  return  to  Wittenberg. 

CHAPTER  X. 

HUTTEN,   SlCKINGEN,  AND  MELANCHTHON 175 

Hutten — Sickingen — Melanchthon. 

CHAPTER  XL 

Personal  Controversies — The  Peasant  War 178 

Emser — Henry  VIII — Breach  between  Luther  and  Erasmus — Miinzer's  fanati- 
cism— Peasant  War — Luther  opposes  the  peasants — Luther's  marriage — The 
Anabaptists. 

CHAPTER  XII. 

The  New  Church  Order  in  Germany 184 

German  introduced  into  Church  service — Luther's  hymns — ' '  Ein'  f  este  Burg  " 
— Preaching  emphasized — Luther's  catechisms. 

CHAPTER  XHI. 
Influence  of  Papal  and  Imperial  Politics  on  the  Reformation  in 
Germany , 189 

The  two  diets  of  Nuremberg — Formation  of  leagues — League  of  Cognac — 
League  of  Torgau — Pack's  forgery — The  diet  of  Spires — Futile  efforts  for  re- 
union. 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
The  Smalcald  League 197 

Formation  of  the  League — The  Religious  Peace  of  Nuremberg — The  Reli- 
gious Peace  of  Frankfort. 

CHAPTER  XV. 
The  Bigamous   Marriage  of  Philip  of  Hesse  and  its  Effect  on  the 

Reformation „ 201 

Philip's  sin — Philip's  defense — Philip  and  Bucer — Luther  and  Melanchthon 
complicated — Conference  at  Hagenau — Diet  at  Regensburg — Favorable  issue  to 
Protestants. 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

Geographical  Expansion  of  the  Reformation  in  Germany 206 

Providential  aids — Luther's  personal  influence — Saxony — Prussia — Nurem- 
berg—Bremen— Hamburg  and  Madgeburg — Augsburg — Strasburg  and  Esslin- 
gen — Eastern  Germany — Brandenburg — More  martyrs. 


xiv  TABLE   OF   CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

Closing  Days  of  the  Reformation  in  Germany 214 

Continued  progress  of  Protestant  doctrines — Adverse  political  conditions — 
Luther's  last  days — The  Smalcald  War — Struggle  between  pope  and  emperor — 
Religious  Peace  of  Augsburg. 

CHAPTER  XVin. 
Beginnings  of  the  Reformation  in  German  Switzerland — Zwingli.  . . .  223 
Zwingli's  boyhood — Zwingli's  early  education — Zwingli  at  Vienna — Zwingli's 
second  residence  at  Basel — Pastor  at  Glarus — Zwingli's  military  experience — 
High  ideal  not  maintained — Zwingli  at  Einsiedeln — Indulgences  in  Switzer- 
land. 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

Labors  of  Zwingli  at  Zurich — The  Beginnings  of  Reform 229 

Zwingli  preaches  on  New  Testament — Beginning  of  Swiss  Reformation — 
Zwingli's  appeal  to  Scripture — First  public  disputation — Second  disputation 
Reformed   celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper — Baptismal  ritual  changed. 

CHAPTER  XX. 

Spread  of  the  Reformation  to  other  Cities  and  Cantons 235 

The  reform  in  Basel — Haller  and  Meyer  in  Berne — Vadian  and  Kessler  in 
St.  Gallen — Other  cantons — The  Tschudis  in  Glarus. 

CHAPTER   XXI. 
Early  Friends  of  Zwingli 240 

John  Eck — John  Faber — Glareanus — Beatus  Rhenanus — Erasmus  —  Myco- 
nius — Leo  Juda — Henry  Bullinger. 

CHAPTER  XXII. 
Beginnings  of  the  Eucharistic  Controversy 244 

Iconoclastic  results — Relations  of  Church  and  State — Zwingli's  doctrine  of 
the  Eucharist — Luther's  doctrine  of  consubstantiation — Carlstadt's  relation  to 
the  controversy. 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 
Zwingli  and  Luther  in  the  Heat  of  Controversy 249 

The  division  among  the  people — The  types  used  in  the  contest — Zwingli's 
Friendly  Exegesis — Bitterness  injected  into  controversy — Luther's  Long  Confes- 
sion— The  personal  equation  in  the  strife. 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 
The  Marburg  Colloquy 254 

Origin  of  the  name  Protestants — Conference  agreed  upon — Private  confer- 
ence of  leaders — The  public  disputation  at  Marburg — The  Marburg  articles — 
Results  of  colloquy — Luther's  Short  Confession. 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

The  Swiss  Reformation  to  the  Death  of  Zwingli 261 

Zwingli's  independence — The  pope's  regard  for  Zwingli — Zwingli's  political 
influence — The  Baden  disputation — The  forest  cantons — First  war  at  Cappel — 
First  peace  at  Cappel — Zwingli's  last  years — Frictions  again  increasing — Move- 
ments by  forest  cantons— Death  of  Zwingli— Character  of  Zwingli. 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

The  Reformation  in  French  Switzerland 271 

Relation  to  French  Reformation— Peter  Viret— William  Farel — Farel's 
labors— Farel  at  Neuchatel— Farel  and  Calvin — Calvin  and  Farel  in  Geneva. 


TABLE   OF    CONTENTS.  xv 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

John  Calvin  to  his  Settlement  in  Geneva 279 

Calvin's  early  life — Calvin's  change  from  law  to  theology — Calvin's  attack 
on  the  Sorbonne — First  edition  of  Institutes — French  edition  of  Institutes — 
Calvin  in  Italy — Last  visit  to  France — Providential  meeting  with  Farel. 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 
The  Reformation  in  Geneva  to  the  Expulsion  of  Calvin  and  Fabel.  . .  286 
Seven  chief  workers — Trouble  with    Caroli — Other   difficulties  overcome — 
Moral  reform  in  Geneva — Banishment  of  Calvin  and  Farel. 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

Calvin  in  Strasburg 290 

Calvin  in  Basel — Calvin  goes  to  Strasburg — Calvin's  work  in  Strasburg — 
Calvin's  friends  in  Geneva — Effort  of  Rome  to  regain  Geneva — Popular  de- 
mand for  Calvin's  return — Calvin's  recall  and  return  to  Geneva. 

CHAPTER  XXX. 
Trials  and  Final  Triumph  of  Calvin  in  Geneva 297 

Michael  Servetus — Burning  of  Servetus — Calvin's  part  in  execution  of  Ser- 
vetus — The  consistory  in  Geneva — Dispute  with  Castellio — The  Gruet  episode 
— Trolliet  attacks  Calvin — Jerome  Bolsec — Continued  struggles — Calvin's  final 
victory. 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 
Beginnings  of  the  Reformation  in  France 309 

The  dearth  of  leaders — Le  Fevre — Le  Fevre's  view  of  the  Marys — Le  Fevre's 
New  Testament — Briconnet — Check  of  reform — Attitude  of  the  Sorbonne — 
Queen  Regent  Louise  of  Savoy — Spread  of  reform  doctrine. 

CHAPTER  XXXII. 
The  French  Reformation  to  the  Year  of  the  Placards 316 

The  commission  of  inquisition — A  papal  gain — Energetic  policy  of  the  com- 
mission— Francis  I  and  Berquin — Francis  I  changes  his  policy — Political  mo- 
tives of  Francis  I — Placard  against  the  mass — Francis  I  stung  to  anger — Bru- 
tal persecutions — Declaration  of  Coucy. 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

Protestantism  in  France  to  the  Peace  of  Westphalia 324 

Catherine  de'  Medici — Charles  IX — Admiral  Coligny — Night  of  St.  Bartholo- 
mew— The  pope's  congratulations — Edict  of  Nantes — Influence  of  Calvin — Or- 
ganization of  Reformed  Church. 

CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

The  Reformation  in  the  Netherlands 331 

Emperor  and  pope  unite  to  check  reform — Martyrs  for  reform — Division  of 
Protestants — Philip  II — Reformed  Church  organized — The  Duke  of  Alva — The 
Union  of  Utrecht — The  power  of  Calvinists — Arminius — The  Remonstrants. 

CHAPTER  XXXV. 

The  Renaissance  in  Italy 339 

Paganism  of  Italian  Renaissance — Inflexibility  of  Roman  Catholicism — Disso- 
lution of  morality — Hypocrisy  of  the  Renaissance — Unspiritual  magnificence 
of  Rome — iEneas  Sylvius — Paul  II — Sixtus  IV — Innocent  VlII — Alexander  VI 
— Savonarola — His  proposed  canonization — Julius  II — Leo  X — Protestantism 
has  more  real  unity  than  Catholicism. 

2 


xvi  TABLE   OF   CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

The  Reformation  in  Italy  and  Spain 349 

The  Oratory  of  Divine  Love — Spread  of  reform  writings — Reformers  in  Fer- 
rara  and  Naples — Pope  Paul  III — The  reaction — Caraffa  and  the  order  of  The- 
atines — Reformers  scattered — Lutheran  doctrines  in  Spain — Persecution  in 
Spain — The  Inquisition. 

CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

The  Reformation  in  Scandinavia 357 

Christian  II — Frederick — Christian  III — Gustavus  Vasa — The  Petersens  and 
Andersen — Council  of  Upsala. 

CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 
The  Reformation  in  Poland,  Hungary,  Transylvania,  and  among  the 

Southern  Slavs 361 

Reform  ideas  in  Poland — Divisions  of  Protestants — Hungary  and  Transyl- 
vania— Truber. 


II.  On  the  British  Isles. 

CHAPTER  I. 

The  English  Reformation — John  Colet 369 

The  Oxford  Humanists — Green  on  the  Renaissance — Outline  of  Colet's  life 
— Colet's  lectures  on  the  Epistles — Mediaeval  views  of  verbal  inspiration — 
Colet's  interpretation  of  the  Epistles — Colet's  position  as  to  the  Reformation — 
Colet's  moral  earnestness — More's  Utopia. 

CHAPTER  II. 

The  Divorce 377 

Henry  VTII's  marriage  with  Catharine  of  Aragon — Anne  Boleyn — Barriers  to 
the  divorce — Trial  of  Catharine — Popular  excitement — Wolsey's  offense  and 
trial — W olsey's  death — Henry's  scruples  as  to  first  marriage — Henry's  appeal 
to  the  universities — Whole  body  of  clergy  indicted. 

CHAPTER  III. 

The  Breach  with  Rome 384 

Henry's  headship  of  the  English  Church — Historic  basis  for  king's  suprem- 
acy— Spiritual  lordship  of  the  pope — The  pope's  lordship  reduced  to  a  cipher — 
The  Church  subordinated  to  the  State — Contemporary  views — The  final  breach 
with  the  pope — Parliamentary  severance  from  Rome. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Dogmatic  Foundation  of  the  Church  of  England 391 

Henry  VTII's  conservatism  of  doctrine — The  Ten  Articles — Doctrines  essen- 
tial to  salvation — Doctrines  as  to  ceremonies — Estimates  of  the  Ten  Articles — 
Institution  of  a  Christian  Man — The  Six  Articles — Necessary  Doctrine  and 
Erudition  for  any  Christian  Man— The  Thirty-nine  Articles. 

CHAPTER  V. 

The  Suppression  of  Monasteries 399 

Henry  awes  parliament — The  Pilgrimage  of  Grace — The  disposition  of  the 
spoils — Unjtist  methods  of  suppression — Poverty  a  result — Schools  injured  and 
closed — More  humane  methods  possible. 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS.  xvii 

CHAPTER  VI. 
The  Martyrdom  of  Roman  Catholics  and  Protestants  at  the  Hands 

of  the  New  State  Church 406 

The  Act  of  Succession — First  martyrs  of  English  Roman  Catholicism — Fisher 
— More's  accusation  and  defense — Execution  of  More — Richard  Reynolds — The 
Carthusian  monks — Other  Roman  Catholic  victims — Protestant  martyrs — John 
Frith — John  Lambert — Lambert's  trial  and  condemnation — Barnes,  Garret,  and 
Jerome— Other  Protestant  victims — Anne  Askew— Earlier  martyrs — Thomas 
More's  relation  to  these  executions — Wolsey  and  More  compared. 

CHAPTER  VII. 
The  Marian  Reaction 417 

The  Reformation  under  Edward  VI — Incompleteness  of  English  and  German 
Reformation — Moral  degeneracy  of  the  times — Queen  Mary — Mary  and  Philip 
II  married — Dixon  on  term  Protestant — John  Rogers — John  Hooper — Rowland 
Taylor — John  Bradford — Ridley  and  Latimer — Thomas  Cranmer — Cranmer's 
death — Macaulay's  judgment  of  Cranmer — Responsibility  for  the  Marian  perse- 
cutions. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  Elizabethan  Settlement  of  the  Church  of  England 430 

Early  measures  of  Elizabeth — The  Prayer  Books  of  1549  and  1552 — Eliza- 
beth's proclamation  as  to  religion — Revision  of  Prayer  Book — Spiritual  head- 
ship restored  to  the  crown — Minor  changes — some  adopted,  some  rejected — 
Objections  to  Parker's  consecration — Evidence  for  consecration  of  Parker — As 
to  Barlow's  consecration — The  defect  in  form — The  defect  in  intention — Atti- 
tude of  the  Church  toward  Roman  Catholics — Use  of  torture — Pope's  bull  of 
excommunication — The  Spanish  armada — The  Douai  seminary — Edmund  Cam- 
pion— Plots — The  Babington  plot — The  Church's  attitude  toward  the  Protes- 
tants. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

The  Scottish  Reformation — The  Martyr  Period 445 

Early  martyrs — Parliamentary  act  against  Lutheran  writings — Patrick  Ham- 
ilton— Preaching  by  Thomas  Forrest — Russell  and  Kennedy  at  Glasgow — Vic- 
tims at  Perth — George  Wishart — A  contrast  in  persecution. 

CHAPTER  X. 

John  Knox 452 

Knox's  earlier  career — Wishart's  influence  upon  Knox — Knox's  Confession — 
John's  Gospel,  chapter  xvii — Knox's  call  to  preach — Knox's  first  sermon — 
— Knox  a  galley  slave — Knox  in  England — Knox  on  the  Continent — A  visit  to 
Scotland. 

CHAPTER  XI. 
The  Establishment  of  Protestantism  in  Scotland 460 

First  covenant  of  lords  and  gentry — Mary  of  Guise  regent — Marriage  of 
Mary  Queen  of  Scots — Knox's  return  to  Scotland — Knox  again  preaches  in  St. 
Andrew's — Knox  at  Edinburgh — Alliance  of  Scotch  and  English  Protestants — 
The  Parliament  of  1560 — First  General  Assembly. 

CHAPTER  Xn. 

The  Foundation  of  the  Scottish  Church 467 

Knox's  reform  an  appeal  to  Scripture — First  and  second  Book  of  Discipline 
— Officers  of  the  Church — Temporary  Church  officers — Public  worship— Em- 
phasis on  education — First  Scotch  Confession — Points  of  doctrine — Second 
Scotch  Confession — Carlyle's  tribute  to  Protestantism — Carlyle  on  Knox. 


xviii  TABLE   OF   CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XHI. 

Prelude  to  the  Irish  Reformation 479 

Antecedent  period  of  anarchy — Power  of  the  Church — Ireland  overrun  with 
ecclesiastics — Papal  rapacity — Trouble  with  England — Irish  appeal  to  the 
pope — The  statute  of  Kilkenny — Shameless  mendicant  friars — Fitzralph's  con- 
tention with  the  friars — Overbearing  clergy — Doctrinal  unity  of  the  Church 
in  Ireland — Lough  Derg  purgatory — A  degenerate  period — Midnight  of  Ire- 
land. 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
The  Reformation  in  Ireland 489 

A  lost  opportunity — Forlorn  condition  of  Ireland — Desolate  churches — 
Henry  VIII  and  Ireland — Ireland  submits  to  Henry's  Anglicanism — The  Dub- 
lin Parliament — Edward  VI  and  Ireland — John  Bale — Ireland  under  Mary — 
Anglicanism  reestablished  under  Elizabeth — The  Bible  in  Ireland — Small  gain 
from  political  reformation. 


PAKT   III. 

THE  INTERMEDLVTE  PERIOD. 

I.  Continental  Europe. 

CHAPTER  I. 

Theological  Controversies  within  the  Lutheran  Church 501 

Early  divergence  in  doctrine  among  Lutherans — The  Adiaphoristic  contro- 
versy— The  Majoristic  controversy — Poach  and  Otho — Osiander — The  Syner- 
gistic controversy — The  Crypto-Calvinists — The  Frankfort  recess— The  diet  of 
Naumburg — Calvinism  of  Frederick  III — Strife  between  ducal  and  electoral 
Saxony — Alternate  triumphs  of  Philipists  and  Flacianists — Efforts  for  har- 
mony— The  Torgau  Book — The  Formula  of  Concord — The  Formula  a  mis- 
nomer— Further  predestinarian  disputes. 

CHAPTER  II. 

Progress  op  Calvinism  in  Germany 513 

More  alternations  in  the  Palatinate — Calvinism  in  Nassau — Glanaeus  at  Bremen 
— Anhalt  Calvinistic — Hesse  divided  on  doctrine — The  Confession  of  Sigis- 
mund — Southern  Germany — Organization  of  the  German  Reformed  Church. 

CHAPTER  III. 
Christian  Life  of  the  Period  of  Pietism 521 

Some  Antinomian  results  of  the  Reformation — Moral  perils  attending  the 
Reformation — Moral  improvement  following  the  Reformation— Effect  of  the 
Reformation  on  culture — Educational  results  of  the  Reformation — Public 
worship  and  the  Sabbath  —  Lutheran  hymnists — Valentine  Weigel — Jacob 
Bohme— Johann  Valentine  Andrese — Arndt's  True  Christianity— Dury  and 
Calixtus. 

CHAPTER    IV. 

The  Counter-Reformation— The  Council  of  Trent 531 

Magnitude  of  Reformation  not  recognized — Concessions  to  Protestants — A 
threefold  movement— The  council  of  Trent— Attempted  removal  of  council 
to  Bologna  —  Julius  III  and  Paul  IV— Pius  IV— Doctrinal  decrees  of  the 
council — Slight  practical  reform  accomplished — Further  results  of  the  council 
— Attitude  of  European  countries  toward  the  decrees. 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS.  xix 

CHAPTER  V. 

The  Order  of  Jesuits 541 

Ignatius  Loyola — Loyola's  education — Loyola's  companions — Grades  of  the 
order — The  professed  of  three  vows — The  professed  of  four  vows — Officers  of 
the  order — Purposes  of  the  Jesuits — Morality  of  the  system — Probabilism — 
Mental  reservation — The  confessional — Concessions  to  sinful  nature — Female 
Jesuits — Jesuit  schools — Political  intrigue — Doctrine  of  Church  and  State — 
Other  orders  instituted. 

CHAPTER  VI. 

The  Thirty  Years'  War 551 

In  fact  four  wars — Political  successes  of  Jesuits — The  issue  at  Donauworth 
— The  Protestant  Union — Friction  in  Austria,  Hungary,  and  Bohemia — The 
Bohemian  war — Victory  of  Ferdinand  U  in  northern  Germany — Gustavus 
Adolphus  to  the  rescue — Battle  of  Nordlingen — Peace  of  Westphalia — A  final 
gain  to  Protestants. 

CHAPTER   VII. 

Smaller  Non-Roman  Catholic  Bodies 559 

The  Waldenses — The  Bohemian  and  Moravian  Brothers — The  Anabaptists — 
The  Mennonites  —  The  Antitrinitarians —  Italian  Antitrinitarians — Faustus 
Socinus. 

CHAPTER   VIII. 
Development  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  to  1648 565 

Gallicanism  —  French  and  Spanish  Mysticism  —  The  Hluminati — Michael 
Bajus — Ludwig  Molina — Jansenism  —  Pascal's  Provincial  Letters  —  Literary 
champions  of  Roman  Catholicism — Roman  Catholic  missionaries  in  North 
America — Francis  Xavier — Ricci  in  China — Missions  in  Siam  and  South  Amer- 
ica— Congregation  De  Fide  Catholica  Propaganda. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Pietism 573 

A  deficient  clergy — Discipline  crowded  out  by  doctrine — The  lack  of  spiritu- 
ality— Four  phases  of  the  reaction — Philip  Jacob  Spener — Spener's  early 
training — Spener's  early  reading — Spener's  early  ministry — Spener  in 
Frankfort — Pia  Desideria— Spener's  theology — August  Hermann  Francke — 
Halle  University — Later  pietistic  history — Results  of  Pietism. 

CHAPTER  X. 

The  Moravians 581 

Early  life  of  Zinzendorf — Zinzendorf  at  Wittenberg,  Utrecht,  and  Paris — 
Zinzendorf  at  Halle  and  Dresden — Herrnhut  and  the  United  Brethren — Chris- 
tian David — Growth  of  the  community  at  Herrnhut — Criticism  and  persecu- 
tion— Episcopal  form  of  polity  adopted — The  missionary  impulse — Moravian 
missions. 

CHAPTER   XI. 

Intensity  of  Spanish  Catholicism — The  Inquisition 589 

Spain  long  an  outpost  of  Christendom — Inquisition  and  persecution  intrin- 
sically separable — Barbarism  felt  even  in  religion — Action  of  the  emperors — 
Augustine  and  the  Donatists — Persecution  at  first  rather  negative — The  Inqui- 
sition first  episcopal  and  then  Dominican — Range  of  the  Inquisition — Jewish 
influence  in  Spain — Rise  of  the  Spanish  Inquisition — The  Inquisition  service- 
able to  the  crown — The  crown  controls  the  appointments — Long  opposition  of 
the  popes — Reasons  of  papal  discontent — Italians  and  Spaniards — Statistics  of 
Llorente — Penances. 


xx  TABLE   OF   CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   XII. 

Bourbon  Reforms 598 

Bourbons  themselves  reformers  in  Spain — Regency  of  Ferdinand — Long  in- 
sanity of  Queen  Joanna — Charles  V — Philip  II — Philip  III — Revolt  and  ex- 
pulsion of  Moriscoes— Philip  IV — Inquisition  an  incubus — Charles  II,  the  last 
Spanish  Hapsburg — Bequest  of  the  crown  to  a  Bourbon — Charles  III,  the  great 
reformer — Inquisition  and  pope  restrained — Evil  side  of  French  influence — 
Happy  omens  for  the  future. 


IL  Great  Britain. 

CHAPTER   I. 

Post-Reformation  England 615 

The  Lollards— The  English  Bible — The  Genevan  Bible— Foxe's  Book  of  Mar- 
tyrs— English  exiles  on  the  Continent — Relations  of  England  and  Holland — 
Principles  of  Puritanism — Opposition  to  royal  supremacy  in  the  Church — Puri- 
tans at  Convocation  of  1562 — Cartwright's  expulsion  from  Cambridge — Doc- 
trinal agreement  of  Anglicans  and  Puritans. 

CHAPTER  II. 
The  Puritans  under  Elizabeth 624 

The  Act  of  Uniformity,  1559 — Secular  origin  of  vestments — Vestments  in 
light  esteem  by  early  Protestant  leaders — Vestments  a  badge  of  Romanism — 
Elizabeth's  injunctions — First  Nonconformists — High  ecclesiastical  commission 
— Injunctions  against  discussions  in  print — Efforts  for  an  improved  clergy — 
"  Prophesyings  " — Suppression  of  ' '  Prophesyings" — Prison  and  exile — Eliza- 
bethan policy  toward  Puritanism. 

CHAPTER    III. 

Anglicans  and  Puritans  under  the  First  Stuart 634 

King  James  I — The  Millenary  Petition — The  conference  at  Hampton  Court — 
Increased  severity  of  the  Anglicans — A  legal  respite — The  moral  degeneracy 
of  the  clergy — King  James's  version  of  the  Bible. 

CHAPTER   IV. 

The  Attempt  to  Catholicize  the  English  Church 643 

Charles  I — William  Laud — Laud's  pure  Anglicanism — Laud  an  opponent  of 
parliamentary  power — Laud's  attempt  to  suppress  Calvinism — Charles's  declar- 
ation on  XXXLX  Articles — Laud's  opposition  to  sermons — Intolerance  of  other 
Protestants — Displacement  of  Puritan  clergy — Restoration  of  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic Sunday — The  altar — The  Catholicizing  of  Scotland  and  Ireland — Destruc- 
tion of  free  speech  and  a  free  press — Laud's  sincerity  and  blindness — Laud's 
leanings  toward  Rome — Laud's  negation  of  Protestantism. 

CHAPTER   V. 
The  Church  of  England  from  the  Restoration  to  the  Eve  of  the 

Great  Revival 652 

Charles  II — Charles  IPs  efforts  to  reunite  Anglicans  and  Puritans — Act  of 
Uniformity,  1662 — Nonconforming  clergy — First  Conventicle  Act — The  Great 
Plague  in  London — The  Five-mile  and  second  Conventicle  Acts — Moderated 
severity— James  II — Trial  of  the  seven  bishops — William  of  Orange  and  toler- 
ation— Intolerance  checked  in  House  of  Lords — Sacheverell — Bangorian  con- 
troversy— The  Nonjurors. 


TABLE    OF   CONTENTS.  xxi 

CHAPTER    VI. 
The  Presbyterian  Ascendency 664 

A  presbytery  organized — Parliament  accepts  Solemn  League  and  Covenant — 
Call  of  the  Westminster  Assembly — Composition  of  Westminster  Assembly — 
Fairbairn  on  Westminster  Assembly — High  character  of  its  members — Ac- 
count of  the  sessions — Products  of  the  Assembly — The  Confession — The  Cate- 
chisms— Calvinism  and  intolerance  of  confession — Unfortunate  failure  to 
throw  off  intolerance — Fall  of  Presbyterianism. 

CHAPTER   VII. 

The  Congregation  alists 675 

An  advanced  Protestantism — Slow  release  from  State  religion — Robert 
Erowne  and  true  tolerance — A  relapse  to  the  old  position — The  first  English 
Congregationalist — Teachings  of  Browne — Thacher,  Coppen,and  Barrowe — Bar- 
rowe's  answers  in  court — A  local  Presbyterianism — Insistence  on  a  godly  mem- 
bership— Plea  for  free  worship — Execution  of  Greenwood  and  Barrowe — John 
Penry,  the  Welshman,  sentenced — Penry's  last  confession — Penry's  execution 
— Dexter  on  Congregationalist  martyrs — The  Martin  Mar-Prelate  controversy 
— A  sample  from  Martin — Congregationalism  in  seventeenth  century — Under 
Cromwell— Cromwell's  catholicity. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
The  Baptists 691 

Absolute  immersion  not  urged  by  early  Baptists — Rise  of  Continental  Bap- 
tists— Types  of  Baptists — Newman  on  Continental  Baptists — John  Knox  versus 
the  Baptists — Opposition  and  persecution  in  England — Relation  of  Congrega- 
tionalists  to  Dutch  Baptists — John  Smyth — Smyth  adopts  Baptist  views — Mor- 
ton and  Helwys — Organization  of  first  English  Baptists — Origin  of  the  Partic- 
ular Baptists — Question  of  first  immersion  in  England — Confession  of  1644 — 
Growth  of  Particular  Baptists — Milton's  Baptist  views — John  Bunyan — Bun- 
yan's  severe  description  of  himself — Southey  and  Macaulay  on  Bunyan's  con- 
fession— Bunyan  in  prison — Pilgrim's  Progress — The  Bedford  Church — Bun- 
yan's catholicity. 

CHAPTER  IX. 
The  Friends 705 

Quakerism  a  return  to  primitive  Christianity — Mennonites  precursors  of 
the  Friends — Kindred  views  of  General  Baptists — Laymen  as  preachers — 
Preaching  by  women — George  Fox — Fox's  account  of  his  religious  experience — 
The  inner  light— Fox's  views  of  the  Scriptures— Fox's  evangelism — Spread  of 
Quakerism — Physical  phenomena  among  Quakers — Successes  and  persecutions 
— Imprisonment  of  Quakers — Quakerism  based  on  ethics  and  Scripture — Spur- 
geon  and  Carlyle  on  Fox. 

CHAPTER   X. 
The  Roman  Catholics 716 

A  small  body — Under  James  I — Toleration  of  Roman  Catholics— Fines  im- 
posed on  Roman  Catholics — More  rigorous  measures — The  Gunpowder  Plot — 
Alternations  of  mild  and  severe  treatment: — Titus  Oates. 

CHAPTER  XI. 
Post-Reformation  Scotland 721 

Advocates  of  Episcopalianism — Melville's  argument — Assembly  of  1576 — 
Melville's  courage — Melville  and  King  James — Melville  restricted  and  impris- 
oned— Melville  on  the  Continent — Strong  leaders  against  Charles  I  and  Laud — 
Charles's  canons  and  Prayer  Book— The  crisis  in  St.  Giles'— The  aim  of  the  St. 
Giles'  stools — Character  of  the  struggle — The  National  Covenant — The  signing 
of  the  Covenant — Rage  of  Charles  I— Assembly  of  1638 — Scotland  under  Charles 
II — Cruel  persecutions — Martyrs  for  conscience — Hislop,  Archer,  and  McKail 
— Armed  resistance  slight — Murder  of  Archbishop  Sharp— Under  William  of 
Orange. 


xxii  TABLE   OF    CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XII. 
Ireland  from  Elizabeth  to  Anne 733 

Persecution  under  political  guise — Moral  and  physical  desolation  continued 
— Founding  of  Trinity  College,  Dublin — Episcopal  and  Eoman  Catholic  clergy 
— Plantation  of  Ulster — Ussher  and  Bedell — The  Rebellion  and  massacre  of 
1641 — Causes  of  the  Rebellion — Lecky  on  Anglicanism. 


PAKT  IV. 

THE   RECENT   PERIOD. 

L  On  the  Continent. 

CHAPTER  I. 

The  Period  of  Rationalism 741 

Three  characteristics  of  Rationalism — Consequences  of  Rationalism — Ante- 
cedent causes  of  Rationalism — Leading  Rationalistic  writers — The  Wolf  enbiittel 
Fragments — Lessing,  Semler,  and  Ernesti — Schleiermacher. 

CHAPTER  II. 

Protestant  Germany  until  the  most  Recent  Times 745 

The  Union  of  1817 — Old  Lutherans  at  Breslau — Fanatical  sects — Romanti- 
cism— Supernaturalism  and  Rationalism — Schleiermacher — Hegel,  Strauss,  and 
Baur — Fliedner  and  deaconesses — Wichern  and  the  Inner  Mission — The  Ritschl 
School — Ritschlian  theology. 

CHAPTER  III. 
Theological  Science  in  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  of  Germany.  .  753 
Extinction  of  witch  superstition — Dispute  on  mariolatry — Education  re- 
tarded— Educational  advance  under  Maria  Theresa — Further  freedom  of  in- 
vestigation— Practical  results — Advance  not  without  opposition — Alternations 
in  Bavaria. 

CHAPTER   IV. 

The  German  Catholic  Church  during  the  Nineteenth  Century 757 

Roman  Catholic  Pietists — New  territorial  adjustments — Adjustments  with 
the  papacy — Increased  Ultramontanism — The  Kulturkampf — The  Old  Cath- 
olics. 

CHAPTER   V. 
The  Struggle  of  Joseph  II  against  the  Papacy — Other  Attempted 
Reforms 761 

Efforts  for  ecclesiastical  independence — The  books  of  Febronius — Papal  op- 
position to  Febronius — Joseph  II  and  his  reforms — Joseph  II  versus  Rome — 
Joseph's  visit  to  Rome— The  issue  in  Bavaria — Congress  of  Ems — Papal  vic- 
tory over  archbishops  and  emperor. 

CHAPTER  VI. 
The  Salzburgers — Oppression  in  Hungary,  Silesia,  Poland,  and  the 
Palatinate 765 

The  persecution  in  Salzburg— The  Covenant  of  Salt— The  march  and  disper- 
sion of  the  Salzburgers— Persecution  in  Hungary — Silesia  a  refuge— Conditions 
in  Upper  Austria— Favors  to  Protestants  from  Joseph  II — Sufferings  of 
Protestants  in  Poland— Romish  aggressions  in  the  Palatinate— Jesuits  in 
Heidelberg. 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS.  xxiii 

CHAPTER  VII. 

The  Church  in  Austria  since  the  Time  of  Joseph  II 770 

Regulation  of  marriage — Protestant  clerical  education — Emperor  Francis  I 
— Rigorous  State  supervision  in  Austria. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  Church  in  Holland  and  Switzerland 772 

Boetius  and  Cocceius — German  theology  in  Holland — Increasing  liberalism 
— The  Formula  Consensus  in  Switzerland — Religious  conditions  in  Switzer- 
land. 

CHAPTER  IX. 
The  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  the  Netherlands  and  Switzerland.  774 
Friction    of    Roman   Catholics   and   Protestants — Ferment    on   educational 
questions  —  Independence    of    Belgium  —  Roman   Catholic   aggressiveness  in 
Switzerland — The  present  political  equilibrium  in  Switzerland. 


CHAPTER   X. 

Later  Church  History  of  France 777 

Degeneracy  of  the  Jesuitized  French  Church — Persistence  of  Protestantism 
— Cruel  edict  of  Louis  XIV — The  prophets — Jean  Cavalier — Antoine  Court — 
Restored  Protestantism — Protestant  marriages — Court  de  Gebelin — Execution 
of  Pochette — Louis  XVI — Final  but  ambiguous  action  of  Bonaparte. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

The  Popes  and  Italian  Unity 783 

Dante  on  temporal  power  of  papacy — Sovereignty  and  ownership — Growth 
of  papacy  and  its  temporal  sway — States  of  the  Church — Civil  status  of  popes 
— Temporal  power  of  papacy  forever  past. 

CHAPTER  XII. 

The  Later  Swedish  Church 786 

Petersen  and  Andersen  set  aside — Debt  of  Protestantism  to  Sweden — Gus- 
tavus  Adolphus — Its  mixed  polity — The  provosts — Episcopal  helpers — Church 
discipline — Vice  of  intemperance — Moderated  controversies — Increasing  reli- 
gious liberty — Encouragement  to  intellectual  activity — Swedenborgianism — 
Witchcraft — Education. 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
The  Later  Danish  Church 790 

Grundtvigianism  —  Grundtvig  —  Grundtvig's  religious  development — New 
emphasis  on  the  Church — Fundamental  character  of  the  Apostles'  Creed — Op- 
position from  strict  Lutherans — Union  of  the  two  positive  currents  of  belie* 
— Other  denominations  in  Denmark — Public  honor  to  Grundtvig. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
Relation  of  the  Greek  Church  to  Rome 795 

Greek  not  the  daughter  of  Roman  Church — Rome  acknowledges  Greek  suc- 
cession— Indifference  to  Roman  excommunications — Latent  antagonism  be- 
tween East  and  West — Mohammedan  oppressions — Conversion  of  Russia — 
Advancing  power  of  religion  in  Russia — Roman  achievements  in  the  East. 


xxiv  TABLE   OF   CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XV. 

Relation  of  the  Greek  Church  to  Protestantism 799 

The  Reformers  meditate  alliance  with  the  East — Points  of  union  and  dis- 
union— Constantinople  on  the  whole  sided  with  Rome — First  relations  of 
Constantinople  with  Lutheranism — An  unsuccessful  issue — Second  Lutheran 
attempt  also  fails — Cyril  Lucar — Correspondence  with  Canterbury — Gradually 
becomes  a  Calvinistic  Protestant — Cyril's  Calvinistic  confession  of  faith — Mur- 
der of  Cyril — Greater  friendliness  at  present. 


II.  Great  Britain* 

CHAPTER  I. 

The  Prelude  to  Methodism 809 

Causes  of  religious  decline — English  Deism — General  immorality — The 
Church  and  the  clergy — Degenerate  preaching — A  cold  and  skeptical  age. 

CHAPTER   II. 

John  Wesley 814 

Wesley's  ancestry — Wesley's  boyhood  and  education — Wesley's  early  min- 
istry— The  name  Methodist — Strictness  of  the  Oxford  Methodists — Wesley 
meets  the  Moravians — Wesley  in  America — Wesley's  conversion — Wesley's 
evangelism — Wesley's  labors — Wesley's  habits  and  literary  industry. 

CHAPTER  III. 

Other  Leaders  op  the  Evangelical  Movement 821 

Charles  Wesley — Charles's  cooperation  with  John — Charles  differs  in  prac- 
tice from  John — Charles  Wesley's  hymns — George  Whitefield — Lady  Hunting- 
don— John  Fletcher — Other  evangelical  helpers. 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Methodism  op  the  Nineteenth  Century 828 

First  half -century  of  Methodism — New  Connection  Methodists — The  Primi- 
tive Methodists — Protestant  Methodists  and  Wesleyan  Association — United 
Methodist  Free  Church — Educational  movement — Methodist  leaders — Missions 
— Thomas  Coke — Methodist  leaven  in  the  general  lump — Recent  develop- 
ments. 

CHAPTER  V. 
Movements  in  the  Church  op  England 835 

A  new  type  of  clergy — Thomas  Scott  and  the  two  Milners — The  Clapham 
group — Cambridge  an  evangelical  center — Hannah  More — Opposition  of  Broad 
and  High  Church — Catholic  elements  of  Anglicanism — Narrow  Evangelicals- 
Political  liberalism — Religious  liberalism — Hampden,  Whately,  and  Milman — 
The  Oxford  movement— John  Henry  Newman— Tracts  for  the  Times— Results 
of  the  Oxford  movement — Robertson  and  Maurice. 

CHAPTER   VI. 

The  Free  Churches 844 

Presbyteriaus  and  the  Unitarian  Doctrine — Puritanism  alive — English  Unitar- 
ians— Priestley — The  Congregationalists — Literary  fruits  of  Congregationalism 
— Fairbairn  and  Dale— The  Baptists — William  Carey — Andrew  Fuller,  Robert 
Hall,  and  John  Foster — Spurgeon — The  Friends— Later  Quakerism. 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS.  xxv 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Later  Developments  of  Roman  Catholicism 853 

Disabilities  of  Roman  Catholics — Slow  measures  of  relief — John  Henry  New- 
man— The  "Papal  Aggression" — The  dogma  of  papal  infallibility — Life  of 
Manning. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

A  Century  of  Reform  and  Missions 856 

Love  at  the  front — Abolition  of  slavery — Treatment  of  the  Jews — Plimsoll's 
shipping  reform — Temperance — Howard  and  prison  reform — Elizabeth  Fry — 
Reform  of  Penal  laws — Peace  measures — Lord  Shaftesbury — Christian  mis- 
sions— Geography  of  missions — Asia — Africa — America. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

The  Scottish  and  Irish  Churches 864 

The  State  Church  in  Scotland — The  Moderates — Doctrine  and  morals — 
Schisms  in  the  Scotch  Church — Gillespie  and  the  United  Presbyterian  Church — 
The  Evangelical  Revival — Chalmers — New  stress  on  doctrine — Weakening  of 
the  State  connection — The  Free  Church  of  Scotland — Later  activity  in  Scotland 
— Later  Irish  Church. 


EI.  The  American  Church. 

CHAPTER  I. 

The  Planting  of  the  Church 875 

The  Spanish  conquest — Slight  results  of  Spanish  missions — The  French  oc- 
cupation— The  issues  of  the  Seven  Years'  War — Founders  of  the  American 
Church — The  Virginia  Colony — Plymouth  Colony — Massachusetts  Bay  Colony 
— The  Dutch  and  Swedes — Maryland  and  Lord  Baltimore — The  Quaker  set- 
tlers. 

CHAPTER   II. 

The  Religious  Development  of  the  Colonies 883 

Virginia  and  Maryland — William  and  Mary  College — Massachusetts  Bay  and 
Roger  Williams — Ann  Hutchinson — Connecticut — Hooker  and  Davenport — 
Educational  foundations — Harvard  and  Yale — The  Baptists  in  Massachusetts 
— Persecution  of  Quakers — The  witchcraft  delusion — The  Half-way  Covenant 
— Jonathan  Edwards — Dickinson  and  the  Tennents — Results  of  the  Great 
Awakening. 

CHAPTER  III. 

Denominational  Development 892 

The  Revolutionary  War — Methodism  in  America — The  growth  of  Metho- 
dism— Divisions  of  American  Methodism — The  Protestant  Episcopal  Church— 
The  Reformed  Episcopal  Church — Roman  Catholicism — The  Congregationalists 
— Education  in  New  England — Unitarianism — The  Universalists — The  Presby- 
terians—Cumberland Presbyterians — Other  Presbyterian  divisions — The  Regu- 
lar Baptists — Other  Baptists — Lutherans — Reformed  Church  in  the  United 
States — Reformed  Church  in  America — The  Moravians— United  Brethren  in 
Christ — Evangelical  Association — The  Friends. 


xxvi  TABLE  OF   CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Missions  and  Reforms . .  906 

Missions  to  the  Indians — Foreign  missions — The  American  Board — Presby- 
terian missions — Baptist  missions — Methodist  missions — Slavery — The  Freed- 
men — Temperance— Social  purity — The  Salvation  Army  and  the  Volunteers — 
The  Settlement. 

CHAPTER   V. 

The  American  Church  in  the  Twentieth  Century 914 

The  Institutional  Church — Young  Men's  Christian  Association — Organiza- 
tions for  service  and  society — Emphasis  on  living — Reverent  and  progressive 
scholarship — Union  of  Churches — A  basis  for  Church  union. 


LIST  OF  MAPS. 

Europe  at  the  Accession  op  Charles  V  (1519  A.  D.) 114,  115 

Central  Europe  at  the  Abdication  op  Charles  V  (1556) 499,  500 

Europe  at  the  Peace  of  Westphalia  (1648) . , 549,  550 

Europe  at  the  Present  Day 739,  740 

South  America.     Two  Maps  :  18th  Century,  Present  Day 863,  864 

United  States.    Five  Maps  :  1783,  1790,  1805,  1834,  1860. 871,  872 

United  States  of  America 891,  892 


LITERATURE:  HEEALDS  OF  THE  BETTER  CHURCH. 

GENERAL  WORKS. 

1.  Eossetti,  Gabriel.     Disquisitions  on  the  Antipapal  Spirit  before  the  Eefor- 

mation.  Transl.  from  the  Italian.  2  vols.  Lond.,  1834.  A  curious  and 
interesting  work,  with  much  light  on  mediaeval  literature,  and  especially 
on  the  interpretation  of  Dante.  As  to  the  value  of  this  interpretation  see 
above,  vol.  i,  p.  896. 

2.  Bonnechose,  Emil  de.     The  Eeformers  before  the  Eeformation.     Transl.  by 

Mackenzie.     Lond.,  1851.     Especially  full  on  John  Hus. 

3.  Ullmann,  Carl.    Eeformers  before  the  Eeformation.     Principally  in  Ger- 

many and  the  Netherlands.  Transl.  by  E.  Menzies.  2  vols.  Edinb., 
1845,  4th  ed.,  1874;  1st  ed.,  1842.  -  The  reaction  from  the  over-emphasis 
on  the  Protestantism  of  the  mediaeval  mystics  has  not  lessened  the  value 
of  this  standard  work,  which  still  remains  indispensable  for  its  learned 
and  objective  analysis  of  the  writings  of  John  of  Goch,  John  of  Wesel 
(d.  1481),  Brethren  of  the  Common  Life,  and  especially  of  John  Wessel 
(d.  1489). 

4.  Midler,  Karl.     Bericht  iiber  den  gegenwartigen  Stand  der  Forschung  auf 

dem  Gebiet  der  vorreformatorischen  Zeit,  in  Vortriige  der  theol.  Konf er- 
enz  zu  Giessen,  1887.  Midler  goes  to  an  extreme  in  denying  evangelical 
elements  in  the  pre-Eeformation  reformers. 

5.  Cowan,  Wm.     Pre-Eeformation  Worthies.    Lond.,  1897.     Popular  but  au- 

thoritative sketches  by  the  professor  of  Church  History  in  the  University 
of  Aberdeen. 

GROSSETESTE. 

Works.  For  a  complete  list  (25  pages)  see  the  Life  by  Pegge.  See  also  the 
list  in  Cave,  Scriptorum  Ecclesiasticorum  Historia  Literaria.  The  following 
have  been  translated  into  English  : 

1.  A  treatyse  of  Husbandry,  which  Mayster  Grosthede  sotyme  Bisshop  of  Lin- 

coln made,  and  translated  out  of  Frenssh  into  Englysshe.  Printed  by 
Wynkyn  de  Worde. 

2.  The  Castle  of  Love,  now  first  printed  from  an  inedited  MS.  at  Briton  Hill,  by 

J.  0.  Halliwell,  1849.  This  work  was  also  edited  by  M.  Cooke  for  the 
Caxton  Society.     Lond.,  1852. 

3.  Epistohe  ;  ed.  by  H.  E.  Luard.    Lond.,  1861,  Eolls  Series.     A  selection  had 

been  published  by  E.  Brown  in  his  Fasciculus  Eerum  Expetendarum  et 
Fugiendarum.  Lond.,  1690. 
Biographical.  The  sources  are  the  History  of  Matthew  Paris,  Letters  of 
Adam  de  Marisco,  Chronicles  of  Dunstable  and  Lanercost,  and  his  own  let- 
ters. Modern  Lives  by  S.  Pegge,  Lond.,  1793;  H.  E.  Luard,  in  Introd.  to 
his  ed.  of  Epistolae  ;  G.  V.  Lechler,  Leipz.,  1867;  G.  G.  Perry,  Lond.,  1871; 
and  J.  Felten,  Leipz.,  1887.  See  Archasologia,  xiii,  and  Diet,  of  Nat.  Biog- 
raphy, s.  v. 

3  1  2 


2  HISTORY   OF    THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

WILLIAM   OF  OCCAM. 

Works.  A  critical  catalogue  of  his  works  is  given  by  Littles,  Grey  Friars, 
pp.  225-234.  For  his  political  works  see  S.  Riezler,  Die  literarischen  Wider- 
sacher  der  Papste  zur  Zeit  Ludwig  des  Baiers,  Leipz.,  1874,  who  gives  a  fine 
treatment.  For  his  philosophy  see  C.  von  Prantl,  Geschichte  der  Logic  im 
Abendlande,  Leipz.,  1867,  iii,  327-420,  and  Ueberweg,  History  of  Philosophy, 
i,  460-464.  No  collected  ed.  of  his  works  has  been  issued,  nor  has  there  appeared 
a  satisfactory  monograph  of  his  life.  T.  M.  Lindsay  has  an  excellent  article 
in  the  British  Quar.  Rev. ,  July,  1872,  and  A.  Dorner  investigates  his  doctrine 
of  Church  and  State  in  Studien  und  Kritiken,  1885,  iv. 

THOMAS   BRADWARDINE. 

Works.  His  De  Causa  Dei  contra  Pelagium  et  de  Virtute  Causarum  was 
edited  by  Sir  Henry  Saville,  Lond.,  1618.  Several  of  his  mathematical  works 
were  pub.  in  Paris,  1495-1530. 

For  Lives  see  Saville,  pref .  to  above ;  G.  V.  Lechler,  Leipz. ,  1862,  and  his 
"Wiclif,  i,  234  ff.;  W.  F.  Hook,  in  Lives  of  Archbishops  of  Canterbury,  Lond., 
1865,  iv,  85-110. 

WILLIAM    LANGLAND. 

Editions  of  Piers  Plowman  by  R.  Crowley,  Lond.,  1550,  2d  enl.  ed.,  1550; 
Owen  Rogers,  Lond.,  1561 ;  H.  P.  "Whitaker,  Lond.,  1813,  with  introd.,  notes, 
and  glossary;  Thos.  Wright,  2  vols.,  Lond.,  1842,  new  ed.  with  additions,  1856; 
and  W.  W.  Skeat,  whose  exhaustive  studies  have  superseded  all  former  works  : 
(1)  pt.  i  (A  text),  Lond.,  1867,  pt.  ii  (B  text),  1869,  pt.  iii  (C  text,  with  Richard 
the  Redeles),  1873,  pt.  iv,  notes,  1877,  pt.  v,  glossary,  etc.,  1884;  (2)  a  most 
convenient  ed.  with  the  three  texts  in  parallel  columns,  2  vols.,  Oxf.,  1886, 
vol.  i,  texts,  vol.  ii,  commentary;  (3)  handy  ed.  for  students,  Oxf.,  7th  ed. 
rev.,  1893.  This  last  has  copious  selections,  introduction,  notes,  and  glossary. 
An  excellent  edition  of  Piers  Plowman  in  modern  English  prose,  with  introd. 
and  notes,  was  prepared  by  Kate  W.  Warren,  N.  Y.  and  Lond.,  1895.  See 
Nat.  Rev.,  1861,  414  ff.,  and  on  Skeat's  3d  part,  T.  R.  Lounsbury  in  New 
Englander,  1875,  274-285.  A  grammatical  investigation  is  Emil  Bernard,  Wil- 
liam Langland,  Bonn,  1874.  The  best  monograph,  a  fascinating  book  of  great 
learning,  is  J.  J.  Jusserand,  Piers  Plowman :  a  Contribution  to  the  History  of 
English  Mysticism,  Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1894. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 


The  Modern  Church. 


PART  I. 

HERALDS  OF  THE   BETTER  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  I. 


GROSSETESTE,   WILLIAM  OF  OCCAM,  BRADWARDINE,  AND  LANG- 
LAND. 

The  morning  never  comes  unheralded.  Every  great  historical 
movement  has  antecedents — those  prophetic  gleams  which  tell  us 
that  a  new  day  is  coming  to  the  world.  The  Reformation  was  no 
exception  to  this.  It  had  its  intellectual  preparation — Humanism 
and  the  Renaissance  ;  its  moral  preparation — Savonarola  ;  and  its 
dogmatic  preparation — Wyclif  and  Hus.  Each  of  these  was  a 
mighty  historical  current. 

Robert  Grosseteste1  (Greathead)  was  one  of  the  noblest  prelates 
of  England.  Born  of  peasant  parentage  about  1175,  educated  at 
Lincoln,  Oxford,  and  Paris,  teacher  in  the  Franciscan  school  at 
Oxford,  archdeacon  and  rector  of  various  churches,  bishop  of  Lin- 
coln in  1235,  and  dying  in  1253 — this  is  the  simple  record  of  his 
life.  His  reforming  zeal  was  based  on  a  passionate  devotion  to  the 
priestly  ideal.  He  labored  hard  to  do  away  with  the  employment 
of  ecclesiastics  in  secular  pursuits,  and  to  abolish  "  appropriations, " 
that  is,  the  transference  of  church  tenures,  tithe-rights  and  glebe- 
lands  to  monasteries,  knightly  orders,  and  the  like — a  practice 
which  so  impoverished  the  parishes  that  they  were  left  entirely 
without  pastoral  care.  He  tried  also  to  stop  the  papal  custom  of 
putting  "  Italian  rascals  "  into  English  benefices,  who  drew  the  fees 
but  never  set  foot  in  the  country.     For  these  and  other  reforms  he 

1  This  name  is  spelled  in  thirteen  different  ways. 

3  * 


4  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

journeyed  twice  to  Pope  Innocent  IV  at  Lyons,  1244-46  and  1249- 
50.  In  1250  he  presented  his  famous  Memorial  to  the  pope,  which 
on  the  moral  side  is  an  anticipation  of  the  Ninety-five  Theses  of 
Luther.  After  scathing  the  "bad  pastors"  and  describing  the 
miserable  conditions  of  the  Church,  he  says  : 

"What  is  the  cause  of  this  evil?  I  tremble  to  speak  of  it,  and 
yet  I  dare  not  keep  silence.  The  cause  and  source  of  it  is  the  holy 
see  itself ;  not  only  because  it  fails  to  put  a  stop  to  these  evils  as 
it  can  and  should,  but  still  more  because  of  its  dispensations,  pro- 
visions, and  collations.    It  appoints  evil  shepherds,  thinking  therein 

only  of  the  living  which  it  is  able  to  provide  for  a  man, 
teste's  "me-  and  for  the  sake  of  that  handing  over  many  thousands 

to  eternal  death.  He  who  commits  the  care  of  a  flock 
to  a  man  in  order  that  the  latter  may  get  the  milk  and  the  wool,  while 
he  is  unable  or  unwilling  to  guide,  to  feed,  and  protect  the  flock, 
gives  over  the  flock  to  death  as  a  prey.  That  be  far  from  him  as  the 
representative  of  Christ  !  He  who  so  sacrifices  the  pastoral  office  is  a 
persecutor  of  Christ  in  his  members.  And  since  the  doings  of  the 
papacy  are  a  lesson  to  the  world,  such  a  manner  of  appointment  to 
the  cure  of  souls  on  its  part  teaches  and  encourages  all  who  have 
patron's  rights  to  make  pastoral  appointments  of  a  like  kind  as  a 
return  for  services  rendered  to  themselves,  or  to  please  men  in  pow- 
er, and  in  this  way  to  destroy  the  hope  of  Christ.  And  let  no  man 
say  that  such  pastors  can  still  save  the  flock  by  the  ministry  of  mid- 
dlemen. For  among  these  middlemen  many  are  themselves  hire- 
lings who  flee  when  the  wolf  cometh. 

"  Besides,  the  cure  of  souls  consists  not  only  in  the  dispensation 
of  the  sacraments,  in  singing  of  'hours/  and  in  reading  of  masses, 
but  in  the  true  teaching  of  the  word  of  life,  in  rebuking  and  cor- 
recting vices ;  and,  besides  all  this,  in  feeding  the  hungry,  giving 
drink  to  the  thirsty,  clothing  the  naked,  lodging  the  strangers, 
visiting  the  sick  and  the  prisoners — especially  among  the  parish 
priest's  own  parishioners — in  order  by  such  deeds  of  charity  to  in- 
struct the  people  in  the  holy  exercises  of  active  life.  To  do  such 
deeds  is  not  at  all  in  the  power  of  these  middlemen,  for  they  get  so 
small  a  portion  of  the  Church's  goods  that  they  scarcely  have 
enough  to  live  upon.  In  the  midst  of  such  evils  men  might  still 
have  the  consolation  of  hoping  that  possibly  successors  might  follow 
who  would  better  fulfill  the  pastor's  calling.  But  when  parish 
churches  are  made  over  to  monasteries  these  evils  are  made  perpet- 
ual. All  such  things  end,  not  in  the  upbuilding,  but  in  the  destruc- 
tion, of  the  Church.     God  forbid  that  even  the  holy  see  should  act 


GROSSETESTE    AND    OTHERS.  5 

against  Christ  and  thereby  incur  the  guilt  of  apostasy  and  division. 
Further,  the  pastoral  office,  especially  of  the  bishops,  is  at  the 
present  time  circumscribed  and  restrained,  particularly  in  England, 
and  this  in  three  ways  :  1.  The  exemptions  and  privileges  of  mon- 
asteries. For  when  the  inmates  of  these  addict  themselves  outside 
their  walls  to  the  worst  vices  the  bishop  can  take  no  action  against 
them — their  hands  are  tied  by  the  privileges  of  the  convents. 
2.  The  secular  power  puts  obstacles  in  the  way  in  cases  where  inves- 
tigations are  made  into  the  sins  of  the  laymen,  in  order  to  prevent 
other  laymen  from  being  sworn  as  witnesses.  3.  Appeals  to  the 
pope  or  archbishop.  For  if  the  bishop  take  steps  according  to  his 
duty  to  punish  vice  and  depose  unworthy  pastors,  protest  is  taken, 
the  liberty  of  the  Church  is  appealed  to,  and  so  the  matter  is  de- 
layed and  the  action  of  the  bishop  lamed." 

In  conclusion,  Grosseteste  appealed  to  the  holy  see  to  stop  these 
disorders,  to  leave  off  the  unevangelical  practice  of  using  the  in- 
terposition of  the  sword,  and  to  root  out  the  notorious  corruption 
of  the  papal  court.  Unless  this  is  done  the  holy  see  would  draw 
upon  itself  the  heaviest  judgment — yea,  destruction  itself. 

Certainly  such  writing  is  in  the  true  Protestant  spirit.  Bolder 
still  is  Grosseteste's  letter  on  the  appointment  of  the  pope's  nephew 
or  grandson  to  the  prebendary  of  Lincoln.  This  appointment — 
made  by  the  pope  himself — Grosseteste  disowned  and 
almost  anathematized.  As  the  appointment  was  made  teste's  prot- 
simply  to  give  the  young  ecclesiastic  the  revenue  of 
the  prebend  without  its  work,  Grosseteste's  ire  was  raised,  and  he 
indulged  in  a  plainness  of  speech  unwonted  in  those  who,  like  him, 
were  thoroughly  devoted  to  the  Eoman  Church.  The  commands 
of  the  apostolic  see,  he  said,  are  valid  only  when  given  for  the  edi- 
fication of  the  Church,  and  when  such  orders  as  this  are  sent  forth 
it  is  the  duty  of  all  loyal  subjects  of  the  pope  to  resist  them  with 
all  their  might.  No  command  is  apostolic  which  contradicts  the 
teaching  of  Christ  and  the  apostles. 

This  is  very  near  the  Protestant  ground,  for  evidently  Grosse- 
teste reserved  to  himself  the  right  to  judge  whether  any  papal  com- 
mand was  according  to  Christ  or  not.  At  all  events,  the  writings 
of  Grosseteste  were  very  good  food  for  the  ripening  mind  of  Wyclif, 
who  studied  them  ardently  and  quoted  them  freely  and  accurately. 
In  fact,  this  memorable  letter  of  1253  Wyclif  quotes  entire  in  his 
De  Civili  Dominio,1  and  adds  notes  and  comments  of  his  own.  Hus 
was  also  perfectly  familiar  with  it.2 

1  Bk.  i,  ch.  43.  2  See  his  De  Ecclesia,  ch.  xviii. 


6  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Grosseteste  was  a  teacher  of  Wyclif,  who  refers  to  him  admiringly 
and  often,  and  the  English  reformers  looked  back  upon  him  with 
gladness  as  a  kindred  spirit  with  their  own.  Lechler  sums  up 
very  well  the  position  of  Kobert  Grosseteste  as  a  precursor  of  the 
Eeformation  :  "When  we  take  into  view  how  high  a  place  he 
assigned  the  Holy  Scriptures,  to  the  study  of  which  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Oxford  he  assigned  the  first  place  as  the  most  fun- 
damental of  all  studies,1  and  which  he  recognizes  as  the  only 
infallible  guiding  star  of  the  Church ; a  when  we  remember  with 
what  power  and  persistency  and  without  any  respect  of  persons 
he  stood  forward  against  so  many  abuses  in  the  Church,  and 
against  every  defection  from  the  true  ideal  of  church  life ;  when 
we  reflect  that  he  finds  the  highest  wisdom  to  stand  in  this — '  To 
know  Jesus  Christ  and  him  crucified/ 3  it  is  certainly  not  saying 
too  much  when  we  signalize  him  as  a  venerable  witness  to  truth, 
as  a  Churchman  who  fulfilled  the  duty  which  he  owed  to  his 
own  age,  and  in  so  doing  lived  for  all  ages  ;  and  who,  through  his 
whole  career,  gave  proof  of  his  zeal  for  a  sound  reformation  of  the 
Church's  life/'4 

One  of  the  boldest  thinkers  and  most  original  minds  of  the  four- 
teenth century  was  William  of  Occam,  who  died  in  1349.  An 
Englishman  by  birth,  he  spent  most  of  his  time  at  Munich,  under 
the  protection  of  Lewis  of  Bavaria,  where  he  was  the  center  of  a 
coterie  of  brave  writers  who  were  vindicating  the  rights  of  the 
wii  ham  of  &tate  and  the  Church  against  the  extravagant  preten- 
occam.  sions  of  the  pope.     He  was  general  of  the  Franciscan 

order,  1342-49.  His  principles  undermine  the  modern  theory 
of  the  papacy,  which  was  made  an  article  of  faith  by  the  Vatican 
Council  of  1870.  It  is  false,  he  says,  to  maintain  that  the  pope 
possesses  unlimited  power,  both  spiritual  and  temporal.  That 
would  mean  intolerable  slavery,  whereas  the  gospel  of  Christ  is  a 
law  of  liberty.     The  whole  hierarchy  is  not  immediately  of  divine 

1  Epistolse,  123. 

2Hac  sola  ad  portum  salutis  dirigitur  Petri  navicula,  Ep.  115.  "The  hac 
sola,"  says  Lechler,  "answers  completely  to  the  Reformation  principle — verbo 
solo — which  constitutes  the  formal  principle  of  Protestantism."  3  Ep.  85. 

4  John  Wycliffe  and  his  English  Precursors,  p.  40.  The  most  of  Grosseteste's 
works  remain  in  MS.  Edward  Brown  published  some  of  his  sermons,  treatises, 
and  selections  from  his  epistles  in  his  Appendix  to  the  Fasciculus  Rerum  Ex- 
petendarum  et  Fugiendarum,  Lond.,  1690.  A  critical  edition  of  his  invaluable 
epistles  was  prepared  by  H.  R.  Luard  for  the  Rolls  Series,  Lond.,  1862.  His 
life  has  been  written  by  Pegge,  Lond.,  1793  ;  Perry,  Lond.,  1871 ;  and  Felten, 
Leipz.,  1887. 


GROSSETESTE   AND  OTHERS.  7 

authority,  but  is  only  a  human  order.  It  might  be  of  more 
advantage  to  have  several  popes  rather  than  one  only ;  for  the 
unity  of  the  Church  does  not  depend  upon  one,  and  the  danger  of 
moral  corruption  is  much  greater.  The  pope  may  become  heret- 
ical. In  that  case  he  must  be  judged  by  every  believer,  but  espe- 
cially by  the  emperor.  The  Church  through  a  general  council 
may  depose  him. 

Occam  would  build  up  a  general  council  on  the  representative, 
not  on  the  hierarchical  principle,  thus  anticipating  the  develop- 
ment of  Protestant  Church  polity.  As  to  infallibility,  OCCAM  ON  IN_ 
this  penetrating  Franciscan  holds  that  it  resides  in  the  fallibility. 
Church  as  a  whole,  not  in  the  pope,  not  even  in  the  episcopate,  but  in 
true  believers.  Even  if  all  the  great  ones  should  fall  into  error  God 
would  still  reveal  his  truth  unto  babes  (Matt,  xi,  25)  or  inspire 
pious  men  to  stand  forth  in  its-  defense.  For  our  faith  does  not 
stand  in  the  wisdom  of  men,  but  in  the  power  of  God,  who  some- 
times chooses  the  foolish  things  of  the  world  to  confound  the  wise 
(1  Cor.  i,  27). 

In  fact,  Occam  maintains  the  possibility  of  both  clergy  and  laity 
falling  into  error,  and  that  the  true  faith  might  find  a  home  in 
the  hearts  of  godly  women.  Occam  is  constantly  minimizing  pope 
and  hierarchy,  and  external  power  for  the  sake  of  Christ.  (C  The 
head  of  the  Church/'  he  says,  "  and  its  foundation,  is  Christ  alone." 

Such  a  clear  and  strong  voice  from  out  the  fourteenth  century  was 
an  unmistakable  presage  of  Luther.  In  the  matter  of  Church  and 
pope  it  could  not  have  had  a  more  Lutheran  ring.  In  his  general  the- 
ological teaching  Occam  held  to  the  mediseval  theology  as  true,  not  to 
reason,  but  to  the  vision  of  faith  ;  but  his  demonstrating  the  unten- 
ableness  of  the  doctrinal  teaching  of  the  Church  on  the  ground  of 
reason,  even  though  he  held  to  that  teaching  as  true  to  faith,  was  a 
damaging  assault.  In  his  tract  on  the  Sacrament  of  the  Altar  he 
propounds  a  more  rational  theory  of  the  eucharist  than  that  held 
by  the  Church,  but  he  does  this,  not  to  satisfy  his  faith,  which  still 
receives  the  ordinary  doctrine,  but  his  reason.  His  theory,  in  fact, 
was  that  afterward  adopted  by  Luther.  Considering  the  limita- 
tions of  his  age,  William  of  Occam  was  a  true  herald  of  the  Refor- 
mation, and  such  Luther  considered  him,  for  he  studied  him  well 
and  called  him  "  My  Dear  Master  Occam." x 

1  No  modern  edition  of  the  works  of  Occam  exists,  nor  any  satisfactory  memo- 
graph.  See  the  histories  of  the  Church,  of  doctrine,  and  of  philosophy,  also 
Eiezler,  Die  literarischen  Widersacher  der  Papste  zur  Zeit  Ludwig  des  Baiers, 
1874.     The  best  estimate  of  his  theological  position  in  English  is  T.  M.  Lind- 


8  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Another  man  whom  Wyclif  greatly  loved  was  Thomas  Bradwar- 
dine, mathematician  and  theologian,  teacher  of  theology  at  Oxford, 
n.^„.0.T>.T,  chancellor  of  St.  Paul's  in  London,  chaplain  to  Edward 

THOMAS  TiRAD-  7  x 

wAitDiNE.  HI  during  his  war  with  France,  1339,  and  for  a  few 
weeks  only  archbishop  of  Canterbury.  He  died  prematurely  of  the 
plague  on  August  26,  1349.  Bradwardine  was  one  of  those  earnest 
scholars  and  spiritual  men  whom  the  Church  in  England  has  reared, 
a  man  who,  like  Isaac  Barrow,  was  equally  great  as  a  mathematician 
and  as  a  theologian.  He  did  not  consciously  deviate  from  the 
teaching  of  the  Church,  and  he  submits  all  his  opinions  to  her  au- 
thority ;  but  in  his  profoundly  Augustinian  mind,  his  emphasis  on 
grace,  his  earnest  protests  against  any  trace  of  Pelagianism,  and 
the  spiritual  fervor  of  his  writings  he  plowed  the  soil  deep  for 
"Wyclif's  sowing. 

In  a  most  interesting  passage  Bradwardine  gives  an  account  of  his 
awakening  to  the  evangelical  conception  of  grace  :  "I  was  at  one 
time,  while  still  a  student  of  philosophy,  a  vain  fool,  far  from  the 
true  knowledge  of  God,  and  held  captive  to  opposing  error.  From 
time  to  time  I  heard  theologians  treating  the  questions  of  grace 
and  free  will,  and  the  party  of  Pelagius  appeared  to  me  to  have  the 
best  of  the  argument.  For  I  rarely  heard  anything  said  of  grace 
in  the  lectures  of  the  philosophers  except  in  an  ambiguous  sense  ; 
but  every  day  I  heard  them  teach  that  we  are  masters  of  our  own 
free  acts,  and  that  it  stands  in  our  own  power  to  do  either  good  or 
evil,  to  be  either  virtuous  or  vicious,  and  such  like.  And  when  I 
heard  now  and  then  in  church  a  passage  read  from  the  apostle 
which  exalted  grace  and  humbled  free  will — such,  for  example,  as 
that  word  in  Rom.  ix,  '  So  then  it  is  not  in  him  that  willeth,  nor 
in  him  that  runneth,  but  in  God  that  showeth  mercy/  and  other 
like  places — I  had  no  liking  for  such  teaching,  for  toward  grace  I 
was  still  unthankful.  I  believed  also,  with  the  Manichaeans,  that 
the  apostle,  being  a  man,  might  possibly  err  from  the  truth  on  any 
point  of  doctrine.  But  afterward,  and  before  I  had  become  a 
student  of  theology,  the  truth  struck  upon  me  like  a  beam  of 

say,  Occam  and  his  Connection  with  the  Reformation,  in  British  Quar.  Rev., 
July,  1872.  See  the  same  author  in  Ency.  Brit.,  9th  ed.  Dorner  shows  that 
Occam  had  a  remarkably  modern  view  of  the  relations  of  State  and  Church. 
The  State  is  to  subserve  justice,  the  Church  spirituality,  and  neither  is  to  in- 
terfere with  the  concerns  of  the  other.  To  his  credit  be  it  said,  Occam  is  a 
stanch  supporter  of  popular  rights.  Rulers  spring  from  the  people,  and  should 
care  for  the  people,  else  they  may  fall.  Few  more  penetrating  and  incisive 
minds  have  the  Middle  Ages  left  to  us  than  Occam. 


GROSSETESTE    AND    OTHERS.  9 

grace,  and  it  seemed  to  me  as  if  I  beheld  in  the  distance,  under  a 
transparent  image  of  truth,  the  grace  of  God  as  it  is,  prevenient  both 
in  time  and  nature  to  all  good  deeds,  that  is  to  say,  the  gracious 
will  of  God  which  precedently  wills  that  he  who  merits  salvation 
shall  be  saved,  and  precedently  works  this  merit  of  it  in  him,  God 
in  truth  being  in  all  movements  the  primary  mover.  Wherefore, 
also,  I  give  thanks  to  him  who  has  freely  given  me  this  grace." l 

Bradwardine  felt  himself  called  to  oppose  the  superficial  views 
then  prevalent  in  the  Church.  "The  doctrine  is  held  by  many/' 
he  says,  "  that  either  the  free  will  of  man  is  of  itself  sufficient  for 
the  obtaining  of  salvation,  or  if  they  confess  the  need  of  grace, 
that  still  grace  may  be  merited  by  the  power  of  the  free  will,  so 
that  grace  no  longer  appears  to  be  something  undeserved  by  men, 
but  something  meritoriously  acquired.  Almost  the  whole  world 
has  run  after  Pelagius  and  fallen  into  error." 

Bradwardine's  treatise  "  Of  the  Cause  of  God  "  is  an  able  and  ear- 
nest exposition  of  the  Pauline  doctrine,  according  to  DE  CAUSA 
the  thought  of  St.  Augustine,  whom  the  author  highly  DBI- 
praises,  and  an  appeal  to  the  Church  to  return  to  the  old  paths.  Al- 
though Bradwardine  did  not  have  the  genius  of  Wyclif  in  the  latter's 
breadth  and  boldness  of  theological  reconstruction,  he  yet  prepared 
the  way  for  him  by  his  thoroughly  Protestant  doctrine  of  grace. 
Let  us  say  here  that  Bradwardine's  doctrine,  resting  firmly  on  the 
scriptural  principle  that  every  good  and  perfect  gift  cometh  down 
from  the  Father  of  lights,  needed  only  the  modification  of  the  other 
truth,  that  in  the  reception  and  use  of  those  gifts  the  sinner  is  left 
absolutely  free.  The  movements  toward  salvation  which  he  feels 
are  from  God  alone,  but  he  is  yet  master  of  himself  in  the  response 
which  he  chooses  to  make  to  the  divine  promptings.2 

It  is  remarkable  that  the  first  outbursts  of  English  song  should 
have  been  consecrated  to  the  work  of  reform — a  prophecy  of  the 
fact  that  the  glorious  course  of  English  literature  was  to  run  in 
Protestant  channels.  Even  the  Catholic  age  must  make  its  protest, 
and  prove  its  fidelity  to  English  and  Teutonic  genius  by  its  anti- 
Roman  strain.  Thus  we  find  that  the  Vision  of  Piers  Plowman,  by 
William  Langland,  though  never  consciously  departing  from  the 
dogmas  of  the  Church,  is  one  of  the  finest  documents  in  the  moral 

1  De  Causa  Dei,  i,  35. 

2  The  De  Causa  Dei  was  published  in  London,  in  1618,  by  Henry  Saville,  head 
of  Bradwardine's  College— Merton  at  Oxford.  His  mathematical  works  were 
published  in  Paris,  1495,  1502,  and  later.  Schrceckh  gives  long  extracts  from 
the  Causa  Dei  in  his  Kirchengeschichte.     See  Lechler,  I.  c,  ch.  1,  sec.  6. 


10  HISTORY   OF    THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

strenuousness  of  its  Protestantism  that  the  pre-Reformation  period 
has  left  us.     Very  little  is  known  of  the  author. 

That  entertaining  explorer  of  some  of  the  byways  of  history,  Jus- 
serand, has  patched  together  in  an  ingenious  and  scholarly  man- 
ner every  shred  of  evidence  which  he  can  find  as  to  the  personality 
of  the  author,  and  these  are  his  conclusions  :  William  Langland,1 
william  born  at  Cleobury  Mortimer  about  1331-32,  arose  from 

the  ranks  of  the  peasantry  into  the  orders  of  the  Church 
— at  least  the  lower  order — lived  in  his  early  life  in  Malvern,4 
where  he  studied  at  the  Benedictine  convent,  and  later  in  London, 
and  died  we  know  not  where  or  when.  It  is  pathetic  that  we  know 
so  little  of  the  author  of  this  great  poem,  this  passionate  outcry 
against  the  abuses  of  a  dead  Church. 

Langland  was  a  theological  reformer  only  in  the  sense  of  exalt- 
ing the  reason  and  the  conscience  over  against  the  pope  and  Church, 
and  of  insisting  on  righteousness  and  charity  and  the  fear  of  God 
as  more  important  than  pardons  and  indulgences. 
"  For  wise  men  been  holden 
To  purchase  you  pardons  and  the  Popes  bulles, 
At  the  dreadful  doom  when  the  dead  shall  rise 
And  come  all  before  Christ,  accounts  to  yield, 
How  thou  leddest  thy  life  here,  and  his  laws  kept. 
A  pouchful  of  Pardons  there,  nor  Provincial  Letters, 
Though  you  be  found  in  the  fraternity  of  all  the  four  orders, 
And  have  indulgences  double-fold,  if  Do  Well  you  help 
I  set  your  Patents  and  your  Pardons  at  one  Pisa  worth."  3 

Every  abuse  is  severely  lashed.  His  freedom,  boldness,  and 
piers  plow-  earnestness  sound  like  Wyclif,  though  we  have  not 
man's  vision.  "Wyclif's  clear-cut  doctrinal  decisions.  Langland  takes 
for  granted  the  body  of  Church  doctrine,  but  he  is  constantly 
reaching  beyond  it  in  his  effort  to  exalt  the  reason  and  conscience 
and  the  moral  intuitions.  The  test  of  everything  is  its  agreement 
with  holiness  and  charity.  He  exalts  the  parliament  rather  than 
the  hierarchy,  and  there  is  in  many  aspects  of  Langland's  teaching 
a  wholesomeness  and  modernness  which  make  the  study  of  his 
Vision  a  fascinating  task.  "  The  vehement  and  passionate  Eng- 
land," says  Jusserand,  "  that  produced  the  great  revolt  of  1381  and 

1  Not  Langley,  as  Pearson  argues  in  a  brilliant  article  in  the  North  British 
Review,  April,  1870.  Skeat  agrees  with  Jusserand  in  rejecting  the  form 
Langley. 

2  Jusserand's  archaeological  information  about  Malvern  and  its  priory  is 
exceedingly  interesting. 

3  Piers  Plowman's  Vision,  ed.  Wright,  i,  150. 


GROSSETESTE   AND   OTHERS.  11 

the  heresy  of  Wyclif,  that  later  on  will  give  birth  to  Cavaliers  and 
Puritans,  is  contained  in  essence  in  Langland's  work  ;  we  divine,  we 
foresee  ner."  '  The  largeness  of  Langland's  view,  in  spite  of  his 
hearty  acceptance  of  the  traditional  teaching  of  the  Church,  is  ex- 
emplified in  his  hope  for  the  heathen.  He  trusts  that  all  the  Jews 
and  Saracens  may  receive  the  Christ  and  "  turne  into  the  trewe 
feithe,  for  Cryste  cleped  us  all — alle  Sarasenes  and  Scismatikes — 
and  Jewes."2 

1  Piers  Plowman,  p.  104. 

2  B.  xiii,  209 ;  xi,  114.  There  are  editions  of  Piers  Plowman  by  Wright, 
Lond.,  1842,  2d  ed.,  1856,  and  by  Skeat,  Lond.,  1867,  '69,  and  '72,  this  last 
representing  the  three  successive  forms  the  poem  assumed  under  the  hand  of 
the  author.  This  monumental  edition  by  Skeat  is  completed  by  a  supple- 
mentary volume,  the  4th,  1877,  2d  ed.,  1884,  containing  copious  introductions, 
various  readings,  and  notes.  A  more  convenient  edition  of  this  was  issued 
by  the  Clarendon  Press  in  1886,  in  2  vols.,  the  first  giving  the  three  parallel 
texts,  the  second  containing  ample  introductions  and  commentaries.  Portions 
of  the  middle  or  B  text  (about  1377),  with  introduction,  notes,  and  glossary,  was 
prepared  for  students  by  Skeat,  in  Clarendon  Press  series,  Oxf.,  1869,  2d 
ed. ,  1882 — an  admirable  edition.  Milman  discusses  at  length  the  historical 
significance  of  Langland's  work  in  his  Latin  Christianity,  bk.  xiv,  ch.  vii  (vol. 
viii,  pp.  372-384).  Excellent  estimates  also  in  Marsh,  Lectures  on  Origin  and 
History  of  the  English  Language,  N.  Y.,  1862,  pp.  296  ff.,  and  in  Morley, 
Library  of  English  Literature,  Lond.,  1878,  vol.  ii.  Lechler,  Wiclif,  has  an 
excellent  section,  pp.  70 ff.,  and  appendix  iii. 


12  HISTORY  OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 


LITERATURE :  JOHN  WYCLIF. 

I.    GENERAL   WORKS. 

Shirley,  W.  W.     A  catalogue   of   the   original   works  of  John  Wyclif,  Oxf., 
1865,  is  most  complete.     For  other  lists  see  Vaughan  and  Lechler,  below. 

1.  Dialogorum  Libri  Quatuor.     Basel,  1525. 

2.  The  Last  Age  of  the  Church.     Ed.  by  J.  H.  Todd.     Dubl.,  1840. 

3.  Apology  for  the  Lollards.    (Camden  Soc.)     Ed.  by  J.  H.Todd.    Dubl.,  1842. 

4.  Tracts  and   Treatises  with  selections   and    translations    from  his   Latin 

Works.     Ed.  by  Robert  Vaughan.     Lond.,  1845. 

5.  Translation  of  the  Bible.     Ed.  by  Josiah  Forshall  and  Frederick  Madden. 

4  vols.    Oxf.,  1850. 

6.  Three  Treatises.     Ed.  by  J.  H.  Todd.     Dubl.,  1851. 

7.  Tractatus  de  Officio  Pastorali.     Ed.  by  G.  V.  Lechler.     Leipz. ,  1863. 

8.  Select  English  Works.     Ed.  by  Thomas  Arnold.     3  vols.     Oxf.,  1869-71. 

9.  English  works  hitherto  unprin ted.     Ed.  by  F.  T.  Matthew.     Lond.,  1880. 

10.  De  Christo  et  suo  Adversario  Antichristo.    Ein  polemischer  Tractat.     Ed. 

by  Rudolf  Buddensieg.     Gotha,  1880. 

11.  Latin  Works  edited  for  the   Wyclif  Society.     19  vols.     Lond.,  1884-95. 

Not  yet  completed. 

12.  Sermons,  now  first  ed.  by  Joh.  Loserth.     4  vols.     Lond.,  1890. 

13.  Opus  Evangelicum,  pars.  i-ii.     Ed.  by  John  Loserth.     Lond.,  1895. 

H.    BIOGRAPHICAL. 

1.  Foxe,  John.     Acts  and  Monuments  of  the  Martyrs.     8  vols.     Lond.,  1858. 

First  ed.,  1563.  Prof.  Burrows  says,  "  Of  all  his  services  none  is  greater 
than  the  revival  of  the  Wyclif." 

2.  James,  Thomas.     Apology  for  J.  Wicleffe.     Oxf.,  1608. 

3.  Burnet,  Gilbert.     Travels,  with  his  answer  to  M.  Varillas.     Amst.,  1686. 

4.  Earby,  Matthias.     The  Pretended  Reformers  ;  or  a  True  History  of  the  Ger- 

man Reformation,  founded  upon  the  heresy  of  John  Wicliff e,  John  Huss 
and  Jerome  of  Prague.  Made  English  from  the  French  original  (of  Varillas), 
with  anintrod.  preface.  Lond.,  1720.    Ans.  by  John  Lewis  and  W.  King. 

5.  Lewis,  John.     History  of  the   Life  and  Sufferings  of  the   Reverend  and 

Learned  John  Wicleffe,  D.D.  Oxf.,  1720.  New  ed.,  Lond.,  1820.  A 
brief  history  of  the  rise  and  progress  of  Anabaptism  in  England  ;  to  which 
is  prefixed  some  account  of  Dr.  John  Wycliffe,  with  a  defense  of  him  from 
the  false  charge  of  his  denying  infant  baptism.  Lond.,  1738.  Brief 
reply  to  this.     Lond.,  1738. 

6.  Gilpin,  William.     Lives  of  John  Wycliff ,  and  of  the  most  eminent  of  his 

disciples,  Lord  Cobham,  John  Huss,  Jerome  of  Prague  and  Zisca.  2d  ed. , 
Lond.,  1766.   New  ed.,  N.  Y.,  1814.    Transl.  into  German.    Frankft.,  1769. 

7.  Zitte,  A.    Lebensbeschreibung  des  Eng.  Reformators  J.  Wiklef .  Prag,  1786. 

8.  Reiche,  G.  H.     Het  Leven  van  JanWiclef  nit  he  Hoogd.     Rott.,  1804. 


LITERATURE:   JOHN    WYCLIF.  13 

9.  Baber,  H.  H.     Wycliff's  Translation  of  the  New  Testament,  with  Memoirs 
of  his  Life,  Opinions,  and  Writings.     Lond.,  1811. 

10.  Vaughan,  Robert.     Life  and  Opinions   of  John  de  Wicliffe,  D.D.     2  vols. 

Lond.,  1828.  2d  ed.  imp.,  1831.  John  de  Wicliffe,  a  monograph. 
Lond.,  1854  Transl.  into  Dutch.  2  vols.  Amst.,  1855.  Vaughan  was 
an  enthusiastic  Wyclif  investigator,  and  his  work  is  of  permanent  value. 

11.  Le  Bas,  C.  W.     Life  of  Wiclif.     Lond.,  1832. 

12.  Engelhard,  J.  G.  V.     Wykliffe  als  Prediger.     Erlang.,  1834. 

13.  Groneman,  S.  A.  J.     Diatribe  in  Johannis  Wiclifi  Reformationis  Prodromi 

Vitam  Ingenium  Scripta.     Trent,  1837. 

14.  Jiiger,  O.     John  Wycliffe  u.  seine  Bedeutung   fiir  die  Reformation.    Halle, 

1854. 

15.  Cowell,  Herbert.     Character  and  Place  of  Wycliffe  as  a  Reformer.     Oxf., 

1857.     (The  Stanhope  Prize  Essay.) 

16.  Hanna,  William.     Wycliffe  and  the  Huguenots.     Lond. ,  1860. 

17.  Rogers,  J.  E.  T.    Sketch  of  Wycliffe.    In  vol.  ii  of  Hist.  Gleanings.    Lond., 

1870. 

18.  Lechler,  G.  V.     Johann  von  Wiclif  und  die  Vorgeschichte  der  Reforma- 

tion. 2  vols.  Leipz.,  1873.  English  transl.  of  vol.  i,  with  additions 
by  Lorimer.  John  Wiclif  and  his  English  Precursors.  2  vols.  Lond. , 
1878.  Again  in  one  vol.  in  1881.  New  ed.,  with  summary  of  the  second 
vol.  of  the  original.  Lond.,  1884.  Lechler's  thorough  and  exhaustive 
account  of  Wyclif 's  life  and  opinions  is  one  of  the  greatest  monographs 
in  the  literature  of  Church  History. 

19.  Storrs,  R.  S.     John  Wicliffe  and  the  First  English  Bible.     N.  Y.,  1880. 

20.  Burrows,  Montagu.     Wiclif 's  Place   in   History.     Lond.,  1880.     New  ed., 

1884.     A  brief  but  in  every  respect  admirable  work. 

21.  Loserth,  Johan.     Wiclif  und  Hus.     Zur   Genesis  der  husitischen   Lehre. 

Prag,  1884.  Transl.  by  H.  J.  Evans.  Lond.,  1885.  A  successful 
attempt  to  show  by  an  exhaustive  comparison  of  their  Latin  writings 
Hus's  complete  dependence  on  Wyclif. 

22.  Pennington,  A.R.  John  Wiclif  :  his  Life,  Times,  and  Teaching.  Lond., 1884. 

23.  Wilson,  J.  L.     John  Wycliffe,  Patriot  and  Reformer,  a  biography.     N.  Y., 

1884.  One  of  the  best  of  the  secondary  authorities. 

24.  Buddensieg,  Rudolf.     Johann  Wicliff  und  seine  Zeit.     Zum  500  jahrigen 

Wicliff  Jubiluum,  Dec.  31, 1884.  In  the  Schriften  des  Vereins  fiir  Refor- 
mationsgeschichte.     H.  8-9.    Halle,  1885.    Also  pub.  separately.    Gotha, 

1885.  Wiclif,  Patriot  and  Reformer,  with  selections  from  his  writings. 
Lond.,  1884.  The  best  of  the  smaller  books.  Buddensieg  is  one  of  the 
editors  of  Wyclif 's  Latin  works,  and  speaks  with  first-hand  right. 

25.  Stevenson,  J.    The  Truth  about  J.  Wyclif  :  his  Life,Writings,  and  Opinions. 

Chiefly  from  the  evidence  of  his  contemporaries.    Lond. ,  1885.  Rom.Cath. 

26.  Vattier,  Victor.  John  Wyckliff:  savie,  ses  oeuvres,  sa  doctrine.  Paris,  1886. 

27.  Poole,  R.  L.    Wycliffe  and  Movements  for  Reform.    Lond.,  1889.    The  best 

view  of  Wyclif,  in  relation  to  similar  efforts  at  reform. 

28.  Wiegand,  Franz.  De  Ecclesise  notione  quid  Wiclif  docuerit.     Leipz.,  1891. 

29.  Sergeant,  Lewis.     John  Wyclif,  Last  of  the  Schoolmen  and  First  of  the 

English  Reformers.  Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1893.  Written  with  enthusiasm 
and  ability,  but  \pHhpwt  suffix' e»t  notice  of  recently  published  materials. 


14  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

There  are  also  lives  of  P.  F.  Tytler,  Edinb.,  1826;  T.  Murray,  Edinb.,  1829;  M. 
Coxe,  Columbus,  O.,  1840  ;  W.  Chapman,  Lond.,1883;  S.  Green,  Lond.,  1884 
(Anecdotes);  Emily  S.  Holt,  N.  Y.,  1884;  W.  Marshall,  Edinb.,  1884;  J.  R. 
Thomson,  Lond.,  1884  ;  Henry  Varley,  Lond.,  1884  ;  Christopher  Wordsworth, 
Lond.,  1884  ;  J.  J.  Wray,  Lond.,  1884,  and  D.  J.  Deane,  Lond.  and  N.  Y,  1890. 
For  scholarly  and  in  many  cases  lengthy  review  articles,  see  C.  E.  Barrow,  in 
Baptist  Rev.,  1879,  119  ff.,  22  ff.  ;  Blackwood's  Mag.,  Dec,  1884  ;  A.  B.  Hyde, 
in  Meth.  Quar.  Rev.,  Oct.,  1884  ;  G.  G.  Smith,  in  South.  Meth.  Rev.,  Oct.,  1884  ; 
N.  P.  Gilman  and  F.  W.  Holland,  in  Unitarian  Rev.,  Dec,  1884  ;  A.  W.  Ward, 
in  Harper's  Mag.,  Jan.,  1885  ;  J.  L.  Ewell,  in  Andover  Rev. ,  Feb.,  1885  ;  in  the 
Church  Quar.  Rev.,  Lond.:  At  Oxf.,  v,  119  ff. ,  Cardinal  Repyngdon and  the 
Followers  of  Wiclif,  xix,  59  ff.,  his  Christ  and  Antichrist,  xi,  466  ff.,  Loserth's, 
xix,  240  ff.,  his  life  and  works,  xxxiii,  115  ff.  ;  the  Quar.  Rev.,  Lond.,  April, 
1889  ;  J.  A.  Faulkner,  in  Reformed  Quar.  Rev.,  April,  1890  ;  E.  P.  Cheyney, 
England  in  Time  of  Wycliffe,  in  Univ.  of  Pennsylvania  Original  Sources, 
Transl.  and  Reprints,  ii,  No.  5,  1895  ;  Zeitschrift  Kirchengeschichte,  xii,  3 
and  4,  1891  (als  Bibelubersetzung).  C.  A.  Briggs  gives  an  account  of  the 
Wyclif  Quincentenary  in  Pres.  Quar.  Rev.,  Jan.,  1885,  and  Buddensieg  an 
account  of  the  history  and  work  of  the  Wyclif  Society  in  Critical  Rev.,  iii, 
280  ff.,  and  iv,  71  ff.     See  also  Church  Quar.  Rev.,  xxxiii,  115,  117,  note. 

m.    THE  LOLLARDS. 

See  Lives  of  Wyclif.     Some  of  these  trace  the  results  of  Wyclif 's  preaching. 

1.  Bale,  John.     Select  works,  edited  by  Henry  Christmas  for  the  Parker  Soc 

Camb. ,  1849.  Contains  the  life  and  examinations  of  Lord  Cobham  (1st  ed. , 
Lond.,  1560),  William  Thorpe  and  Anne  Askew  (1st  ed.,  Lond.,  1549). 

2.  Kahle,  L.     De  Lollardis  seculi  14  testibus  veritates.     Jenas,  1732. 

3.  Lewis,  John.     The   Life   of  Reynold   Pecocke,  Bishop  of   St.   Asaph  and 

Chichester.  Lond.,  1744.  Lewis  styles  this  a  Sequel  to  the  Life  of 
Wyclif.     It  is  sometimes  bound  with  the  Life  of  Wyclif. 

4.  Gilpin,  William.     Life  of  John  Wyclif  and  the  most  eminent  of  his  disci- 

ples.    Lond.,  1766.     See  Wyclif  Literature. 

5.  Todd,  J.  H.     Apology  for  Lollards'  Doctrines,  attributed  to  Wicliffe,  now 

first  printed  from  a  MS.,  with  an  introduction  and  notes.     Lond.,  1842. 

6.  Gaspey,  T.  The  Life  and  Times  of  Good  Lord  Cobham.  2  vols.  Lond.,  1843. 

7.  Brown,  A.M.  The  Leader  of  the  Lollards,  his  Times  and  Trials.  Lond.,  1848. 

8.  Mackay,  Mrs.  The  Wycliffites  ;  or  England  in  the  15th  century.  Lond.,  1851. 

9.  Shirley,  W.  W.     Fasciculi  Zizaniorum  Magistri  Johannis  Wyclif  cum  Tri- 

tico.  Ascribed  to  Thomas  Netter  of  Walden.  Lond.,  1858.  Shirley's 
Introduction  is  a  most  masterly  and  thorough  discussion  of  Wyclif  and 
his  times,  and  recent  investigations  have  hardly  impaired  its  value. 

10.  Gairdner,  James.     The  Lollards.     The  Fortnightly  Review,  August,  1865. 

Reprinted  in  Studies  in  English  History.     Edinb.,  1881. 

11.  Jundt,  A.     Les  Precurseurs  de  Jean   Huss  au  14e  Siecle.     Montaub.,  1877. 

12.  Marshall,  William.     Wycliffe  and  the  Lollards.     Lond.,  1884. 

See  M.  Creighton,  Lollards,  in  the  Schaff-Herzog  Encyc,  with  literature 
appended;  the  fine  article  by  J.  F.  Latimer  in  Presb.  Quar.,  Richmond,  Va., 
April,  1888 ;  and  A.  Snow,  in  Dublin  Rev.,  Jan.,  1896  (R.  C). 


WYCLIF.  15 


CHAPTER  II. 

WYCLIF. 

"  Servant  of  God,  well  done  !  well  hast  thou  fought 

The  better  fight,  who  single  hast  maintained 

Against  revolted  multitudes  the  cause 

Of  truth  ;  in  word  mightier  than  they  in  arms  ; 

And  for  the  testimony  of  truth  hast  borne 

Universal  reproach,  far  worse  to  bear 

Than  violence  ;  for  it  was  all  thy  care 

To  stand  approved  in  sight  of  God,  though  worlds 

Judged  thee  perverse."1 

"  On  the  Feast  of  the  Passion  of  St.  Thomas  of  Canterbury, 
John  Wyclif — that  weapon  of  the  devil,  that  enemy  of  the  Church, 
that  sower  of  confusion  among  unlearned  people,  that  idol  of 
heresy,  that  mirror  of  hypocrisy,  that  father  of  schism,  that  son 
of  hatred,  that  carrier  of  lies — being  seized  with  the  dreadful  judg- 
ment of  God,  was  struck  with  palsy,  and  in  that  state  continued 
to  live  till  St.  Sylvester's  day,  when  he  breathed  out  his  malicious 
spirit  into  the  abodes  of  darkness."2 

This  judgment  of  a  contemporary  chronicler  well  expresses  the 
opinion  of  the  reigning  Church  on  the  boldest  and  most  uncom- 
promising reformer  of  her  corruptions  and  errors  whom  God  raised 
up  in  the  pre-Lutheran  age.  It  must  be  confessed  that  it  is  not 
very  far  removed  in  accuracy  and  charity  from  the  style  of  Roman 
Catholic  historians  of  a  modern  and  a  more  enlightened  age  in 
their  dealing  with  those  whom  they  regard  as  heresiarchs.  In 
1412 — twenty-eight  years  after  Wyclifs  death — Archbishop  Arun- 
del wrote  to  Pope  John  XXIII  asking  him  to  order  the  bones  of 
the  heretic,  "  a  most  wretched  and  pestilent  person  of  damnable 
memory,  a  son  of  the  old  serpent,  and  a  precursor  and  child  of 
antichrist/' 3  to  be  dug  up  and  cast  upon  a  dirt  heap  or  into  the 
fire.  This  eminently  Christian  request  the  council  of  Constance 
three  years  after  reiterated,4  although  it  was  not  carried  out  until 
1427,  when  Fleming,  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  caused  the  body  to  be 

1  Milton,  Paradise  Lost,  vi,  29  ff. 

2  Walsingham,  Historia  Anglicana,  ed.  Riley,  ii,  119. 

3  Wilkins,  Concilia,  ii,  350.  4  Labbe,  Concilia,  xii,  49. 


16  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

exhumed,  burned  to  ashes,  and  cast  into  the  brook  Swift.  On  this 
the  famous  comment  of  Thomas  Fuller  is  well  worth  quoting : 
"  Thus  the  brook  has  conveyed  his  ashes  into  Avon,  Avon  into 
Severn,  Severn  into  the  narrow  seas,  they  into  the  main  ocean. 
And  thus  the  ashes  of  Wicliffe  are  the  emblem  of  his  doctrine, 
which  now  is  dispersed  all  the  world  over."1  This  passage  so 
strongly  impressed  Wordsworth  that  he  versifies  it  in  one  of  his 

sonnets : 

"  Once  more  the  Church  is  seized  with  sudden  fear, 

And  at  her  call  is  Wicliffe  disinhumed  : 

Yea,  his  dry  ashes  are  consumed 

And  flung  into  the  brook  that  travels  near  ; 

Forthwith  that  ancient  voice  which  streams  can  hear 

Thus  speaks  (that  voice  which  walks  upon  the  wind, 

Though  seldom  heard  by  human  kind) — 

'  As  thou  these  ashes,  little  brook,  wilt  bear 

Into  the  Avon,  Avon  to  the  tide 

Of  Severn,  Severn  to  the  tide  of  narrow  seas, 

Into  main  ocean  they,  this  deed  accurst 

An  emblem  yields  to  friends  and  enemies 

How  the  bold  teacher's  doctrine,  sanctified 

By  truth,  shall  spread,  throughout  the  world  dispersed.'"2 

The  wild  ravings  of  Wyclif 's  bitter  opponents  may  well  be  passed 
over.  Men  never  indulge  in  vague  abuse  if  they  can  allege  definite 
breaches  of  the  decalogue.3  Most  of  the  reformers  have  paid  the 
penalty  of  their  innovations  by  charges  of  many  breaches,  though 

false  in  nearly  all  cases.  But  against  Wyclif  no 
lofty  char-    such  charges  are  forthcoming.     His  intellectual  and 

moral  preeminence  was  unquestioned.  Knighton 
speaks  of  him  as  "Doctor  in  theologia  eminentissimus  in  diebus 
illis,  in  philosophia  nulli  reputabatur  secundus,  in  scholasticis 
disciplinis  incomparabilis."4  His  piety  breathes  in  words  like 
these :  "  0  thou  Everlasting  Love  !  inflame  my  mind  to  love 
God  that  it  burn  not  but  to  his  callings.  0  Jesus  !  who  shall  give 
to  me  that  I  feel  thee  ?  Thou  must  now  be  felt  and  not  seen. 
Enter  into  my  heart  and  fill  it  with  thy  most  clear  sweetness ; 

1  Church  Hist,  of  Britain,  book  iv,  sec.  53,  ed.  Nichols,  i,  493. 

2  Eccl.  Sonnets,  xvii.  Wordsworth's  poems  are  well  worthy  the  study  of 
the  preacher.  The  best  one-vol.  edition  is  that  of  Morley,  Lond.  and  N.  Y., 
Macmillan,  1888.  The  great  edition  of  Knight  in  15  vols,  is  being  revised  and 
reissued,  1897-98. 

3  John  Wiclif,  in  Church  Quar.  Rev.,  Lond.,  Oct.,  1891,  p.  116.  This  is  a 
scholarly  and  able  article. 

4  HistoriaB  Anglicanae  Scriptores,  ed.  Twysden,  iii,  col.  26-44. 


WYCLIF.  17 

make  my  mind  to  think  deeply  of  thy  sweet  love,  that  I,  forgetting 
all  evils,  all  vain  visions  and  scornful  imaginations,  thee  only 
embracing,  joying  I  may  rejoice  in  my  Lord  Jesus."  ' 

There  was  no  uniformity  in  the  spelling  of  English  names  in 
mediaeval  or  even  in  later  times.  An  accomplished  Wyclif  scholar, 
Dr.  Rudolf  Buddensieg,  of  Dresden,  says  that  the  name  is  spelled 
in  fifty-three  different  ways  ; 2  and  F.  D.  Matthew,  another  Wyc- 
lif specialist,  speaks  of  thirty-three  spellings.  The  choice  is  nar- 
rowed to  four  :  (1)  Wycliffe,  the  name  of  the  village  from  which 
he  takes  his  name,  and  therefore  historically  preferable  ;  (2)  Wyc- 
liff,  as  Pope  Urban  spells  the  name ;  (3)  Wiclif,  as  he  is  called 
in  the  Royal  Commission  of  July  26,  1374 ;  (4)  Wyclif,  the  form 
used  by  Shirley,  the  accomplished  editor  of  the  Fasciculi  Zizani- 
orum,  and  the  first  biographer  to  place  Wyclif  in  his  true  light 
by  a  study  of  the  sources  which  recent  times  have  unearthed.3 
German  students  call  him  Wiclif,  and  English  scholars  generally 
prefer  Wyclif.4 

John  Wyclif  was  born  between  1319  and  1324,  at  Wycliffe-on- 
Tees,  near  old  Richmond,  in  Yorkshire.  The  first  sure  date  in  his 
career  is  1361,  when  he  was  made  Master  of  Balliol  College,  Oxford, 
a  college  founded  by  the  Balliols,  his  neighbors  at  Bar-  wyclif's 
nard  Castle.  He  had  livings  in  the  vicinity  of  Oxford, 
but  these  interrupted  but  little,  if  at  all,  his  residence  at  the  univer- 
sity. He  proceeded  to  the  doctor's  degree  between  1363  and  1366,  and 
in  1365  was  appointed  Warden  of  Canterbury  Hall,  an  institution 
then  recently  founded  by  Archbishop  Islip,  of  Canterbury.  In 
1367  Islip's  successor,  Langham,  expelled  all  the  secular  priests,  of 
whom  Wyclif  was  one,  from  Canterbury  Hall,  and  substituted 
monks  in  their  stead.  This  action  Wyclif  considered  illegal,  and 
appealed  the  matter  to  the  pope,  who,  in  1370,  decided  in  favor  of 
the  monks.  Some  Roman  writers  have  charged  Wyclif's  oppo- 
sition to  Rome  to  this  setback,  but  without  reason.  For  first, 
Wyclif's  writings  reveal  no  personal  animosity,  and  second,  the 
decision  against  Wyclif  was  not  made  until  1370  or  1371,  whereas 
his  antipapal  attitude  had  been  taken  as  early  as  1366. 

The  habit  of  attributing  personal  animosity,  or  chagrin,  or  dis- 
appointment, or  slight,  as  a  motive  of  the  protests  of  reformers  is  a 

1  See  Faulkner,  The  Work  of  Wiclif,  in  Reformed  Quar.  Rev.,  April,  1890, 
p.  229. 

2  London  Christian  World,  June  26,  1884. 

3  See  his  Introd.  to  Fasciculi  Zizaniorum,  Lond.,  1858. 

4  See  Church  Quar.  Rev.,  Lond.,  xxxiii,  115,  note. 

4  2 


18  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

common  one  with  Eoman  Catholic  writers.  It  seems  impossible 
for  them  to  appreciate  a  noble  or  conscientious  impulse.  Wodeford 
made  the  above  charge  against  Wyclif  in  1381,  and  though  so  bit- 
ter an  enemy  of  the  reformer  as  Thomas  Netter  of  Walden  did 
not  repeat  it,  it  is  mentioned  as  an  uncontroverted  fact  by  the 
Eoman  Catholic  Stevenson.1  Netter's  explanation  of  Wyclif 's  anti- 
papal  attitude  was  his  disappointment  in  not  receiving  a  bishopric — 
a  charge  equally  gratuitous.  It  should  be  stated  that  some  scholars 
believe  that  the  Wyclif  who  was  Warden  of  Canterbury  Hall  was 
another  Wycliffe,  John  Wyclyve,  vicar  of  Mayfield,  in  Sussex,  from 
1361  to  1380.  This  is  the  opinion  notably  of  Shirley,2  and  E.  L. 
Poole.3  Hook  adopts  this  view  as  firmly  established,  for  he  says  : 
"  I  assume  it  is  a  fact  now  admitted  by  all  who  have  examined  the 
subject  that  the  Warden  of  Canterbury  Hall  is  a  distinct  person 
from  the  great  reformer/'4  But  the  positiveness  of  Hook  is  pre- 
mature. There  seems  no  sufficient  reason  for  doubting  the  old 
tradition  which  identifies  the  reformer  with  the  Warden  of  Canter- 
bury. In  fact,  doubt  on  the  subject  might  almost  be  considered  to 
be  set  at  rest  by  the  discovery  and  editing  by  E.  M.  Thompson,  of 
the  British  Museum,  of  the  Chronicon  Anglige,  an  important  de- 
tailed history  of  the  close  of  Edward  Ill's  and  the  beginning 
of  Eichard  IFs  reign,  which  was  printed  for  the  first  time  in  the 
Eolls  Series  in  1874.  In  it  occurs  the  following  passage  :  "  The 
Duke  (John  of  Gaunt)  had  taken  to  his  party  a  certain  false 
theologian,  a  real  fighter  against  God,  who  for  many  years  in  the 
schools  in  all  his  acts  had  opposed  the  Church,  because  he  was 
justly  deprived  by  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  of  a  certain  bene- 
fice in  the  University  of  Oxford,  of  which  he  was  unjustly  the  in- 
cumbent."5 An  investigator  who  has  thoroughly  ventilated  this 
whole  question  with  every  other  item  of  information  concerning  the 
reformer's  connection  with  Oxford,  agrees  with  Lechler  in  holding 
to  the  inconclusiveness  of  Shirley's  reasoning  and  in  maintaining 
the  identity  of  our  Wyclif  with  the  Warden  of  Canterbury  Hall.6 
Lechler  is  also  supported  in  this  by  such  experts  as  Burrows,7 

1  Truth  about  John  Wiclif,  Lond.,  1885. 

2  Note  to  Fasciculi  Zizaniorum,  p.  526. 

s  Wycliffe  and  Movements  for  Reform,  Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1889,  p.  68. 
*  Lives  of  Archbishops  of  Canterbury,  iv,  158. 

6  See   an  able  article,  Wiclif  and  his  Works,  in  Quar.  Rev. ,  Lond. ,  April, 
1889,  pp.  507,  508. 

6  John  Wyclif  in  Oxford,  in  Church  Quar.  Rev.,  Oct.,  1877  (v,  119  ff.). 

7  Wiclif 's  Place  in  History,  Lond.,  1882,  p.  54. 


WYCLIF.  19 

Buddensieg,1  Lorimer,5  and  Matthew.3  Wyclif 's  wardenship,  rest- 
ing, as  it  does,  on  the  statements  of  two  contemporary  witnesses, 
Wodeford  and  the  Monk  of  St.  Albans,  may  be  taken  as  estab- 
lished. 

It  is  interesting  to  notice  that  it  was  a  question  of  politics  which 
first  brought  Wyclif  out  in  opposition  to  the  pope.  In  1366  Pope 
Urban  V  demanded  from  Edward  III  the  payment  of  the  feudal 
tribute  money  due  from  England  to  the  papal  see — a  thousand 
marks  annually — with  the  arrears  that  had  accumulated  for  thirty- 
three  years.4  Edward  submitted  the  matter  to  Parliament,  which 
replied  in  these  words:  "  Forasmuch  as  neither  King  John  nor  any 
other  king  could  bring  that  realm  and  kingdom  in  such  thralldom 
and  subjection  but  by  common  consent  of  Parliament,  the  which 
was  not  done;  therefore  that  which  he  did  was  against  his  oath  at 
his  coronation,  besides  many  other  causes.  If,  therefore,  the  pope 
should  attempt  anything  against  the  king,  by  process  of  other  mat- 
ters in  deed,  the  king  with  all  his  subjects  should  with  all  their 
force  and  power  resist  him." 5 

In  support  of  this  position  Wyclif  wrote  his  first  book,  Determina- 
tio  de  Dominio,  in  which  he  lays  down  the  principle  for  which  Dante 
had  contended  half  a  century  before, 6  that  the  State  and  CHtJKCH 
Church  are  two  separate  and  distinct  jurisdictions,  that  AND  STATE- 
the  pope  has  no  authority  in  the  State,  and  that  no  tribute  can  be 
exacted  from  the  king  to  the  pope.  "  Christ  alone  is  the  suzerain. 
The  pope  being  fallible,  yea,  peccable,  may  be  in  mortal  sin.  It  is 
better  as  of  old  to  hold  the  realm  immediately  of  Christ."  In  1374 
Wyclif  was  a  member  of  the  Eoyal  Commission  appointed  to  meet 
the  papal  nuncios  at  Bruges  to  negotiate  a  settlement  of  some  dis- 
pute between  England  and  the  papacy.  In  this  same  year  he  was 
made  rector  of  Lutterworth  in  Leicestershire. 

In  February,  1377,  Wyclif  was  summoned  to  appear  before  con- 
vocation in  London  to  answer  various  charges.     This  trial,  before 

1  John  Wiclif,  Patriot  and  Reformer,  Lond.,  1884,  p.  17. 

2  Appendix  iv  to  Lechler,  Wiclif,  pp.  475,  476. 

3  Art.  Wycliffe  in  Chambers'  Encyc,  last  ed.,  x,  760. 

1  The  vassalage  of  England  to  the  pope  was  acknowledged  by  King  John  in 
1213.  He  agreed  to  pay  Innocent  and  his  successors  1,000  marks  a  year,  each 
mark  being  equal  to  13s.  4d.,  or  about  $3.33.  Gardiner,  Student's  Hist,  of 
England,  p.  180.  This  tax  was  exceedingly  distasteful  to  Englishmen  as  a  sign 
of  national  humiliation,  and  since  1333 — the  year  in  which  Edward  IH  took 
the  government  into  his  own  hands — it  had  not  been  paid. 

5  Cotton,  Abridgment  of  Records,  p.  102  ;  Lewis,  Life  of  Wycliffe,  p.  19. 

6  See  above,  i,  894-895. 


20  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

his  case  was  touched  at  all,  was  brought  to  a  disgraceful  conclusion 
by  a  brawl  between  Wyclif's  supporters  and  Courtenay,  Bishop  of 
London.  The  next  attempt  of  this  kind  was  made  by  Pope  Greg- 
ory XI,  who,  having  just  terminated  the  Babylonian  captivity  of 
the  Church  by  his  return  to  Rome,1  issued  several  bulls  against  this 
bold  Englishman — three  addressed  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury 
wyclif  on  an£l  ^ne  Bishop  of  London,  one  to  the  University  of  Ox- 
trial,  ford,  and  one  to  the  king.  It  is  certainly  a  significant 
fact — a  prophecy  of  the  end  of  the  papal  rule  in  England — that  all 
this  papal  thunder  came  to  nothing.  Wyclif  appeared  before  the 
archbishop  at  Lambeth  Palace  early  in  1378,  but  the  Princess  of 
Wales  sent  a  messenger  forbidding  the  prelate  to  pass  sentence  upon 
him,  and,  besides,  the  court  was  cut  short  by  an  inroad  of  the  citi- 
zens of  London,  and  Wyclif  retired  in  peace  to  his  rectory.  His 
contemporary,  Walsingham,  describes  the  fearful  councilors : 
"  Their  speech  became  soft  as  oil,  and  with  such  fear  were  they 
struck  that  they  seemed  to  be  as  a  man  that  heareth  not,  in  whose 
mouth  are  no  reproofs/' a 

The  papal  schism  of  1378  was  the  occasion  of  a  yet  more  rad- 
ical attitude  as  a  reformer.  Meditation,  study  of  the  Scriptures, 
and  practical  knowledge  of  papal  affairs,  had  brought  Wyclif  to 
a  more  and  more  distinctively  Protestant  position.  He  came  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  Church  could  dispense  with  both  popes. 
When  he  sees  them  cursing  each  other,  fighting  each  other  with 
blood  and  fire,  he  is  filled  with  intense  indignation.  The  Vienna 
manuscripts  show  us  how  gradually  he  came  to  his  final  decided 
views  that  both  popes  are  "monsters,  incarnate  devils,"  that  the 
"pope  is  the  fountain  and  origin  of  all  the  wickedness  in  the 
Church,  and  that  he  is  very  antichrist."3  This  additional  light 
and  these  deepening  convictions  bore  Wyclif  on  in  various  fruitful 
activities. 

His  early  high  opinion  of  the  order  of  the  Franciscans  as  an 
approach  to  Christ's  ideal  was  changed  after  1378  to  a  profound  de- 
testation of  the  spirit  and  methods  of  all  the  Begging  Friars. 4  This 

1  See  above,  i,  780.  2  Hist.  Anglicana,  i,  345  ff. 

3  Supplement  to  the  Trialogus. 

4  The  old  biographers  of  Wyclif,  Anthony  Wood,  Lewis,  and  Le  Bas,  have 
made  popular  the  notion  that  the  reformer  from  the  first— say  from  1360— 
made  the  Mendicants  an  object  of  his  attacks.  The  publication  of  Wyclif's 
works  has  dispelled  this  notion,  and  Lechler  placed  this  part  of  his  life  in  its 
proper  relation,  though  Lechler  himself  errs  in  postponing  his  attack  until  his 
controversy  over  the  Sacrament  of  the  Altar  in  1381. 


WYCLIF.  21 

detestation  found  expression  in  the  epithet  Cairn,  the  mediseval  way 
of  spelling  Cain,  recalling  the  blood  of  the  innocent  bearing  wit- 
ness against  the  murderer.     The  word  is  formed  from 

B  .11  INDICTMENT 

the  initial  letters  of  the  four  Mendicant  orders,  the  of  the 
Carmelites,  Augustmians,  Jacobites,  or  Domini- 
cans,1 and  Minorites,  or  Franciscans.  The  latest  Wyclif  scholar 
admirably  sums  up  this  part  of  the  subject  :  "  Up  to  1381  his 
attacks  were  mainly  directed  against  practical  abuses.  He  saw  the 
papal  court  a  mart  for  the  sale  of  preferments  and  indulgences, 
crowds  of  '  Komerunners '  draining  England  of  bullion  to  fill  the 
treasury  of  France,  foreign  ecclesiastics  intruded  into  English  ben- 
efices which  they  never  visited.  He  saw  on  every  side  proofs  of 
simony  and  worldliness  of  the  higher  clergy.  His  own  bishop 
had  openly  bought  the  see  of  Lincoln.  Prelates  and  abbots  were 
absorbed  in  secular  pursuits  and  the  pleasures  of  the  chase.  He 
saw  the  '  religious  possessioners '  lay  field  to  field  and  house  to 
house,  and  starve  the  country  district  by  filling  rural  cures  with 
ignorant  vicars  who  could  not  even  read  the  Ten  Commandments. 
He  saw  parish  priests  given  over  to  the  tavern,  hunting,  and  glut- 
tony, and  so  occupied  in  worldly  avocations  as  to  be  rather  bailiffs 
and  reeves  than  '  ghostly  fathers/ 

"But  the  Mendicants,  the  inhabitants  of  'Cain's  Castle/  as 
Wyclif  calls  them,  are  the  special  objects  of  his  indignation.  His 
language  against  them  knows  no  measure.  Their  ideal  was  also 
his;  but  their  poverty  was  feigned.  He  detested  them  for  the  evasion 
of  their  vows,  for  the  championship  of  the  pope,  for  their  teaching 
on  the  mass.  He  attacked  them  for  their  catchpenny  sermons,  in 
which  they  tickled  the  ears  of  the  people  with  profane  stories  in 
order  to  gain  larger  collections;  for  their  untruthfulness,  which  had 
made  a  friar's  statement  a  proverb  for  a  falsehood  ;  for  their  glut- 
tony, to  satisfy  which  they  built  kitchens  more  splendid  than  the 
palaces  of  kings;  for  their  clamorous  and  unscrupulous  begging;  for 
their  claims  to  special  holiness  and  special  efficacy  in  prayer,  as 
though  one  '  Familorum  ' 2  by  a  friar  were  better  than  a  paternos- 
ter; for  their  easy  absolution  of  sinners  ;  for  their  letters  of  frater- 
nization, by  which  the  rich  obtained  the  graces  without  the  priva- 
tion of  poverty;  for  their  imposition  on  the  credulity  of  the  simple 
by  the  sale  of  pardons,  or  by  the  exposition  of  relics,  like  the  veil 

1  The  Dominicans  were  called  Jacobites  from  the  fact  that  their  first  mon- 
astery in  Paris  stood  near  the  gate  of  St.  Jacques. 

2  Alluding  to  one  of  the  prayers  in  the  commemoration  for  the  living.  ' '  Me- 
mento domine  Famularum." 


22  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

of  Our  Lady,  or  the  swatch  of  the  sail  of  St.  Peter's  Fishing 
Boat."1 

These  Letters  of  Fraternity  were  singular  instruments  of  greed, 
enrolling  rich  men  as  a  kind  of  associate  members  of  the  monastic 
orders,  after  which  they  were  entitled  to  the  benefits  of  all  the  works 
letters  of  done  throughout  the  order.2  It  is  interesting  to 
fraternity.  no^e  ^-j^  "Wyclif  himself  says  of  them  :  "  I  am  will- 
ing to  say  of  these  Letters  in  Latin  what  I  have  formerly  said 
in  English,3  for  it  is  important  to  know  something  of  their 
history.  If  this  be  well  understood,  the  simoniacal  heresy  of  those 
selling  them  will  be  immediately  manifest,  for  they  do  not  issue 
such  rules  except  in  the  expectation  of  realizing  gain  and  of  giving 
strength  to  their  unlawful  confederacy.  Beyond  doubt  there  is  im- 
plied in  this  practice  a  fraudulent  buying  and  selling  ;  and  it  is 
equally  certain  that  God  must  hate  this  abominable  traffic. 

"  On  many  grounds  it  is  evident  that  the  friars  selling  these  let- 
ters have  fallen  into  a  radical  heresy,  for  they  pretend  expressly 
in  them  that  the  individuals  to  whom  they  grant  them  shall  be 
made  partakers  of  merits  from  themselves  after  death.  But  where 
can  you  find  a  more  presumptuous  blasphemy  ?  For  neither  they 
themselves  nor  the  men  with  whom  they  carry  on  this  traffic  can 
know  whether  they  may  not  be  condemned  in  hell.  How  blind, 
then,  is  their  folly  in  making  assertions  on  a  subject  on  which  they 
know  so  little!  But  they  are,  it  seems,  of  such  innate  tendency  to 
falsehood  that  they  do  not  hesitate  to  assert,  contrary  to  eternal 
judgment,  that  they  can  do  things  which  in  reality  they  cannot  do. 
Again,  if  they  promise  to  another  man  that  after  death  he  shall 
be  a  partaker  of  their  merits,  they  manifestly  imply  both  that  the 
man  himself  will  after  death  be  worthy  of  such  participation,  and 
that  they  themselves  at  present  merit  future  happiness  ;  because  if 
each  party  should  be  a  foredoomed  member  of  Satan,4  then  such  a 
granting  must  be  beyond  the  power  of  these  friars. 

"  The  friars,  by  the  letters  which  they  so  assiduously  display  to 
the  people,  give  plain  indication  that  they  say  unto  the  people  that 
they  themselves  are  holy  and  grave  men  in  the  Church,  and,  what 

1  Art.  John  Wyclif,  in  Church  Quar.  Rev.,  Oct.,  1891,  pp.  131,  132.  Budden- 
sieg  gives  some  pertinent  quotations  from  Wyclif  on  the  Friars  in  his  John 
Wiclif,  pp.  151-155. 

2  See  Ducange,  Gloss.,  s.  v.  Fraternitas,  where  the  formula  of  admission  is 
given. 

3  See  Select  English  Works  of  John  Wyclif,  ed.  T.  Arnold,  Oxf.,  1869-72, 
i,  67,  380,  iii,420ff. 

*  Wyclif  was  an  Augustinian  in  his  predestinarianism. 


WYCLIF.  23 

is  more  than  the  sounding  of  a  trumpet  before  them,  they  send 
forth  letters  to  confirm  the  impression  of  their  sanctity,  which  men 
are  to  preserve  constantly  in  their  chests.  Many  simple  people, 
however,  confide  as  much  in  these  frivolous  letters  as  in  an  article 
of  faith  like  that  of  the  communion  of  saints,  or  salvation  by 
Christ.  Will,  then,  a  man  shrink  from  acts  of  licentiousness  and 
fraud  if  he  believe  that  soon  after,  by  the  aid  of  a  little  money 
bestowed  on  friars,  an  active  absolution  from  the  crime  he  has 
committed  may  be  obtained  ?  Accordingly  this  heresy  is  sup- 
posed to  be  the  cause  why  the  faith  of  the  laity  is  found  to  be 
so  wavering." ' 

This  may  be  taken  as  an  excellent  illustration  of  Wyclif 's  dealing 
with  one  of  the  best  cherished  institutions  of  the  Church. 

Wyclif's  later  years  were  marked  by  the  issuing  of  his  theolog- 
ical tracts  and  writing  his  Latin  books — forestalling  the  wyclif's 
^Reformation  in  the  vigor,  definiteness,  and  scriptural-  writings. 
ness  of  his  views.  He  saw  that  the  great  need  of  the  people  was. 
a  knowledge  of  God's  word.  "  Christians  ought  to  travail  day  and 
night,"  says  he,  "upon  the  text  of  Holy  Writ,  especially  upon  the 
Gospel  in  their  mother  tongue.  And  yet  men  will  not  suffer  it 
that  the  laity  should  know  the  Gospel  and  read  it  in  their  common 
life  in  humility  and  love.  Covetous  clerks  of  this  world  reply  and 
say  that  laymen  may  soon  err,  and  therefore  they  should  not  dis- 
pute of  Christian  faith.  Alas!  alas!  what  cruelty  is  this,  to  rob  a 
whole  realm  of  bodily  food  because  a  few  fools  may  be  gluttons 
and  do  harm  to  themselves  and  others  by  their  food  taken  immod- 
erately. As  easily  may  a  proud  worldly  priest  err  against  the 
Gospel  written  in  Latin  as  a  simple  layman  err  against  the  Gospel 
written  in  English.  .  .  .  What  reason  is  this  if  a  child  fail  in  a 
lesson  at  the  first  day  to  suffer  never  children  to  come  to  lessons  for 
this  default  ?  Who  would  ever  become  a  scholar  by  this  process  ? 
What  antichrist  is  this  who  to  the  shame  of  Christian  men  dares 
to  hinder  the  laity  to  learn  this  holy  lesson  which  is  so  hard 
[strongly]  commanded  by  God  ?  Each  man  is  bound  to  do  so  that 
he  be  saved,  but  each  layman  who  shall  be  saved  is  a  real  priest 
made  of  God,  and  each  man  is  bound  to  be  a  very  priest."  a 

The  thoroughly  Protestant  tone  of  these  words  is  to  be  noted. 
The  New  Testament  was  translated  first  and  by  Wyclif,  and  com- 
pleted about  1382  ;  the  Old  Testament  was  translated  by  Nicholas 

1  See  Buddensieg,  as  above,  pp.  156-159. 

2  Pref.  to  Transl.  of  Gospel  Harmony.  See  Forshall  and  Madden's  ed.  of  the 
Wyclif  Bible,  and  Lechler,  p.  213. 


24  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Hereford,  one  of  the  leaders  of  theWyclif  party  at  the  university,  and 
by  others.  Both  translations  were  from  the  Vulgate.  The  work  of 
Hereford  was  suddenly  interrupted  by  a  citation  to  appear  before  a 
council  in  London,  from  which  he  appealed  to  the  pope,  and  by  him 
he  was  imprisoned  for  years.  Wyclif  multiplied  copies  of  the  trans- 
lation both  of  the  Bible  as  a  whole  and  of  parts,  placed  them  in  the 
hands  of  his  preachers,  and  thus  England  was  saved  from  the  reign 
of  ignorance  and  superstition  which  has  cursed  the  Latin  races  of 
Europe.  The  Church  tried  in  every  way  to  destroy  all  copies  of 
,  Wyclif 's  versions,  but  it  utterly  failed  in  this.    Numer- 

pible.  ous  manuscript  copies  exist  in  English  libraries,  and  we 

infer  that  Wyclif  s  Bible  was  widely  circulated.  A  thorough  re- 
vision was  undertaken  by  Wyclif's  learned  pupil  and  ministerial 
assistant,  John  Purvey,  and  completed  about  1388.  Wyclif's  Bible 
and  prose  writings  were  the  creators  of  our  modern  English.  As 
Luther  opened  the  period  of  the  new  High  German,  so  Wyclif  laid 
the  foundations  among  the  common  people  for  the  present  English 
speech.  Chaucer  wrote  more  for  the  higher  classes,  but  Wyclif 
spoke  to  the  heart  of  the  nation,  and  it  is  to  his  perspicuous,  nerv- 
ous, forceful,  direct  Middle  English  speech  that  we  owe  the  fixing 
of  our  language  in  those  general  features  which  Shakespeare  and 
the  English  Bible  of  1611  have  made  eternal.1 

Wyclif's  last  days  were  spent  at  Lutterworth  in  writing  and 
preaching  those  earnest  sermons  which  thrill  us  to  this  day,  and  in 

1  It  is  not,  says  Shirley,  "  by  his  translation  of  the  Bible,  remarkable  as  that 
work  is,  that  Wyclif  can  be  judged  as  a  writer.  It  is  in  his  original  tracts 
that  the  exquisite  pathos,  the  keen,  delicate  irony,  the  manly  passion  of  his 
short  nervous  sentences,  fairly  overmaster  the  weakness  of  the  unformed 
language,  and  give  us  English  which  cannot  be  read  without  a  feeling  of  its 
beauty  to  this  hour"  (Fascic.  Zizan.,  p.  xlvi).  Writers  on  Wyclif  and  pub- 
lishers of  his  Bible  have  often  confounded  the  earlier  version  of  Wyclif  and 
Hereford  with  the  revision  of  Purvey.  Thus  John  Lewis,  the  first  important 
biographer  of  Wyclif  (1720),  published  the  revision  of  Purvey  as  the  original 
translation  of  Wyclif — The  New  Testament,  translated  out  of  the  Latin  Vul- 
gate, by  John  Wiclif,  about  1378  [should  be  1382],  Lond.,  1731  ;  and  this  was 
reprinted  in  1810  by  H.  H.  Barber  and  in  1841  by  Bagster  in  his  Hexapla. 
Adam  Clarke  was  the  first  to  publish  the  original  version  of  Wyclif  and  Here- 
ford— albeit  only  the  Song  of  Songs — which  he  did  in  his  Commentary  from  a 
manuscript  in  his  own  possession.  The  New  Testament  in  this  version  was  not 
published  until  Lea  Wilson  issued  it  in  London  in  1848.  It  was  left  to  Rev. 
Josiah  Forshall  and  Sir  Frederick  Madden  to  thoroughly  investigate  every  fact 
relating  to  Wyclif's  Bible,  and  to  republish  the  original  version  and  Purvey's 
revision  in  parallel  columns,  with  an  invaluable  Introduction,  Lond.,  1850, 
4  vols. ,  large  4to. 


WYCLIF.  25- 

the  active  duties  of  a  parish  priest.  He  was  at  last  cited  by 
Urban  V  to  Rome  to  answer  for  his  heresies,  but  growing  infirmi- 
ties compelled  him  to  refer  the  pope  to  the  citation  of  God,  thus 
manifested,  as  forbidding  him  to  go.  An  attack  of  paralysis 
carried  him  off  on  the  last  day  of  1384.  * 

1  Vaughan,  Life  and  Opinions  of  Wycliffe,  ii,  224,  and  John  de  Wycliffe,  a 
Monograph,  p.  468,  to  whom  Wyclif  literature  owes  a  vast  debt,  says  that 
Wyclif  was  engaged  in  administering  the  eucharist  when  seized.  This  is  an  in- 
nocent extension  of  the  statement  made  by  the  oldest  sources,  Audiens  missam 
in  ecclesia  sua  de  Lyttywort  circa  elevationem  sacramenti  altaris  decidit  per- 
cussus  magna  paralysi,  according  to  Gascoigne,  from  the  report  of  John  Horn. 
See  Lewis,  Wiclif ,  p.  336  ;  Lechler,  p.  422.  He  was  stricken  while  hearing 
the  mass,  not  while  officiating. 


26  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


CHAPTER   III. 

WYCLIF'S  ITINERANT  PREACHERS. 

Professor  Shirley  was  the  first  to  call  attention  to  Wyclif  s 
anticipation  of  Wesley's  itinerancy — the  resemblance  between  the 
"poor  priests"  and.  "Wesley's  lay  preachers  such  as  they  were 
while  his  strong  hand  was  upon  them." '  Nothing  illustrates  better 
Wyclif  s  practical  genius  than  his  determination  to  sow  England 
deep  with  evangelical  principles  by  sending  out  priests  and  laymen 
— for  he  employed  both — armed  with  copies  of  the  gospels  and 
epistles  which  he  had  just  translated,  and  with  his  vigorous  Eng- 
lish tracts  and  pamphlets.  They  went  forth  in  long  garments  of 
coarse  woolen  cloth,  barefooted,  with  staff  in  hand,  as  pilgrims, 
wandering  from  village  to  village,  town  to  town,  preaching,  teaching, 
warning,  wherever  they  could  find  hearers — in  church,  churchyard, 
street,  and  market  place.  The  Church  authorities  were  deeply 
enraged  by  this  itinerant  propagandism  of  heresy,  and  Courtenay, 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  calls  attention  "to  certain  unauthorized 
itinerant  preachers,  who  set  forth  erroneous,  yea,  heretical  asser- 
tions in  public  sermons,  not  only  in  churches,  but  also  in  public 
squares  and  other  profane  places,  and  they  do  this  under  the  guise 
of  great  holiness,  but  without  having  obtained  any  episcopal  or 
papal  authorization."3 

The  sermons  of  Wyclif 's  preachers  were  simple  presentations 
of  Gospel  facts  and  ethics,  especially  the  latter,  which  they  en- 
forced with  great  vigor  and  plainness  of  speech.  They  were  sent 
out  by  Wyclif  from  Oxford  and  Lutterworth,  their  special  field 
of  activity  being  Leicestershire,  though  they  extended  beyond 
that,  and  their  time  was  in  the  last  part  of  Wyclif's  life,  perhaps 
1375-82.  Wyclif  wrote  many  tracts,  both  in  English  and  Latin, 
in  defense  of  them,  one  of  which,  De  Graduationibus  Scholasticis, 

1  Fasciculi  Zizaniorum,  Lond.,  1858,  p.  xli.  The  first  modern  biographer 
of  Wyclif,  Lewis,  hardly  mentions  the  poor  priests,  but  that  enthusiastic  Wyc- 
lifite,  Eobert  Vaughan,  does  full  justice  to  this  aspect  of  the  reformer's  work. 
See  his  Life  and  Opinions  of  Wy cliff e,  2d  ed.,  rev.,  Lond.,  1831,  ii,  163  ff. 
Lechler  is  full  and  satisfactory  here,  as  everywhere,  2d  ed.,  Lond.,  1884,  189  ff. 
Wesley  himself  never  mentions  Wyclif. 

2  Wilkins,  Concilia,  iii,  158. 


VVYCLIF'S  ITINERANT  PREACHERS.  27 

is  a  defense  of  the  right  to  employ  men  not  graduates  to  preach 
the  Gospel,  which  he  proves  from  Scripture  and  the  practice  of 
the  Church.' 

In  another  of  these  tracts,  "Why  Poor  Priests  Have  No  Bene- 
fices, he  gives  a  scathing  picture  of  the  state  of  the  Church.  In 
order  to  obtain  a  pastoral  charge  a  priest  must  usually  buy  his 
•way — present  to  the  prelate  first  fruits  and  other  unlawful  contri- 
butions, or  he  must  combine  with  it  some  worldly  office  inconsistent 
with  the  life  of  a  priest.  Vicious  and  incompetent  men,  A  SCAThiNg 
therefore,  may  obtain  the  care  of  many  thousand  souls  ;  tract. 
"  but  if,"  says  Wyclif,  "  there  be  any  simple  man  who  desireth  to  live 
well,  or  to  teach  truly  the  law  of  God,  he  shall  be  deemed  a  hyp- 
ocrite, a  new  teacher,  a  heretic,  and  not  suffered  to  come  to  any 
benefice.  If  in  any  little  poor  place  he  shall  live  a  poor  life  he 
shall  be  so  persecuted  and  slandered  that  he  shall  be  put  out 
by  wills,  extortions,  frauds,  or  worldly  violence,  and  imprisoned 
or  burnt."  Some  lay  patrons,  "to  cover  their  simony,  will  not 
take  for  themselves,  but  kerchiefs  for  the  lady,  or  a  palfrey,  or 
a  tun  of  wine.  And  when  some  lords  would  present  a  good  man, 
then  some  ladies  are  the  means  of  having  a  dancer  presented,  or 
a  tripper  on  tapits,  or  a  hunter,  or  a  hawker,  or  a  wild  player 
of  summer  gambols."  It  is  almost  impossible,  therefore,  for 
poor  priests  to  accept  benefices  without  contracting  the  guilt  of 
simony. 

Another  reason  why  poor  priests  cannot  accept  benefices  is  the 
fear  of  being  compelled  to  misspend  poor  men's  goods — misspend- 
ing, that  is,  the  income  of  the  cure  on  ecclesiastics,  patrons,  rich 
entertainments,  and  the  like.  Wyclif  here  mentions  a  curious 
custom  which  shows  the  depth  of  infamy  to  which  the  Church  had 
descended.  "  On  each  holy  day  these  small  curates  shall  com- 
monly have  letters  from  their  ordinaries  to  summon  and  curse  poor 
men  [for  not  paying  more  into  the  coffers  of  the  Church],  and  for 
naught  except  the  covetousness  of  the  clerks  of  antichrist ; 
and  if  they  refuse  to  summon  and  curse  them,  though  they  know 
not  why  they  should,  they  shall  be  injured,  and  summoned  from 
day  to  day,  from  one  far  place  to  a  farther,  or  be  accursed,  or  lose 
their  benefice,  or  their  profits."  "Wyclif  reprobates  in  the  strongest 
language  these  "cursed  deceits." 

But  "Wyclif's  chief  reason  for  the  itinerant  life  for  his  helpers  is 
that  in  this  manner  they  can  better  "help  their  brethren  heaven- 
ward, whether  by  teaching,  praying,  or  example-giving.     By  this 
1  This  tract  is  still  in  MS.  in  Vienna. 


28  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

they  most  surely  save  themselves  and  help  their  brethren ;  and 
they  are  free  to  fly  from  one  city  to  another  when  they  are  perse- 
cuted by  the  clerks  of  antichrist,  as  Christ  biddeth,  and  the  Gos- 
pel. And  thus  they  may  best  without  any  challenging  of  men  go 
and  dwell  among  the  people  where  they  shall  most  profit,  and  for 
the  time  convenient,  coming  and  going  after  the  moving  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  and  not  being  hindered  from  doing  what  is  best  by 
the  jurisdiction  of  sinful  men.  Also  they  follow  Christ  and  the 
apostles  more  in  taking  voluntary  alms  of  the  people  whom  they 
teach,  than  in  taking  dymes  and  offerings  by  customs  which  sinful 
men  have  ordained  in  the  time  of  grace." 

Parish  priests  who  were  faithful  to  their  trust  are  not  con- 
demned. "  Nevertheless,  they  condemn  not  curates  who  do  well 
their  office,  and  dwell  where  they  shall  most  profit,  and  teach  truly 
and  stably  the  law  of  God  against  false  prophets  and  the  accursed 
deceptions  of  the  fiend.  Christ,  for  his  endless  mercy,  help  his 
priests  and  common  people  to  beware  of  antichrist's  deceits,  and 
to  go  even  the  right  way  to  heaven.  Amen,  Jesus,  for  thy  end- 
less charity."1 

It  is  the  glory  of  Wyclif  that  he  saw  that  the  true  work  of  the  min- 
preaching  ister  was  preaching.  When  one  of  his  preachers,  William 
exalted.  Thorp,  was  examined  by  Archbishop  Arundel  the  ac- 
cused itinerant  made  the  following  noble  confession,  fully  worthy  of 
Wesley  when  experiencing  like  persecution  four  hundred  years  later: 
"  By  the  authority  of  the  word  of  God,  and  also  of  many  saints  and 
doctors,  I  have  been  brought  to  the  conviction  that  it  is  the  office  and 
duty  of  every  priest  faithfully,  freely,  and  truly  to  preach  God's  word. 
Without  doubt  it  behooves  every  priest,  in  determining  to  take 
orders,  to  do  so  chiefly  with  the  object  of  preaching  the  word  of 
God  to  the  people  to  the  best  of  his  ability.  We  are  accordingly 
bound  by  Christ's  command  to  exercise  ourselves  in  such  wise  as  to 
fulfill  this  duty  to  the  best  of  our  knowledge  and  power.  We  be- 
lieve that  every  priest  is  commanded  by  the  word  of  God  to  make 
God's  will  known  to  the  people  by  faithful  labor,  and  to  publish 
it  to  them  in  the  spirit  of  love,  where,  when,  and  to  whomsoever 
we  may."  2 

It  was  formerly  believed  that  Wyclif's  poor  priests  were  priests, 

1  See  Vaughan,  Life  and  Opinions  of  John  de  Wycliffe,  illustrated  prin- 
cipally from  his  unpublished  MSS.,  ii,  184-189.  Arnold,  Wyclif's  English 
Works,  iii,  p.  xx,  classes  the  tract,  Why  Poor  Priests  Have  No  Benefices,  as  one 
of  the  doubtful  works  of  Wyclif,  and  does  not  print  it. 

2  Foxe,  Acts  and  Monuments,  iii,  260 ;  Lechler,  p.  194. 


WYCLIF'S   ITINERANT   PREACHERS.  29 

but  Lechler  and  Buddensieg  have  both  proved  by  an  examination 
of  the  Vienna  manuscripts  that  later  in  the  history  of  this  itiner- 
ancy laymen  were  also  employed. '  In  one  place  Wyclif  insists  that 
a  simple  unlearned  preacher  {ydiota)  can  do  far  more  good  for  the 
building  up  of  the  Church  than  "  many  graduates  in  schools  and 
colleges,"  because  he  scatters  the  seed  of  the  law  of  Christ  more 
humbly  and  copiously  both  in  word  and  deed,  and  in  a  sermon  the 
reformer  lays  down  the  scriptural  and  Protestant  doctrine  that  for 
a  ministry  in  the  Church  the  divine  call  and  commission  are  per- 
fectly sufficient,  that  God  himself  installs,  even  though  there  has 
been  no  imposition  of  hands  by  the  bishop.* 

"Wyclif  is  an  illustration  of  the  oft-proved  fact  that  whenever  a 
reformer  goes  back  of  church  tradition  to  Scripture,  whenever  he 
emphasizes  the  spiritual  and  ethical  over  against  the  formal  and 
ceremonial,  he  is  bound  to  return  to  a  nonprelatic  theory  of  the 
ministry.  It  is  the  greatness  of  Wyclif  that  in  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury he  clearly  grasped  this  principle,  and  acted  on  it  in  his  effort 
to  evangelize  England  by  preaching.  In  the  sixteenth  century, 
with  the  flood  of  new  light  which  came  in  with  the  printed  Bible, 
it  is  not  strange  if  the  reformers  returned  to  the  original  constitu- 
tion of  the  Church  ;  but  the  clear  and  satisfying  insistence  on  a 
Christian  theory  of  the  ministry  two  hundred  years  before  is  a 
proof  of  the  strength,  boldness,  and  accuracy  of  Wyclif  s  mind  in 
its  simple  and  unaided  studies  of  the  truth. 

For  this  reason  certain  scholars  depreciate  Wyclif  s  work.3    They 
resent  his  spiritual  views  of  the  ministry  and  his  de- 
structive  attitude,  and  also  deny  his  originality.  Indeed,       tion  of 

WYf'I  TF 

noble  men  did  protest  against  the  abuses  of  mediasval 
times,  but  there  was  not  one  who  in  his  protests  sought  also  to 
lay  again  the  foundations  of  the  apostles  and  prophets,  Jesus 
Christ  himself  being  the  chief  corner-stone,  and  in  a  large  and 
practical  way  to  build  for  Christ  and  country.  In  Wyclif  s  em- 
phasis on  preaching  and  on  the  study  of  Scripture,  and  in  his  effort 
to  use  these  for  popular  evangelization,  he  is  entirely  unique  in  the 

1  Lechler,  p.  195  ;  Buddensieg,  "Wiclif,  p.  65. 

2  Videtur  ergo,  quod  ad  esse  talis  ministerii  ecclesiae  requiritur  atictorilas 
acceptationis  divinse,  et  per  consequens  potestas  ac  notitia  data  a  Deo  ad  tale 
niinisterium  peragendum,  quibus  habitis,  licit  Episcopus  secundum  traditiones 
suas  non  imposuit  illi  manus,  Deus  per  se  instituit.  Sermons  for  Saints' 
Days,  No.  8,  fol.  17,  col.  i ;  Lechler,  p.  196. 

3  See  art.  Cardinal  Repyngdon  and  the  Followers  of  "Wycliffe,  in  Church 
Quar.  Rev.,  Oct.,  18S4,  especially  pp.  60-63. 


30  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Middle  Ages.  His  itinerancy  was  to  work  within  ecclesiastical 
limits  so  far  as  possible,  and  Shirley  states  that  it  was  at  first  em- 
ployed under  Episcopal  sanction,1  but  where  the  work  was  needed 
and  consent  was  withheld  the  work  of  God  must  not  thereby  be 
hindered.2 

1  Fasc.  Zizan.,  p.  xL 

s  See  also  Wiclif  and  his  Works,  in  Quar.  Rev.,  Lond.,  clxviii,  526,  527 
(April,  1889). 


WYCLIF    AS   A   PROTESTANT.  31 


CHAPTER  IV. 

WYCLIF  AS  A  PROTESTANT. 

It  was  formerly  thought  that  Wyclif  reached  his  full  position  at 
once.  But  the  truth  is  that  there  was  a  gradualness  in  his  theolog- 
ical history  which  makes  him  less  a  portent  but  more  a  reason- 
able teacher.1  Take,  for  instance,  his  attitude  toward  the  pope. 
Down  to  1378  he  recognized  the  papacy  as  a  useful  and,  within 
certain  limits,  as  a  divine  institution.  He  allowed  it  a  spiritual 
supremacy  in  the  Church,  but  only  when  it  was  true  to  its  spiritual 
ideals.  It  has  no  civil  jurisdiction  nor  any  right  to  levy  taxes  on 
the  State.  The  greatness  of  the  pope  stands  in  humility,  poverty, 
and  readiness  to  serve  ;  when  he  becomes  degenerate  WYCLIP  ON 
and  secularized  he  becomes  an  arch  heretic,  and  must  THE  pai>acy- 
be  put  down.  But  even  in  its  spiritual  province  it  is  not  necessary 
to  salvation,  nor  has  it  unconditioned  plenary  power,  and,  more- 
over, its  claims  thereto  may  rightfully  be  investigated.2 

Even  in  this  early  stage  Wyclif  had  reached  the  point  allowed  by 
Melanchthon,  that  the  pope  might  be  recognized  as  the  head  of  the 
Church  by  human  right,  but  not  by  divine  right.  The  infallibility  of 
the  pope  and  of  the  Church  he  stoutly  denied.  Before  1378  Wyclif's 
position  was  exactly  like  that  of  the  Gallicans  and  the  present  ultra 
High  Churchmen  of  England.  It  is  a  singular  instance  of  historic 
evolution  that  the  only  representatives  of  the  moderate  Romanism  of 
the  pre- Vatican  times  are  now  to  be  found  in  the  Church  of  England. 

The  next  stage  of  Wyclif's  antipapal  progress  was  brought  about 
by  the  schism  of  1378,  when  Urban  VI  and  Clement  VII  were 
cursing  each  other  and  using  every  other  weapon  of  hostility.  He 
now  declares  that  the  Church  would  be  much  better  off  without 
either,  and  professes  himself  independent  of  both  popes.3  But  this 
neutral  position  could  not  be  long  maintained.  Wyclif  must  either 
retreat  or  advance.     Lechler  expresses  this  admirably  :  "  It  was 

1  See  Lechler,  chap.  viii?  sec.  11. 

2  See  the  two  earliest  and  two  of  the  most  important  of  his  Latin  treatises 
— De  Civili  Dominio,  and  De  Veritate  Scripturae  Sacrse,  the  latter  written  in 
1378. 

3  See  his  De  Ecclesia,  written  in  the  latter  part  of  1378,  and  his  Cruciata, 
probably  written  soon  after. 


52  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

inevitable  from  the  nature  of  the  case  that  an  ever-sharpening  an- 
tagonism, and  a  warfare  against  papacy,  growing  continually  more 
uncompromising,  should  develop  itself.  And  to  this  the  controversy 
concerning  the  Lord's  Supper,  in  which  Wyclif  began  to  engage 
in  the  year  1382,  essentially  contributed.  The  more  violently  he 
was  calumniated  and  attacked  by  the  friends  of  the  papacy  on  ac- 
count of  his  criticism  of  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation,  all  the 
more  did  the  papacy  itself  appear  to  him  to  be  a  limb  of  antichrist. 
To  this  period  of  his  life — 1382  to  1384 — belong  all  the  strong  assaults 
upon  the  Church  which  have  been  heretofore  known  to  the  world 
from  his  Trialogues  and  several  popular  writings  in  English.  But 
these  attacks  become  better  understood  both  psychologically  and 
pragmatically  only  when  we  think  of  them  as  a  climax  gradually 
realized.  All  the  usurpations  of  the  papacy  hitherto  censured  and 
opposed  by  Wyclif  were  now  seen  by  him  for  the  first  time  in  the 
light  of  a  corruption  of  Christianity  of  the  widest  extent  and  im- 
measurably deep,  for  which  he  could  find  no  more  appro]Driate  name 
than  antichristianism.  The  systematic  spoliation  of  the  national 
Churches,  the  haughty  pride,  the  worldly  character  of  the  papal 
the  papal  government,  the  claim  to  hierarchical  domination  over 
schism.  the  whole  world — all  these  features  of  the  degenerate 

papacy  were  attacked  by  "Wyclif  after  this  date  as  well  as  before, 
but  were  now  for  the  first  time  seen  by  him  in  their  connection 
with  what  was  the  worst  feature  of  all — with  an  assumption  of 
divine  attributes  and  rights  which  seemed  to  him  to  stamp  the 
pope  as  antichrist."  '  Wyclif  saw  that  such  absolutism  was  the  very 
kernel  of  the  papacy,  and  inasmuch  as  the  pope  could  not  be  con- 
tent with  the  pastoral  care  of  souls,  but  must  seek  worldly  greatness 
and  dignity,  and  rests  his  claim  on  the  blasphemous  assumption  that 
he  is  vicegerent  of  Christ  on  earth,  Wyclif  boldly  contended  that 
the  very  office  itself  is  of  the  wicked  one,  and  did  not  hesitate  to 
use  the  well-known  words  of  Paul  (2  Thess.  ii,  3)  as  characterizing 
this  great  apostasy  of  the  man  of  sin.  The  veneration  given  to  the 
pope  is  blasphemy  all  the  more  detestable  since  by  it  divine  honor 
is  given  to  a  limb  of  Lucifer,  who  because  of  his  wickedness  is  a 
more  abominable  idol  than  a  painted  block.2 

As  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  in  general  Wyclif  reached 
a   stanchly  Protestant  position.     He  abolished  the   unscriptural 

1  Lechler,  pp.  316,  317. 

2  See  all  this  set  forth  at  length  in  his  last  writings — the  Trialogus,  the  Sup- 
pleruentum  Trialogi,  the  De  Blasphemia,  the  De  Apostasia,  the  Latin  Sermons, 
the  De  Christo  et  suo  Adversario  Antichristo,  and  others. 


WYCLIF   AS   A   PROTESTANT.  33 

distinction  between  the  clergy  and  laity  which  is  at  the  bottom  of 
the  Catholic  claim — both  Eoman  and  Anglican.  The  noble  word 
of  Wyclif  was  worthy  to  be  written  in  gold  as  the  perpetual  charter 
of  Protestantism — Omnem  Christianum  opportet  esse  theologum. 
"  Every  Christian/'  he  says,  "  ought  to  be  a  theologian,  because  it 
is  necessary  for  every  Christian  to  understand  the  faith  wyclif  on 
of  the  Church,  either  by  an  inspired  knowledge  or  a  THE  CHUKCH- 
knowledge  humanly  acquired ;  for  otherwise  he  could  not  be  faith- 
ful, since  faith  is  the  highest  theology."  '  He  holds  that  while  the 
clergy  may  go  astray  in  both  doctrine  and  life,  the  laity  may  remain 
faithful  ;  and  in  case  the  former  should  err  from  the  way,  the  laity 
have  a  right  to  withhold  from  them  their  earthly  goods,  in  other 
words,  to  repudiate  them.  Wyclif  nowhere  uses  the  words,  "  priest- 
hood of  all  believers/'  but  he  cordially  accepted  the  idea,  and  thus 
parted  completely  from  the  Catholic  conception.  A  Christian 
layman  stands  before  God  infinitely  higher  than  a  priest  or  bishop, 
if  the  latter  is  only  Christian  in  name. 

Nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  before  Luther,  Wyclif  re- 
stored the  apostolic  theory  of  the  ministry.  The  hierarchical  gra- 
dation, which  the  Anglican  Church  has  retained  from  the  Roman, 
he  entirely  repudiated.  As  early  as  1377  Gregory  XI  mentions 
his  belief  in  the  parity  of  the  ministry  as  one  of  his  nineteen  he- 
retical tenets.  "  Every  priest,"  says  Wyclif,  "has  the  power  of 
ordaining  and  of  administering  ail  the  sacraments."2  He  says, 
again  :  "  I  assert  boldly,  first,  that  in  the  primitive  Church  from  the 
time  of  Paul  two  orders  of  clergy  sufficed,  namely,  the  priest  and  the 
deacon.  I  say,  second,  that  in  the  time  of  the  apostle  the  presbyter 
and  the  bishop  were  the  same.  See  1  Tim.  iii,  and  Tit.  i."3  This 
ought  not  to  have  been  considered  very  heretical,  as  the  canon  law 
contained  the  same  idea  and  the  quotation  from  Jerome  in  which 
he  speaks  of  the  original  identity  of  bishops  and  presbyters.4 

It  is,  however,  a  singular  illustration  of  the  state  of  historical 
knowledge  in  the  fourteenth  century  that  Wyclif  traces  the  devel- 
opment of  the  episcopate  as  a  separate  order,  and  all  the  hierarch- 

1  De  Veritate  Scripturae  Sacrae,  xxiv. 

2  Hoc  ergo  catholice  credi  debet,  quod  quilibet  sacerdos  rite  ordinatus  habet 
potestatem  sufficientem  qualibet  sacramenta  conferendi.  .  .  .  absolvendi,  nee 
aliter  potest  papa  absolvere.  Nam  quantum  ad  potestatem  ordinis  omnes  sa- 
cerdotes  sunt  pares. — De  Dominio,  i,  38. 

3  Trialogus,  iv,  15.  He  says  also  in  tbe  Supplementum  Trialogi  vi,  ut  olim 
omnes  sacerdotes  vocati  fuerunt  episcopi. 

4  See  Decreti,  Pars  i,  Distinct.  95,  c.  5,  and  Jerome's  Com.  on  the  Epistle  to 
Titus  i,  5.     See  Lechler,  p.  311. 


34  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

ical  assumptions  of  the  papacy  as  well,  of  course,  as  the  temporal 
possessions  of  the  pope,  to  the  pretended  Donation  of  Constantine 
to  Silvester  I.  "  Superbia  Caesarea,"  he  says,  "  imperial  pride  has 
brought  in  these  orders  and  grades."  '  Nowhere,  perhaps,  do  the 
originality  and  penetration  of  Wyclif's  genius  shine  out  more  than 
in  his  spiritual  conception  of  the  Church,  and  in  his  anticipation 
of  the  modern  restoration  of  the  ecclesiology  of  Christ. 

High  Church  scholars — and  nearly  all  Episcopal  scholars  are  now 
high  church  High  Church — depreciate  greatly  Wyclif's  work  on  ac- 
ckiticism.  count  of  his  Protestantism.  One  of  these  in  an  able  arti- 
cle on  Wyclif  says  :  "  Wyclif  anticipated  most  of  the  abuses  by  which 
the  extreme  fanaticism  of  the  Puritans  was  subsequently  character- 
ized. [The  effort  of  the  Puritans  to  reform  the  Church  on  a  scriptural 
basis  is  called  fanaticism.]  In  the  first  place,  he  rightly  insisted  on 
the  supremacy  and  sufficiency  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  But  he  held 
them  to  be  supreme  not  only  in  matters  of  faith  and  revealed 
truth,  but  in  political  affairs  and  in  rites  and  ceremonies.  [This  is 
misleading.  He  held  that  no  rites  and  ceremonies  were  of  divine 
obligation  except  such  as  were  deduced  from  Scripture.]  In  the 
second  place,  he  entirely  mistook  the  nature  of  the  Church.  He 
regarded  the  institution  as  consisting  only  of  holy  persons  who  were 
predestined  to  salvation,  and  held  that  her  sacraments  were  vitiated 
by  the  imperfections  of  her  ministers.  [This  is  incorrect.  Wyclif 
held  that  ungodly  men  ought  not  to  minister  in  the  Church,  but 
he  never  taught  that  the  efficacy  of  the  sacrament  to  the  recipient 
depended  upon  the  holiness  of  the  priest.  On  the  contrary,  he 
asserted  plainly  more  than  once  that  an  unworthy  minister  can  ad- 
minister the  sacraments  validly  to  the  spiritual  health  of  the  faith- 
ful recipient,  but  to  condemnation  to  himself.3  He  maintained 
that  God  himself  worked  in  the  sacrament,  and  was  not  dependent 
therefore  on  the  character  of  the  minister.  "  Thes  Antichrist's 
sophistris  schulden  knowe  well  that  a  cursed  man  doth  fully  the 
sacramentis,  though  it  be  to  his  dampnynge,  for  they  ben  not  auto- 
ris  of  thes  sacramentis,  but  God  kepeth  that  dygnyte  to  himself."3 
Lechler  has  fully  elucidated  this.4]  In  the  third  place,  he  recognized 
only  the  two  orders  of  priests  and  deacons  in  the  Church,  and  held 
that  episcopal  ordination  was  unnecessary  for  the  ministry.  A 
predestinarian  in   religion,  a  presbyterian  in  Church  government, 

1  Trialogus,  iv,  15.  He  says  again  :  Tertia  introducta  est  secundum  ordina- 
tionem  Caesaream  prsesidentia  episcoporum. — Saints'  Days  Sermons,  No.  46. 

2  See  Trial.,  iv,  10,  12  ;  De  Eccl.,  xix  ;  De  Verit.  Script.  Sac,  xii. 

3  Wyclif's  Select  English  Works,  iii,  27.  4  Chap,  viii,  sec.  12. 


WYCLIF   AS   A   PROTESTANT.  35 

almost  a  Zwinglian  in  his  latest  views  of  the  eucharist,  he  was  the 
progenitor  of  the  extremes  of  the  Puritans.  By  his  one-sided 
insistence  on  the  supremacy  of  the  Scripture  he  fostered  the  unrea- 
soning detestation  of  the  cross  in  baptism  or  of  the  ring  in  mar- 
riage, ignored  the  functions  of  the  Church  to  decree  rights  and 
ceremonies,  denied  the  value  of  apostolic  tradition,  and  let  loose 
upon  the  interpretation  of  the  Bible  the  caprice  of  human  inge- 
nuity. By  this  misconception  of  the  nature  and  constitution  of  the 
Church  he  sacrificed  historical  continuity,  founded  the  principles 
on  which  the  reign  of  the  *  saints '  was  established,  distorted  the 
true  view  of  the  efficiency  of  the  sacraments,  and  opened  the  door 
to  the  multiplication  of  sects."1  This  is  a  good  indication  of  the 
differences  between  so-called  Catholicism  and  Protestantism. 

In  his  idea  of  Church  and  State  Wyclif  is  also  thoroughly  Prot- 
estant. The  spiritual  and  temporal  sovereignties  are  kept  asunder. 
One  has  no  right  to  interfere  with  the  other.  Each  is  responsible 
to  God.  The  pope  has  no  authority  in  the  civil  realm.  "  To  rule 
temporal  possessions,"  says  Wyclif,  "after  a  civil  manner,  to  con- 
quer kingdoms  and  exact  tributes,  appertain  to  earthly  lordships, 
not  to  the  pope  ;  so  that  if  he  'pass  by  and  set  aside  the  office  of 
spiritual  rule,  and  entangle  himself  in  those  other  concerns,  his 
work  is  not  only  superfluous,  but  also  contrary  to  Holy  Scrip- 
ture." a 

Wyclif,  in  fact,  looks  forward  to  an  ideal  in  which  civil  polity  and 
law  will  be  no  longer  necessary  in  the  Church.  "The  wyclif  on 
law  of  the  Gospel,"  he  says,  "  is  sufficient  by  itself,  POLITICS- 
without  the  civil  law  or  that  called  canonical,  for  the  perfect  rule  of 
the  Church  militant." 3  As  to  lordship  itself,  it  is  founded  on  grace. 
"The  meek  shall  inherit  the  earth."  Eighteousness  is  the  only  test 
of  valid  property  holdings.  On  the  one  hand  this  invalidates  the 
claim  of  the  pope  and  bishops  to  their  immense  estates,  and  on 
the  other  it  puts  in  jeopardy  the  property  of  any  man  and  all  men, 
and  absolves  the  people  from  allegiance  to  a  wicked  ruler.  But 
this  principle  Wyclif  did  not  push  to  an  extreme.  It  was  an  ideal 
only — "  in  the  perfect  state,"  he  said,  "  all  things  would  be  in 
common."4     In  the  meantime  men  must  obey  their  rulers. 

It  has  often  been   asserted  that  Wyclif's  principles  here  were 

•Art.  John  Wyclif,  in  Church  Quar.  Rev.,  Lond.,  Oct.,  1891,  p.  135. 

8  De  Civili  Dominio,  i,  11.  R.  L.  Poole  in  his  invaluable  Dlustrations  of  the 
Hist,  of  Med.  Thought,  Lond.,  1884,  chap,  x,  has  given  a  full  exposition  of 
Wyclif's  views  under  the  head  of  Church  and  State. 

3  De  Civili  Dominio,  cap.  17.  4  Ibid.,  cap.  30. 


36  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

revolutionary,  that  he  taught  insubordination  and  anarchy.  Noth- 
ing could  be  farther  from  the  truth.  He  repeatedly  inculcated 
obedience  to  rulers  and  masters.  "  If  thou  art  a  laborer/'  he  says, 
"live  in  meekness,  and  truly  and  willingly,  so  thy  master,  if  he  be 
a  heathen  man,  by  thy  meekness,  willing  and  true  service  may  not 
have  a  grudge  against  thee,  nor  slander  thy  God,  nor  thy  Christian 
profession; "  and  much  more  to  the  same  effect.  Every  man  ought 
to  live  in  quietness  and  obedience,  in  love  and  equity,  according  to 
the  estate  in  which  Providence  has  placed  him.1  Wyclif  had  to  meet 
this  misrepresentation  in  his  own  day.  "  Some  men  that  are  not  of 
charity  slander  poor  priests  [his  itinerants]  with  this  error,  that 
servants  or  tenants  may  lawfully  withhold  rent  and  service  from 
their  lords,  when  lords  be  openly  wicked  in  their  living."  His 
earnest  scriptural  character — he  appealed  himself  to  1  Pet.  ii,  18, 
and  Eom.  xiii,  1-7 — should  save  him  from  any  charge  of  this  kind. 
Wyclif's  great  service  in  relation  to  the  doctrine  of  Church  and 
State  was  in  holding  that  the  Church  should  keep  to  its  spirit- 
ual functions  purely,  that  "  property  has  its  duties  as  well  as  its 
rights,  that  property  is  responsibility — responsibility  to  the  suze- 
rain of  the  universe  to  use  it  well  for  God's  glory  and  the  good 
of  men — and  that  when  wasted  in  evil  ways  God  has  a  right  to 
resume  control."2 

When  we  consider  his  attitude  toward  the  Bible  the  complete- 
ness with  which  Wyclif  grasped  the  fundamental  idea  of  Protes- 
tantism is  apparent.  In  this  respect  nothing  was  lacking.  "  The 
Holy  Scripture  is  the  faultless,  most  true,  most  perfect,  and  most 
holy  law  of  God,  which  it  is  the  duty  of  all  men  to  learn,  to  know, 
to  defend,  and  to  observe,  inasmuch  as  they  are  bound  to  serve  the 
Lord  in  accordance  with  it,  under  the  promise  of  an  eternal  re- 
ward. .  . .  The  Holy  Scripture  is  the  one  word  of  God,  also  the  whole 
law  of  Christ  is  one  perfect  word  proceeding  from  the  mouth  of 
God ;  it  is  therefore  not  permitted  to  sever  the  Holy  Scripture, 
but  to  allege  it  in  its  integrity  according  to  the  sense  of  the  author. 
If  God's  word  is  the  life  of  the  world,  every  word  of  God  is  the 
life  of  the  human  soul ;  how  may  any  antichrist,  for  dread  of 
God,  take  it  away  from  us  that  be  Christian  men,  and  thus  suffer 
the  people  to  die  of  hunger  in  heresy  and  blasphemy  of  men's  laws, 
that  corrupteth  and  slayeth  the  soul  ?  .  .  .  It  is  impossible  that  any 

1  See  his  tract,  A  Short  Rule  of  Life  for  Each  Man  in  General,  for  Priests, 
Lords,  and  Laborers  in  Special. 

2  See  Burrows's  Wiclif's  Place  in  History,  p.  16 ;  John  Wicliffe  :  His  Life 
and  Work,  in  Blackwood's  Edinb.  Magazine,  Dec,  1884,  pp.  750,  751. 


WYCLIF   AS  A   PROTESTANT.  37 

word  or  deed  of  the  Christian  should  be  of  equal  authority  with 
Holy  Scripture."1 

Wyclif  accepted  unreservedly  the  principle  of  the  sole  and  suf- 
ficient authority  of  the  Holy  Scripture  as  the  only  rule  of  faith  and 
practice,  thus  anticipating  the  Eeformation  in  announcing  the 
formal  principle  of  Protestantism.  This  gave  him  among  his  con- 
temporaries the  title  of  Doctor  Evangelicus,  as  embodying  the  dis- 
tinctive trait  of  his  teaching  and  character,  just  as  Adam  Marsh 
was  called  Doctor  Illustris,  Alexander  of  Hales  Doctor  Irrefraga- 
bilis,  Albertus  Magnus  Doctor  Universalis,  Henricus  de  Gandavo 
Doctor  Solemnis,  Bradwardine  Doctor  Profundus,  Bacon  Doctor 
Mirabilis,  Duns  Scotus  Doctor  Subtilis,  and  Thomas  Aquinas 
Doctor  Angelicus.  He  declared  his  faith  in  the  plenary  inspiration 
of  Holv  Scripture,  which  he  identifies  with  the  Incar- 

.  WYCLIF'S 

nate  Word,  rejected  the  apocryphal  writings  by  which     view  of 

SCRIPTURE 

the  Church  supported  her  doctrines,  and  stigmatized 
those  who  read  the  decretals  as  fools.  Wyclif s  opponents  charged 
him  with  borrowing  the  opinions  of  Occam  in  regard  to  the  Bible  ; 
but  this  he  denied,  saying  that  his  views  on  this  matter  were  taken 
from  Scripture  and  the  writings  of  the  fathers.  In  this  he  was 
correct.  Occam's  appeal  is  to  the  Bible  and  Church-teaching 
combined,  and  it  does  not  occur  to  him  that  the  doctrines 
of  the  Church  should  first  be  independently  judged  to  find  out 
whether  they  are  in  accordance  with  Scripture,  and  thence  received 
or  rejected.2  But  Wyclif  with  a  bound  swept  away  all  other  sup- 
ports and  appealed  to  the  word  and  the  word  alone. 

In  the  reaction  from  Ullmann's  excessive  emphasis  on  the  evan- 
gelical elements  of  the  pre-Reformation  reformers,3  Karl  Miiller  has 
gone  to  the  other  extreme  in  denying  them  any  evangelical  con- 
ception whatever.4  He  says  that  the  teaching  of  Wyclif  and 
Hus,  that  Church  membership  depends  on  keeping  God's  law  and 
not  on  the  recognition  of  the  hierarchy,  and  that  this  law  is 
in  the  Bible  and  not  in  the  hierarchy,  does  not  leave  the  medi- 

1  See  De  Veritate  Scrip.  Sac,  Trialogus,  De  Civili  Dominio,  and  De  Ecclesia, 
passim. 

2  See  Lechler  on  this,  chap,  viii,  sec.  2,  whose  treatment  of  Wyclif' s  attitude 
to  the  Bible  is  exhaustive  and  admirable. 

3  In  his  well-known  book,  Reformers  before  the  Eeformation,  in  German, 
1842,  2d  ed.,  1866  ;  in  English,  Edinb.,  1843,  4th  ed.,  1874. 

4  In  his  Bericht  iiber  den  gegenwartigen  Stand  der  Forschung  auf  dem  Gebiet 
der  vorreformationschen  Zeit,  in  Vortrage  der  theol.  Konferenz  zu  Giessen, 
1887. 


38  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

geval  ground,  because  the  Church  as  a  means  of  grace  with  clergy 
and  sacraments  is  still  recognized  and  honored.1  But  Protestant- 
ism constantly  recognizes  Church  and  sacraments  as  a  means  of 
grace,  only  insisting  with  "Wyclif  that  everything  must  be  true  to 
the  norm,  the  word.  If  otherwise  it  is  not  Protestantism,  but 
nationalism  and  the  new  Unitarianism.  There  is  a  degree  of 
truth,  however,  in  Midler's  thought  that  "Wyclif 's  doctrine  of  domin- 
mulleron  i°n  *s  congenial  with  mediaeval  ideas  :  all  mankind 
wyclif.  form  a  great  complex  life  under  God  as  supreme  feudal 

lord,  from  whom  every  man  receives  in  fee  his  worldly  possessions  ; 
and  they  may  rightly  be  lost  by  a  breach  of  vassal  obligations. 

But  so  much  is  conceded  to  the  minimizing  judgment  of  Karl 
Miiller  concerning  Wyclif's  Protestantism  as  to  say  that  it  is  not  to 
be  expected  that  he  should  have  attained  to  the  fullness  of  the 
evangelical  assurance  of  faith.  He  swept  away  all  notions  of  merit 
and  of  works  of  supererogation.  He  denied  utterly  the  idea  of  a 
treasure  house  of  merits  held  in  heaven  to  the  credit  of  the  pope — 
•an  idea  which  played  such  an  important  part  in  the  Middle  Ages 
and  on  which  the  doctrine  of  indulgences  was  founded.  He  held  to 
the  necessity  of  repentance  and  conversion,  and  his  ideas 
wyclif's  ad-  on  both  were  quite  satisfactory  ;  but  he  does  not  grasp 
the  simplicity  and  freedom  of  faith  as  taught  by  Paul 
and  received  by  Luther  and  given  its  rightful  place  and  power  by 
Wesley.  With  Wyclif  faith  is  still  too  much  a  belief  with  the  intellect 
and  not  enough  a  trust  of  the  heart.  In  his  doctrine  of  faith  as  a 
belief  of  the  Gospel  Wyclif  still  stood  on  mediaeval  ground.  Every 
man  is  the  product  of  his  age  ;  and  however  far  Wyclif  went  beyond 
it  in  many  of  his  ideas  it  was  perhaps  absolutely  impossible  for  him 
to  arrive  at  the  material  principle  of  Protestantism — that  principle 
which  makes  it  what  it  is,  which  forms  its  matter  or  substance, 
the  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith.  And  it  was  this  failure 
which  marks  the  gap  between  Wyclif  and  Luther.  But  it  was  not 
until  two  hundred  years  after  Luther  that  this  doctrine  was  made 
a  principle  of  evangelism. 

1  H.  M.  Scott,  in  Current  Disc,  in  Theol.,  vi,  229. 


WYCLIF   AS  A   DEFENDANT   IN   HERESY   TRIALS.  39 


CHAPTER  V. 

WYCLIF  AS   A  DEFENDANT  IN  HERESY  TRIALS. 

Peehaps  the  central  doctrine  of  the  Eoman  system  in  mediaeval 
times,  that  around  which  the  fight  was  hottest,  was  the  doctrine  of 
the  Lord's  Supper.  It  was  Wyclif's  point  of  departure  from  the 
creed  of  his  fathers,  and  the  rallying  point  of  his  ene-  WYCLIF>S 
mies  against  him.  In  1378,  when  Wyclif  wrote  his  De  "f™^0"' 
Dominio  Civili,  he  seemed  to  have  no  misgivings  as  to  SUPPEK- 
the  current  teaching  on  this  subject,  but  in  1381  he  had  definitely 
abandoned  the  Church  doctrine.  In  his  Trialogus  he  says  :  "  I  main- 
tain that  among  all  the  heresies  which  have  ever  appeared  in  the 
Church  there  was  never  one  which  was  more  cunningly  smuggled  in 
by  hypocrites  than  this,  or  which  in  more  ways  deceives  the  people  ; 
for  it  plunders  them,  leads  them  astray  into  idolatry,  denies  the 
teaching  of  Scripture,  and  by  this  unbelief  provokes  the  Truth 
himself  oftentimes  to  anger."  ] 

Wyclif  argues  powerfully  and  at  length  on  this  subject,  and  his 
refutation  of  the  Eoman  doctrine  of  the  Supper  still  stands  as  a 
strong  and  unimpeachable  utterance — a  mediaeval  document  which 
still  speaks  to  modern  truth-seekers.  "It  is  impossible,"  says 
Lechler,  "not  to  be  impressed  with  the  intellectual  labor,  the  con- 
scientiousness, and  the  force  of  will,  all  equally  extraordinary, 
which  Wyclif  applied  to  the  solution  of  this  problem.  His  attack 
on  the  dogma  of  transubstantiation  was  so  concentrated  and  de- 
livered with  so  much  force,  and  from  so  many  sides,  that  the 
scholastic  conception  was  shaken  to  its  very  foundations."8  Wyc- 
lif's own  doctrine  was  that  Christ  is  present  in  the  Lord's  Supper 
effectually,  as  he  is  in  his  kingdom  everywhere,  spiritually,  as  dwell- 
ing in  the  souls  of  the  faithful,  and  sacramentally,  as  dwelling 
after  the  prayer  of  consecration  in  a  peculiar  manner  in  the  bread 
and  wine.  The  body  of  Christ  is  partaken  of  only  in  a  spiritual 
manner.  It  appears,  therefore,  that  Wyclif's  only  error  was  in  postu- 
lating a  real — even  if  spiritual — presence  of  Christ  in  the  elements, 
as  the  soul  is  present  in  the  body — to  use  his  own  illustration — 
rather  than  teaching  that  Christ  is  present  only  in  the  heart  of  the 
1  Trial.,  iv,  c.  2.  2Wiclif  and  his  Precursors,  p.  359. 


40  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

believer,  and  that  by  the  sacramental  signs  received  in  a  believing 
and  spiritually  discerning  way  that  presence  of  the  whole  humanity 
and  divinity  of  the  Lord  becomes  a  power  to  the  nourishment  of 
the  soul  in  God.  Wyclif's  doctrine  was  more  Protestant  than  Lu- 
ther's, inasmuch  as  Luther  taught  that  Christ  is  present  corpo- 
really in  the  elements  and  is  corporeally  received  by  both  the 
worthy  and  unworthy,  whereas  Wyclif  taught  that  Christ  is  present 
in  the  elements  only  spiritually — his  body  remaining  in  heaven — 
and  is  received  spiritually  by  the  spiritually  minded,  and  not  at  all 
by  the  unworthy.1 

William  Courtenay,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  summoned  a 
synod  to  sift  Wyclif,  to  meet  in  the  Grey  Friars  Convent,  London, 
May  17,  1382.  This  is  the  famous  Earthquake  Council,  so  called 
because  it  was  interrupted  by  an  earthquake,  which  the  doctors 

present  interpreted  as  a  protest  of  heaven  against  them, 
earthquake   but  which  Courtenay,  with  dauntless  faith,  said  was  a 

favorable  omen — the  earth  throwing  off  her  noxious  va- 
pors, which  is  a  call  to  the  Church  also  to  purify  herself.  The  council 
selected  twenty-four  articles  from  Wyclif's  writings,  of  which  ten 
were  condemned  as  heretical  and  the  other  fourteen  as  erroneous. 
The  archbishop  then  sent  Stokes,  a  Carmelite,  with  a  commission 
to  clear  Oxford  of  this  heresy.  It  is  not  necessary  to  go  into  this 
quarrel  between  Canterbury  and  Oxford  at  length.2  It  is  sufficient 
to  say  that  after  many  discouraging  rebuffs  the  Church  succeeded 
in  silencing  the  Wyclif  scholars  at  Oxford  and  driving  them  out. 
With  that  she  drove  out  the  spirit  of  learning,  and  Oxford  was 
dead  for  a  hundred  years.  With  calmness  unconquerable  in  its 
trust  in  God,  Wyclif  addressed  a  petition  to  the  king  and  Parlia- 
ment, praying  their  assent  to  the  main  articles  contained  in  his 
writings  and  proved  both  by  Scripture  and  reason  to  be  the  Chris- 
tian faith;  that  all  persons  under  vows  may  have  liberty  to  follow 
the  law  of  Christ;  that  tithes  may  be  bestowed  according  to  their 
proper  use,  for  the  maintenance  of  the  poor;  that  Christ's  own  doc- 
trine concerning  the  eucharist  be  publicly  taught;  that  neither  the 
king  nor  the  kingdom  obey  any  see  or  prelate  farther  than  their 
obedience  be  grounded  in  Scripture;  that  no  money  be  sent  out  of 
the  realm  to  the  court  of  Rome  unless  proved  by  Scripture  to  be 
due;  that  no  bishop  or  minister  should  be  enslaved  to  a  secular 

1  See  Lechler,  chap,  via,  sec.  12. 

2  The  history  is  given  in  full  in  Milman,  Lechler,  and  others,  in  histories  of 
Oxford,  and  in  the  art.  on  Repyngdon  and  the  Wicklifites  at  Oxford,  in  Church 
Quar.  Rev.,  Oct.,  1884,  pp.  59  ff. 


WYCLIF  AS  A  DEFENDANT  IN  HERESY  TRIALS.  41 

office;  that  no  cardinal  or  foreigner  hold  preferment  in  England; 
and  that  no  one  should  be  imprisoned  on  account  of  excommunica- 
tion.1 

This  is  one  of  the  most  notable  public  papers  in  English  consti- 
tutional history.  It  showed  the  progressiveness  of  Wyclif's  mind 
that  he  should  thus  have  anticipated  the  course  of  the  English  Ref- 
ormation by  this  great  appeal  to  the  king  and  Parliament  as  judges 
equally  with  the  prelates  of  the  state  of  religion  in  the  realm. 

It  is  commonly  supposed  that  Wyclif  was  summoned  to  appear 
before  Pope  Urban  VI,  in  1383  or  1384,  and  that  the  so-called 
' '  Letter  to  Urban  VI "  was  a  reply  to  such  citation.  But  Lechler, 
for  sufficient  reasons,  doubts  the  citation,  and  shows  T  _„,„„,„  ™ 
conclusively  that  the  "  Letter  "  is  not  a  letter,  but  urban  vi. 
a  sermon  or  tract.  It  is  one  of  the  last  of  Wyclif's  utterances, 
and  expresses  his  final  opinion  that.  Christ  is  the  only  test  of  disci- 
pleship  and  that  the  pope  is  antichrist  when  he  departs  from 
Christ.  "No  man  should  sue  the  pope  nor  any  saint  in  heaven, 
but  inasmuch  as  he  sues  Christ."  "  The  moreness  of  Christ's  vicar 
is  not  measured  by  worldly  moreness,  but  by  this,  that  this  vicar 
sues  more  Christ  by  virtuous  living;  for  thus  teacheth  the  Gospel, 
that  this  is  the  sentence  of  Christ."  "  If  I  might  travel  in  mine 
own  person  I  would  with  good  will  go  to  the  pope.  But  Cod  has 
needed  me  to  the  contrary,  and  taught  me  more  obedience  to  God 
than  to  men.  And  I  suppose  of  our  pope  that  he  will  not  be  anti- 
christ and  reverse  Christ  in  his  working  the  contrary  of  Christ's 
will;  for  if  he  summon  against  reason,  by  him  or  by  any  of  his,  and 
pursue  this  unskillful  summoning,  he  is  an  open  antichrist."2 

With  this  declaration  and  with  a  final  statement  of  his  place  in 
history  in  the  words  of  his  greatest  biographer  we  may  leave  Wyclif: 
"  In  the  collective  history  of  the  Church  of  Christ  Wiclif  marks  an 
epoch,  on  the  ground  that  he  was  the  earliest  personal  embodiment 
of  the  evangelical  reformer.  Before  him,  it  is  true,  many  ideas  of 
reform  and  many  efforts  in  the  direction  of  it  crop  up  here  and 
there  which  even  led  to  conflicts  of  opinion  and  collisions  of  parties 
and  the  formation  of  whole  reformed  societies.  But  Wiclif  is  the 
first  important  historical  personage  who  devotes  himself  to  the 
work  of  Church  reform  with  the  entire  power  of  a  master  mind, 
and  with  the  full  force  of  will  and  joyful  self-sacrifice  of  a  man  in 
Christ.     To  that  work  he  devoted  the  labors  of  a  life,  in  obedience 

1  This  petition  is  found  in  Select  Works  of  Wiclif,  ed.  by  Arnold,  iii,  507  ff. 
'This  letter  is  found  in  Wiclif 's  Latin  works,  Fasc.  Zizan.,  341,  and  also 
in  Select  English  Works,  iii,  504.     See  discussion  in  Lechler,  pp.  415  ff. 


42  HISTORY   OF    THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

to  the  earnest  pressure  of  conscience,  and  in  confident  trust  his 
labor  was  not  in  vain  in  the  Lord.  He  did  not  conceal  from  him- 
self that  the  labors  of  evangelical  men  would  in  the  first  instance 
be  opposed  and  persecuted  and  driven  back  ;  but  he  consoled  him- 
self with  the  assurance  that  the  ultimate  issue  would  be  a  renova- 
tion of  the  Church  upon  the  apostolic  model.  It  was  only  after 
Wiclif  that  the  living  embodiments  of  the  spirit  of  Church  reform, 
a  Huss,  a  Savonarola,  and  others,  appeared  upon  the  field — a  succes- 
sion which  issued  at  length  in  the  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth 
century. "  l 

1  LecMer,  Wiclif,  pp.  437,  438. 


FROM  WYCLIF  TO  CRANMER.  43 


CHAPTEE  VI. 

FROM   WYCLIF    TO    CRANMER. 

From  the  death  of  Wyclif  to  the  overthrow  of  the  papal  suprem- 
acy in  England  was  one  hundred  and  forty-eight  years.  The  time 
was  not  ripe  for  the  radical  scriptural  reform  which  Wyclif  inau- 
gurated, nor  was  it  ripe  even  under  Henry  VIII.  The  Puritans, 
and  not  the  Anglicans,  are  the  true  successors  of  Wyclif  and  the 
Lollards.  But  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  in  that  century  and 
a  half  the  work  of  Wyclif  and  his  preachers  proved  fruitless,  that 
nothing  remained.  The  work  of  the  English  Reformation,  defect- 
ive and  fragmentary  as  it  was,  could  not  have  been  accomplished 
so  early  if  the  Lollards  had  never  made  their  brave  and  noble  pro- 
tests. After  telling  the  apparently  successful  measures  to  crush  the 
Lollards,  Froude  says  :  "  Thus  perished  Wiclif's  labor — not  wholly, 
because  his  tradition  of  the  Bible  still  remained  a  rare 

.  FROUDE'S 

treasure  :    a  seed  of  future  life  which  would  spring  estimate  of 

W YT1  T  IF 

again  under  happier  circumstances.  But  the  sect 
which  he  organized,  the  special  doctrine  which  he  set  himself  to 
teach,  after  a  brief  blaze  of  success,  sank  into  darkness ;  and  no 
trace  remained  of  Lollardy  except  the  bleak  memory  of  contempt 
and  hatred  with  which  the  heretics  of  the  fourteenth  century  were 
remembered  by  the  English  people  long  after  the  actual  Reforma- 
tion had  become  the  law  of  the  land." ' 

This  is  a  hasty  judgment.  Creighton,  though  he  does  not  speak 
so  emphatically,  follows  Stubbs  a  in  making  the  movement  both 
transitory  and  political.3  On  the  other  hand,  it  can  be  shown  that, 
although  Henry  VIII's  Reformation  was  essentially  political,  the 
Lollard  movement  was  only  incidentally  so,  and  that  in  its  influ- 
ence and  results  it  persisted  until  its  work  was  taken  up  in  the 
sixteenth  century. 

It  must  be  confessed,  however,  that  Wyclif 's  preachers  were  not 
the  stuff  of  which  martyrs  are  made.  Fierce  persecutions  drove 
them  to  recant,  and  Hereford,  who  assisted  Wyclif  efficiently  in  the 

1  Hist,  of  England,  ii,  35. 

2  Constitutional  Hist,  of  England,  iii,  353. 

3  The  Papacy  during  the  Reformation,  i,  306,  307. 


44  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

translation  of  the  Bible,  fled  from  England.  Later  the  persecu- 
tions relaxed,  and  the  movement  spread  with  great  rapidity.  One 
the  lol-  of  the  old  chroniclers  says  that  one  half  of  the  inhab- 
lards.  itants  of   England  were  Lollards,1  as  the  reformers 

were  called.  They  preached  and  distributed  tracts  and  Bibles. 
Knighton  says  :  "  When  an  itinerant  arrived  at  the  residence  of 
some  knight  the  latter  immediately  with  great  willingness  set  about 
calling  the  country  people  to  some  appointed  place  or  church  in 
order  to  hear  the  sermon.  Even  if  they  did  not  care  about  going 
they  did  not  dare  to  stay  away  or  object.  For  the  knight  was 
always  at  the  preacher's  side  and  with  sword  and  shield,  ready  to 
protect  him  should  anyone  dare  to  oppose  in  any  way  his  person  or 
his  doctrine.  This  teaching  was  at  the  beginning  full  of  sweetness 
and  devotion  ;  but  toward  the  end  it  broke  out  into  jealousy  and 
calumny.  Nobody,  they  said,  was  upright  and  pleasing  to  God  who 
did  not  hold  the  word  of  God  as  they  preached  it ;  for  thus  in  all 
their  preaching  did  they  hold  up  God's  laws." 

In  churches  and  cemeteries,  in  gardens,  private  houses,  by  the 
wayside,  did  these  preachers  set  forth  the  new  Gospel.  The  Bible 
in  Wyclif's  translation  would  be  read  aloud,  or  a  tract  by  Wyclif  or 
Hereford  explaining  the  sacred  text.  The  auditors  would  even  be 
taught  how  to  read,  and  many  in  these  gatherings  were  enabled  for 
the  first  time  to  read  the  Scriptures  for  themselves.  Knighton  com- 
plains that  the  Bible  "  became  more  accessible  to  laymen  and  to 
women  able  to  read  than  it  had  heretofore  been  to  the  most  intelli- 
gent and  learned  of  the  clergy/' a 

A  notable  event  in  this  history  was  the  presentation  to  Parlia- 
the  "con-  ment  in  1395  of  a  Lollard  document  embodying  a 
scheme  of  their  doctrinal  and  practical  reforms. 
These  "  Conclusions  "  were  briefly  as  follows  : 

1  The  derivation  of  this  word  is  disputed.  It  probably  came  from  lolium, 
tares,  or  old  German  lollen,  lullen,  to  hum,  to  whine,  to  lull;  probably  a  satiri- 
cal description  of  their  tones.  Creighton  makes  the  word  equal  to  canters. 
"Whitaker,  in  his  edition  of  Piers  Plowman,  p.  154,  derives  it  from  loller,  old 
English  for  one  who  lolls  about,  a  vagabond,  and  was  applied  both  to  the  wan- 
dering friars  and  to  "Wyclif's  preachers.  For  full  discussion  see  Lechler,  pp. 
439,  440,  note ;  Worman,  in  McClintock  and  Strong,  s.  v.  ;  Century  Diet.,  s.  v. 
For  the  number  of  Lollards  see  Knighton,  col.  2644  :  Mediam  partem  populi 
ant  majorem  partem  sectae  suae  acquisiverunt ;  col.  2666  :  secta  ilia  in  maximo 
honore  illis  diebus  habebatur,  et  in  tantum  multiplicata  fuit  quod  vix  duos 
videres  in  via,  quin  alter  eorum  discipulus  Wyclif  fuerit.  Walsingam  also, 
ii,  188,  under  year  1389  :  Lollardi  ...  in  errorem  suumplurimos  seduxerunt. 

!  See  Lechler,  p.  445. 


FROM  WYCLIF  TO  CRANMER.  45 

1.  Since  the  Church  of  England  has  begun  to  dote  on  temporalities  after  her 
stepmother  of  Rome,  faith,  hope,  and  charity  have  fled,  and  pride,  with  her 
dolorous  genealogy  of  mortal  sins,  has  usurped  their  place. 

2.  The  customary  priesthood  which  began  in  Rome,  and  claims  more  than 
angelic  authority,  is  not  the  priesthood  which  Christ  ordained  to  his  apostles. 

3.  The  priestly  law  of  celibacy  is  the  source  of  grave  and  shameful  evils. 

4.  The  pretended  miracle  of  the  sacrament  of  the  bread  leads  almost  all  men 
into  idolatry.  Would  to  God  that  they  believed  what  the  "  Evangelical  Doc- 
tor "  says  in  his  Trialogus,  that  the  bread  of  the  altar  is  ' '  habitualiter "  the 
body  of  Christ ! 

5.  Exorcisms  and  benedictions,  wrought  on  wine,  bread,  water,  oil,  salt,  wax, 
incense,  as  upon  altar  stones  and  church  walls,  and  on  robes,  miters,  crosses, 
staves,  belong  to  the  arts  of  necromancy  rather  than  to  a  sound  theology. 

6.  King  and  bishop  in  one  person,  prelate  and  secular  judge,  pastor  and 
worldly  functionaries,  is  a  union  adverse  to  the  true  interests  of  the  king- 
dom.    "  No  man  can  serve  two  masters." 

7.  The  offering  of  prayers  in  our  Church  for  the  souls  of  the  dead  is  a  false 
foundation  of  charity. 

8.  Pilgrimages,  prayers,  and  oblations  made  to  blind  crosses  or  "  roods,"  and 
to  deaf  images  of  wood  or  stone,  are  nearly  related  to  idolatry  and  far  from 
true  charity. 

9.  Auricular  confession,  declared  to  be  necessary  to  a  man's  salvation,  exalts 
the  pride  of  priests  and  gives  them  opportunity  of  secret  conferences  leading 
to  much  evil.  They  say  that  they  have  the  keys  to  heaven  and  hell,  that  they 
can  bless  or  excommunicate,  bind  or  loose  at  their  pleasure,  insomuch  that  for 
a  small  reward,  or  for  twelve  pence,  they  will  sell  the  blessing  of  heaven  by 
charter  and  claim  of  warranty  sealed  by  the  common  seal. 

10.  Manslaughter,  by  war  or  unpretended  law  of  justice  for  any  temporal 
cause  without  a  spiritual  revelation,  is  expressly  contrary  to  the  New  Tes- 
tament, which  is  a  law  of  grace  and  full  of  mercy.  For  Christ  teaches  to  love 
our  enemies. 

11.  Vows  of  chastity  taken  in  our  Church  by  women,  who  are  by  nature  frail 
and  imperfect,  is  the  occasion  of  great  and  horrible  sins. 

12.  The  multitude  of  unnecessary  arts  practiced  in  our  kingdom  nourishes 
much  sin  in  waste  luxury  and  showy  apparel.  It  seems  to  us  that  the  trade 
of  goldsmiths,  of  armorers,  and  all  arts  not  necessary  to  men  according  to 
the  apostolic  rule,  should  be  suppressed  for  the  increase  of  virtue.1 

The  Conclusions  close  thus  :  "  Wherefore  we  earnestly  desire 
and  beseech  God  for  his  great  goodness'  sake,  that  he  will  wholly 
reform  our  Church,  now  altogether  out  of  frame,  unto  the  perfec- 
tion of  her  first  beginning  and  original." 

1  We  have  followed  here  Lechler's  summary,  pp.  447,  448.  There  are  two 
manuscripts  of  this  great  document,  one  in  the  British  Museum,  and  the  other 
in  the  Bodleian  Library.  The  Latin  text  may  be  found  in  Lewis,  Hist,  of  John 
Wiclif,  pp.  337  ;  Wilkins,  Concilia,  iii,  221;  and  Shirley,  Fasc.  Ziz.,  p.  360. 
Foxe  gives  an  English  transl.,  iii,  203  (Pratt  and  Stoughton),  iii,  203-206 
(Cattley). 


46  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

It  will  be  seen  from  this  that  the  only  points  which  could  be 
construed  as  politically  odious  in  the  Lollard  contentions  were 
their  protests  against  wars  for  conquest  and  greed,  and  against  arts 
such  as  the  goldsmith's,  which  ministered  to  pride  and  extrav- 
agance. 

With  the  coming  in  of  the  House  of  Lancaster,  1399,  a  change 
which  the  prelates  favored,  toleration  of  the  Lollards  ceased.  The 
the  fire  fires  of  persecution  were  at  once  kindled.  That  very 
year  an  act  was  passed  giving  bishops  power  to  arrest 
all  persons  reported  as  heretics,  require  them  to  clear  themselves  of 
the  charge,  and,  if  they  failed,  punish  them  with  imprisonment.1 
This  was  followed  in  1401  with  the  infamous  Act,  De  Hasretico 
Comburendo,  which,  after  providing  for  the  rooting  out  of  heresy 
went  on  to  say  that  in  case  the  accused  would  not  recant,  or,  hav- 
ing recanted,  returned  to  his  errors,  "he  should  be  left  according 
to  the  holy  canons  to  the  secular  courts,"  and  the  sheriff  or  bailiffs 
should  take  such  a  person  or  persons,  and  "before  the  people,  in  a 
high  place,  cause  them  to  be  burned,  that  such  punishment  may 
strike  fear  to  the  minds  of  others,  whereby  no  such  wicked  doc- 
trine and  heretical  and  erroneous  opinions,  nor  their  authors  and 
favorers  in  the  said  realm  and  dominion,  against  the  Catholic  faith, 
Christian  law,  and  determination  of  the  Holy  Church  be  sustained 
(which  God  forbid)  or  in  any  wise  suffered."2 

Almost  immediately,  perhaps  even  before  the  Fire  Act  became 
law,  William  Sawtre,  by  royal  writ,  on  February  26,  1401,  was  de- 
livered to  be  burned.  We  quote  the  very  words  in  which  the  unfor- 
tunate Lollard  was  handed  over  to  the  flames.  After  saying  that  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  his  bishops  and  clergy,  have  found  Sawtre 
guilty  of  heresy,  have  degraded  him  from  his  ministry  and  have 
"  decreed  that  the  same  William  be  left  to  the  secular  court,  and 
have  actually  left  him  according  to  the  laws  and  canonical  sanctions 
enacted  in  that  behalf,  and  Holy  Mother  Church  has  nothing  further 
to  do  in  the  premises,"  the  writ  proceeds,  "  we  therefore — zealous 
for  justice  and  a  cherisher  of  the  Catholic  faith,  willing  to  maintain 

1  Letters  patent  against  the  Lollards  had  been  issued  in  1382  and  again  in 
1384,  in  which  the  bishops  were  given  power  to  arrest  all  heretics  and  keep 
them  in  prison  ' '  until  they  repent  of  the  wickedness  of  their  errors  and 
heresies."  See  one  of  these  letters,  that  of  1384,  in  full  in  Gee  and  Hardy, 
Documents  Illustrative  of  English  Church  History,  Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1896, 
pp.  110-112. 

2  See  Statutes  of  the  Realm,  ii,  120  ;  Gee  and  Hardy,  pp.  133-137.  This  act 
remained  in  force  until  it  was  repealed  by  Henry  VIII,  in  1534.  It  was  re- 
vived by  Mary  in  1554,  and  finally  repealed  by  Elizabeth  in  1559. 


FROM  WYCLIF  TO  CRANMER.  47 

and  defend  Holy  Church  and  the  rights  and  liberties  of  the  same, 
and  to  extirpate  radically  such  heresies  and  errors  from  our  king- 
dom of  England,  as  much  as  in  us  lies,  and  to  punish  with  condign 
chastisement  heretics  so  convicted,  and  considering  that  such  here- 
tics convicted  and  condemned  in  the  form  aforesaid  ought  to  be 
burned  in  the  flames,  according  to  law  divine  and  human,  and  the 
canonical  institutes,  customary  on  that  behalf — as  straitly  as  we  are 
able,  firmly  enjoining,  command  you  that  the  aforesaid  William, 
being  in  your  custody,  be  committed  to  the  fire  in  any  public  and 
open  place  within  the  liberty  of  the  city  aforesaid  [London],  by 
reason  of  the  premises,  and  that  you  cause  him  to  be  actually  burnt 
in  the  same  fire,  in  detestation  of  such  crime,  and  to  the  manifest 
example  of  other  Christians ;  and  this  you  shall  in  no  wise  omit 
under  instant  peril.  Witness  ourself  at  Westminster  the  26th  day 
of  February  [1401]." ' 

Sawtre,  a  London  priest,  was  burned  in  March.  Purvey,  who 
had  been  arrested,  was  so  frightened  that  he  recanted,  though  he 
afterward  returned  to  the  Protestant  party.  Badby,  a  tailor,  was 
burned  at  Smithfield  in  1410.  Eesby  was  burned  in  Scotland  in 
1407.  William  Thorpe,  one  of  the  itinerant  preachers,  after  re- 
peated examinations,  a  record  of  which  was  kept  and  later  published 
by  William  Tyndale,  was  put  to  death,  but  how  is  not  known.  In 
bis  will  he  says:  "To  witness  to  the  truth  of  my  conviction,  I 
am  ready  in  humility  and  joy  to  suffer  my  poor  body  to  be  perse- 
cuted where  God  wills,  and  by  whom,  and  when,  and  for  how 
long  a  time,  and  to  endure  whatever  punishment  and  death  that 
he  sees  fit,  to  the  honor  of  his  name,  and  to  the  building  up  of  the 
Church."3 

The  most  eminent  among  these  pre-Reformation  Protestants  was 
Sir  John  Oldcastle — "the  good  Lord  Cobham,"  as  the  people 
called  him.  Oldcastle  was  one  of  the  most  bril- 
liant soldiers  of  his  time,  and  after  a  distinguished 
military  career  became  thoroughly  converted,  joined  the  Lol- 
lards, and  used  all  his  means  to  spread  the  Gospel.  He  employed 
scribes  to  copy  Wyclif's  translation,  and  supported  many  itinerant 

1  Gee  and  Hardy,  pp.  138,  139. 

2  The  Examination  of  William  Thorpe  became  one  of  the  most  popular  books 
in  the  early  Reformation  period  in  England.  It  was  prohibited,  with  others, 
by  royal  proclamation,  1530,  the  State  Church  not  liking  its  earnest  evan- 
gelical tone.  It  is  reprinted  entire  in  that  valuable  thesaurus  of  documents, 
Foxe's  Acts  and  Monuments,  iii,  250-282  (Eds.  Pratt  and  Stoughton,  and 
Cattley). 


48  HISTORY   OP   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

preachers.  Archbishop  Arundel  preferred  charges  against  him  to 
the  king,  Henry  V,  who  would  not  give  him  over  until  he  had  him- 
self tried  to  bring  him  back  to  the  Church's  faith.  Oldcastle's  re- 
ply breathed  the  true  Protestant  spirit — loyalty  to  authorities,  but 
with  the  conscience  subject  only  to  God:  "You,  most  worthy 
prince,  I  am  always  prompt  and  willing  to  obey,  forasmuch  as  I 
know  you  a  Christian  king  and  the  appointed  minister  of  God, 
bearing  the  sword  to  the  punishment  of  evildoers  and  for  the  safe- 
guard of  them  that  be  virtuous.  Unto  you,  next  my  eternal  God, 
owe  I  my  whole  obedience,  and  submit  thereunto,  as  I  have  done 
ever,  all  that  I  have,  either  of  fortune  or  nature,  ready  at  all  times 
to  fulfill  whatsoever  ye  shall  in  the  Lord  command  me.  But,  as 
touching  the  pope  and  his  spirituality,  I  owe  them  neither  suit  nor 
service,  forasmuch  as  I  know  him  by  the  Scriptures  to  be  the  great 
Antichrist,  the  son  of  perdition,  the  open  adversary  of  God,  and 
the  abomination  standing  in  the  holy  place.  "l 

Then  followed  the  examination  by  the  spiritual  authorities,  1413, 
cobham's  an<^  ^he  sentence  :  "  We  judge,  declare,  and  condemn 
death.  gjr  j^^  Oldcastle,  knight   and    Lord  Cobham,  for 

a  most  pernicious  and  detestable  heretic,  convicted  upon  the 
same,  and  refusing  utterly  to  obey  the  Church  again,  commit- 
ting him  here  henceforth  as  a  condemned  heretic  to  the  secular  ju- 
risdiction, power,  and  judgment,  to  do  him  thereupon  to  death."2 
After  Archbishop  Arundel  had  read  this  bill  of  condemnation 
Oldcastle  said,  "with  a  most  cheerful  countenance:"  "Though  ye 
judge  my  body,  which  is  but  a  wretched  thing,  yet  am  I  sure  and 
certain  that  ye  can  do  no  harm  to  my  soul,  no  more  than  could 
Satan  to  the  soul  of  Job.  He  that  created  that  will  of  his  infinite 
mercy  and  promise  save  it.  I  have  therein  no  manner  of  doubt. 
And,  as  concerning  those  articles  before  rehearsed,  I  will  stand  to 
them  to  the  very  death,  by  the  grace  of  my  eternal  God."  After 
this  Cobham  escaped  from  prison  and  lived  for  three  years  in 
Wales.  Unfortunately  some  false  reports  about  a  meeting  of  Lol- 
lards in  January,  1414,  at  St.  Giles  Fields,  London,  where  a  few 
gathered  probably  to  hear  preaching,  implicated  Lollardy,  in  the 
minds  of  the  authorities,  with  treason,  and  a  new  statute  was  imme- 
diately passed  in  Parliament  making  it  the  duty  of  the  civil  officers 
to  "root  out  all  manner  of  heresies  and  errors  commonly  called 
Lollardies,"  thus  branding  Oldcastle  and  every  evangelical  man  as 
a  traitor.  It  was  under  the  false  implication  of  this  horribly  unjust 
statute  that  Oldcastle  was  captured  and  hung  by  three  chains  over 
1  Foxe,  iii,  322.  "Ibid.,  p.  336. 


FROM  WYCLIF  TO  CRANMER.  49 

a  slow  fire  and  thus  roasted  to  death,  in  London,  on  December  25, 
1417. 

The  mode  of  that  shockingly  cruel  death,  and  the  heroism  and 
saintly  spirit  with  which  Oldcastle  met  it,  made  a  lasting  impres- 
sion on  the  English  mind,  and  helped  to  exalt  the  noble  victim  in 
the  popular  imagination  as  the  chief  of  the  English  martyrs.  The 
picture  of  Oldcastle  and  his  martyrdom  in  rude  woodcuts  may  still 
be  seen  in  the  cottages  "which  contain,"  says  Creasy,  "naught 
else  except  the  barest  necessaries  of  life,  and  the  Bible."1 

The  persecution  against  the  Lollards  raged  more  or  less  fiercely 
until  1431,  when  the  French  wars  and  the  long  dreary  struggle 
between  York  and  Lancaster  turned  the  mind  of  the  nation  to 
other  channels,  and  henceforth,  as  Lechler  says,  the  Lollards  have 
no  history  save  the  "  record  of  earnest,  obscure  men,  mostly  poor, 
often  illiterate,  who  yet  prized  the  teachings  of  Holy  Scripture, 
silently  testifying  against  the  corruptions  of  the  professed  Church 
of  Christ,  and  so  preparing  the  mind  and  heart  of  the  people  to 
welcome  the  Eeformation  of  the  sixteenth  century."3  That  they 
did  persist  from  1431  to  the  Eeformation  we  have  unmistakable 
evidence. 

In  1449  appeared  one  of  the  most  remarkable  books  of  the  fif- 
teenth century,  The  Repressor  of  overmuch  Blaming  the  Clergy, 
by  Bishop  Reginald  Pecock,  of  Chichester.     In  this  book  he  not 

1  Creasy,  Hist,  of  England,  ii,  395.  Hume  made  popular  the  assertion  of 
historians  that  Oldcastle  was,  or  was  said  to  be,  along  with  other  Lollards, 
engaged  in  treasonable  designs.  See  Hume,  chap.  19.  Later  historians,  like 
Stubbs,  Constitutional  Hist,  of  England,  iii,  80  ;  Milman,  Latin  Christianity, 
vii,  423-425 ;  Robertson,  Hist,  of  Chr.  Church,  new  ed.,  vii,  300,  301,  content 
themselves  with  placing  this  unfounded  tradition  on  the  slender  evidence,  "  it 
is  said."  There  is  no  valid  evidence  for  this,  although  it  is  again  repeated  by 
Creighton,  Papacy  during  the  Reformation,  i,  306.  It  is  abundantly  refuted 
by  Foxe,  iii,  348  ff.,  Brougham,  Hist,  of  England  under  the  House  of  Lancas- 
ter, pp.  81,  82,  and  by  Latimer  in  an  able  article  on  the  Lollards  in  the  Pres- 
byterian Quarterly,  Richmond,  Va.,  April,  1888,  pp.  10  ff.  On  Oldcastle  see 
also  Gilpin,  Life  of  Lord  Cobham,  in  Lives  of  Wiclif  and  the  Most  Eminent  of 
his  Successors,  N.  Y.,  1814,  pp.  91  ff.  ;  Gaspey,  Life  and  Times  of  Good  Lord 
Cobham,  Lond.,  1844,  2  vols.;  Lechler,  Johann  von  Wiclif,  buch  iii,  c.  ii,  iii. 
Halliwell-Phillips,  on  the  Character  of  Sir  John  Falstaff,  Lond.,  1841,  and  J. 
Gairdner,  on  the  Historical  Elements  in  Shakespeare's  Falstaff,  in  Gairdner  and 
Spedding,  Studies  in  English  Hist.,  pp.  55  ff.,  have  shown  that  the  original  of 
Falstaff  in  Henry  IV  is  Sir  John  Oldcastle,  strange  as  it  may  at  first  thought 
seem,  blended,  however,  with  Sir  John  Falstaff,  whose  life  is  narrated  by 
Gairdner  in  the  essay  above.     See  also  Creasy,  Hist,  of  Eng.,  ii,  392. 

2  Lechler,  Wiclif,  ed.  Lorimer,  p.  460. 


50  HISTORY    OF   THE    CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

only  replied  definitely  and  in  order  to  objections  of  the  Lollards, 
but  lie  did  this  in  such  a  broad  and  rationalistic  spirit,  setting 
up  the  "  dawn  of  reason  "  as  supreme,  criticising  the 
of  the  '  fathers,  doubting  the  apostolic  origin  of  the  Apos- 
tles' Creed,  questioning  the  Descensus  and  other 
things,  that  the  Church  refused  such  an  advocate,  degraded  him 
from  his  position,  and  made  him  recant  his  objectionable  ideas — 
which  he  did  not  hesitate  to  do.1  In  spite  of  the  efforts  of  the 
Church  party  to  destroy  Wyclif's  Bible  there  still  exist  thirty 
manuscripts  made  between  1430  and  1440,  and  twenty  manuscripts 
made  between  1440  and  1450.  In  1485,  at  the  close  of  the  War  of 
the  Roses,  a  number  of  persons  in  the  see  of  Corven  and  Lichfield 
were  arraigned  for  Lollard  doctrines,  and  nine  years  later  a  woman 
was  burned  at  Smithfield  as  a  disciple  of  Wyclif.2  In  1494  thirty 
persons — the  "  Lollards  of  Kyle" — were  brought  by  the  Archbishop 
of  Glasgow  before  James  IV,  of  Scotland,  and  his  council  for  simi- 
lar charges,  and  these  opinions  were  at  that  time  spreading  rapidly 
throughout  the  kingdom,  especially  in  the  western  districts  of 
Kyle,  Corrick,  and  Cunningham.3 

Before  Henry  VIII's  passion  for  Anne  Boleyn  precipitated  the 
English  Reformation  there  is  abundant  evidence  that  the  Lollard 
testimony  was  still  bearing  fruit.  At  Amersham,  in  Buckingham- 
shire, sixty  persons  were  in  1506  condemned  as  Lollards.  Their  chief 
teacher,  William  Tylsworth,  was  burned,  his  own  daughter  being 
compelled  to  light  the  fire,  while  his  entire  flock  bore  fagots  in 
token  of  their  deserving  the  same  fate.  In  the  diocese  of  Lincoln 
the  work  of  persecution  went  on  during  the  whole  of  the  early  part 
of  the  sixteenth  century.  In  1518  Thomas  Man,  who  is  said  to 
have  turned  many  people  in  various  parts  of  England  to  his 
doctrine,  suffered  at  Smithfield.  In  1521  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln 
records  the  names  of  several  hundred  people  who  were  charged 
with  heresy,  and  these  were  people  who  could  not  have  been  in- 
fluenced by  Luther's  protest,  of  which  only  the  learned  were  then 
informed,  but  were  parts  of  that  yeomanry  which  have  ever  been 
the  strength  and  glory  of  England  and  the  bulwark  of  her  Protes- 

1  Best  ed.  of  this  remarkable  book  by  Babington,  Lond.,  1860,  2  vols.  It  is 
the  subject  of  an  interesting  study  by  James  Gairdner  in  Fortnightly  Rev. , 
Aug.,  1865,  reprinted  with  revisions  and  enlargements  in  Gairdner  and  Sped- 
ding,  Studies  in  English  History,  Edinb.,  1881,  pp.  19  ff. 

2  Foxe,  iv,  133-135. 

3  Knox,  Hist,  of  Reformation  in  Scotland,  book  i,  ad  init.  ;  Hetherington, 
Hist,  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  chap.  ii. 


FROM  WYCLIF  TO  CRANMER.  51 

tantism.'  These  were  the  men  who  in  various  parts  of  England 
hailed  Tyndale's  translation  of  the  Bible  with  welcome  and  de- 
light, and  these  were  the  men  who,  with  their  reverence  for  the 
Scriptures  and  their  determination  to  go  back  to  that  source  for  their 
doctrine  and  polity,  found  as  inhospitable  a  place  in  Henry's  State 
Church  as  they  had  in  the  old  fold,  and  thus  became  the  fathers  of 
the  Puritans  and  the  modern  evangelical  Church. 

1  For  the  Lollard  persecutions  of  the  sixteenth  century  see  Foxe,  iv,  123, 
124,  208-214,  219-246.  The  best  account  of  the  influence  of  the  Lollards  in  the 
English  Reformation,  which,  though  deep  and  real,  has  often  been  overlooked 
or  even  denied  by  historians,  is  found  in  Latimer,  The  Lollards,  in  (Southern) 
Presbyterian  Quar. ,  April,  1888. 


52  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  DOGMATIC  PRELUDE  IN  BOHEMIA-A  WYCLIF  POSTLUDE. 

There  are  few  more  striking  events  in  Church  history  than  the 
transplanting  of  Wyclif — the  transference  of  his  influence  in  its 
chief  power  from  England  to  Bohemia. 

There  had  been  earnest  reformers  in  Bohemia  before  John  Hus, 
but  not  one  who  did  not  stand  within  the  ecclesiastical  system. 
They  were  moral  reformers,  and  not  theological.  They  protested 
against  clerical  concubinage  and  a  multitude  of  abuses — some 
shocking  enough,  but  they  did  not  seek  a  revival  of  apostolic 
doctrine. 

Perhaps  the  one  who  came  nearest  to  this  was  Mathias  of  Janow 
biathias  of  (died  1394),  who  in  his  exaltation  of  the  Scriptures 
janow.  strikes  a  Protestant  note.    "  In  my  writings,"  he  says, 

"I  have  made  most  use  of  the  Bible  and  its  actual  manuscripts,  and 
but  little  of  the  sayings  of  the  doctors,  both  because  the  Bible  occurs 
to  me  promptly  and  abundantly  for  writing  on  every  matter  of  con- 
sideration and  every  subject,  and  because  out  of  it  and  through  its 
most  divine  verities,  which  are  clear  and  self-evident,  all  opinions  are 
more  solidly  confirmed,  are  founded  with  greater  acuteness,  and  are 
meditated  on  more  usefully  ;  and  because  it  is  that  I  have  loved 
from  my  youth  up,  and  have  named  my  beloved  friend  and  spouse, 
yea,  the  mother  of  beauteous  affection  and  knowledge  and  fear  and 
holy  hope.  And  as  soon  as  I  found  the  blessed  Augustine,  in  his 
book  De  Doctrina  Christiana,  and  Jerome,  saying  that  the  study 
of  the  texts  of  the  most  Holy  Bible  is  in  the  beginning  and  the  end 
most  necessary  and  useful  to  one  desiring  to  attain  to  knowledge 
of  theological  truth,  and  is  and  ought  to  be  the  fundamental  thing 
to  every  well-instructed  Christian,  ere  long  my  mind  became  at- 
tached to  the  Bible  in  perpetual  love.  I  confess  that  from  my 
youth  it  has  not  departed  from  me,  even  unto  old  age,  neither  in 
my  path  nor  in  my  home,  nor  when  I  was  busy,  nor  when  I  was  at 
leisure ;  and  in  every  doubt  of  mind,  in  every  question  I  always 
found  in  and  through  the  Bible  satisfactory  and  lucid  explanation 
and  consolation  for  my  soul,  and  in  all  my  trouble,  persecution, 
and  sadness  I  always   fled  for  refuge   to   the  Bible.  .  .  .  When  I 


THE  DOGMATIC  PRELUDE  IN  BOHEMIA.  53 

saw  very  many  always  carrying  with  them  the  relics  and  bones  of 
divers  saints  I  chose  for  myself  the  Bible  as  the  companion  of  my 
travel,  to  be  ever  at  my  side  in  readiness  for  my  defense  and  con- 
tinual consolation  in  adversity."1 

A  man  who  could  have  written  this  ought  to  have  been  a  Bohe- 
mian Luther.  Mathias  was  opposed  to  image  worship,  invocation  of 
saints,  and  veneration  of  relics,  and  was  a  strenuous  advocate  of  the 
frequent  reception  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  But  this  hopeful  prom- 
ise never  budded  into  fruition.  When  called  upon  by  the  author- 
ities he  recanted  everything  that  seemed  to  express  criticism  of  the 
ruling  Church.2  Neander  made  a  profound  study  of  Janow's  man- 
uscripts, and  of  the  author  he  was  a  great  admirer.  He  devotes 
large  space  to  him  in  the  last  volume  of  his  Church  History,  and 
went  so  far  as  to  say  before  the  Berlin  Academy  of  Sciences  in  1847 
that  the  writings  of  Mathias  of  Janow  reveal  a  reaction  in  the 
evangelical  interest  independently  of  Wyclif  and  previous  to  Hus, 
a  reaction  "  based  upon  the  principle  of  the  German  Eeformation, 
reference  to  Christ  alone,  and  his  word  in  Holy  Scripture. " 
Would  that  Mathias  had  justified  Neander's  enthusiasm  in  his 
favor.  But  no,  Mathias  had  too  deep  reverence  for  the  Eoman 
Church.     His  splendid  protests  were  all  recalled. 

Thomas  of  Stitny  (died  about  1400)  did  a  noble  work  in  behalf 
of  popular  education  and  morality.3 

John  of  Husinec,  or  John  Hus,  as  he  was  wont  to  call  himself 
after  1396,  was  born  in  1369.  His  parents  were  poor,  and,  like  Lu- 
ther, he  had  to  sing  for  his  education.  He  fitted  himself 
for  the  priesthood,  having  in  view,  according  to  his  own 
word,  the  comfortable  life  led  by  the  clergy.  He  graduated  Bachelor 
of  Arts  at  the  University  of  Prague  (founded  in  1348)  in  1393,  was 
later  Bachelor  of  Divinity,  and  in  1396  became  Master  of  Arts.  He 
passed  through  no  such  spiritual  history  as  Luther,  but  neverthe- 
less his  spiritual  life  seemed  to  have  deepened,  and  thus  he  be- 
came gradually  prepared  to  profit  by  the  writings  of   Wyclif.     He 

1  See  this  and  other  extracts  from  his  writings  in  Wratislaw,  John  Hus, 
Lond.,  1882,  pp.  61-74. 

2  This  recantation  is  in  full  in  Palacky,  Documenta,  Prague,  1869,  p.  699,  and 
"Wratislaw,  Hus,  pp.  66,  67.  Palacky's  book  contains  all  the  documents,  Latin 
and  Bohemian,  relating  to  Hus  and  the  religious  controversies  between 
1403-18. 

3  See  Palacky,  Gesch.  von  Bohmen,  iii,  188 ;  Loserth,  Hus,  pp.  42,  43 ; 
Wratislaw,  The  Literature  of  Bohemia  in  the  Fourteenth  Century,  Lond.,  1878, 
pp.  122-165.  We  owe  a  debt  to  Wratislaw  for  translating  various  important 
Bohemian  works  into  English. 


54  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

received  priest's  orders  in  1400,  and  two  years  afterward  became 
the  preacher  at  the  Bethlehem  Chapel,  Prague,  where  the  terms  of 
foundation  required  him  to  preach  in  Czech  on  all  Sundays  and 
holy  days.1  He  had  already  become  familiar  with  Wyclif's  philo- 
sophical writings  while  at  the  university,  and  now  he  set  himself 
to  a  study  of  his  theology. 

How  Wyclif's  writings  came  into  Bohemia  is  not  difficult  to  say. 
There  was  a  constant  intercourse  between  Bohemia  and  England, 
and  especially  after  the  marriage,  in  1382,  of  Anne  of  Luxemburg, 
sister  of  the  King  of  Bohemia,  to  Richard  II  of  England.  Many 
Bohemian  students  were  at  the  University  of  Oxford.  Jerome  of 
England  and  Prague  was  one  of  those  who  carried  Wyclif's  works 
bohemia.  w-^  kim.  He  said  at  the  council  of  Constance 
that  he  went  to  England  out  of  a  desire  for  learning ;  and  be- 
cause he  heard  that  Wyclif  was  a  man  of  deep  learning  and  great 
ability  he  had  written  out  Wyclif's  Dialogue  and  Trialogue,  and 
had  brought  them  to  Prague.  This  might  have  been  in  1401. 
Even  Hus's  contemporaries  recognized  what  has  been  demonstrated 
anew  by  Loserth,  that  the  Bohemian  drew  his  inspiration  from 
the  Englishman.  Thus  Ludolph  of  Sagen  says  :  "  The  terrible 
deeds,  repugnant  to  the  faith,  to  truth  and  equity,  justice,  religion 
and  Church,  took  their  start  from  the  books  of  Wyclif/'  Andrew 
of  Brod,  a  fellow-laborer  of  Hus,  tells  his  brethren:  "  Ye  may  speak 
as  ye  list  on  the  grievous  irregularities  of  the  clergy  ;  only  be  sileut 
about  the  errors  and  books  of  Wyclif,  of  which  ye  are  the  protect- 
ors. .  .  .  Even  from  ancient  times  have  Konrad  (of  Waldhausen), 
Milics,  Stekna,  and  very  many  others,  preached  against  the  clergy, 
without  any  of  them  being  placed  under  an  interdict."3  The  Car- 
thusian prior,  Stephen  of  Dolein,  near  Olmutz,  who  raves  furiously 
against  Hus,  traces  all  the  trouble  back  to  Wyclif.  So  also  Kurz 
of  Zwola  laments  :  "  The  Bohemians  have  become  heretics  because 
they  adhere  to  the  arch  heretic,  John  Wyclif." 3  In  an  academical 
address  delivered  in  1409  Hus  quotes  the  "prating  of  the  clerical 
order"  to  the  effect  that  "  here  in  the  city  are  countless  heretics, 
folk  call  them  Wyclifists,"  and  he  then  adds :  "  As  for  myself  I 
confess  before  you  here  that  I  have  read  and  studied  the  works  of 
the  magister,  John  Wyclif,  and  I  readily  acknowledge  that  I  have 

i  It  used  to  be  thought  that  Bethlehem  Chapel,  founded  in  1391 ,  was  the  first 
church  where  the  people  of  Prague  ever  heard  preaching  in  their  mother  tongue. 
But  this  is  now  disproved.  See  Berger,  Johannes  Hus  und  Konig  Sigismund, 
Augsb.,  1871,  s.  71  ;  Loserth,  Wiclif  and  Hus,  Lond.,  1884,  p.  69. 

8  Palacky,  Monumenta,  p.  520.  3  Loserth,  pp.  78,  79. 


THE  DOGMATIC  PRELUDE  IN  BOHEMIA.  55 

learned  from  them  much  that  is  good.  Truly  not  everything  that 
I  have  found  in  this  or  that  doctor  is  on  that  account  of  the  same 
weight  with  me  as  the  Gospel  ;  for  only  to  Holy  Scripture  will  I 
maintain  this  reverential  obedience.  Why  then  should  we  not  read 
Wyclif's  books  also,  in  which  are  written  down  countless  sacred 
truths  ?  " 

Hus  exhorts  the  students  diligently  to  peruse  the  works  of 
Wyclif.  In  the  minds  of  the  old  Church  party  an  appeal  to  Scrip- 
ture was  at  once  recognized  as  the  mark  of  a  Wyclifite.  "  And  if 
anyone/'  says  Hus  in  one  of  his  sermons,  "  says  that  they  are 
nevertheless  able  to  bring  forward  Holy  Scripture  in  support  of 
their  dogmas,  these  men  at  once  cry  out,  '  just  look  at  the  Wyclifite, 
who  will  not  listen  to  Holy  Church.'  For  they  look  upon  them- 
selves and  their  unscriptural  ordinances  as  the  Holy  Church." '  In 
the  numerous  street  songs,  letters,  documents,  and  registers  of  that 
time  whenever  mention  is  made  of  the  heretics  it  is  always  as 
Wyclifites,  the  designation  Husites  being  of  late  occurrence  and 
then  generally  in  combination  with  Wyclifite.2  There  is  not  the 
least  doubt  that  Hus's  contemporaries  considered  his  movement  as 
Wyclifism,  as  it  really  was,  and  that  from  its  very  rise  in  1403. 3 

Wyclif,  really  had  a  great  fascination  for  Hus.  "  I  am  drawn 
to  him,"  he  says,  "  by  the  reputation  which  he  has,  and  HUS  AND. 

that  not  with  the  bad,  but  with  the  good  priests,  with  wyclif. 

the  University  of  Oxford,  and  with  the  people  in  general — albeit 
not  with  the  base,  avaricious,  haughty,  and  luxurious  prelates  and 
priests.  I  am  drawn  to  him  by  his  writings,  by  which  he  seeks  to 
bring  back  all  men  to  the  law  of  Christ,  and  especially  so  with  the 
clergy,  to  the  end  that  they  may  dismiss  the  splendor  and  glory  of 
the  world,  and  with  the  apostles  live  after  the  life  of  Christ.  I 
am  drawn  by  the  love  which  he  has  for  the  law  of  Christ,  in  that 
he  maintains  the  truth  thereof,  namely,  that  his  law  cannot  in  the 
smallest  point  be  false."  In  a  sermon  preached  in  1405  Hus  made 
use  of  Wyclif's  words,  and  his  discourse  is  penetrated  with  Wyclif's 
thoughts.     He  brought  forward  the  doctrine  of  predestination, 

1  See  Loserth,  p.  82. 

2  In  Palacky's  Documenta  Magistri  Johannis  Hus,  we  meet  with  the  appella- 
tion Wyclifites  in  twenty-three  letters  and  documents,  while  that  of  Husite  oc- 
curs only  in  the  later  added  superscription  to  some  State  papers.  See  this  and 
further  evidence  given  in  extenso  by  Loserth,    pp.  83  ff. 

3  Lechler,  Johann  von  Wiclif ,  p.  169,  acknowledged  this,  though  he  places 
the  influence  too  late.  Wyclifism  appears  as  the  hinge  of  the  whole  movement 
from  its  start  in  1403,  as  Loserth  has  abundantly  shown.  Loserth,  p.  87, 
note. 


56  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

which  was  a  pivotal  feature  of  Wyclif's  system;  and  this  was  not 
without  significance,  because  it  made  the  salvation  of  man  depend, 
not  upon  the  will  of  the  pope,  or  of  the  Church,  or  the  observance 
of  ecclesiastical  decrees,  but  upon  the  will  of  God. 

We  cannot  go  into  the  details  of  Hus's  life  in  the  brief  time 
which  elapsed  between  his  embracing  Wyclifism  and  his  martyr- 
dom. Two  currents  are  visible — the  churchly  energy  against  the 
reform  and  the  increasing  popularity  of  the  new  doctrines.  A 
papal  bull  of  1409  prohibited  Wyclif's  writings,  and  on  July  16, 
1410,  two  hundred  volumes  were  burned.  The  Archbishop  of 
Prague  declared  Wyclif  a  heretic.  On  the  other  hand,  the  univer- 
sity, of  which  Hus  was  made  rector,  favored  Wyclifism;  the  people 
denounced  the  archbishop  in  the  streets  ;  Hus  became  bolder  in  his 
pulpit  of  the  Bethlehem  Chapel,  and  his  congregations  increased  to 
vast  size. 

On  March  15, 1411,  he  was  excommunicated  by  the  archbishop, 
hus  exe-  an(i  the  city  laid  under  an  interdict,  but  both  sentences 
cuted.  were  disregarded.    At  that  juncture  the  preaching  of  a 

crusade  against  Naples  and  of  indulgences  brought  about  a  public 
disputation  on  June  7, 1412,  where  it  was  declared  that  neither  pope 
nor  bishop  should  draw  the  sword,  and  that  money  could  not  buy  an 
indulgence,  but  that  true  repentance  was  the  only  condition  of  for- 
giveness. The  pope  does  not  know  who  are  the  elect,  who  only  can 
be  saved  ;  and  the  doctrine  that  he  cannot  err  is  blasphemous.  The 
people  made  a  bonfire  of  the  papal  bulls  in  front  of  the  archbishop's 
palace.  Then  the  king  played  his  part.  He  executed  three  young 
men  who  declared  indulgences  a  humbug,  and  requested  Hus  to 
withdraw  from  the  city,  which  he  did  in  December,  1412,  passing 
his  exile  near  Prague,  preaching  to  vast  concourses  of  people,  and 
writing  his  book,  De  Ecclesia,  which  is,  however,  only  a  reproduc- 
tion of  Wyclif's  book  on  the  same  subject.  Then  followed  his  cita- 
tion before  the  council  of  Constance,  his  arrival  there  on  November 
3,  1414,  his  imprisonment  on  a  trumped-up  charge,  his  repeated  ex- 
amination for  heresy,  his  denial  of  false  interpretations  put  upon 
his  writings,  his  attempt  to  explain  them  so  as  to  come  as  near  as 
he  conscientiously  could  to  the  standpoint  of  the  Church,  his  re- 
fusal to  recant,  and  his  condemnation — his  books  to  be  burned  and 
he  himself  also  to  be  burned  as  a  heretic  on  July  6,  1415,  a  sentence 
which  was  executed  that  same  day. 

The  scenes  of  that  martyrdom,  as  related  in  full  by  Gillett  from 
ancient  records,1  is  one  of  the  most  dramatic  in  history.  St.  Paul 
1  Life  and  Times  of  John  Hus,  Bost.,  1861,  vol.  ii,  pp.  61-74. 


THE  DOGMATIC  PRELUDE  IN  BOHEMIA.  57 

himself  did  not  go  to  his  death  with  greater  heroism,  nor  in  a  spirit 
of  more  loyal  self-dedication  to  Jesus  Christ,  nor  show  a  more 
devout  and  Christian  spirit  than  did  this  brave  and  noble  Bohe- 
mian, who  in  the  full  vigor  of  manhood  joyfully  gave  up  his  life  as 
a  witness  to  the  truth  as  he  understood  it.  He  was  a  man  of  tender 
and  sensitive  nature,  not  designed  for  heroic  deed.  But  with  that 
tenderness  there  was  a  moral  firmness,  a  fear  of  God,  and  a  consci- 
entiousness of  purpose  which  set  John  Hus  apart  as  one  of  the 
noblest  of  that  army  of  martyrs  which  the  Church  of  Christ  must 
hold  in  everlasting  love. 

What  were  the  principles  for  which  Hus  gave  up  his  life  ?  Was 
he  really  a  heretic  according  to  the  teaching  of  the  Church  of  his 
time  ?  Lechler  claims  that,  according  to  the  canons  of  the  Church 
of  that  time,  Hus's  death  was  murder  pure  and  simple.  mTS>s  POsi- 
But  how  can  this  be  when,  even  if  he  denied  holding  to  TION- 
Wyclif's  doctrine  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  he  held,  according  to  Lech- 
ler, that  reform  must  be  based  on  conscience  and  Scripture  alone, 
and  not  upon  ecclesiastical  authority?  As  soon  as  we  appeal  to 
Scripture  and  conscience  as  against  the  Eoman  Church  we  are  on 
Protestant  ground.  Again,  Lechler  says  that  Hus  regarded  the 
Scriptures  as  infallible  authority  and  supreme  arbiter,  and  that  he 
regarded  the  Church  as  the  company  of  the  elect,  without  reference 
to  ecclesiastical  tests.     He  also  held  to  communion  in  both  kinds. 

It  seems,  therefore,  that  Lechler  speaks  hastily  in  saying  that 
from  their  standpoint  the  Church  party  had  no  right  to  proceed 
against  Hus.  Gillett  agrees  with  Lechler  in  regard  to  Hus's  ortho- 
doxy. With  regard  to  transubstantiation  and  the  Trinity  he  held 
with  the  Church.  With  regard  to  confession,  worship  of  images, 
intercession  of  saints,  purgatory,  and  tradition,  his  replies  showed 
that  he  differed  but  slightly  from  the  French  theologians.  As  to 
the  unworthiness  of  the  priest  invalidating  the  sacrament  his  final 
conclusion  was  in  harmony  with  the  Church,  that  God  works  even 
through  unworthy  hands.  With  regard  to  indulgences  he  does  not 
deny  any  prerogative  given  by  God  to  the  pope,  only  that  the  in- 
dulgence is  worthless  when  given  for  unworthy  purposes. 

Gillett  ascribes  the  death  of  Hus  to  the  anger  of  the  clerical 
party  against  him  on  the  following  grounds:  (1)  His  determined 
opposition  to  worldly  rule  and  riches  for  the  clergy.  He  believed, 
moreover,  that  the  State  should  resume  possession  of  ecclesiastical 
property  when  it  had  been  perverted  from  its  uses.  This  made  him 
many  enemies.  (2)  The  theologians  of  the  University  of  Paris  op- 
posed him  on  the  ground  of  his  realism  in  philosophy,  and  the 


58  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

English  deputation  hated  him  for  his  defense  of  Wyclif.  The 
Germans  regarded  him  as  almost  a  personal  enemy,  charging  him 
with  being  the  principal  agent  in  the  expulsion  of  the  German  stu- 
dents from  the  University  of  Prague — an  expulsion  which  took  place 
in  1408,  and  which  led  to  the  formation  of  the  University  of  Leip- 
zig. Almost  every  element  in  the  council,  therefore,  was  opposed 
to  him.  (3)  His  appeal  from  the  council  and  the  pope  to  Christ. 
This  was  a  denial  of  the  infallibility  of  the  council  and  of  the  pope, 
and  so  of  the  Church  as  speaking  through  these.  He  demanded 
again  and  again  that  he  should  be  set  right  and  instructed  by  Holy 
Scripture.  To  Christ  and  the  Bible  only  would  he  submit.  This 
was  the  difficulty. 

Here  was  Hus's  great  offense.     Sigismund,  the  emperor,  and  the 
council  determined  that  the  infallibility  of  an  ecumenical  council 
should  not  thus  be  denied.1     "  Obedience  and  submis- 
fexse.  gjon  were  the  only  terms  on  which  his  life  would  be 

spared.  These  conditions  Hus  rejected,  and  his  own  doom  was 
sealed.  He  went  to  the  stake  with  a  clear  conscience,  forcing  the 
very  flames  to  emblazon  before  the  world  in  fiery  letters  his  rever- 
ence for  the  word  of  God.  Had  his  life  been  spared  we  can  readily 
believe  that  new  light  would  have  dawned  upon  him,  and  that  Lu- 
ther would  have  been  preceded  in  his  career  by  a  man  who  com- 
bined some  of  the  noblest  qualities  of  the  martyr  spirit  with  a 
firmness  and  decision  fully  equal  to  his  own."  2 

The  Bohemian  revolt  became  a  dogmatic  preparation  for  the 
Reformation.  In  his  De  Ecclesia  Hus  defines  his  position  with  preci- 
sion. The  Catholic  Church  is  the  collective  body  (universitas)  of  all 
those  predestined  to  salvation.  Christ  is  the  head,  who  gives  to  the 
Hus  ON  THF  members,  that  is,  the  predestined,  motion  and  sanc- 
chukch.  tion.     No  position,  election  of  men,  nor  dignity  con- 

stitutes anyone  a  member  of  the  Catholic  Church,  but  only  God's 

1  In  the  final  reading  before  the  council  of  the  indictments  against  him  this 
one  is  mentioned :  that  Magister  John  Hus  had  appealed  to  God,  and  that  such 
an  appeal  was  condemned  as  an  error.  When  Hus  heard  this  he  replied  with 
a  loud  voice:  "  0  Lord  God  !  Lo,  this  council  now  condemns  thy  actions  and 
law  as  an  error  !  who,  when  thou  wast  aggrieved  and  oppressed  by  thine  ene- 
mies, committedst  thy  cause  to  God  thy  Father,  the  most  righteous  of  judges, 
giving  herein  an  example  to  us  poor  wretches,  when  aggrieved  in  whatever 
way,  to  have  recourse  to  thee,  the  most  righteous  of  bishops,  humbly  asking 
thine  aid."  And  he  added  :  "  And  I  affirm  that  there  is  no  safer  appeal  than 
that  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  not  bent  by  bribery  nor  deceived  by  false 
witness,  but  assigns  his  deserts  to  each." — Wratislaw,  John  Hus,  p.  326. 

2  Gillett,  Life  and  Times  of  John  Hus,  ii,  79. 


THE  DOGMATIC  PRELUDE  IN  BOHEMIA.  59 

predestination.  "  The  Holy  Catholic  Church,"  says  Hus,  "is  also 
called  Apostolic  or  Koman  Church ;  whereas  it  does  not  follow 
that  every  pope,  who  is  truly  such,  and  the  college  of  Roman  car- 
dinals constitute  the  entire  Catholic  Church.  For  the  Holy 
Apostolic  Church  is  that  which  has  never  departed  from  the  true 
faith  of  Christ  and  his  apostles,  and  which  cannot  err  therein  ;  but 
that  popes  have  is  proved  by  ecclesiastical  history. 

"  But  the  Roman  Church,  the  Church  which  has  its  seat  in  Rome, 
was  from  the  beginning  a  partial  Church,  the  society  of  all  Chris- 
tians living  under  the  obedience  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  as  the 
churches  of  Jerusalem  and  Antioch  were  the  societies  of  Christians 
living  under  the  bishops  of  Jerusalem  and  Antioch.  In  the  first 
instance  the  Church  flourished  at  Jerusalem,  then  to  a  greater  ex- 
tent at  Antioch  ;  nevertheless,  the  Catholic  Church  took  its  name 
from  Rome  for  three  reasons  :  (1)  Because  Christ  knew  that  in- 
stead of  unbelieving  Jews,  pagan  nations  living  under  the  do- 
minion of  Rome,  would  be  instructed  in  his  holy  faith  ;  (2)  Because 
a  larger  number  of  martyrs  triumphed  in  that  city  than  in  any 
other  in  the  world  ;  (3)  Likewise,  that  it  might  be  known  that 
neither  locality  nor  antiquity,  but  steadfast  faith  is  the  foundation 
of  the  Church  of  Christ.  And  thus  the  Roman  Church  and  the 
Catholic  Church  are  one  only  in  name,  and  Christ  always  remains 
the  one  head  of  the  Church,  the  only  true  pope.  According  to  the 
nature  of  the  Catholic  Church  the  pope  and  bishop  of  Rome  is  not 
and  cannot  be  its  head  ;  it  is  possible  he  may  not  even  be  a  mem- 
ber of  it  ;  but  he  is  the  vicar  or  representative  of  Peter  in  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  Church  militant,  if  he  follows  the  morals  of  Peter ; 
if  not  he  is  rather  the  representative  of  Judas." ' 

Essentially,  therefore,  Hus  brushed  aside  the  Roman  Church 
and  exalted  Christ  in  its  place.  "  Let  us  hear  Christ,"  he  says  in 
one  of  his  Bohemian  works,  "for  we  cannot  have  a  better  guide  or 
teacher,  nor  any  other  foundation  or  a  purer  mirror.  Therefore 
after  him  let  us  go,  to  him  let  us  listen,  and  on  him  let  us  place 
faith,  hope,  love,  and  all  good  works,  on  him  as  into  a  mirror 
let  us  gaze  and  to  him  let  us  approach  with  all  our  might.  He 
saith,  I  am  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life.  The  way  in  example, 
wherein  if  a  man  goes  he  erreth  not ;  the  truth  in  promise,  for 
what  he  hath  promised  that  he  will  fulfill ;  and  the  life  in  recom- 
pense, for  he  will  give  himself  to  be  enjoyed  in  everlasting  bliss. 

1  See  copious  extracts  in  Wratislaw,  Hus,  chap.  xi.  In  Loserth,  Wiclif 
and  Hus,  pp.  190  ff.,  large  parts  of  Wiclif,  De  Ecclesia,  and  Hus,  De  Ecclesia, 
in  the  original  Latin,  are  placed  side  by  side  for  comparison. 


60  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

He  is  also  the  way  because  he  leads  to  salvation  ;  he  is  the  truth 
because  he  shines  on  the  understanding  of  the  faithful  :  and  he  is 
the  life  everlasting,  in  which  all  the  elect  will  live  in  bliss  forever. 
In  that  life  and  by  that  way  and  truth  I  desire  to  go  myself  and  to 
draw  others."  1 

Wratislaw,  who  thoroughly  studied  both  the  Bohemian  and 
Latin  writings  of  Hus,  well  says  that  the  reformer  gave  up  his  life 
for  three  things  :  the  necessity  of  a  reform  in  the  life  and  manners 
of  the  clergy,  the  supremacy  of  conscience,  and  the  supremacy  of 
Christ  and  the  Scriptures.3  And,  being  dead,  John  Hus  yet 
speaketh. 

1  O  Svato  upectoi,  "  Of  Traffic  in  Holy  Things,"  at  end,  Wratislaw,  pp.  359, 
360. 

2  Wratislaw,  Hus.  p.  335. 

3 


LITERATURE:  HUS  AND  THE  COUNCIL  OF  CONSTANCE.      61 


LITERATURE  :     HUS    AND    THE     COUNCIL    OF    CON- 

STANCE. 

I.    DOCUMENTS. 

1.  Historia  et  monumenta  J.    Hussi  atque  Hieronymi  Pragensis.     2  vols. 

Niirnb.,  1558.     New  ed.,  Franckft.,  1715. 

2.  Bonnechose,  Einil  de.    Lettres  de  Jean  Hus.     2d  ed.,  Paris,  1846.     Transl. 

by  C.  Mackenzie.     Lond.,  1846. 

3.  Monumenta  Conciliorum  generalium  seculi  xv.     Vol.  i,  Vienna,  1857. 

4.  Erben,  K.  J.     (An  edition  of  the  Works  of  Hus  in  Bohemian.)     3  vols. 

Prag,  1866. 

5.  Palacky,  Frantisek.    Doeumenta  Magistri  J.  Hus  vitam,   doctrinam  .  .  . 

(1403-18).  .  .  .  illustrantia.     Prag,  1869. 

6.  Langsdorff ,  W.    Jobann  Hus,  ausgewahlte  Predigten.    Leipz. ,  1895. 

H.    BIOGRAPHICAL. 

1.  Werner,  Jobann.     John  Hus,  bistorice  descriptus.     Leipz.,  1671. 

2.  Seyfrid,  Wm.   De  Job.  Hussi  vita  fatis  et  scriptis  c.  annot.  J.  Chr.  Mylii. 

Jenae,  1743. 

3.  Leonbard,  C.  L.     De  Vaticiniis  Hussi.     Argent.,  1751. 

4.  Zitte,  Aug.    Lebensbescbreibung  des  Magister  von  Hussinecz.     Prag,  1789. 

5.  Eeicbe,  G.  H.     Jobn  Hus,  leven.     Rott.,  1799. 

6.  Cappenburg,  Adolf.     Utrum  Husii  doctrina  fuerit  beretica.    Monast. ,  1834. 

7.  Horst,  D.  G.  v.  d.     De  Hussi  vita.     Amst.,  1837. 

8.  N.  N.     Job.  Huss.     Een  voorlooper  der  kerkbervorming.     Gron.,  1840. 

9.  Eiselein,   Josua.      Aufweis   d.    Platzes  bei   Constanz,  auf  welcbem   Hus 

und  Hieronymus  von  Prag  1415  und  1416  verbrannt  worden.     Const., 
1847. 

10.  Bonnecbose,  Emil  de.     The  Reformers  before  the  Reformation.     The  Fif- 

teenth Century.  Huss  and  the  Council  of  Constance.  Transl.  by  Macken- 
zie.    Lond.,  1851.     German  ed.,  1848.    3d  ed.,  Paris,  1860. 

11.  Helfert,  J.  A.     Hus  and  Hieronymus.     Prag,  1853.    Ultramontane. 

12.  Luders,  G.  A.     Joh.  Huss  en  zijn  tijd  Naar  het  Hoogd.  door  J.  H.  Car- 

pentier  Alting.     Amst.,  1857  ;   Custr.,  1854. 

13.  Gillett,  E.  H.     Life  and  Times  of  John  Huss,  the  Reformer  of  the  Fifteenth 

Century.  2  vols.  Bost.,1861;  3d  ed.,  1870.   Now  published  in  Phila.    The 
second  vol.  of  this  admirable  work  continues  the  history  down  to  1650. 

14.  Friedrich,  Johann.     Johann  Hus.     Ein  Lebensbild.    Regensb.,  1862.     Ro- 

man Catholic.     Characterizes  Hus  as  an  enemy  of  the  Germans. 

15.  Sonstral,  J.  H.     Geschiedenis  van  het  Husitismus  van  zijnen  oorsprong  in 

de  14e  Eeouw  tot  dat  het  als  eene  protestantsche  kerk  erkend  werdt. 
Gron.,  1862. 

16.  Krummel,  L.     Johannes  Hus.    Eine  kirchen-historische  Studie.     Darmst., 

1863. 

a 


62  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

17.  Hcefler,  C.  A.     J.  Hus  und  der  Abzug  der  deutschen  Professoren  und  Stu- 

denten  aus  Prag  in  1409.     Prag,  1864. 

18.  Berger,  Wilhelm  J.     Hus  und  Konig  Sigismund.     Augsb.,  1872. 

19.  Van   der  Haegen,   Th.      Jean   Hus  Expose   de   sa   doctrine   sur  l'dglise. 

Alencon,  1877  and  1888. 

20.  Denis,  E.     Huss  et  la  guerre  des  Hussites.     Paris,  1878. 

21.  Johannes  Hus.     Amst.,  1878. 

22.  Rashall,  Henry.     John  Huss.     Lond.,  1879. 

23.  Wratislaw,  A.  H.    John  Hus.     Lond.,  1882.     The  best  short  life  in  English. 

Wratislaw  is  a  Bohemian  Protestant  scholar,  who  writes  with  full  knowl- 
edge, with  sympathy,  yet  with  impartiality.  He  has  also  some  illumi- 
nating Lectures  on  the  Native  Literature  of  Bohemia  in  the  Fourteenth 
Century.     Lond.,  1878. 

24.  Loserth,  Johann.     Hus  und  Wiclif.     Zur  Genesis  der  husitischen  Lehre. 

Prag,  1884.  English  transl.  by  H.  J.  Evans.  Lond.,  1885.  See  J.  Max 
Hark,  in  Andover  Rev.,  ii,  327  ff.  ;  Church  Quar.  Rev.,  xix,  240.  Loserth 
is  the  great  champion  of  Hus's  dependence  on  Wiclif .  How  far  he  is  to 
be  followed  is  discussed  below,  pp.  65  ff. 

25.  Lechler,  G.  von.    Joh.  Hus.  Ein  Lebensbild  aus  der  Vorgeschichte  der  Re- 

formation.    Halle,  1890. 

26.  Krueger,  Heinrich.     Hus  und  seine  Richter.     Reichenb.,  1892. 

27.  Uhlmann,  P.     Konig  Sigmunds  Geleit  f.  Hus  u.  d.  Geleit  im  Mittelalter  : 

Heft  5  of  Hallische  Beitriige  u.  Geschichtsforschg.     Halle,    1894. 

28.  Stein,  A.     Johannes  Hus:  Zeit  u.  Charakterbild  a.  d.   15  Jahrh.     Ebd., 

1895.     Transl.  into  Dutch,  Rott.,  1897. 

29.  Cramer,  M.  J.     Transl.  of  Letters  from  John  Hus  to  his  Church  in  Prague, 

in  Christian  Literature.     N.  Y.,  August,  1895. 
See  also  Catalogue  of  Books  relating  to  theUnitas  Fratrum.  Phila.,  1881. 

m.    THE   COUNCIL   OF   CONSTANCE. 

1.  Lenfant,   Jaques.     Histoire  du  Concile  de  Constance.     2  vols.     Amst., 

1727.     Transl.,  Lond.,  1730. 

2.  Tschackert,  Paul.     Peter  von  Aille  zur   Geschichte  d.  grossen  abendland. 

Schisma  u.  d.  Ref  ormationconcilien  von  Pisa  und  Constans.    Gotha,  1877. 

3.  Fisher,  G.  P.     The  Council  of   Constance,  in  Discussions  in  History  and 

Theol.    N.  Y.,  1880. 

4.  Fincke,  H.  v.     Zwei  Tagebiicher  iiber  das  konstanzer  Konzil,  in  Romische 

Quartalschrift.     Rome,  1887.     H.  1. 

5.  Mason,  A.  J.     Jean  Gerson;  sa  Vie,  son  Temps,  ses  OSuvres,  precede  d'une 

Introduction  sur  le  moyen  Age.     Lyon,  1895. 

6.  Acta  Concilii  Constantiensis  I  Bd.    Akten  z.  Vorgeschichte  d.  kons.  Kon- 

zils.     (1410-1414).     Hrsg.  von  H.  Fincke.     Miinst.,  1896. 

7.  Fromme,    B.     Die    spanische   Nation  und   das   konstanzer  Konzil.      Re- 

gensb.,  1896. 

TV.    THE    HUSITES    AND    BOHEMIA. 

1.  Theobald,  Zacharias.  Hussitenkrieg  od.  Geschichte  d.  Lebens  und  die 
Lehre  Hussens  in  ingleichen  d.  bohmischen  Kirche.  Nebst  ein  Anh.  d. 
bohmischen  Glaubensbekenntnisses.     Bresl.,  1749,  1750. 


LITERATURE:  HUS  AND  THE  COUNCIL  OF  CONSTANCE.     63 

2.  Burkhardt,   G.     Die   Briidergemeinde,    I.     Entstehung  und  geschichtliche 

Entwickelung  der  Brudergemeinde,  1774.     8th  ed.,  Gnadau,  1893. 

3.  Pescheck,  C.  A.     Reform  and  anti-Reform  in  Bohemia.     2  vols.     Lond., 

1845. 

4.  Jordan,  J.  P.     Die  Vorliinfer  d.  Husitenthums  in  Bohmen.     Leipz.,  1846. 

5.  Palacky,  Franz.     Geschichte  von  Bohmen,  grossertheils  nach   Urknnden 

nnd  Handschriften.     5  vols.     Prag,  1854-66. 

6.  Hoefler,  C.  A.     Geschichtsschreiben  der  husitischen  Bewegung.     2  vols. 

Wien,  1856-66. 

7.  Gindely,  Anton.  Quellen  zur  Geschichte  der  bohmischen  Briider  vornehm- 

lich  ihren  Zusammenhang  mit  Deutschland  betreffend.     Wien,  1859-61. 

8.  Krummel,    L.     Geschichte  der  bohmischen  Reformation  im  15  Jahrhun- 

dert.     Gotha,  1866. 

9.  Reuss,  R.     La  destruction  du  Protestantismus  en  Boheme.     Strasb.,  1867. 

10.  Palacky,  Franz.     Die  Vorlaufer  des  Husitenthums  in  Bohmen.     New  ed., 

Prag,  1869.  Ueber  die  Beziehung  und  das  Verhaltniss  der  Waldenser  zu 
den  ehemaligen  Secten  in  Bohmen.     Prag,  1869. 

11.  Gruenhagen,  Colmar.     Die  Hussitenkampfe  der  Schlesier,  1420-35.  Bresl., 

1872. 

12.  Palacky,  Franz.  Urkundliche  Beitrage  zur  Geschichte  des  Husitenkrieges, 

1419-36.     2  vols.,  in  3  parts.     Prag,  1872-74. 

13.  Bezold,  Friedrich  von.     Zur  Geschichte  des  Husitenthums.     Munich,  1874. 

Also  Konig  Sigmund  und  die  Reichskriege  gegen  die  Husiten.  3  parts. 
Munich,  1872-77. 

14.  Denis,  E.     Huss  et  la  guerre  des  Hussites.     Paris,  1878. 

15.  Schweinitz,  Edmund  de.     History  of  the  Church   known  as  the  Unitas 

Fratrum.     Bethlehem,   1885. 

16.  Loserth,   Johann.     Beitrage   zur  Geschichte  der  husitischen  Bewegung. 

Wien,  1890. 

17.  Gindely,  Anton.     Geschichte  der  Gegenreformation  in  Bohmen.    Leipz., 

1894. 

18.  Keller,  Ludwig.    Die  bohmische  Briider  nnd  ihre  Vorlaufer.    Leipz., 1895. 

19.  Froncius,  R.     Luthers  Bezuhungen  zu  Bohmen.     Czernowitz,    1895. 

20.  Miiller,  Jos.     Die  Gef angenschaf t  des  Johan  Augusta,  bischof  der  bohmis- 

chen Briider,  1548-64,  und  seines  Diakonen  Jakob  Bilek.  Leipz.,  1895. 
See  Bossert  in  Th.  Litbltt.,  May  1,  1896. 

21.  Vickers,  R.  H.     History  of  Bohemia,  Chic,  1895.     A  substantial  contri- 

bution to  historical  literature,  founded  on  many  years  of  study  of  the 
sources  and  of  modern  Bohemian  historians,  and  written  in  sympathy 
with  the  Bohemian  efforts  for  religious  and  political  independence.  The 
best  history  in  English. 

22.  Maurice,  C.  E.     The  Story  of  Bohemia  from  the  Earliest  Times  to  1620, 

with  supplementary  chapter  on  recent  history.  An  admirable  account 
representing  first-hand  knowledge  by  the  author  of  Revolutions  of  1848-9 
in  Italy,  Austro-Hungary  and  Germany. 

23.  Gregor,  Frances.     The   Story  of   Bohemia,  Cin.  and  N.  Y.,  1895.     It  is 

acknowledged  in  the  Preface  that  the  statements  of  this  book  are  taken 
almost  verbatim  from  Tomeck  and  Palacky,  though  without  further 
indication.     The  book  also  lacks  an  index. 


•64  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

24.  Lippert,  Julius.     Social-Geschichte  Bohmens  in  vorhussitischer  Zeit  aus- 

schliesslich  aus  Quellen.     2  vols.,  Wien,  1896-8.    Scientific  and  thorough, 
has  a  good  index. 

25.  Liitzow,  F.     History  of  Bohemia.     Lond.,  1896. 

26.  Kautsky,  K.     Communism  in  Central  Europe  in  the  Time  of  the  Reforma- 

tion. Trans.,  Lond.,  1897.  Au  informing  book  of  great  interest.  It  dis- 
cusses in  full  (1)  Heretical  Communism  ;  (2)  Taborites ;  (3)  Bohemian 
Brethren,  and  (4)  German  Reformation  and  the  Miinzer  Anabaptists. 
The  original  sources  in  Bohemian  are  scanty,  as  the  Roman  Catholics  de- 
stroyed most  of  the  national  literature.  We  have  in  Latin  the  Historia  Bohe- 
mica  by  iEneas  Sylvius  Piccolomini,  afterward  Pope  Pius  H  (d.  1464),  Helm- 
stadt,  1699  ;  the  Chronicle  of  the  Deacon  Cosmos,  11th  century,  from  997- 
1208,  trans,  into  German  by  G.  Grandaur,  with  introd.  by  W.  Wyttenbach, 
Leipz.,  1882  ;  new  ed.,  1892  ;  the  Fontes  Rerum  Bohemicarum,  which  contains 
valuable  materials.  Melchior  Goldast  has  published  in  Latin  and  German  the 
inost  valuable  State  documents  from  the  10th  century  to  the  17th.  In  Bal- 
binus's  Supplementum  may  be  found  valuable  public  records  from  Methodius 
to  Matthias  H  of  Hungary,  1611,  which  are  wanting  in  Goldast.  Amos 
Komensky,  the  illustrious  educator  and  eyewitness  of  the  horrors  of  1620-35, 
wrote  his  Historia  Persecutionum.  Every  copy  was  destroyed  by  the  Roman 
Catholics,  though  happily  a  translation  had  been  made  into  Bohemian,  which 
has  been  preserved.  The  work  of  Paulus  Stransky,  who  also  wrote  in  Latin, 
is  full  of  information  on  the  institutions,  rights,  laws,  and  vicissitudes  of 
the  Bohemians.  The  later  Jesuits  (until  1760)  carried  on  an  indiscriminate 
crusade  against  Bohemian  literature,  one  Jesuit  boasting  that  he  himself  had 
•destroyed  60,000  volumes. 


HUS  AND  THE  COUNCIL  OF  CONSTANCE.  65 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

HUS  AND  THE  COUNCIL  OF  CONSTANCE. 

Four  points  remain  to  be  noticed  in  regard  to  Hus  and  the 
council  of  Constance  :  The  dependence  of  Hus  upon  Wyclif  ;  The 
violation  of  Hus's  safe-conduct ;  The  decision  of  the  council  in 
regard  to  papal  infallibility  ;  and  Jerome  of  Prague. 

Three  medallions  in  the  university  library,  Prague,  set  forth 
the  relation  as  understood  by  many  between  Wyclif  and  the  Refor- 
mation. The  highest  medallion  shows  Wyclif  striking  WYCLIF  AKD 
sparks  from  a  stone,  the  next  Hus  setting  fire  to  coals,  HUS> 
and  the  third  Luther  waving  on  high  a  flaming  torch.  Loserth 
has  expressed  the  judgment  of  all  careful  modern  historians  in  de- 
claring the  dependence  of  Hus  on  Wyclif,  and  has  shown  how  his 
great  treatise,  De  Ecclesia,  and  also  other  of  his  books,  are  largely 
taken  word  for  word  from  Wyclif.  Some  scholars,  however,  have 
resented  the  inference  drawn  from  this  fact  by  Loserth  "that  it 
was  the  works  of  Wyclif  which  first  called  forth  that  deep  religious 
movement  in  Bohemia,"  and  that  Hus  owes  his  theological  knowl- 
edge, as  Loserth  expresses  it,  "almost  exclusively  to  the  English- 
man from  whose  writings  he  has,  by  diligent  study,  derived  it."1 
Loserth's  view  must  be  modified  by  the  following  considerations : 

The  whole  previous  history  had  been  a  preparation  of  Hus. 
Bohemia  had  never  been  as  hearty  in  her  allegiance  to  the  Roman 
Church  as  the  other  European  countries.  She  had  been  evangel- 
ized, not  by  Rome,  but  by  two  Greek  monks,  who  had  given  her 
the  open  Bible  translated  in  the  mother  tongue,  a  simple  ritual  and 
hymns  and  sermons  in  the  vernacular.  Rome  had,  indeed,  at  length 
wrested  them  from  her,  but  it  was  only  after  a  fierce  struggle. 
In   the    century  preceding    Hus   Germanv  had  been 

,.  °  *L     .  BOHEMIAN 

encroaching  more    and   more    upon  the    Bohemians,      reform 
giving  them  her  judges,  bishops,  and  priests.     Wald- 
hausen,  Milics,  Stitny,  and  Janow  had  denounced  the  corruption 
of  the  priests  and  the  pope,  who  were  foreigners.     The  Bohemian 
reform  movement  "  appealed  to  the  intense  nationality  of  the  peo- 

1  Loserth,  Wiclif  and  Hus,  pp.  xvi,  77. 


66  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

pie.  It  demanded  the  restoration  of  the  national  language  in  the 
pulpit  and  ritual  ;  of  the  cup  to  the  laity  in  the  Lord's  Supper ; 
insisted  on  the  equality  of  all  the  clergy ;  and  in  other  matters  ap- 
pealed directly  to  the  dominant  spirit  of  liberty  and  independence. 
It  prepared  the  nation  thoroughly  for  the  recognition  of  Hus's  doc- 
trines. If  it  had  not  been  thus  prepared  it  is  certain  that  the  mere 
introduction  of  Wyclif's  writings  would  have  had  as  little  effect  in 
Bohemia  as  it  had,  for  example,  in  Germany,  where  they  were  also 
well  known  but  had  no  direct  results."  '  It  is  unreasonable  to  believe 
that  the  burning  protests  of  Mathias  of  Janow  and  Milics,  so  much 
in  sympathy  with  Hus's  thought,  had  no  influence  upon  him. 

Hus  had  a  strong  and  acute  mind,  was  a  man  of  original  power, 
of  large  intelligence  and  wide  reading,  and  it  is  improbable  that 
he  should  have  been  the  slavish  imitator  of  Wyclif.  Besides,  he 
differed  widely  from  Wyclif,  as  in  still  clinging  to  transubstantia- 
tion,  and  in  his  general  disinclination  to  depart  as  far  as  the  Eng- 
lish reformer  did  from  the  old  landmarks. 

Hus's  Bohemian  predecessors  must  have  influenced  him  deeply, 
especially  Janow  and  Stitny.  Thus,  when  Loserth  quotes  Wyclif 
to  show  that  Hus's  Latin  treatise  on  the  Lord's  Prayer  is  a  copy, 
it  is  readily  seen  that  that  treatise  is  a  more  perfect  copy  of  Stitny's 
Bohemian  exposition  of  the  Paternoster.  In  Hus's  Bohemian 
works  he  appears  as  by  no  means  a  mere  copyist  of  Wyclif,  but 
writes  on  fresh  and  independent  lines.2 

There  is  much  truth  in  both  Loserth  and  his  critics.  It  is  in- 
contestably  proven  that  Hus  often  followed  Wyclif  word  for  word, 
and  that  his  general  doctrinal  system  was  derived  from 
footsteps  him.  But  it  must  be  conceded  that  he  did  this  as 
an  independent  investigator,  taking  Wyclif  simply 
because  he  gave  the  sharpest,  clearest,  and  best  theological  state- 
ments. Hus  said  himself,  "  I  hold  to  the  true  opinions  of  Wyclif, 
not  because  he  says  them,  but  because  Scripture  or  infallible  rea- 
son teaches  them."  Lechler  is  no  doubt  true  when  he  says  that 
Hus  accepted  nothing  without  hard  work  and  study,  independent 
verification,  and  often  severe  inner  struggles.3 

In  regard  to  the  violation  of  Sigismund's  safe-conduct  the  facts 
are  these  :  The  Emperor  Sigismund  gave  Hus  a  safe-conduct  dated 
October  18,  1414,  allowing  him  to  "pass,  halt,  stay,  and  return 
freely."    Hus  interpreted  this  paper,  according  to  the  represen- 

1  Hark,  Loserth's  Wiclif  and  Hus,  in  Andover  Rev.,  ii,  229,  230. 

2  Review  of  Loserth,  in  Church  Quar.  Rev.,  Lond.,  Oct.,  1884,  p.  241. 

3  In  Gesch.  der  Reformation,  ii,  265. 


HUS  AND  THE  COUNCIL  OF  CONSTANCE.  67 

tation  of  those  commissioned  from  the  emperor,  as  not  only  giving 
him  a  safe-conduct  on  his  way  to  Constance,  but  also  as  procuring 
him  a  free  and  safe  public  hearing  in  the  council,  and  a  safe  jour- 
ney back  to  Bohemia.  Such  is  Hus's  own  statement  in  a  letter 
written  after  June  5,  1415. '  The  king's  promise  was  violated  in 
the  imprisonment  of  Hus  at  Constance  ;  in  the  restraint  put  upon 
him  when  before  the  council,  where  he  was  treated  as  guilty  from 
the  first ;  and  in  the  emperor  allowing  him  to  be  delivered  over  to 
be  burned.  An  eyewitness  of  the  council  says  that  when  Hus  was 
condemned  he  turned  his  eyes  on  Sigismund,  who 
blushed — a  blush  that  Charles  V  remembered  at  king  bigis- 
Worms  when  urged  to  arrest  Luther,  and  declared 
that  he  would  not  repeat  the  perfidy  of  Sigismund.  The  chief 
sting  in  the  sin  of  the  emperor,  and  one  which  rankled  deep  in 
the  hearts  of  the  Bohemians,  was  not  so  much  its  bad  faith,  but 
the  fact  that  he  allowed  Hus  to  go  to  Constance  under  his 
protection,  and  then  after  he  was  there  urged  the  prelates  to 
put  him  to  death.  "Beverend  Fathers  I"  said  the  king,  "you 
heard  that  out  of  the  many  things  which  are  in  his  books,  and 
which  he  has  admitted,  and  which  have  been  sufficiently  proved 
against  him,  any  one  would  have  been  sufficient  for  his  condemna- 
tion. If,  therefore,  he  will  not  recant  and  abjure  and  make  state- 
ments contrary  to  those  errors,  let  him  be  burnt,  or  do  with  him 
as  you  best  know  according  to  your  laws.  And  be  sure,  whatever 
promise  he  makes  you  as  to  a  wish  to  recant,  not  to  believe  him  ; 
nor  would  I  believe  him,  because  he  would  go  to  Bohemia,  and 
would  disseminate  more  errors,  and  the  last  end  would  be  worse 
than  the  first."  3 

Eoman  Catholic  and  even  some  Protestant  historians  have 
sought  to  palliate  this  damnable  blot  on  the  fame  of  Sigismund 
and  the  council  by  saying  that  the  safe-conduct  was  available  only 
in  case  of  acquittal.  But,  first :  no  such  terms  are  stated  in  the 
document.  Hefele  says  that  this  is  implied,3  that  Hus  was  going 
before  a  judicial  body  to  be  tried,  and  that  in  the  nature  of 
the  case  the  emperor  could  not  protect  him  against  the  sentence 
of  that  body  if  unfavorable.  Hus,  however,  declared  over  and 
over  again  that  he  went  before  the  council  as  a  preacher  or  witness 

1  See  Wratislaw,  Hus,  pp.  217,  229. 

2  This  speech  was  delivered  privately  to  some  members  of  the  council  who 
were  about  the  king,  and  was  overheard  by  some  Bohemian  lords.  It  cost  the 
emperor  the  crown  of  Bohemia.     See  Wratislaw,  Hus,  p.  304. 

3  Geschichte  der  Concils  von  Constanz,  Freib.  im  B.,  1869. 


68  HISTORY   OP   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

rather  than  as  a  culprit,  to  show  forth  the  evangelical  and  ortho- 
dox character  of  his  teachings,  and  to  give  the  council  an  oppor- 
tunity to  prove,  if  they  could,  that  those  teachings  were  false. 
sigismund's  Second  :  Hus  understood  the  safe-conduct  as  absolute 
and  not  conditional.  Third  :  so  did  the  Bohemians, 
who  were  thoroughly  exasperated  by  the  treatment  of  Hus. 
Fourth  :  the  council  seems  to  have  known  how  the  case  stood, 
for  it  passed  a  resolution  exonerating  Sigismund,  and  virtually 
declaring  that  faith  need  not  be  kept  with  heretics.  The  de- 
cree says  that  a  safe-conduct  issued  by  princes  to  heretics  can  in 
no  wise  hinder  the  conviction  and  punishment  of  such  persons,  no 
matter  how  solemn  the  promise  of  protection  ;  "  nor  is  the  prom- 
iser,  when  he  has  done  what  in  him  lies,  any  further  obliged  in 
consequence  of  his  engagement."1  This  plainly  declares  that  the 
Church  is  bound  by  no  consideration  of  honor  or  respect  for 
pledges  when  dealing  with  those  erring  from  the  faith.3  The  vio- 
lation of  the  solemn  pledge  of  safety  given  to  Hus  adds  another  to 
the  sins  of  those  who  had  part  in  that  horrible  tragedy. 

The  decree  concerning  the  infallibility  of  a  general  council  and 
the  subordination  of  the  pope  to  it  was  passed  in  the  fourth  and 
fifth  sessions,  1415.  It  declared  that  when  a  general  council  is 
"legitimately  assembled  in  the  Holy  Spirit  it  has  its  authority  im- 
mediately from  God,  and  everyone,  the  pope  included,  is  bound  to 
obey  it  in  what  pertains  to  the  faith  and  extirpation  of  schism."3 
The  council  said  also  that  disobedience  to  its  behests,  come  from 
whatever  quarter  it  may,  even  from  the  pope,  would  meet  with 
condign  punishment.  This  exaltation  of  a  council  over  a  pope, 
directly  contrary  to  the  decision  of  the  Vatican  council,  has  proved 
an  awkward  fact  to  the  infallibilists,  and  they  have  tried  in  various 
ways  to  break  its  force  or  minimize  its  importance.     Hefele,  in  the 

1  Nee  sic  promittorem,  cum  alias  f  ecerit  quod  in  ipso  est,  ex  hoc  in  aliquo  re- 
mansisse  obligatum. — Van  der  Hardt,  iv,  521. 

2  Another  decree  was  passed  saying  in  so  many  words  that  no  faith  should 
he  kept  with  heretics,  but  as  there  is  some  doubt  as  to  its  authenticity, 
being  found  in  only  one  codex,  it  is  not  insisted  on  here.  The  undisputed  de- 
cree is  sufficient  for  the  purpose.  See  full  treatment  in  Fisher,  Discussions  in 
History  and  Theology,  pp.  113  ff. 

3  Et  primo  declarat,  quod  ipsa  in  Spiritu  Sancto  legitime  congregata,  gener- 
ate concilium  faciens,  et  ecclesiam  catholicam  militatem  reprassentans,  potes- 
tatem  a  Christo  immediate  habet,  cui  quilibet,  cujuscumque  status,  vel  digni- 
tatis, etiamsi  papalis,  existat,  obedire  tenetur  in  his,  qua  pertinent  ad  fidem 
et  exstirpationem  dicti  schismatis,  ac  generalem  ref  ormationem  ecclesias  Dei  in 
capite  et  in  membris. — Van  der  Hardt,  iv,  72  ;  Gieseler,  iii,  v,  1  ;  sec.  131,  n.  8. 


HUS  AND  THE  COUNCIL  OF  CONSTANCE.  G9 

seventh  volume  of  his  Conciliengeschichte,  brings  forward  the  two 
considerations,  that  the  pope,  Martin  V,  did  not  give  his  sanction 
to  the  decree,  and  the  decree  was  not  of  faith.  It  is  only,  however, 
on  the  modern  theory  of  the  official  infallibility  of  a  pope  as  such 
that  these  objections,  if  well  taken,  would  help  the  curialists.  But 
they  are  not  well  taken.  For  Martin  V  did  explicitly  ratify  and 
confirm  what  the  council  had  done  as  a  council,  as  opposed  to 
nationaliter,  or  what  was  done  in  the  separate  nations.1  The  de- 
crees of  the  fourth  and  fifth  sessions  were  adopted  as  by  the  council. 
Further,  it  certainly  pertains  to  the  faith  to  know  in  what  relation 
to  the  faith  and  government  of  the  Church  a  general  council  stands, 
and  if  the  decree  of  the  Vatican  council  affirming  that  that  relation 
is  subordinate  is  of  faith,  is  not  the  decree  of  the  Constance  coun- 
cil affirming  that  that  relation  is  supreme  also  of  faith? 

Besides,  the  bull  of  Martin  V  against  the  Husites  holds  aloft 
the  decisions  of  the  council  as  a  test  of  orthodoxy.  He  who  is  sus- 
pected of  heresy  must  declare,  says  Martin,  whether  he  believes 
what  the  holy  council  of  Constance,  representing  the  universal 
Church,  has  sanctioned  and  sanctions  in  favor  fidei  and  for  the  sal- 
vation of  souls  is  binding  on  all  Christians,  and  also  what  the 
synod  has  condemned  as  contrary  to  the  faith  must  be  held  by  all 
to  deserve  reprobation.  Later  the  council  of  Basle  ratified  for  it- 
self this  famous  decree  of  1415,  and  Pope  Eugenius  IV  confirmed 
it.  The  Roman  Catholic  Alzog  confesses  that  the  decree  is  dog- 
matic, and  says:  "  The  fault  of  the  council  of  Constance  was  this, 
that  it  set  forth  as  a  dogmatic  sentence,  valid  for  all  time,  that 
which  was  in  a  manner  justified  by  the  necessities  of  the  occasion/'2 

One  of  the  blots  on  the  fame  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  is 
the  determined  effort  it  has  made  to  crush  every  literary  trace  of 
reform  movements  or  protests.     This  was  so  successful  in  Austria, 

'The  ratification  of  "our  most  holy  lord,"  the  pope,  is  expressed  thus : 
Quihus  sic  factis  sanctissimus  dominus  noster  dixit  respondendo  ad  prasdicta, 
quod  omnia  et  singula  determinata,  conclusa  et  decreta  in  materiis  fidei  per 
prassens  concilium  conciliariter,  tenere  et  inviolabiliter  observare  volebat,  et 
nuinquam  contravenire  quoque  modo.  Ipsa  sic  conciliariter  facta  approbat  et 
ratificat,  et  non  aliter,  nee  alio  modo.     See  Mansi,  torn,  xxvii,  sess.  45. 

2  Kirchengeschichte,  sec.  271.  See  some  excellent  remarks  by  Sheldon,  Hist. 
of  theChr.  Church,  ii,  361  ff.;  Fisher,  Discussions  in  History  and  Theology, 
pp.  105  ff . ;  Dollinger,  The  Pope  and  the  Council,  chap,  iii,  sec.  23.  On  the  flight 
of  Pope  John  XXIII  from  the  council,  March  21,  1415,  Gerson,  one  of  the 
leading  spirits  of  the  council,  preached  a  sermon  in  the  name  of  the  French 
ambassadors  and  the  University  of  Paris,  in  which  he  affirmed  the  absolute 
supremacy  of  the  council.    See  Gerson,  Opp.  ed.  Du  Pin,  torn,  ii,  pt.  ii,  201  ff. 


70  HISTORY   OF    THE    CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Hungary,  and  Bohemia  that  it  has  been  almost  impossible  to  ob- 
tain any  original  documents  in  those  countries,  so  that,  as  Wratis- 
law  says,  "neither  original  historical  research  nor  correction  of 
concealment  errors  was  possible."1  In  fact,  until  1848  the  censor- 
tba^iTof**  snip  °f  the  press  was  in  force,  so  that  even  if  impartial 
reform,  writing  had  been  allowed  it  could  not  have  reached  the 

public.  Fortunately  a  manuscrijDt  in  the  Bohemian  tongue  was  dis- 
covered in  the  library  of  the  gymnasium  of  Freiburg,  Saxony,  and 
was  published  at  Prague  in  1878  under  the  careful  editorship  of 
Jaroslaw  Goll — almost  the  only  native  document  extant  which 
gives  an  account  of  the  arrest,  trial,  and  martyrdom  of  Jerome  of 
Prague.  In  the  general  destruction  of  Bohemian  literature  only 
two  copies  of  this  book  have  survived.  From  this  and  the  celebrated 
letter  of  Poggio  Bracciolini 2  we  are  now  able  to  give  the  account 
of  Jerome's  life,  character,  and  martyrdom. 

Jerome  was  born  in  Prague  about  1379  of  a  well-to-do  but  not 
noble  family.3  He  was  educated  at  Prague,  graduating  bachelor 
jerome  of  of  arts  in  1398,  and  then  began  a  series  of  travels  and 
residences  at  various  universities,  visiting  England  and 
Palestine,  obtaining  his  master's  degree  at  the  Sorbonne,  in  Paris, 
all  of  which  helped  to  make  him  one  of  the  most  wide-awake,  acute, 
intelligent  men  of  his  time.  He  had  read  Wyclif's  writings,  was  a 
friend  of  Hus,  and  his  naturally  open,  generous  intellect  brought 
him  more  or  less  into  sympathy  with  these  great  masters.  He 
especially  indorsed  with  all  his  heart  Hus's  protests  against  immo- 
rality of  the  priesthood,  and,  gifted  with  remarkable  powers  of  dis- 
cussion and  debate,  he  soon  found  himself  entering  with  immense 
energy  into  the  arena  which  the  indulgences  and  other  scandals  had 
opened  in  Bohemia.  He  was  arrested  and  tried  in  Vienna  as  a 
Wyclifite,  but  escaped. 

In  1412  Jerome  appeared  in  Prague  again,  and  denounced  the 
indulgence-traffic  with  more  zeal  than  ever — that  abominable  re- 
ligious commercialism  exciting  in  some  of  the  noblest  spirits  of  the 
fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries  the  same  indignation  and  moral 
revulsion  that  the  African  slave  trade  did  in  the  minds  of  the  Eng- 
lish philanthropists  three  centuries  later.     While  Hus  was  on  trial 

1  Hus,  p.  376. 

2  Freely  cited  by  Neander,  v,  378  ff.,  and  in  full  by  Gilpin,  Lives,  pp.  255  ff. 
In  original  in  Von  der  Hardt,  Magn.  Oecum.  Constant.  Concil.,  Leipz.,  1700, 
6  vols.,  vol.  iii,  pp.  69  ff. 

3  The  old  opinion  that  he  was  of  a  noble  family,  and  that  his  real  name  was 
Faulfisch,  is  now  abandoned. 


HUS  AND  THE  COUNCIL  OF  CONSTANCE.  71 

at  Constance  the  generosity  of  this  cultured  young  layman  induced 
him  to  go  thither,  "  as  he  had  himself  urged  Hus  to  go  to  the 
council,  and  even  promised  to  follow  him  thither,  that  they  might 
both  publicly  prove  their  orthodoxy  and  purify  the  reputation  of 
their  country."  Jerome  asked  Sigismund  for  a  safe-conduct  that 
he  might  appear  publicly  before  the  council  and  defend  his  ortho- 
doxy. Not  securing  this  he  retired,  having  publicly  placarded  the 
fact  of  his  request  that  he  might  openly  vindicate  himself  and  his 
friend  before  the  council.  On  April  17,  1415,  the  council  issued  a 
citation  against  him,  summoning  him  before  them,  promising  him 
protection  from  violence,  but  not  from  the  law.  But  even  this 
promise  was  violated,  as  he  was  arrested,  loaded  with  chains,  and 
brought  to  Constance.  He  was  subjected  to  various  rude  hector- 
ings  and  onslaughts  at  the  council,  rather  than  to  judicial  examina- 
tion. Finally,  in  weakness  and  illness  on  account  of  the  brutality 
of  his  imprisonment,  he  was  induced  to  make  a  recantation  of  all 
errors  in  September,  1415. 

But  this  did  not  satisfy  the  enemies  of  reform.  Sigismund,  as 
we  have  seen,  had  urged  them  to  make  an  end  of  both  Hus  and 
Jerome.1  Jerome  soon  returned  to  a  nobler  mind,  and  asked  for 
a  public  hearing.  In  May,  1416,  one  hundred  and  seven  accusa- 
tions were  laid  before  the  council,  which  Jerome  answered  with 
marvelous  incisiveness  and  readiness,  silencing  his  adversaries,  and 
asserting  his  orthodoxy  in  the  most  telling  manner.  Then  the  old 
Bohemian  manuscript  goes  on  to  say  :  "  And  when  no  hold  could  be 
obtained  either  therein  or  in  aught  else,  nor  anything  had  worthy 
of  condemnation — for  he  replied  calmly  to  all  and  brought  them  to 
silence — then,  and  not  till  then,  did  he  ask  and  obtain  a  quiet  hear- 
ing, and  spoke  before  them  till  past  noon  of  various  learning  and 
the  writings  of  philosophers  and  the  Scriptures,  of  God's  law  and 
the  doctors,  and  that  very  deeply  and  masterly,  so  that  all  had 
whereat  to  marvel,  citing  by  name  various  philosophers,  apostles, 
prophets,  and  martyrs,  how  they  had  for  the  truth's  sake  been, 
without  guilt,  persecuted,  condemned,  held  for  disturbers  of  peace, 
convicted  as  blasphemers  of  God,  and  had  therefore  been  sentenced 
to  death  and  murdered  in  various  ways.  '  Forsooth,'  said  Jerome, 
vif  it  is  unrighteous  when  that  is  done  by  foreigners  or  natives  to 
an  ordinary  person,  it  is  a  greater  unrighteousness  when  one  priest 
suffers  from  another,  and  the  greatest  unrighteousness  when  a 
priest  is  given  up  to  death  by  a  council  of  priests  from  malice  and 
hatred/  .  .  „  Afterward  he  applied  himself  to  speaking  of  Magister 
1  See  "Wratislaw,  Hus,  p.  305,  where  the  king's  words  are  quoted. 


72  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

John  Hus,  whom  he  had  known  from  his  youth,  how  he  was  a 
man  neither  licentious,  nor  covetous,  nor  a  drunkard,  nor  defiled 
with  other  open  sins,  but  that  he  was  humble,  honorable,  sober, 
diligent  in  teaching  and  reading,  a  righteous,  faithful,  and  holy 
preacher,  and  whatsoever  Magister  John  Hus  and  Magister  John 
Wyclif  had  preached  against  the  wickedness,  pride,  malice,  ruffian- 
ism, and  avarice  of  the  priesthood,  all  this  he  held  and  would  hold 
unto  death.  As  regards  the  other  articles  of  the  Christian  faith 
he  held  and  believed  them  all  according  to  the  Holy  Catholic 
Church  of  Christ,  assenting  to  no  error  or  heresy/' ' 

This  taking  back  of  his  former  recantation  in  regard  to  Hus 

and  Wyclif  sealed  his  doom.     He  was  led  back  to  prison  heavily 

chained  ;  two  days  were  given  him  to  consider;  then  he  was  taken  to 

the  church  again  for  the  final  scene  in  this  -judicial 

JEROME'S  _  °  .  J 

final  firm-     farce.     He  was  asked  if  he  would  abide  bv  his  first  re- 

NESS.  .  n  J 

cantation  and  cease  praising  Hus  and  Wyclif.  "  I 
take  to  witness  the  Lord,  my  God,"  he  replied,  "and  declare  before 
you  that  I  hold  naught  heretical  and  naught  erroneous,  but  that  I 
hold  and  believe  all  the  articles  of  the  Christian  faith,  as  the  Holy 
Catholic  Church  holds  and  believes.  But  to  the  condemnation  of  the 
good  magisters  aforesaid,  whom  ye  have  unrighteously  and  mali- 
ciously condemned,  because  they  taught  and  wrote  of  your  disor- 
derly life  to  your  reproof  and  correction,  I  will  not  assent,  although 
I  am  therefore  to  be  now  sentenced  by  you  to  death.  God's  will  be 
done  !  but  I  will  not  act  against  my  conscience ;  for  I  know  in 
what  they  have  written  against  the  disorders  and  unrighteousness 
of  the  priesthood  they  have  set  down  the  truth." 

After  many  revilings  Jerome  finally  replied  as  follows :  "  Ye 
wish  to  condemn  me  wrongfully  and  miserably,  without  any  certain 
charge.  I  leave  you  as  a  legacy  after  my  death  a  sting  and  gnaw- 
ing to  pierce  your  consciences,  and  I  cite  you  to  appear  before  the 
Most  High  and  Righteous  Judge,  the  Lord  God  Almighty,  to  an- 
swer me  before  him  at  the  end  of  a  hundred  years."  They  then 
pronounced  sentence  of  death  upon  him.  On  May  30,  1416,  they 
led  him  out  chanting  the  creed  and  singing  hymns  to  the  same 
place  where  over  nine  months  before  they  had  burned  Hus.  They 
stripped  him  almost  naked,  bound  him  with  chains  to  the  stake, 
when  he  sang  the  Easter  hymn,  Salve,  festa  dies  ! s  finishing  with 
the  Catholic  creed.  Then  he  raised  his  voice  to  the  people,  saying 
in  German  :  "  Dear  people,  know  that  I  believe  as  I  have  just 

1  See  copious  extracts  from  this  contemporary  book  in  Wratislaw,  pp.  397  ff. 

5  See  a  free  translation  of  this  hymn  in  Methodist  Hymnal,  No.  231. 


HUS  AND  THE  COUNCIL  OF  CONSTANCE.  73 

chanted.  Likewise  as  to  other  articles  of  the  faith  I  believe  as 
every  Christian  ought  to  believe.  But  I  am  now  dying  because  I 
would  not  assent  to  the  priestly  council's  sentence  and  condemna- 
tion of  Magister  John  Hus  as  just  and  rightful  ;  for  I  knew  the 
magister  from  my  youth  up,  that  he  was  an  honorable  and  noble 
man,  and  a  preacher  of  the  faith  of  God's  law  and  of  the  Gospel  of 
Jesus  Christ." 

The  executioners,  says  the  old  Bohemian  chronicler,  having 
now  surrounded  him  with  wood  up  to  the  crown  of  the  head  be- 
hind and  up  to  the  breast  in  front,  and  placed  the  garments  on 
the  logs,  were  about  to  light  the  fire  behind  his  back,  that  he 
might  not  see  it.  "  Come  here,"  said  he,  "and  light  JEROME»s 
the  fire  in  my  sight ;  if  I  had  feared  it  I  should  never  execution. 
have  come  to  this  place."  He  then  chanted  with  a  loud  voice, 
"  Into  thy  hands,  Lord  God,  I  commit  my  soul."  After  this, 
when  the  violence  of  the  fire  caught  him,  he  cried  out  in  the  Bohe- 
mian tongue  :  "  Lord  God  Almighty,  have  mercy  on  me  !  Forgive 
me  my  many  sins  !  For  thou  knowest  that  I  have  loved  thy  holy 
truth  !  "  When  the  flames  struck  him  he  prayed  within  himself 
a  good  while,  until,  thus  doing,  he  died. 

Thus  passed  away  the  most  brilliant  layman  of  his  day — orator, 
scholar,  wit,  nor  surpassed  in  moral  enthusiasm  and  devotion  to 
what  he  considered  the  faith  of  Christ.  And  wherefore  did  he 
die  ?  Was  he  a  Protestant  martyr  ?  Only  indirectly.  It  does 
not  appear  that  on  any  important  part  of  the  recognized  creed  of 
his  time  he  departed  from  the  belief  of  the  Church.  He  sympa- 
thized thoroughly  with  Wyclif 's  reforming  movement,  but  this  sym- 
pathy was  rather  for  the  apostolic  zeal  and  purity  and  moral 
renovation  for  which  that  movement  stood  than  for  its  dogmatic 
aspects.  Wherein  Wyclif  varied  essentially  from  the  faith  of  the 
Church  Jerome  did  not  follow  him.  Bather  he  died  as  a  moral 
reformer — the  victim  of  an  appalling  injustice,  even  when  judged 
by  the  standard  of  that  age — by  a  council  which  represented  the 
very  best  and  most  progressive  elements  in  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church. 

As  a  recent  Bohemian  Church  historian  says  :  "  Hus  was  put  to 
death  because,  although  willing  enough  to  submit  to  the  instruction, 
correction,  and  definition  of  the  council,  he  steadfastly  refused  to 
recant  doctrines  and  opinions  which  he  had  never  held  and  which 
he  abhorred  ;  Jerome  because  he  refused  to  acknowledge  that  the 
burning  of  Hus  was  just  and  righteous.  Hus  was  the  symbol  of 
a  dawn  of  a  moral  and  religious,  Jerome  that  of  a  moral  and  intel- 


74  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

lectual  insurrection  against  the  corruptions  and  disorders  of  the 
clergy  in  what  was  perhaps  the  most  corrupt  and  wicked  age  that 
ecclesiastical  body  has  ever  known."  '  The  martyrdom  of  Jerome 
of  Prague  by  the  reforming  council  of  Constance  was  an  evidence 
of  how  irreformable  the  Church  was,  that  the  hurt  was  in  the 
heart — it  could  not  be  healed. 

The  traveler  to-day  leaves  the  city  of  Constance  by  a  shaded 
walk  leading  into  an  open  field.  At  the  end  of  the  walk  he  finds 
a  huge  boulder  overgrown  with  ivy  and  periwinkle  and  inclosed 
by  an  iron  fence.  This  is  the  spot  where  John  Hus  and  Jerome  of 
Prague  gave  up  their  lives.2 

1  Wratislaw,  Hus,  pp.  407,  408. 

2  Gregor,  The  Story  of  Bohemia,  Cin.  and  New  York,  1895,  p.  172. 


LITERATURE  :   SAVONAROLA.  75 


LITERATURE  :    SAVONAROLA. 

I.    GENERAL,  WORKS. 

1.  Latin  Works,  Paris,  1511. 

2.  Triumphus  Crucis :    De  Veritate    Fidei.      Florence,    1497.      Transl.   by 

O'Dell  T.  Hill,  Lond.,  1868.  His  most  important  theological  writing, 
a  defense  of  historic  (Catholic)  Christianity  against  the  tendencies  of  the 
Medicean  age. 

3.  Meditatio  pia  et  erudita  super  psalmos  miserere  mei  et  in  te  domine  sper- 

avi.  Wittemb.,  1523.  Many  editions.  Transl.  by  F.  C.  Cowper,  Mil- 
waukee, 1889. 

4.  Besold,  Chr.  (Editor).     Meditationes  in  Psalmos.     Tubing. ,  1621. 

5.  Villari,  P.,  and  Casanova,  J.     Scelta  di  Prediche  e  Scritti,  con  nuovi  Doc- 

umenti  intorno  alia  sua  Vita.  Florence,  1898.  This  is  the  most  impor- 
tant literary  product  of  the  fourth  centenary.  It  is  a  series  of  well-selected 
passages  from  the  sermons  and  other  writings  of  the  friar,  sufficient 
to  enable  the  student  to  understand  his  teachings,  character,  revelations, 
and  various  mental  activities.  It  also  includes  two  hitherto  inedited 
contemporary  documents  ;  the  Epistola  of  his  disciple  Cinozzi,  and  ex- 
tracts from  the  Cronaca  of  Simone  Filipepi  recently  discovered  in  the 
Vatican  Library.  This  admirably  edited  volume  is  invaluable.  See  The 
Nation,  N.  Y.,  July  7,  1898,  p.  14.  For  a  list  of  Savonarola's  writings 
see  Graesse,  Tresor  desLivres  Rares  et  Precieux,  vi,  279-285. 

n.    BIOGRAPHICAL. 

1.  Picus,  J.   F.     Vita  Hieronymi   Savonarolae.    Strasb.,    1504.    Basel,  1573, 

1601.     Paris,  1674. 

2.  Bartolo,  Fra.     Delia  storia  del  padre  Girolamo   Savonarola  de  Ferrara. 

Livorno,  1782. 

3.  Rudelbach,  A.  G.     Hieronymus   Savonarola  und  seine  Zeit  aus  den  Quel- 

len  dargestellt.     Hamb.,  1835. 

4.  Meier,  F.  K.     Girolamo  Savonarola,  aus  grossen  Theils  handschrif  tlichen 

Quellen.     With  portrait  and  facsimiles.     Berl.,  1836. 

5.  Hase,  Carl.     In  hisNeue  Propheten.     Leipz.,  1851  ;  3d  ed.,  1893. 

6.  Rule,  W.  H.     Savonarola.     With  events  of  the  Reign  of  Pope  Alexander 

VI.     Lond.,  1855. 

7.  Madden,  R.  R.     The  Life  and  Martyrdom  of  Savonarola.     2  vols.     Lond., 

1853;  2ded.,  1854. 

8.  Perrens,  F.    T.     Hieronymus  Savonarola.     2  vols.     Paris,   1853  ;   3d   ed., 

1859.  German  transl.,  Braunschw.,  1858.  Crowned  by  the  French  Acad- 
emy. 

9.  Milman,  H.  H.     Savonarola  and  other  Essays.  Lond.,  1870.  An  exhaust- 

ive discussion  based  on  the  best  authorities  then  (1856)  attainable. 
10.  Ranke,  Leopold  von.     In  his  Historisch-biographische  Studien.     Leipz., 
1877.     Being  vols.  40,  41  of  his  complete  works. 


76  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

11.  Sickingen,  Conrad.     Savonarola.     Sein  Leben  und  seine   Zeit.     Eine  his- 

torische  Studie.     Wiirzb.,  1877. 

12.  Schnster,  Gustav.     Giralomo  Savonarola,  Arnold   von  Brescia.     Zwei  kir- 

chenhistorische  Vortrage.     Hamb.,  1878. 

13.  Clark,  Win.     Savonarola.     His  Life  and  Times.    Lond.,  1878  ;  2d  ed.,  re- 

written, Chicago,  1890.  This  admirable  work,  written  from  the  sources, 
is  the  best  short  life  in  English. 

14.  Bolanden,  C.  von.   Savonarola.     Eine  alte  Geschichte,  neu  erziihlt.     2  vols. 

Mainz,  1882. 

15.  Villari,  Pasquale.     Life  and  Times  of  Savonarola.     2  vols.     Lond.,  1889. 

Villari  has  spent  his  life  in  Savonarola  study.  Thorough  familiarity 
with  all  the  sources  and  enthusiasm  for  his  hero,  yet  with  judicial  mind 
and  critical  bearing,  mark  Villari's  work  as  the  standard  biography.  It 
was  published  in  Italian  in  1859-61,  transl.  into  English,  1853,  into  Ger- 
man, 1868,  and  into  French,  1874.  After  years  of  farther  study  the 
work  was  rewritten,  Florence,  1888,  and  immediately  transl.  into  English 
by  Madame  Villari. 

16.  Luotto,  Paolo.     Delia  Studio  della  scrittura  sacra  secondo  Gir.  Savonarola 

e  Eeone  XITI  con  rignardi  a  padri  e  a'dottori  della  chiesa.  Torino, 
1896.  See  Th.  Litzg.,  1897,  n.  18.  II  vero  Savonarolae  il  Savonarola  di 
L.  Pastor.  Firenze,  1897.  An  elaborate  criticism  (630  pages)  of  Pastor's 
unfavorable  treatment  of  the  friar  in  his  History  of  the  Popes. 

17.  Manen,  G.     Essai  zur  Jerome  Savonarola  d'apres  sa  prediction.  Montaub., 

1897. 

18.  Pastor,  L.     Zur  Beurtheilung  Savonarolas.     Freib.  i.  B.,  1897. 

19.  Procter,  J.     II  domenicano  Sav.  e  la  Riforma.     Milan,  1897. 

20.  Ferretti,  L.     Per  la  causa  di  fra  Gir.  Sav.     Milan,  1897. 

Other  lives  by  A.  Duperrex,  Laus.,  1865  ;  Th.  Schott,  Stuttg.,  1871  (Le- 
bensbild  aus  Italien)  ;  E.  C.  Bayonne,  Par.,  1879  ;  W.  Dinwiddie,  Lond., 
1879;  Eliz.  Warren,  Lond.,  1880,  2d  ed.,  1881  ;  Annie  C.  Macleod,  Edinb., 
1832  :  Frances  E.  Cooke,  Lond.,  1882  ;  V.  Sommerfeldt,  Christiana,  1895  ;  Mrs. 
Oliphant,  in  Makers  of  Florence,  Lond.,  1872,  new  ed.,  1892  ;  A.  G.  Haygood, 
Oxford,  Ga.,  1895.  Valuable  monographs  in  Church  Quar.  Rev.,  xxviii,  426 
ff.  ;  West.  Rev.,  Feb.,  1892  (Teague  :  Sav.  in  Hist,  and  Fiction)  ;  Neue  kirch- 
liche  Ztsch.,  iii,  12,  1896  (Blass  :  Sav.  unsere  Evangelium)  ;  E.  Armstrong, 
Recent  Criticisms  upon  the  Life  of  Savonarola,  in  English  Hist.  Rev.,  1889, 
441  ff.  ;  J.  F.  Clarke,  in  Epochs  of  Religious  History,  pp.  213  ff .  ;  Schaff,  in 
Mercersb.  Rev.,  x,  333  ff.  ;  and  C.  C.  Starbuck,  Sav.  and  Rome,  Meth.  Rev., 
N.  Y.,  Nov.,  1898 — an  able  and  admirable  statement.  On  the  Savonarola 
Fourth  Centennial  of  1898  see  Chr.  Welt,  1898,  No.  22;  Beil.  zur.  Allg.  Ztg., 
Mimchen,  1898,  Nos.  143,  169;  Chr.  Herald,  1898,  No.  12;  Nuova  Athen., 
June,  1898;  Allg.  Ev.  Luth.  Kirchz.,  1898,  No.  20;  Deutsch  Ev.  Blatter,  1898, 
No.   5  ;  and  E.  Comba  in  Rev.  Chretienne,  1  July,  1898. 


SAVONAROLA— THE  MORAL  PRELUDE.  77 


CHAPTER  IX. 

SAVONAROLA-THE  MORAL  PRELUDE. 

The  moral  corruptions  of  the  papacy,  which  were  one  of  the 
causes  of  the  Protestant  revolution,  met  a  reformer  of  heroic  mold, 
who  in  the  intensity  of  his  revulsion  against  papal  enormities  and 
the  absolute  sincerity  of  his  convictions  was  a  man  after  Luther's 
own  heart,  and  was  hailed  by  him  as  a  kindred  spirit  and  a  prophet 
sent  from  God.  Luther  saw,  too,  that  the  mortal  hatred  of  the 
popes  toward  Savonarola  sprang  from  the  same  feeling  as  that 
which  would  gladly  have  repeated  in  his  own  case  the  tragedy  of 
1498.  "This  man  was  put  to  death,"  says  Luther,  in  the  preface 
to  some  of  Savonarola's  meditations  which  he  republished,  "  solely 
for  having  desired  that  some  one  should  come  to  purify  the  slough 
of  Rome.  It  was  the  antichrist's  [pope's]  hope  that  all  remem- 
brance of  this  great  man  should  perish  under  a  load  of  malediction, 
but  thou  seest  that  it  still  lives  and  that  his  memory  is  blessed. 
Jesus  Christ  proclaims  him  a  saint  through  our  lips,  even  though 
popes  and  papists  should  burst  with  rage."  Savonarola  anticipated 
Luther  and  was  really  a  "reformer  before  the  Reformation."  But 
the  full  historical  position  of  the  Italian  can  never  be  understood 
except  in  connection  with  those  larger  currents  which  would  soon 
issue  in  the  new  age. 

Girolamo  Savonarola  was  born  in  Ferrara,  September  21,  1452 — 
the  third  of  seven  children.  The  father  was  a  hanger-on  at  court 
and  a  dabbler  in  books,  and  rather  a  worthless  man  who  squandered 
the  fortune  left  him  by  the  grandfather,  who  was  an  eminent  phy- 
sician, as  eminent  in  piety  as  in  science. 

The  mother  was  a  woman  of  lofty  and  noble  character,  and  Sa- 
vonarola owed  to  the  mother  many  of  the  characteristics  SAvonako- 
which  achieved  his  renown.  His  parents  desired  him  £ge  andEKT" 
to  study  medicine,  and  for  that  purpose  placed  him  EDUCATI0N- 
under  the  care  of  his  learned  grandfather.  In  those  days  the 
scholastic  philosophy  was  considered  an  indispensable  introduc- 
tion to  every  study,  and  soon  Savonarola  was  deep  in  Thomas 
Aquinas.  But  he  became  so  enamored  of  Aquinas  that  he  could 
hardly  be  drawn  to  more  practical  studies. 


78  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

In  fact,  after  the  death  of  the  distinguished  grandfather,  Giro- 
lamo  became  absorbed  in  religious  studies  and  exegesis,  and  the 
pagan  life  of  the  city  with  its  pleasures,  its  turmoils,  its  murders, 
impressed  him  so  profoundly  that  he  became  sad  and  dejected,  and 
the  cry,  Hen  fuge  crudeles  terras,  fuge  litus  avarwn,  often  issued 
from  his  lips.  He  gave  himself  up  to  the  study  of  the  Scriptures 
and  of  Aquinas,  cultivating  music  and  poetry  for  recreation,  but 
all  the  time  observing  with  keen  eye  the  wickedness  of  the  world 
about  him,  and  wondering  what  he  could  do  to  abate  that  flood  of 
woe.  In  1492  he  describes  all  Italy  when  in  his  poem,  Canzone  de 
Euina  Mundi,  he  tells  what  he  saw  in  Ferrara: 

"  Vedendo  sotto  sopra  tutto  il  mondo, 

Ed  esser  spenta  al  fondo 

Ogni  virtude  ed  ogni  bel  costume, 

Non  trovo  un  vivo  lume 

Ne  pur  chi  di  suoi  vizii  si'  vergogni. 

Felice  ormai  chi  vive  di  rapina 

E  chi  dell'  altrui  sangue  piu  si  pasce  ; 

Chi  vedoe  spoglia  e  i  suoi  pupilli  in  fasce, 

E  chi  di  povri  corre  alia  ruina. 

Quell'  anima  e  gentile  a  peregrina 

Che  per  fraude  e  per  f orza  fa  piu  acquisto  ; 

Chi  sprezza  il  ciel  con  Cristo, 
E  sempre  pensa  altrui  cacciare  al  fondo, 

Colui  onora  il  mondo."  l 

With  the  sound  ringing  in  his  ears  of  the  revelries  of  the  upper 
rooms  of  the  castle  of  Ferrara  and  the  groans  of  the  prisoners 
in  the  dungeons  beneath,  he  would  often  flee  to  the  church  to 
pray  that  God  would  save  that  world  that  seemed  to  be  given 
over  to  mad  frivolities  on  the  one  hand  and  to  cruelties  on 
the  other. 

1  Seeing  the  whole  world  overset ;  all  virtue  and  goodness  disappeared  ;  no- 
where a  shining  light ;  no  one  taking  shame  for  his  sins.  .  .  .  Happy  now  is 
he  that  lives  by  rapine  and  feeds  on  others'  blood,  who  despoils  widows  and 
infants  trusted  to  his  care,  who  hastens  the  ruin  of  the  poor !  Gentle  and 
beautiful  of  soul  is  he  who  wins  most  by  fraud  and  violence :  he  who  scorns 
heaven  and  Christ,  and  ever  seeks  to  trample  on  his  fellows.  He  shall  win 
honor  in  the  world. — Villari,  Life  and  Times  of  Savonarola,  new  and  rewritten 
ed.,  Lond.,  1890,  i,  12.  An  edition  of  the  Poesie  di  Jeronimo  Savonarola  was 
published  in  Florence,  1847,  and  another  from  autograph  copies  edited  by 
Capponi  and  Guasti  in  1862.  Villari's  is  the  greatest  authority  on  Savonarola, 
and  his  book  is  one  of  the  richest  and  noblest  biographies  ever  written.  He 
spent  a  lifetime  in  the  study  of  all  the  sources,  many  of  which  he  himself  dis- 
covered.    His  view  of  Savonarola,  while  sympathetic,  is  impartial  and  just. 


SAVONAROLA— THE  MORAL  PRELUDE.  79 

Savonarola  determined  to  flee  the  world  and  become  a  monk, 
and  his  admiration  of  St.  Thomas  Aquinas  led  him  to  seek  the 
Dominican  order.  While  his  parents  were  absent  from  home  at- 
tending the  festival  of  St.  George  he  fled  to  Bologna,  and  was  re- 
ceived into  the  Dominican  convent  there,  1475.  Nothing  could 
exceed  the  diligence  and  devotion  with  which  he  applied  himself  to 
the  monastic  life — his  self-sacrifice,  his  obedience,  his  fervor  in 
prayer.  He  was  soon  made  teacher  of  the  novices.  But  the  walls 
of  the  convent  did  not  keep  back  those  painful  thoughts  which  the 
wickedness  of  the  world,  and  especially  the  wickedness  of  the 
Church,  brought  to  his  mind. 

When  Savonarola  entered  the  monastic  life  Francesco  della  Ro- 
vere  (Sixtus  IV)  was  ruling  the  Church,  and  he  was  sufficiently 
faithful  to  the  bad  traditions  of  his  predecessor,  Paul  II.  "  It  was 
publicly  asserted  that  the  election  of  the  new  pope  had  been  carried 
by  simony,  and  Rome  echoed  with  the  names  of  those  who  had 
sold  their  votes  and  obtained  preferments  in  exchange.  The  scan- 
dalous lust  of  Sixtus  was  literally  unbounded  ;  the  lavishness  of  his 
expenditure  only  equaled  by  his  unquenchable  thirst  for  gold;  and 
so  greatly  was  he  blinded  by  his  passions  that  he  shrank  from  no 
infamy  to  accomplish  his  wicked  aims,  and  no  act  was  too  scandal- 
ous for  him  to  commit."  '  Innocent  VIII  kept  his  vow  of 
chastity  by  begetting  sixteen  children  and  exploited  the  Church 
for  their  enrichment.  Alexander  VI  (Rodrigo  Lanzol,  a  Borgia 
by  adoption),  succeeded  him  in  1492.  Having  purchased  his 
office  by  wholesale  bribery  he  continued  to  magnify  it  by  the  most 
appalling  debaucheries  ;  his  adultery  with  Julia  Farnese,  the  wife 
of  one  of  his  nephews,  and  with  his  own  daughter-in-law,  the  wife 
of  Jofre,  being  simply  incidents  in  a  career  devoted  with  calculat- 
ing reflection  to  the  pursuit  of  hellish  ambitions,  social,  financial, 
and  political.  His  intrigues  and  ambitions  for  his  children  involved 
the  destruction  of  thousands  of  human  beings.  A  recent  Roman 
Catholic  writer  has  well  called  him  a  "monster."2  It  was  in  a 
corrupt  age,  when  a  corrupt  Church  was  ruled  by  corrupt  popes, 
that  Savonarola's  lot  was  cast,  and  the  condition  of  both  Church 
and  world  filled  him  with  grief  and  horror.  Savonarola  resolved 
that  if  God  would  ever  permit  him  to  strike  iniquity  in  high 
places  he  would  strike  it  hard.  In  one  of  his  poems,  written  in 
1475,  he  sees  the  wings  of  the  spreading  ecclesiastical  imperialism 
brooding  like  a  mighty  vulture  over  the  world,  having  its  seat  in 

1  Villari,  i,  24. 

2  Father  Ryder,  in  The  Tablet,  Lond.,  May  21,  1898,  p.  814. 


80  HISTORY   OP  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Rome,  which  he  calls,  "una  fallace,  superba  meretrice"  (a  false, 
proud  harlot),  and  he  cries  out, 

"  Den,  per  Dio,  Dona 
Se  romper  si  patria  quelle  grandi  ali." 

(0  God,  0  Lady,  that  I  might  break  those  spreading  wings  !) 
This  wish  came  to  him  over  and  over  again  in  this  early  time,  "  0 
God,  that  those  spreading  wings  could  be  crushed,  those  imps  of 
perdition."  Savonarola's  self-dedication  as  a  preacher  of  righteous- 
ness and  a  reformer  of  the  Church  was  no  ambition  of  his  later 
priorate,  but  was  the  profound  impulse  of  his  whole  being,  which 
bore  him  on  almost  unconsciously  from  his  earliest  manhood,  or 
as  soon  as  he  came  to  brood  over  the  awful  iniquities  of  the  time. 

In  1481  Savonarola  was  transferred  to  the  monastery  in  Flor- 
ence (St.  Mark's),  and  in  1491  was  elected  prior.  In  this  city  he 
spent  all  the  rest  of  his  short  life,  broken  occasionally  by  preaching 
tours  and  visits  to  neighboring  convents.  The  work  which  he  tried 
to  do  in  Florence  lay  in  three  directions,  the  reformation  of  man- 
ners, the  restoration  of  civil  liberty,  and  the  reformation  of  the 
Church.     A  word  as  to  each  of  these. 

The  morals  of  Florence  under  the  Medici  were  sunk  to  the  low- 
est. Lorenzo  the  Magnificent,  who  has  been  held  up  as  a  model 
sovereign  by  Roscoe  and  others  who  excuse  everything 

KEFORMA-  -i  •  t     t.  /-LA 

tion  of  to  one  who  patronizes  art  and  literature,  went  about 

systematically  to  corrupt  the  people.  For  instance,  he 
composed  ballads,  to  be  sung  in  carnival  masquerades,  of  so  indecent 
a  character  that  they  would  be  regarded  with  disgust  by  even  the 
lowest  rabble  of  Italy;  and  these  ballads  were  sung  through  the 
streets  by  the  young  nobles  of  Florence  in  disguises  suited  to  their 
parts.  The  Florentines  who  were  not  personally  and  actively  de- 
based were  sunk  in  cynicism,  lethargy,  despising  all  enthusiasm 
for  noble  principles  and  religious  ideas.  It  was  the  aim  of  Savo- 
narola to  stem  the  tide  of  worldliness  and  vice,  and  call  the  people 
to  righteousness.     His  method  was  preaching. 

Perhaps  no  man  in  the  history  of  the  Church  ever  wrought 
greater  effects  by  his  preaching  than  the  prior  of  St.  Mark's.  His 
sermons  were  biblical — the  preacher  was  saturated  with  the  Bible. 
He  had  meditated  so  long  over  the  Scriptures,  especially  over  the 
prophets  and  Eevelation — portions  of  which  seemed  to  have  been 
written  with  special  reference  to  his  degenerate  days — that  their 
messages  had  become  part  of  himself,  and  he  stood  forth  in  the 
power  and  spirit  of  Elijah  and  John  the  Baptist.     The  Old  Testa- 


SAVONAROLA— THE  MORAL  PRELUDE.  61 

ment  became  to  him  the  most  living  book  in  the  world,  as  though 
its  flaming  denunciations  of  wrath  were  written  especially  for  the 
Florentines  of  1491.  Again,  his  sermons  were  keyed  to  SAVONABOLA 
the  times;  they  reflected  a  background  of  contempo-  ASPKEACHEK- 
rary  life  and  events,  and  were  directed  to  contemporary  needs.  In 
this  respect  they  greatly  resembled  the  sermons  of  Chrysostom — 
with  whom  in  other  respects  Savonarola  had  points  of  contact — of 
Wesley,  and  of  Beecher.  Those  who  constantly  urge  preachers  to 
stick  to  the  "  simple  Gospel/'  as  the  phrase  is,  must  look  aghast  at 
Savonarola,  whose  sermons  were  full  of  references  to  contemporary 
events,  and  were  directed  to  the  whole  range  of  men's  needs. 

But  the  chief  power,  perhaps,  of  Savonarola  was  his  intense  con- 
viction, his  profound  apprehension  of  God,  his  vivid  sense  of  eter- 
nity, and  his  overwhelming  belief  in  the  judgments  to  come.  He 
resembled  Paul  in  his  thorough  belief  in  his  divine  mission,  in  his 
sensitiveness  toward  sin,  and  in  his  sympathy  with  God's  holiness  ; 
and  from  all  this  there  resulted  in  both  a  terrific  realism  in  their 
interpretation  of  the  divine  wrath.  Add  to  all  this  the  fact  that 
Savonarola,  like  Paul,  was  subject  to  visions,  and  believed  himself 
to  receive  from  supernatural  beings  supernatural  knowledge,  and 
we  can  well  understand  how  in  an  age  which,  with  all  its  lust, 
cynicism,  and  practical  infidelity,  was  excessively  superstitious,  the 
sermons  of  the  black-robed  friar,  whose  dark  gray  eyes  were  so 
bright  that,  as  one  of  his  contemporary  biographers  says,1  they 
seemed  literally  to  give  forth  flashes  of  red  fire — those  eyes  which 
had  looked  on  angels  and  beheld  his  Lord  in  rapt  visions,  made  an 
impression  paralleled  only  by  the  sermons  of  Whitefield. 

As  the  result  of  his  preaching  Florence  became  for  a  time  a 
changed  city.  Its  carnivals,  balls,  and  festivities  were  abolished  ; 
its  masquerades  and  unholy  diversions  ceased ;  the  people  sought 
the  Lord  with  tears  ;  they  exalted  Christ  as  king  ;  they  thronged 
the  churches  ;  and  the  city  of  Florence  became  to  all  outward  view 
more  nearly  a  city  of  God  than  has  been  the  case  with  any  other 
city  in  all  history.  "  The  people  of  Florence,"  says  a  contemporary 
writer,  "have  become  fools  for  the  love  of  Christ." 

An  event  in  connection  with  the  moral  renovation  has  subjected 
Savonarola  to  much  criticism.  To  take  the  place  of  certain  chil- 
dren's and  young  people's  carnivals,  which  were  attended  with  much 
moral  and  even  physical  injury,  a  fight  with  stones  being  a  clos- 
ing scene,  Savonarola  inaugurated  a  sacred  festival ;  and  to  give 
the  young  people  some  work  to  do  for  their  city  asked  them  to 
1  Fra  Benedetto,  in  Vulnera  Diligentis. 


82  HISTORY   OF   THE    CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

gather  all  masks,  theatrical  costumes,  indecent  pictures  and  books 
and  other  vanities,  and  make  a  bonfire  of  them.  This  was  done  in 
1497,  the  last  year  but  one  of  his  life.  Perrens,1  Milman,2  and 
other  authorities,  have  condemned  Savonarola  for  this  as  an  act  of 
fanatical  vandalism.  There  may  have  been  some  articles  of  real 
value  offered  on  this  pile,  but  of  this  we  have  no  certain  evidence. 
On  the  other  hand,  we  know  that  nearly  all,  if  not  all,  of  the 
things  burned  were  vanities  in  fact — the  implements  of  that  pagan 
culture  which  had  driven  decency,  not  to  speak  of  morality,  out  of 
Florence.  Again,  no  contemporary  or  old  writers  refer  to  this  act  as 
reflecting  on  Savonarola,  nor  was  it  brought  forward  against  him 
in  his  trial.  In  the  awakened  conscience  of  the  time  it  seemed  to 
be  taken  as  a  matter  of  course. 

Besides,  so  far  from  Savonarola  being  an  enemy  of  art,  he  was 
an  encourager  of  it.  Himself  a  poet,  he  drew  artists  about  him, 
and  numbered  among  them  his  choicest  friends.  Not  only  so,  but 
when  the  library  of  the  Medici,  which  had  become  the  property  of 
the  State,  was  in  danger  of  being  dispersed  on  account  of  financial 
straits,  the  convent  of  St.  Mark's  bought  it  for  the  city,  and  thus 
secured  all  this  magnificent  collection,  which  was  the  richest  then 
extant  in  the  Greek  and  Latin  classics.  And  this  took  place  in 
the  same  year  which  witnessed  the  "  burning  of  the  vanities." 
Even  if  some  things  indifferent  were  sacrificed  among  the  inde- 
cencies which  were  burned  in  the  desperate  effort  to  save  as  by  fire 
the  putrid  civilization  which  pagan  princes  and  a  pagan  Church 
had  bequeathed  to  Florence*,  we  need  not  be  surprised  when  we 
remember  that  within  this  century  a  book  against  divine  revela- 
tion was  burned  in  the  hall  of  a  college  in  Oxford  University.3 

We  now  come  to  the  restoration  of  civil  liberty.  We  cannot  go 
into  the  details  of  that  fascinating  history  of  the  fall  of  the  Medici,4 

1  Jerome  Savonarole  sa  vie,  ses  predications,  ses  ecrits.     2  vols.    Paris,  1853. 

2  Savonarola,  Erasmus,  and  other  Essays.     Lond.,  1870. 

3  See  Clark,  Life  of  Savonarola,  Chicago,  1890,  p.  268.  This  life,  written  by 
the  professor  of  philosophy  at  Trinity  College,  Toronto,  is  by  far  the  best 
short  history  of  the  friar.     See  also  Villari,  ii,  132-140. 

4  Over  against  the  adulation  of  Roscoe,  in  his  Life  of  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent, 
Sismondi  states  the  fact  when  he  says  :  "  It  is  not  as  a  statesman  that  Lorenzo 
de  Medici  can  pretend  to  glory.  He  was  a  bad  citizen  of  Florence,  as  well  as 
a  bad  Italian.  He  degraded  the  character  of  the  Florentines,  destroyed  their 
energy,  ravished  from  them  their  liberty,  and  soon  farther  exposed  them  to 
the  loss  of  their  independence." — History  of  the  Italian  Republics,  p.  225. 
Roscoe  is  equally  judicial  in  his  description  of  Savonarola  as  the  Florentines' 
' '  golden  calf  "  and  the  ' '  wretched  priest  who  expiated  by  his  death  his  follies 
and  his  crimes." 


SAVONAROLA— THE  MORAL  PRELUDE.         83 

the  restoration  of  Florentine  liberties  under  Savonarola  in  a 
constitution  of  remarkable  liberality — a  work  which  he  did  not 
assume  himself,  but  which  was  urged  upon  him  by  the  city — and  the 
long  struggles  to  keep  that  constitution  from  being  subverted  by 
enemies  within  the  State  and  without.  Never  before  or  since  has 
a  preacher  by  the  sheer  force  of  his  preaching  and  per-  political 
sonality  been  for  so  long  a  time  the  one  power  which  ^savona- 
made  the  moral  regeneration  and  political  stability  of  KOLA- 
a  people.  He  alone  gave  them  religion  and  freedom,  and  from  the 
overthrow  of  the  Medici  in  1494  to  his  own  death  in  1498,  he  stood 
as  the  only  guarantee  of  the  continuance  of  a  free  State.  It  was  a 
desperate  struggle  against  fearful  odds,  and  it  is  no  wonder  that  his 
physical  powers  gave  way  under  it,  and  that  he  often  wished  for 
release.  His  martyrdom  at  the  early  age  of  forty-five  only  antici- 
pated what  would  have  been  at  any -rate  an  early  death.  He  was 
the  great  preacher-statesman  of  history,  his  best  successors  being 
New  England  clergy — men  like  Hooker,  who  founded  a  more  en- 
during Eepublic  on  another  Arno.1 

As  to  the  reformation  of  the  Church,  although  Savonarola  was 
willing  to  grant  due  homage  to  the  reigning  pope,  at  the  bottom 
he  believed  that  according  to  common  law  his  election,  being 
obtained  by  simony,  was  invalid.  He  also  believed,  that  such  a 
life  of  monstrous  wickedness  as  Eodrigo  Borgia  was  living  proceeded 
from  a  heart  essentially  infidel,  and  that  for  both  reasons  Borgia 
should  be  dethroned.  He  therefore  determined  to  call  the  princes 
to  summon  a  council,  where  he  would  prove  all  his 
allegations  against  Alexander  VI,  and  he  believed  that  reform  the 
under  his  stirring  appeals  such  a  council  would  pro- 
ceed to  the  moral  reformation  of  the  whole  Church.  By  the  decrees 
of  the  council  of  Constance  the  pope  was  bound  to  convoke  a  general 
council  every  ten  years,  and  in  case  of  neglecting  so  to  do  the  princes 
were  authorized  to  do  it.  King  Charles  VIII  of  France  was  strongly 
in  favor  of  a  new  council,  and  when  in  Borne  had  been  advised  by 
eighteen  cardinals  to  seize  the  Borgia's  person  in  order  to  proceed  to 
the  election  of  a  worthier  pope.2     But  indecision  of  character  was 

1  Calvin  is  at  once  suggested  as  the  Protestant  counterpart  of  Savonarola. 
There  are  interesting  points  of  likeness,  but  (1)  Calvin  did  not  establish  a 
republican  government  in  Geneva — he  found  it  there — but  only  its  theocratic 
features  ;  (2)  Calvin  was  himself  as  President  of  the  Consistory  one  of  the 
chief  legislators  for  the  city,  whereas  Savonarola's  power  was  moral  only  and  not 
legal ;  (3)  Calvin  had  distrust  of  popular  government,  Savonarola  believed  in  it. 

2  Villari,  ii,  291,  new  ed. 


84  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Charles's  bane.  Savonarola  had  written  in  1498  elaborate  letters  to 
the  great  princes  of  Christendom  urging  the  calling  of  a  council, 
and  had  the  matter  all  arranged.  But  a  cruel  fate  was  against  him  ; 
his  plans  were  revealed  to  the  pope,  for  in  the  Catholic  Church  of 
the  fifteenth  century  the  saint  must  burn  and  the  adulterer  and 
murderer  live. 

His  biographers  have  told  in  detail  the  sad  history  of  the  last 
month  or  two  of  the  friar's  life.  His  enemies  were  all  those  Flor- 
entines who  desired  the  subversion  of  the  popular  liberty  and  the 
partisans  of  the  Medici ;  all  those  who  were  dissatisfied  with  the 
moral  regime,  and  longed  for  the  old  license,  and  they  were  many 
and  fierce ;  all  the  princes  of  Italy ;  and  Pope  Alexander  VI,  who 
had  been  moving  heaven  and  earth  for  a  long  time  to  accomplish 
Savonarola's  ruin.  Fortunately  for  the  pope  the  ruling  party  in 
Florence  were  now  bitterly  opposed  to  Savonarola.  The  charges 
against  him  related  to  his  doctrine,  his  politics,  and  his  prophe- 
cies. Even  under  the  fearful  examination  of  torture  which  he  un- 
derwent over  and  over  again  nothing  blameworthy  was  found  in 
him,  except  that  with  his  mind  wandering  in  the  delirium  of  an- 
guish he  could  not  maintain  an  entirely  consistent  attitude  toward 
his  prophecies.  In  fact,  even  at  his  best  Savonarola  had  never 
worked  out  a  final  theory  to  explain  them.  Villari  has  shown  that 
his  examiners  went  to  the  diabolical  length  of  engaging  a  notary 
deliberately  to  falsify  his  replies,  but  that  even  so  the  records  re- 
veal nothing  worthy  of  death. 

Two  of  Savonarola's  disciples,  Fra  Domenica  and  Fra  Silvestro, 
were  condemned  with  him,  and  punished  with  him  by  hanging 
and  by  burning  in  the  square  before  the  palace  at  ten  o'clock  on 
May  23,  1498.  After  repeated  attempts  by  torture  to  get  the  holy 
and  humble  Fra  Domenica  to  compromise  his  master,  this  heroic 
monk  finally  wrote  down  this  as  his  last  and  solemn  witness  : 
"  God's  will  be  done.  I  have  never  perceived,  nor  had  the  least 
occasion  to  suspect  that  my  father,  Fra  Jeronimo,  was  a  deceiver 
or  that  he  acted  falsely  in  any  wise  ;  on  the  contrary,  I  have  ever 
held  him  to  be  a  thoroughly  upright  and  most  extraordinary  man. 
And  having  a  great  reverence  for  him  I  hoped  by  his  means  to  receive 
peace  from  Cod  and  be  enabled  thereby  to  do  some  good  to  the 
souls  of  men  ;  and  holding  him  to  be  a  man  of  God,  I  obeyed  him 
as  my  superior,  with  all  single-mindedness  and  zeal.  ...  To  my 
brethren  and  to  a  few  laymen  I  have  sometimes  declared  from  the 
pulpit  that  were  I  to  detect  the  least  error  or  deceit  in  Fra  Jero- 
nimo I  would  openly  reveal  and  proclaim  it.     And  assuredly  he  him- 


SAVONAROLA— THE  MORAL  PRELUDE.         85 

self  has  more  than  once  testified  that  I  was  ready  to  do  this,  and  I 
would  do  it  now  if  I  knew  of  any  duplicity  in  him.  But  none  has 
ever  come  to  my  knowledge.  Finis.  In  simplicitate  cordis  mea 
Ic&tus  obtuli  universa."  '  And  the  verdict  of  the  simple-hearted 
monk  is  the  verdict  of  history. 

A  question  or  two  yet  remains  to  be  answered  :  First,  as  to  Savo- 
narola's prophecies.  There  were  moments  when,  as  Villari  says, 
"  rapt  in  a  species  of  ecstasy,  he  seemed  to  have  real  revelations  of 
the  future.  If  he  chanced  to  fall  into  this  state  in  the  solitude  of 
his  cell  he  would  be  visited  by  a  long  series  of  visions,  savonako- 
and  maintain  his  vigil  night  after  night,  until  at  last  LA  s  VISI0NS- 
overcome  by  sleep  his  weary  body  found  rest.  But  if  he  fell  into 
this  state  while  in  the  pulpit  his  excitement  surpassed  all  bound. 
Words  failed  to  describe  it;  he  was,  as  it  were,  swept  onward  by  a 
might  beyond  his  own,  and  carried  his  audience  with  him.  Men  and 
women  of  every  age  and  condition,  workmen,  poets,  and  philoso- 
phers, would  burst  into  passionate  tears,  while  the  Church  reechoed 
with  their  sobs.  The  reporter  taking  notes  of  the  sermon  was 
obliged  to  write,  ' At  this  I  was  overcome  by  weeping  and  could  not 
go  on/  Savonarola  sometimes  sank  exhausted  in  his  seat,  and  was 
occasionally  confined  to  his  bed  for  several  days  after."2 

His  predictions  were  not  confined  to  generalities,  or  to  such  obvious 
deductions  as  the  calamities  which  must  inevitably  befall  a  Church 
and  people  steeped  in  iniquity.  He  predicted  the  invasion  of  the 
French  and  the  fall  of  the  Medici,  and  sketched  with  graphic  detail 
the  woes  that  were  to  befall  Italy.  He  predicted  a  great  religious 
awakening,  to  be  preceded  by  the  scourging  of  the  Church.  "  The 
Church  shall  be  renovated,"  he  said,  "but  must  first  be  scourged, 
and  that  speedily."  All  these  predictions  came  true.  He  was 
equally  confident  of  the  ultimate  conversion  of  all  unbelievers  and 
the  bringing  of  all  men  under  one  shepherd,  Christ.  What  is  re- 
markable is  that  keen-witted  historians  and  men  of  the  world  of 
his  own  time  considered  his  prophetic  character  beyond  question. 
Philip  de  Commines  says  of  him  :  "  He  foretold  the  coming  of  the 
king  when  no  one  else  thought  of  it ;  he  afterward  wrote  and  told 
me  in  my  own  ears  things  which  no  one  believed,  and  which  never- 
theless were  all  fulfilled.     No  one  could  have  suggested  them  to 

1  See  doe.  xxvii,  in  app.  to  Italian  ed.  of  Villari,  new  ed.  As  to  the  fidelity 
of  George  Eliot  to  the  facts  of  history  in  her  portraiture  of  Savonarola  in  her 
great  and  noble  story,  Romola,  see  J.  Jessop  Teague,  Savonarola  in  History 
and  Fiction,  in  Westminster  Rev.,  Feb.,  1892,  vol.  137,  pp.  123  ff. 

s  Villari,  i,  309,  310. 


86  HISTORY   OP   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

him,  for  they  were  known  to  none."  '  Nardi  and  other  contem- 
poraries are  equally  emphatic.  Even  Machiavelli,  who  could  not 
navona-  appreciate   Savonarola's  religious  genius,  was  never- 

phetic^i-0  theless  profoundly  impressed  by  it,  and  never  denied 
his  gift  of  prophecy.  "  Of  such  a  man/'  he  says, 
''one  can  only  speak  with  reverence.  His  life,  his  doctrines, 
and  the  subjects  he  treated  were  sufficient  to  inspire  his  ad- 
herents with  faith." a  Guicciardini  warmly  extols  him,  and 
says  that  some  of  his  prophecies  were  fulfilled.3  How  can  we  ac- 
count for  this  ?  May  we  not  believe  that  in  response  to  the 
simplicity  and  earnestness  of  his  faith,  and  to  his  agonizing  prayers, 
Savonarola  received  divine  illumination,  so  that  at  times  his  natu- 
rally acute  intellect  and  foresight  were  quickened  to  preternatural 
sharpness  of  vision  ?  Of  modern  scholars  Eudelbach  held  that  on 
account  of  his  evangelical  faith  Savonarola  became  the  unconscious 
prophet  of  the  Eeformation ; 4  Meier  minimizes  his  prophetic 
gift,  and  makes  it  simply  an  attempt  to  divine  the  future  by  the 
light  of  the  Scriptures ;  B  and  Dullinger  claims  that  Savonarola's 
prophecies  were  partly  the  result  of  his  natural  insight  and  rare 
penetration,  which  amounted  to  a  gift  of  divination;  were  in  part 
the  conclusions  which  he  drew  from  the  course  of  Jewish  history  as 
applied  to  the  Christian  Church,  and  in  part  the  interpretation  of 
visions  which  he  had  had.6  Dullinger  elsewhere 7  calls  attention  to 
the  fact,  which  also  needs  to  be  explained,  that  the  friar  was  himself 
at  first  terrified  by  the  impulse  to  prophesy  which  gradually  over- 
powered him  and  controlled  his  thinking  and  acting.  Professor 
Clark  acknowledges  that  Savonarola  did  in  the  most  remarkable 
manner  forecast  the  future,  sometimes  by  penetrating  insight  into 
men  and  things,  and  sometimes  by  a  spiritual  intuition  or  revelation. 
"How  far  men  may  be,  in  an  exalted  spiritual  condition,  made  aware 
of  the  secrets  of  the  invisible  world  we  cannot  tell.  Those  who  think 
most  deeply  on  such  questions  will  probably  be  the  most  backward  to 
pronounce  dogmatically  on  the  subject.  "What  the  boundary  line 
may  be  which  separates  a  state  of  spiritual  elevation  from  a  state 
of  ecstasy,  which  divides  our  ordinary  experience  of  heavenly  things 

1  Memoirs.  9  Discorsi  sulla  prima  Deca,  I,  chap.  xi. 

3  Storia  Florentina,  xvii. 

4Hieronymus  Savonarola  und  seine  Zeit,  Hamb.,  1835. 

5  Girolamo    Savonarola,  aus  grossen  Theils  handschriftlichen  Quellen  darge- 
stellt,  Berl.,  1836. 

6  Fables   and   Prophecies  of  the   Middle   Ages,  ed.  by  H.   B.  Smith,  N.  Y., 
1872,  pp.  415-418.  Ubid.,  p.  333. 


SAVONAROLA— THE  MORAL  PRELUDE.         87 

from  a  direct  intuition  of  the  spiritual  world,  no  wise  man  will 
attempt  to  determine."  '  Rule,  who  seems  to  write  with  a  squint 
at  Edward  Irving,  goes  into  the  question  of  Christian  prophecy  at 
length  and  comes  to  the  conclusion  that  Savonarola's  predictions 
were  the  result  of  study,  devotion  and  prayer,  and  that  his  visions 
were  not  visions  at  all,  but  allegories  or  stories,  and  would  be  so 
regarded  by  his  audience  ;  although  later  in  regard  to  the  revelations 
Rule  came  to  think  that  the  friar  played  on  the  credulity  of  his 
hearers  as  a  kind  of  "  rhetorical  artifice  " — a  conclusion  absolutely 
impossible  to  those  who  understand  Savonarola's  character.3  Villari 
claims  that  Savonarola's  visions  were  perfectly  real  to  him,  and 
that  his  predictions  were  the  result  of  his  own  marvelous  powers 
of  soul.3 

It  remains  to  consider  Savonarola's  doctrine  and  position  as  a 
reformer.  More  careful  study  of  his  writings  has  corrected  the  old 
view,  which  regarded  him  as  a  pre- Reformation  reformer  in  the  doc- 
trinal sense.  Even  so  far  back  as  1855,  Rule,  who  examined  the 
friar's  works  from  a  stanchly  Protestant  standpoint,  had  given  up 
that  old  view,  and  Villari  has  shown  it  to  be  quite  untenable. 
Nothing  is  more  certain  than  that  Savonarola  stood 
squarely  on  the  foundations  of  medievalism,  for  ex-  rola's  doc- 
ample,  as  to  the  virtues  of  the  monastic  life,  as  to 
mariolatry,  as  to  the  intercession  of  saints  and  angels,  as  to 
transubstantiation,  which  he  defends  at  length  in  his  Triumph 
of  the  Cross,4  as  to  the  efficiency  of  the  sacraments  in  con- 
ferring grace,  and  as  to  the  unity  of  the  Church  in  the  pope 
of  Rome,  who  inherits  from  St.  Peter.  He  in  fact  directly 
"combats  heretics,  who,"  he  says,  "although  they  confess  the 
same  Jesus  Christ  and  the  same  Gospel  as  we,  are  plunged  in  a 
thousand  errors,"  and  all  because  they  have  cut  themselves  off 
from  Peter.5  In  one  of  his  sermons,  in  order  to  silence  opposi- 
tion, he  declares  his  faith  :  "  I  have  examined  carefully  my  ways 
as  to  faith,  and  I  declare  that  as  regards  faith  my  ways  are  wholly 
pure.  For  I  have  ever  believed  and  do  believe  all  that  is  believed 
by  the  Holy  Roman  Church,  and  have  ever  submitted  and  do  sub- 
mit myself  to  her.  ...  I  have  written  to  Rome  that  if  peradven- 
ture  I  may  have  preached  or  written  anything  heretical  I  am  willing 
to  amend  me  and  to  retract  my  words  here  in  public.      I  am  ever 

1  Savonarola,  new  ed.,  1890,  pp.  201,  202. 

2  Savonarola,  with  the  events  in   the  reign  of  Alexander  VI,    Lond. ,  1855, 
pp.  23  ff.  3  Savonarola,  new  ed.,  rewritten,  i,  306  ff. 

4  Book  Third,  chap.  xv.  s  Triumph  of  the  Cross,  iv,  6. 


88  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

prepared  to  yield  obedience  to  the  Eoman  Church,  and  declare 
that  whosoever  doth  not  obey  her  shall  be  damned.  ...  I  declare 
and  confirm  that  the  Catholic  Church  will  surely  endure  to  the  day 
of  judgment ;  .  .  .  and  inasmuch  as  there  are  divers  opinions  as  to 
the  real  definition  of  this  Catholic  Church  I  rely  only  on  Christ  and 
on  the  decision  of  the  Church  of  Rome."  ' 

Savonarola  declared  the  same  over  and  over  again.  However 
much  his  enemies  may  have  tried  to  report  him  for  heresy  by  twist- 
ing his  words,  his  contemporaries  believed  him  thoroughly  ortho- 
dox, and  the  papal  commissioners  gave  him  absolution  at  the  last, 
and  even  allowed  him  to  administer  the  eucharist  to  his  brother 
monks  condemned.  Eminent  Catholic  saints  like  St.  Philip  Neri 
and  St.  Francis  of  Paula  have  hailed  him  also  as  a  saint,  and  the 
question  of  his  canonization  has  been  long  pending  in  Rome. 

But  Savonarola  must  not  be  judged  by  post- Vatican  Eomanism 
or  by  the  standards  of  an  age  when  the  popes  are  respectable,  at  least 
in  piety  and  learning.  He  deliberately  and  continually  disobeyed 
the  pope,  whom  he  himself  acknowledged  as  for  the  time  the  head 
of  the  Church.  When  the  pope  summoned  him  to  Rome,  1495, 
when  he  prohibited  his  preaching,  1495,  and  later  when  he  com- 
manded the  union  of  St.  Mark's  convent  with  the  Lombard  Con- 
gregation, when  he  commanded  the  union  of  St. 
and  the  Mark's  with   the   new    Tusco-Roman    Congregation, 

1496,  when  he  was  excommunicated,  1497,  still  he 
preached,  still  he  refused  Alexander  the  keeping  of  his  conscience, 
still  he  appealed  from  him  to  Christ.  Savonarola  had  indeed  a 
theory  with  which  to  defend  himself,  or  two  theories — one  he  had 
received  from  Aquinas,  the  other  from  the  council  of  Constance. 
Aquinas  said  that  when  the  pope  gives  a  command  plainly  con- 
trary to  Scripture  and  charity  he  is  no  longer  as  to  that  command 
pope,  and  ought  not  to  be  obeyed.  The  council  of  Constance  re- 
stricted infallibility  to  a  general  council. 

With  these  two  weapons  in  his  hands  Savonarola  was  saying  and 
doing  things  scandalous  to  a  modern  Catholic.  Did  Savonarola 
abuse  his  liberty  ?  Did  Aquinas  mean  that  so  ordinary  a  command 
as  that  a  suspected  priest  should  appear  at  Rome  should  be  disre- 
garded ?  Evidently  not.  In  fact,  the  friar  was  constantly  reced- 
ing to  Protestant  ground  in  reserving  to  himself  the  right  of  pri- 
vate judgment  in  regard  to  papal  commands.  The  unity  of  the 
Church  could  never  endure  with  such  large  concessions  to  freedom. 
But,  more  deeply,  Savonarola  held  to  the  old  Gallican  but  now 
1  Sermon  of  Feb.  17,  1496. 


SAVONAROLA— THE  MORAL  PRELUDE.         89 

Protestant  view  that  the  pope  may  err  even  in  solemn  definitions 
which  he  gives  out  as  pope.  "  I  take  it  for  granted  that  there  is  no 
man  who  is  not  liable  to  error.  Thou  art  mad  to  say  that  a  pope 
cannot  err,  when  there  have  been  so  many  wicked  popes  who  have 
erred.  ...  If  it  were  true  that  no  pope  could  ever  err,  might  we 
then  do  even  as  they  do  in  order  to  gain  salvation  ?  Thou  wouldst 
reply  that  a  pope  may  err  as  a  man  but  not  as  a  pope ;  but  I  tell 
thee  that  the  pope  may  err,  even  in  his  judgments  and  sentences. 
Go  !  read  how  many  decrees  have  been  made  by  one  pope  and  re- 
voked by  the  next,  and  how  many  opinions  held  by  some  popes  are 
contradicted  by  those  of  other  pontiffs." '  Villari  says  he  does 
not  refer  to  dogma  ;2  he  does  not  refer  specifically  to  dogma,  but  he 
does  not  exclude  it.  He  refers  to  all  the  solemn  judgments  which 
the  pope  gives  as  pope,  and  says  that  even  as  pope  he  may  err,  thus 
repudiating  entirely  the  distinction  which  the  doctors  drew  in  re- 
gard to  moral  commands.  The  truth  is  that  Savonarola  was  a  zeal- 
ous pre-Tridentine  Catholic,  whose  catholicity  was  so  Christian  that 
in  his  practical  attitude  as  a  man  and  a  minister  of  Christ  he  was 
constantly  approaching  to  Protestantism. 

1  Sermon  of  18th  of  February,  1497.  !  Vol.  ii,  p.  252,  n.  2. 


90  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 


LITERATURE:  GERMAN  HUMANISM. 

I.    GENERAL   WORKS. 

1.  Heeren,  A.  H.  L.     Geschichte  der  classischen  Litteratur  im  Mittelalter. 

2  vols.,  Berl.,  1822.     Works,  v  and  vi. 

2.  Hallam,    Henry.      Introduction    to    the    Literature    of    Europe,    in    the 

15th,  16th,  and  17th  centuries.  Lond.,  1837-39;  4th  ed.,  rev.  and 
enl.,  1853.  A  work  of  wide  learning  and  multifarious  reading,  and  still 
useful. 

3.  Hagen,  Karl.     Deutschlands   religiose   und   litterarische   Verhaltnisse  im 

Reformationszeitalter.  3  vols.,  Erl.,  1843-45.  Distinguished  for  grasp 
and  erudition. 

4.  Voigt,  Georg.     Die   Wiederbelebung  des  classischen  Alterthums,  oder  das 

erste  Jahrhundert  des  Humanismus.  Berl.,  1859;  2d  ed.,  2  vols.,  1880- 
81,  by  Lehnerdt,  Berl.,  1893. 

5.  Schroeder,  J.   F.      Das   Wiederaufbluhen   des   klassischen   Studiums   in 

Deutschland  im  15-16  Jahrhundert.     Halle,  1864. 

6.  Kraft  and   Crecelius.     Beitrage   zur  Geschichte  des  Humanismus.     Elbf . , 

1870-75. 

7.  Lacroix,    Paul.      Science   and   Literature   in    the   Middle   Ages.      Lond., 

1876. 

8.  Nisard,  J.  M.  N.  D.     Renaissance  et  Reforme.     Paris,  1877. 

9.  Horawitz,  Adalbert.     Analecta  zur  Geschichte  des  Humanismus  in  Schwa- 

ben.     Wien,  1878. 

10.  Geiger,  Ludwig.    Renaissance  und  Humanismus  in  Italien  und  Deutschland. 

Berl.,  1882.  Part  of  Oncken's  series  of  Allgemeine  Geschichte  in  Ein- 
zeldarstellung. 

11.  Janssen,   Johannes.     Geschichte   des   deutschen   Volkes.     8  vols.     Freib. 

i.  B.,  1883-94.  Roman  Catholic.  Vol.  I  deals  with  the  general  condi- 
tion of  the  German  people  at  the  close  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  in  many 
points  it  gives  an  excellent  portrayal  of  the  culture  of  the  time.  For 
further  estimate  see  below,  p.  116. 

12.  Horawitz,  Adalbert.     Zur  Geschichte  des  Humanismus  in  den  Alpenlan- 

dern.     2  vols.     Wien,  1886,  1887. 

13.  Drews,  P.     Humanismus  und  Reformation.     Leipz.,  1887. 

14.  Hipler,    F.     Beitrage  zur    Geschichte    des    Humanismus.      Braunsburg, 

1890. 

15.  Hermann,  M.     Albrecht  v.    Eyb   und  d.  Friihzeit  d.  deutsche  Humanis- 

mus.    Berl.,  1893. 

16.  Woodward,    W.   H.      Vittorino   da    Feltre    and    other    Humanist  Edu- 

cators. Camb.  and  Lond.,  1897.  See  the  Nation,  May  20,  1897, 
p.  380. 

17.  Van  Dyke,  Paul.     The  Age  of  the  Renascence.     N.  Y.,  1897. 

18.  Ford,  R.  C.     Beginnings  of  Humanism  in  Germany,  in  Meth.  Rev.,  N.  Y., 

Jan.,  1898. 


LITERATURE  :  GERMAN  HUMANISM.  91 

II.    ULRICH  VON   HUTTEN. 

Works.  Samtliche  Werke.  Herausg.  von  Munch.  6  vols.  Berl.,  1821-27. 
Opera.  Ed.  by  E.  Booking.  5  vols.  Leipz.,  1859-61,  and  2  supplem.  vols., 
containing  the  Epistolse  obscuror.  viror.,  1864-70.  Index  Bibliograph-Hutten. 
Leipz.,  1859-70. 

BIOGRAPHICAL. 

1.  Burckhard,  J.     Hutteni  ac  fatis  ac  meritis.     2  vols.     Wolfenb.,  1717. 

2.  Meiners,  Carl.     Ueber  das  Leben  und  die  Verdienste  Ulrichs  v.  Hutten. 

Zur.,  1797. 

3.  Schubart,  L.     Leben  und  Character  Huttens.     Leipz.,  1817. 

4.  Zeller,  J.     Ulrich  de  Hutten,  sa  vie,  ses  oeuvres,  son  epoque.     Paris,  1849. 

5.  Strauss,  D.  F.     Ulrich  v.   Hutten,  8  vols.     Leipz.,  1858-60  ;  2d  ed.  in  one 

vol.,    1871;  Trans.    Lond.,    1874.     Gesprache  von   Ulrich   von  Hutten 
ubersetzt  und  erliiutert.     Leipz.,  1860. 

6.  Gohring,  C.     Ulrich  von   Hutten  der  Streiter  f  iir  die  deutsche  Freiheit  in 

s.  Leben  und  Werken  dargestellt.     Leipz.,  1862. 

7.  Krichel,  A.     De  U.  Hutteni  studiis  polit.     Monast.,  1866. 

8.  Reichenbach,  A.     Ulrich  von   Hutten  der  deutsche   Dichter  und  Kampfer 

fiir  Geistesfreiheit.     Leipz.,  1877. 

9.  Schneegans,  W.     Ulrich  von  Hutten  und  Franz  von  Sickingen  d.  beiden 

Vorkampfer  deut.  Einheit  und  Grosse.     Ebd.,  1887. 

10.  Rade,  M.    Ulrich  von  Hutten  und  Franz  von  Sickingen  in  ihrem  Antheil  an 

d.  Reformation.     Barm.,  1887. 

11.  Boden,  K.     D.  deut.  Patriot  Ulrich  von  Hutten  als  Ritter  und  Yolksmann 

als  Dichter  und  Schriftsteller.     Leipz.,  1888. 

12.  Lange,  A.     Ulrich  von  Hutten.     Zur  Erinnerung  an  d.  Feier  s.  400  jahr 

Geburtstages  am.  21  Apr.,  1888.     Giitersloh,  1888. 

13.  Meyer,  Christian.     Ulrich  von  Hutten  und  Franz  von  Sickingen  als  Vor- 

kampfer unser  nationalen  Einheit.     Hanib.,  1889. 

14.  Reindall.     Luther,  Crotus  und  Hutten.     Marbg.,  1890. 

15.  Votsch,  "W.    Ulrich  von  Hutten  nach  s.  Leben  und  s.  Schriften  geschildert. 

Hannov.,  1890. 

16.  Szamtolski,  S.     Ulrichs  von  Hutten   deutsche   Schriften.     Strassb.,  1891. 
There  are  also  Lives  by  A.  E.  Frolich,  Zur.,  1845  ;  C.  Berger,  Schaffh.,  1864  ; 

H.  Printz,  Leipz.,  1876;  J.  Schott,  1888;  Werckshagen,  Wittenb.,  1888  (und 
Luther)  ;  J.  N.  Melitor,  Trier,  1889  (und  Sickingen)  ;  and  R.  Pappritz,  Mar., 
1893.  See  Lond.  Quar.  Rev.  [Meth.],  April,  1867  ;  Ig.  Stahe,  in  Die  Kath. 
Bewegung,  xxviii,  8  ;  and  Yale  Review,  May,  1894. 

in.    REUCHLIN. 

1.  Mayerhoff,  E.  T.     Johann  Reuchlin  und  seine  Zeit.     Berl.,  1830. 

2.  Barham,  Francis.     Life  and  Times  of  John  Reuchlin.     Lond.,  n.  d. 

3.  Lamey,  J.     Johann  Reuchlin.     Pf orzh. ,  1855. 

4.  Geiger,  Ludwig.     Johann  Reuchlin  sein  Leben  und  seine  Werke.     Leipz., 

1871. 

5.  Reuchlins  Brief wechsel.     Herausgegeben  von  L.  Geiger.     Stuttg.,  1875. 

6.  Hoistein,  H.     Joh.  Reuchlin  Komodien.     Halle,  1888. 


92  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

7.  Pattison,  Mark.     Reuchlin,  in  Essays.     Oxf.  and  Lond.,  1889. 

8.  Reuchlin,  in  The  Quarterly  Rev.,  July,  1898. 

IV.    FRANZ   VON  SICKINGEN. 

1.  Munch,  F.     Franz  von  Sickingen.    2  vols.     Stuttg.,  1829. 

2.  Ulmann,  H.     Franz  von  Sickingen.     Leipz.,  1872. 

3.  Bremer,  F.  P.     Franz  von  Sickingen  Fehde  gegen  Trier  u.  e.  Gutachten 

Claudius  Cantumculas  liber  die  Rechtsanspriiche   d.  sickingenschen  Er- 
ben.     Strassb.,  1885. 

4.  Hull,  J.     Franz  von  Sickingens  Nachkommen.     Ludwigsb.,  1886. 

5.  Konig,  E.     Sickingens  Leben  u.  Ende  u.  Untergang.    Ebd.,  1887. 


INTELLECTUAL  PREPARATION— GERMAN  HUMANISM.       93 


CHAPTER   X. 

INTELLECTUAL  PREPARATION-GERMAN  HUMANISM. 

The  Eeformation  was  not  less  an  intellectual  than  a  religious 
revolt.  To  understand  it  we  must  take  account  of  the  awakening 
of  intellect  in  the  later  Middle  Ages.  The  humanistic  studies  of 
Germany  stand  in  the  front  rank  as  a  phenomenon  of  the  age.  The 
Germans  first  came  in  direct  personal  contact  with  the  men  of  the 
new  learning  at  the  councils  of  Constance  and  Basel,  1414,  1431, l 
where  the  graceful  speaking,  good  style,  and  Latin  and  Greek  quo- 
tations of  the  Italian  debaters  made  an  impression  on  the  men  of 
the  north.  The  founding  of  German  universities,  eight  in 
twenty  years,  1456-76,  in  addition  to  seven  already  existing ; 
the  wandering  of  scholars  and  students  from  one  land  to  another  ; 
the  invention  of  printing  about  1450,  and  especially  the  remark- 
able development  of  education  as  seen  in  the  founding  of  city  schools 
which  began  in  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century  and  bore  such 
fruitage  that  under  Hegius  there  were  two  thousand  scholars  in  the 
high  school  of  Deventer  and  nine  hundred  at  Shlettstadt — all  this 
helped  to  bring  in  the  better  days. 

Fortunately  the  Humanists,  especially  in  Germany,  where  the  Re- 
naissance did  not  descend  to  such  depths  of  immorality  as  in  Italy, 
united  a  moral  enthusiasm  with  their  literary  loves  and  activities. 

Happily,  too,  the  University  of  Erfurt,  where  Luther  studied, 
1501-07,  was  one  of  the  chief  centers  of  this  purer  light.8  Here 
John  of  Wesel,  to  be  distinguished  from  his  great  namesake,  for 
several  years  (1445  ff . )  held  forth  against  indulgences,  fasting,  and 
other  abuses.  A  band  of  humanistic  teachers  succeeded  him  at 
Erfurt.  An  interesting  character  was  Conrad  Muth,  or  Mudt 
(Mutianus),  who  had  studied  at  Erfurt,  and  then  gone,  as  the  cus- 
tom was,  to  Italy,  where  he  was  made  doctor  of  laws  at  Bologna, 
and  became  acquainted  with  many  Italian  Humanists.     He  then 

1  See  above,  i,  784-786. 

2  "  It  was  perhaps  something  more  than  an  accident  that  Erfurt  was  the  uni- 
versity of  Martin  Luther.  It  is  melancholy  to  notice  that  the  university  of 
the  great  reformer's  younger  days  should  have  been  destroyed  by  the  govern- 
ment of  a  Protestant  country  in  1816." — Eashdall,  Universities  of  Europe  in 
the  Middle  Ages,  ii,  246,  247. 


94  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

settled  at  Gotha,  near  Erfurt,  receiving  as  his  pupils  the  most 
brilliant  young  men  of  the  university,  and  filling  them  with  his 
conrad  zeal  for  truth  and  learning.     He  had  many  stimulating 

muth.  views  even  if  they  were  not  all  true.     To  him  was  pro- 

posed the  question,  "If  Christ  alone  is  the  way,  the  truth,  and 
the  life,  how  was  it  with  those  who  lived  so  many  years  before 
his  birth?  Had  they  no  part  in  truth  and  salvation?"  "The 
true  answer,"  he  said,  is  this:  "The  religion  of  Christ  did  not 
begin  when  he  became  a  man,  but  is  as  old  as  the  world,  as  his 
birth  from  the  Father.  For  what  is  the  real  Christ,  the  Son  of 
God,  other  than  as  Paul  says,  the  wisdom  of  God,  which  did  not 
dwell  with  the  Jews  alone  in  their  little  Syrian  country,  but  also 
with  the  Greeks,  the  Eomans,  the  Germans."  He  held  that  some 
of  the  Bible  authors  hid  many  of  their  secrets  in  parables,  and 
that  just  as  Apuleius  and  iEsop  wrote  fables,  so  in  similar  form 
did  biblical  books  like  Job  and  Jonah  convey  instruction.  He 
repudiated  dependence  on  many  Church  institutions,  called  the 
Lenten  food  fools'  food  and  the  begging  friars  cowl-wearing  mon- 
sters, rejected  confession  and  masses  for  the  dead,  and  regarded  time 
spent  in  saying  mass  as  lost  time.  The  theologians,  he  said,  bid  us 
hope  in  order  to  deceive  us ;  while  we  are  waiting  for  the  heaven 
that  they  promise  they  take  possession  of  all  our  earthly  goods. 

In  his  later  days  Mutian  returned  to  deeper  sympathy  with  the 
Church  and  religion.  The  strenuous  measures  of  the  Eeformers 
and  the  Peasants'  war  alarmed  this  quiet  man  of  the  study,  espe- 
cially as  his  revenues  were  cut  off  so  that  he  died  in  poverty  on  May 
30,  1526.  His  principal  success  was  in  being  the  center  of  a  club 
of  Erfurt  students  whom  his  wonderfully  free  and  suggestive  teach- 
ing prepared  for  valiant  service  for  literature  and  reform.  "  These 
youths  learned  from  Mutian  an  earnest  desire  for  the  spread  of 
classical  literature,  a  hatred  for  the  pedantry  of  the  scholastic 
method,  and  a  keen,  critical  spirit  which  felt  little  reverence  for 
the  past."  His  influence  was  something  like  that  of  Niebuhr  at 
Bonn  and  Arnold  at  Rugby.  Over  the  door  of  his  house,  which 
stood  behind  the  cathedral  at  Gotha,  were  the  words, 

BEATA  TRANQUILLITAS, 

and  when  the  door  was  open  another  inscription  met  the  eye  of  the 
visitor, 

BONIS  CUNCTA  PATEANT. 

Shortly  before  his  death  he  wrote  down  as  his  confession  of  faith  : 
Multa  scit  rusticus,  quce  philosophus  ignorat;  Christus  vero  pro 


INTELLECTUAL  PREPARATION— GERMAN  HUMANISM.       05 

nobis  mortuus  est,  qui  est  vita  nostra,  quod  certissime  credo.1 
All  the  members  of  Mutian's  band  except  one  joined  the  Ref- 
ormation.2 

Similar  to  Mutian's  influence  at  Erfurt  on  its  intellectual  side 
was  Rudolf  Agricola's  at  Heidelberg.  Educated  at  the  University 
of  Louvain,  he  too  went  to  Italy  and  studied  Greek  at  Ferrara  under 
Theodore  Gaza.  He  succeeded  Wessel  at  Heidelberg,  where  his 
cultivated  taste,  his  wide  learning,  and  his  enthusiasm  for  the 
classics,  did  much  for  the  new  learning.  He  was  a  man 
of  large  accomplishments,  could  compose  German  songs 
as  well  as  Horatian  odes,  play  the  harp,  and  build  an  organ  for  the 
town  of  Groningen.  He  is  noted  as  an  educational  reformer,  though 
without  much  reason,  as  his  treatise  on  education,  De  Formando 
Studio,  contains  little  in  the  way  of  suggestion  except  that  he  asks 
carefulness  in  reading,  cultivation  of  the  memory,  and  assiduous 
practice.  He  died  in  1485  at  the  early  age  of  forty-three.3  He  was  a 
pupil  of  Alexander  Hegius  (1433-98),  the  great  teacher  of  the 
school  of  Deventer,  who  made  his  town  the  center  of  enlightenment 
for  all  north  Germany.  This  tireless  scholar — holding  his  candle  in 
his  hand  that  its  fall  might  awaken  him  in  case  he  should  fall  asleep 
in  his  nightly  studies — was  as  diligent  in  piety  as  in  the  pursuit  of 
knowledge.  His  word  was:  All  learning  is  harmful  which  is  gained 
at  the  expense  of  piety. 

Another  student  at  Deventer,  Nicholas  of  Cusa  (1401-64),  was 
one  of  the  great  lights  of  the  new  learning.  At  first  he  was  the 
champion  of  the  rights  of  the  Church  as  against  the  pope,  and 
presented  at  the  council  of  Basel  one  of  the  strongest  arguments 
ever  written  on  that  side  in  his  book,  De  Concordantia  Catholica. 
He  proves  the  authority  of  a  general  council  over  a  pope,  that 
papal  authority  is  not  tied  up  to  the  Roman  see,  that  NiCholas  of 
the  Donation  of  Constantine  is  spurious,  as  are  also  the  CUSA- 
False  Decretals,  aud  he  insists  on  the  reformation  of  the  Church  in 
Germany.  This  last  he  carried  out  in  his  own  diocese  as  far  as  he 
could  when  he  was  made  bishop  of  Brixen,  in  the  Tyrol,  in  1459. 
He  was  a  profound  thinker,  inclining,  however,  toward  pantheism, 

1  The  countryman  knows  many  things  of  which  the  philosopher  is  ignorant ; 
Christ  truly  died  for  us,  he  who  is  our  life,  as  I  most  firmly  believe. 

2  See  Strauss,  Ulrich  von  Hutten,  pp.  22-27,  366,  367 ;  Creighton,  Hist,  of 
Papacy  during  Reformation,  v,  25-28  ;  Krause,  Der  Briefwechsel  des  Mutianus 
Rufus,  1885  ;  Kampf schulte,  Die  Universitat  Erfurt  in  ihrem  Verhaltnisse  zu 
dem  Humanismus  und  der  Reformation,  Treves,  1858,  i,  74. 

3  Creighton,  v,  6-7  ;  Tresling,  Vita  et  merita  Rudolphi  Agricohe,  Gron.,  1836  ; 
Geiger,  in  Allgemeine  deutsche  Biographie,  i,  151-156. 


D6  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

and  he  anticipated  Mansel  in  his  doctrine  of  the  relativity  of  all 
knowledge.  He  was  an  excellent  mathematician,  proposed  im- 
provements for  the  Julian  calendar,  and  discovered  the  movement  of 
the  earth  on  its  axis.  He  was  the  forerunner  of  Copernicus  and  the 
father  of  Giordano  Bruno.  Nicholas's  mind  grew  later  into  deeper 
sympathy  with  monarchical  government,  and  he  abandoned  his 
views  as  to  the  power  of  councils. 

John  "Wessel,  of  Groningen,  a  pupil  of  the  school  of  the  Brothers 
of  the  Common  Life  at  Zwolle,  was  rather  a  religious  reformer  than 
a  Humanist.  He  was  educated  at  several  universities, 
called  to  Heidelberg,  where  his  fresh  views  alarmed  the 
authorities,  and  he  was  transferred  to  the  chair  of  philosophy.  Not 
liking  the  restraint,  he  retired  to  Mount  St.  Agnes,  near  Zwolle, 
where  he  discussed  all  questions  of  theology  and  reform  with  the 
canons  and  monks,  and  composed  numerous  treatises — treatises 
which  the  mendicant  friars  after  his  death  hunted  for  relentlessly 
and,  if  found,  destroyed.  The  nearness  of  this  noble  scholar  and 
saint  to  the  Protestant  standpoint  has  caused  a  large  literature  to 
grow  up  around  his  name,  beginning  with  Luther's  publication  of 
some  of  his  works,  with  a  preface,  in  which  he  says  :  "  If  I  had  read 
his  works  before,  my  enemies  might  have  thought  that  Luther  had 
borrowed  everything  from  Wessel,  so  great  is  the  agreement  between 
our  spirits.  I  feel  my  joy  and  my  strength  increase,  I  have  no 
doubt  I  have  taught  aright,  when  I  find  that  one  who  wrote  at  a 
different  time,  in  another  clime,  and  with  a  different  meaning, 
agrees  so  entirely  in  my  view,  and  expresses  it  almost  in  the  same 
words." '  He  deserves  to  be  ranked  with  Wyclif  as  one  of  the  very 
few  theological  "reformers  before  the  Reformation,"  as  he  de- 
parted from  the  whole  mediaeval  scheme  of  salvation  with  a  daring 
vision  and  an  evangelical  faith  worthy  of  all  praise.  Popes  and 
councils  may  err  and  have  erred ;  justification  rests  on  God's  free 
grace;  the  supreme  authority  is  the  Bible,  and  if  there  is  a  second- 
ary authority  it  rests  with  the  theological  professor  rather  than  with 
priest  or  prelate ;  the  ministry  has  no  inherent  or  sacerdotal  power 
whatever,  the  virtue  of  the  office  depending  upon  the  character  or 
piety.  He  rejected  the  mediaeval  idea  of  the  Church,  the  sacra- 
ments, the  mass,  purgatory,  and  indulgences,  and  stands  forth  as 

1  Pref .  to  3d  ed.  of  Wessel's  Farrago  Rerum  Theologicarum,  Basel,  1522. 
This  contains  treatises  on  Providence,  the  Incarnation,  the  Power  of  the 
Church,  the  Sacrament  of  Penance,  the  Communion  of  Saints,  and  Purgatory. 
Wessel  is  sometimes  called  Gansfort,  from  an  estate  in  Westphalia,  the  origi- 
nal seat  of  the  family.     He  was  born  at  Groningen. 


INTELLECTUAL  PREPARATION— GERMAN  HUMANISM.      97 

one  of  those  prophets  of  God  who  saw  the  light  arise  in  darkness 
and  bore  witness  to  that  light. 

A  famous  conflict  which  revealed  the  turning  of  the  tide  was  that 
which  centers  around  Keuchlin  (1455-1523).  He  was  a  German 
scholar  who,  equally  at  home  in  Latin  and  Greek,  turned  his  atten- 
tion to  Hebrew,  and  through  the  help  of  Jewish  scholars  became 
a  pioneer  in  exact  and  critical  knowledge  of  the  Old 

,  ,     ,..  TT  ,1         n  REUCHLEN. 

Testament  language  and  literature.  He  was  the  first 
to  treat  the  Old  Testament  text,  not  as  an  allegorist  and  theologian, 
but  as  a  philologist  and  scholar.  He  went  behind  patristic  exegesis, 
and  for  the  first  time  in  history  we  read  little  sentences  like  these, 
which  are  really  indicative  of  a  new  age  :  "  Our  text  reads  so,  but 
the  meaning  of  the  Hebrew  is  otherwise  ; "  "  We  must  more  rightly 
translate  ; "  "I  do  not  know  how  our  version  has  dreamed  such  a 
rendering."  He  deplored  the  "innumerable  defects"  of  the  Vul- 
gate, prayed  that  God  might  give  him  time  to  correct  them  all,  and 
said  that  truth  must  be  sought  above  all  things.1  Keuchlin  was  in 
a  modest  way  the  founder  of  biblical  criticism.  He  saw  the  need  of 
accurate  scholarship  in  correcting  occasional  textual  discrepancies. 
But  he  was  not  allowed  to  pursue  the  even  tenor  of  his  way. 

A  converted  Jew  at  Cologne,  John  Pfefferkorn,  in  his  zeal  for 
the  conversion  of  his  brethren  could  not  be  content  with  the 
weapons  of  persuasion,  but  sought  drastic  measures.  He  said  the 
Jews  should  be  forbidden  to  practice  usury,  should  be  compelled  to 
listen  to  sermons,  and  be  made  to  surrender  their  Hebrew  books. 
Through  the  help  of  the  Dominicans  he  obtained  in  PFeffer- 
1509  a  decree  from  the  emperor  commanding  the  Jews  kokn. 
to  deliver  up  all  books  written  against  Christianity  or  contrary  to 
their  own  law.  The  universities  of  Mainz,  Cologne,  Erfurt  and 
Heidelberg  and  Reuchlin  and  some  others  were  mentioned  as  coun- 
selors and  advisers  in  the  work.  The  next  year  Reuchlin  published 
his  opinion — a  notable  document,  because  in  its  sanity  and  large- 
mindedness  it  is  in  advance  of  the  continental  opinion  at  the  present 
day  and  might  well  be  recommended  to  the  Jew  baiters  in  France 
who,  over  the  Dreyfus-Zola  affair  of  1898,  proclaimed  a  Jewish  St. 
Bartholomew's  Day.  He  said  that  only  two  Jewish  books  came  under 
condemnation  as  written  avowedly  against  Christianity,  and  that  all 
the  other  literature  of  the  race  should  be  spared.  This  literature 
had  been  tolerated  for  fourteen  centuries — why  should  it  now  be 
suppressed  ?  "  The  Jews  were  German  citizens,  and  as  such  were 
under  the  protection  of  the  State.     If  they  erred  in  their  belief  they 

'See  Geiger,  Johann  Rauchlin,  pp.  108  ff.;  Creighton,  I.  c,  p.  30. 
9  2 


98  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

were  subject  to  the  judgment  of  God.  Persecution  would  not 
alter  their  opinions ;  if  their  books  were  confiscated  in  Ger- 
many they  would  import  them  from  other  countries.  The  con- 
version of  the  Jews  would  best  be  achieved  by  a  friendly  bearing 
toward  them,  and  by  a  careful  study  of  their  literature,  from 
which  learned  men  might  gather  their  opinions  and  in  time  dis- 
cover the  arguments  which  would  be  useful  in  dealing  with  their 
obstinacy/' ' 

The  reactionaries  now  turned  upon  Keuchlin  himself,  and  for 
five  years  this  earnest  scholar  and  true  child  of  the  Church,  so  far  as 
the  fundamental  doctrines  of  the  Catholic  Church  were  concerned, 
was  in  danger  of  the  stake.  It  was  as  a  controversy  between  in- 
telligence and  ignorance,  between  criticism  and  obscurantism,  and 
involved  men  like  von  Hutten  and  Erasmus,  and  out  of  the  heat 
of  it  as  sparks  from  a  fire  were  thrown  off  the  Epistolse  Obscuro- 
rum  Virorum — anonymous  fly-sheets  in  which  the  ignorance,  dull- 
ness, and  corruption  of  monks  and  clergy  were  satirized  with  bit- 
ing sarcasm  and  plenty  of  wit,  good,  bad,  and  indifferent.3  The 
commission  that  finally  disposed  of  the  charges  against  Eeuchlin 
acquitted  him  completely,  and  the  troubles  of  which  he  was  the  cen- 
ter were  forgotten  in  the  more  serious  business  the  Church  soon 
found  on  her  hands. 

Splendid  work  was  performed  by  Ulrich  von  Hutten,  the  Fran- 

1  See  Reuchlin's  Augenspiegel,  1511.  Creighton  gives  an  excellent  summary 
of  this  controversy,  vol.  v,  chap.  ii. 

2  The  first  edition  of  Epis.  Obsc.  Vir.,  1515,  contained  41  letters.  A  second 
and  third  edition,  enlarged,  soon  followed.  In  1517  a  new  series  appeared, 
numbering  62  letters.  Full  information  will  be  found  in  Eduard  Bocking, 
Ulrichi  Hutteni  operum  supplementum,  Leipz.,  1864-70,  2  vols.,  containing  the 
Epistles  and  various  answers.  As  to  authorship  Crotus  Rubianus  and  von 
Hutten  were  the  principal  hands,  with  help  from  Buschius.  There  is  a  Ger- 
man translation  by  Binder,  Brief e  von  Dunkelmannern,  Stuttg. ,  1876.  A  selec- 
tion of  letters  in  Latin  and  German  is  given  by  Votsch  in  his  admirable  bro- 
chure, Ulrich  von  Hutten  nach  seinem  Leben  und  seinen  Schriften,  Hanover, 
1890.  See  Strauss,  Ulrich  von  Hutten,  pp.  176  ff . ;  Geiger,  Eeuchlin,  and  tbe 
same  author's  Renaissance  und  Humanism  in  Italien  und  Deutschland,  pp.  510 
ff .  ;  a  learned  article  in  Edinb.  Rev.,  1831  ;  Univ.  of  Pennsylvania's  Original 
Sources  of  European  Hist.,  vol.  ii,  No.  6,  pp.  2-4.  On  Eeuchlin  see  also  Lives 
by  Mayerhoff,  Berl.,  1830;  Lamey,  Pforzheim,  1855;  Geiger,  Leipz.,  1871; 
Barham,  Lond.,  n.  d.  (based  upon  Mayerhoff,  with  valuable  app.)  ;  Pattison, 
Ess.,  2  vols.,  Oxf.  and  Lond.,  1889.  An  excellent  brief  treatment  of  the  whole 
subject  is  Ford,  Beginnings  of  Humanism  in  Germany,  in  Meth.  Rev.,  N.  Y., 
1898,  pp.  41  ff.,  and  the  fine  book  of  Van  Dyke,  Age  of  the  Renascence,  N.  Y., 
1897,  pp.  307,  308. 


INTELLECTUAL  PREPARATION— GERMAN  HUMANISM.       99 

conian  knight  (1488-1523).  He  threw  himself  with  passionate  ar- 
dor into  the  moral  reformation  and  intellectual  revival  for  which  the 
new  learning  stood,  not  leaving  any  more  than  the  other  Human- 
ists the  dogmatic  foundation  of  the  Church,  though  he  was  thor- 
oughly in  sympathy  with  Luther's  movement  so  far  as  it  meant 
emancipation  from  Rome.  In  the  midst  of  his  career,  uljrich  von 
while  he  was  being  hunted  for  his  life  by  the  minions 
of  Rome,  he  sent  forth  this  stirring  appeal  to  the  German  nobles  : 
"  It  is  no  private  matter,  no  quarrel  of  my  own,  no  personal  business. 
How  scornfully  would  they  triumph  if  this  enterprise  concerned 
myself  !  Still  they  persecute  and  seek  to  ruin  me,  and  want  to  use 
your  power  as  an  instrument.  But  I  trust  first  in  my  own  con- 
science, and  next  in  your  fairness.  I  have  borne  testimony  to  the 
truth  in  outspoken  writings.  I  wished  to  serve  you  from  duty,  and 
the  fatherland  from  affection.  On  well-sustained  proofs  I  have 
combated  the  papal  imposture,  and  have  sought  to  frustrate  their 
attacks  on  your  authority  and  the  common  liberties.  Should  I  be 
punished  for  this  ?  " 

The  whole  catalogue  of  papal  sins  is  then  enumerated,  and 
Charles  is  warned  against  their  increase,  if  they  are  not  checked. 
"  But  what  shall  we  do  with  the  monks  ?  What  can  we  do  but 
abolish  the  whole  set  to  the  great  advantage  of  Christendom  ?  Is 
this  to  sink  Peter's  boat,  and,  as  the  sacrilegious  Romans  say,  to 
rend  the  seamless  coat  of  Christ  ?  Is  it  not  rather  to  purify,  to 
advance,  to  increase  the  Church  by  bringing  other  nations  into 
it  by  the  reform  of  morals,  and  the  removal  of  evil  examples  ? 
Would  to  God  that  you  [the  princes,  and  especially  the  Elector  of 
Saxony]  had  the  will  to  do  this  as  well  as  the  power,  or  that  I  had 
the  power  as  well  as  the  will.  But  if  I  cannot  move  you, 
or  kindle  a  flame  to  consume  these  things,  I  will  do  what  I  can 
alone.  I  will  do  nothing  unworthy  a  brave  knight ;  so  long  as  I  re- 
tain my  senses  I  will  never  swerve  from  my  purpose,  but  I  shall 
pity  you  for  falling  away  from  your  purpose  (if  you  do  fall  away). 
I  shall  ever  be  free,  for  I  fear  not  death.  And  it  shall  never  be  said 
of  Hutten  that  he  served  a  foreign  king,  let  him  be  ever  so  great 
and  mighty,  to  say  nothing  of  the  pope.  But  now  I  desert  the 
cities  because  I  cannot  desert  the  truth,  and  keep  myself  concealed 
of  my  own  free  will  because  I  can  no  longer  be  free  among  men  ; 
yet  I  contemn  the  danger  that  surrounds  me.  I  can  die,  but  a 
slave  I  cannot  be.  Neither  can  I  see  Germany  enslaved.  But  I 
think  the  day  will  come  when  I  shall  come  forth  from  this  hiding 
place,  appeal  to  German  truth  and  faith,  and,  it  may  be,  exclaim  to 


100  HISTORY  OF  THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

a  great  concourse  of  people,  '  Is  there  no  one  who  will  dare  to  die 
with  Hutten  for  the  common  liberties  f'ni 

It  is  only  when  we  remember  such  voices  as  these  that  we  can 
understand  why  Luther  and  the  German  Reformation  were  not 
crushed. 

1  Strauss,  Ulrich  von  Hutten,  pp.  225-227.  A  large  literature  has  grown  up 
around  Hutten.  See  Bibliography,  above  p.  91.  See  also  Lond.  Quar.  Rev. 
(Wesleyan  Meth),  April,  1867,  pp.  65-87,  and  von  Hutten  "  in  the  light  of  re- 
cent investigation  "  in  Yale  Rev.,  May,  1894.  The  great  skeptic  David  Fried- 
rich  Strauss  found  Hutten  a  congenial  character  (1)  in  his  Germanism,  so  to 
speak  ;  (2)  in  his  iconoclasm  against  religious  institutions  ;  (3)  in  his  interest 
in  literature  and  politics.  His  valuable  life  of  Hutten  was  written  to  revive  the 
spirit  of  nationalism  and  secularism  in  Germany,  a  real  Tract  for  the  Times. 
The  interesting  collection  of  "judgments  of  contemporaries"  is  given  in 
Votsch's  monograph  on  Hutten,  pp.  72,  73.  His  plea  is  given  in  full  in  Men- 
iere, Leben  Ulrichs  von  Hutten,  pp.  468  ff . 
a 


LITERATURE:  ERASMUS.  101 


LITERATURE :  ERASMUS. 

Works.  Edition  of  his  works  by  Beatus  Rhenanus,  9  vols.  Basel,  1540,  and 
(more  complete)  by  Le  Clerc,  10  vols.,  Lngd.  Batav.,  1706-08.  An  admira- 
ble ed.  of  Select  Colloquies  with  notes  and  vocabulary,  by  V.  S.  Clark,  Bos- 
ton, 1895.  There  are  transls.  into  English  of  his  Adagia  or  Proverbs.  2  vols. 
Lond.,  1814  ;  Ecclesiastes  :  a  Treatise  on  Homiletics,  1797  ;  Enchiridion,  or  The 
Christian  Manual,  1816  ;  Preparation  for  Death,  1866  ;  Prayers,  1872  ;  Pilgrim- 
ages, 1875  ;  Apothegms,  1877  ;  Praise  of  Folly,  1878  ;  Colloquies  (by  M.  Bailey, 
with  notes  by  E.  Johnson),  2  vols.,  1878. 

BIOGRAPHIES. 

1.  Autobiography,  in  Vol.  I  of  Le  Clerc,  above. 

2.  Knight,  Samuel.     Life  of  Erasmus,  more  particularly  that  part  of  it  which 

he  spent  in  England.     Camb.,  1726. 

3.  Jortin,  John.     Life   of   Erasmus   (with  remarks   on  his  works).     2  vols. 

Lond.,  1758-60  ;  new  edition,  3  vols.,  1808.  A  great  mass  of  materials, 

and  a  perfect  mine  for  later  biographies.  Also  edited  by  A.  Laycey. 
Lond.,  1805. 

4.  Seebohm,   Frederick.      Oxford  Reformers.  John    Colet,  Erasmus,  and 

Thomas  More.  Being  a  history  of  their  fellow-work.  2ded.,  Lond., 
1869.    A  standard  work,  written  with  sympathy  and  fine  scholarship. 

5.  Milman,  H.   H.     Savonarola,  Erasmus,  and  other  Essays.     Lond.,  1870. 

Elaborate  and  able. 

6.  Martin,  H.     Erasmus  en  zijn  tijd.     Amst.,  1870. 

7.  Laur,  Durand  de.     Erasme,  precurseur  et  initiateur  de  l'esprit  moderne. 

2  vols.     Paris,  1872.     Interesting  and  full  of  matter. 

8.  Stichart,  F.  O.     Erasmus  von  Rotterdam.    Seine  Stellung  zu  der  Kirche 

und  zu  den  kirchlichen  Bewegungen  seiner  Zeit.     Leipz.,  1872. 

9.  Drummond,  R.  B.    Erasmus  :  his  Life  and  Character  as  shown  in  his  Corre- 

spondence and  Works.  2  vols.  Lond.,  1873.  The  best  biography  in 
English,  though  marred  by  excessive  displays  of  the  author's  own  views 
of  theological  and  other  questions. 

10.  Fronde,  J.  A.     Times  of  Erasmus  and  Luther,  in  Short  Studies,  i,  37-127. 

Lond.  andN.  Y.,  1873. 

11.  Staehelin,  Rudolf.     Erasmus  Stellung  zur  Reformation.    Basel,  1873. 

12.  Feugere.     Erasme,  etude  sur  sa  vie  et  sesceuvres.    Paris,  1874. 

13.  Pennington,  A.  R.     Life  of  Erasmus.     Lond.,  1875. 

14.  Horawitz,  A.     Erasmiana.     4  vols.     Wien,  1878-85.     Erasmus  von  Rotter- 

dam und  Martinus  Lepsius.  Wien,  1882.  Ueber  die  Colloquia  des  Eras- 
mus, in  Historische  Taschenbuch.     Ser.  vi,  vol.  6.    Leipz.,  1887. 

15.  Gilly,  A.     Erasme  de  Rotterdam,  sa  situation  en  face  de  l'eglise  et  de  la 

libre  pensee.    Arras,  1879. 

16.  Walter,  E.     Erasmus  und  Melanchthon.     Bernbg.,  1879. 


102  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

17.  Schlottmann,  C.  Erasmus  Redivivus.    Halle,  1883.    A  ruiuute  and  scholarly 

investigation  in  Latin  of  Erasmus's  relation  to  Rome  r.nd  to  Luther,  the 
ulterior  purpose  being  to  compare  Erasmus  with  Dollinger.  See  Church 
Quar.  Rev.,  Jan.,  1883,  p.  480. 

18.  Jebb,  R.   C.     Erasmus:  the   Rede   Lecture.     Camb.  and  Lond.,  1890.     A 

fresh  statement  by  the  brilliant  Greek  scholar  of  Trinity  College,  Dublin. 

19.  Richter,  A.     Erasmus-Studien.     Dresd.  and  Leipz.,  1891. 

20.  Dods,  Marcus.     Erasmus  and  other  Essays.     Lond.,  1891.     One  of  the  best 

short  studies  in  any  language. 

21.  Porter,  W.  H.     Erasmus  (ChanceUor's  Essay,  1893).     Oxf.,  1893. 

22.  Shaw,  W.  H.     Lectures  on  the  Oxford  Reformers,  Colet,  Erasmus,  More. 

Phila.,  1893. 

23.  VanderHagen.     Bibliotheca  Erasmiana.     Gaud.,  1893. 

24.  Froude,    J.  A.     Life  and  Letters  of  Erasmus.     Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1894  ; 

2d  ed.,  1895.  Copious  extracts  from  Erasmus's  correspondence  ;  one  of 
Froude's  books  which  can  be  unreservedly  recommended. 

25.  Lezius,   Friedrich.     Zur   Characteristic   des  religiosen  Standpunktes   des 

Erasmus.  Giiters.,  1895.  Shows  that  Erasmus  was  withheld  from  em- 
bracing the  Reformation  by  personal  characteristics,  ascetic  peculiarities, 
religious  experience,  and  theological  opinions.  His  conception  of  faith 
fell  short  of  Luther's.  An  able  and,  in  the  main,  reliable  monograph. 
See  below,  p.  114. 

26.  Gem,  S.    Harvey.     Erasmus  and  the  Reformation  :  a  warning  against  re- 

union with  Rome.     Lond.,  1896. 

27.  Marseille,  G.  S.     Erasme  et  Luther.    Montaub.,  1897.     A  discussion  of  the 

controversy  on  grace  and  free  will. 

28.  Emerton,  E.  Erasmus,  N.  Y,  1899.     The  Heroes  of  the  Reformation  series. 

Edited  by  S.  M.  Jackson. 
See  also  Lives  by  von  Burigny,  Halle,  1782  ;  J.  Gaudin,  Zurich,  1789  ;  J. 
Hess,  2  vols.  Ziir.,  1790;  N.  Swart,  Leid,,  1823  ;  A.  Miiller,  Hamb.,  1828 
(Erasmus  in  Rotterdam).  Bibliographical  Studies  by  F.  L.  Hoffmann,  Leipz., 
18G2,  and  Brux.,  1869.  Essays,  by  H.  Rogers,  in  Essays  on  Theol.  Contro- 
versies, Lond.,  1874,  pp.  286  ff.  ;  Quar.  Rev.,  Lond.,  Jan.,  1895  ;  Froude's, 
Edinb.  Rev.,  Jan.,  1895;  Erasmus  and  the  Reformation,  Temple  Bar  Mag., 
Jan.,  1895  ;  Erasmus  in  Italy,  Eng.  Hist.  Rev.,  Oct.,  1895  ;  Erasmus  and  the 
Pronunciation  of  Greek,  Nineteenth  Century,  Jan.,  1896  (J.  Gennadius). 


ERASMUS.  103 


CHAPTER  XL 

ERASMUS. 

Erasmus  was  the  incarnation  of  Humanism.  Its  love  of  learn- 
ing, its  enthusiasm  for  Greek,  its  impatience  with  the  corruptions 
of  the  Church  and  with  monkish  stupidity,  ignorance,  and  vileness, 
its  hesitation  with  regard  to  doctrinal  reform — all  the  characteris- 
tics of  Humanism  were  summed  up  in  Erasmus.  We  shall  speak 
of  his  life,  then  of  his  work  as  a  moral  reformer,  after  that  of  his 
work  for  learning  and  the  New  Testament,  and  lastly  of  his  atti- 
tude toward  the  Reformation. 

Erasmus  was  born  in  Rotterdam,  October  28,  1465, ]  the  son  of 
Gerard  and  Margaret.  His  father's  name,  from  gieren,  "to  de- 
sire/' was  for  the  son  Latinized  into  Desiderius,  and  Graecized 
afterward  according  to  the  custom  of  the  time  into  Erasmus,  just 
as  Reuchlin  became  Capnio,  and  Schwartzerde  Melanchthon.  He 
was  sent  to  the  famous  school  at  Deventer.  His  property  being 
squandered,  or  partially  squandered,  by  his  guardians, 

,.  •  SKETCH  OF 

he  was  at  length,  after  infinite  cajoling  and  persuading  life  of 
and  threatening,  initiated  into  the  monastic  life.  He 
afterward  got  a  permission  from  the  pope  to  leave  the  monastery  as 
private  secretary  for  the  bishop  of  Cambray.  In  1492  he  was  per- 
mitted to  pursue  studies  in  Paris,  where  he  received  pupils  in  Greek. 
One  of  his  pupils,  Lord  Montjoy,  invited  him  to  England,  whither 
he  went,  probably  in  1498.  His  chief  residence  was  Oxford,  where 
he  had  Linacre  as  his  teacher  in  Greek,  and  the  noble  Colet,  who 
inspired  him  with  just  views  as  to  the  interpretation  of  Scripture 
and  the  value  of  scholastic  philosophy,  and  who  had  a  beneficial  in- 
fluence on  his  whole  character.  No  man  ever  changed  his  residence 
more  often  than  Erasmus.  He  visited  England  five  times  ;  he  went 
back  to  Paris  ;  he  lived  in  Louvain  and  other  places  in  Belgium  and 
Holland  ;  he  stopped  for  a  time  in  Turin,  Bologna,  Venice,  and 
Rome  ;  but  after  the  Catholics  made  it  too  hot  for  him  in  Louvain, 
he  lived  in  Protestant  Basel  from  1521  to  1529,  when  he  withdrew 

1  The  date  of  his  birth  is  variously  given,  1466,  1467,  1469.  1465  is  favored 
by  the  statement  of  Rhenanus  that  Erasmus  died  in  his  seventieth  year,  as  by 
his  own  statement  (Ep.  207,  Feb.  26,  1516),  "I  have  entered  my  fifty-first 
year." 

s 


104  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

to  Freiburg  until  1535.  Returning  to  Basel  he  died  on  July  12, 
1536.  After  1514  all  his  writings  were  published  by  Froben  in  Basel. 
Erasmus  was  of  delicate  health,  often  ill,  sometimes  suffering  ex- 
cruciating pain,  but  preserved  amid  his  checkered  and  stormy 
career  by  perennial  cheerfulness. 

No  one  ever  lashed  ecclesiastical  corruption  more  cuttingly  and 
severely  than  Erasmus.  The  monks  came  in,  perhaps,  for  the 
larger  share  of  this,  because  he  knew  more  of  them.  His  case  was 
not  exceptional,  at  least  in  regard  to  the  methods  used  to  bring 
his  sharp  people  under  monastic  vows.  "  The  kidnaping  of 
PEN-  boys  and  girls  who  had  either  money,  or  rank,  or  tal- 

ent, was  a  common  method  of  recruiting  among  the  religious  orders 
of  the  fifteenth  century.  It  is  alluded  to  and  sharply  condemned 
by  a  statute  of  Henry  IV,  passed  by  the  English  Parliament. 
Erasmus  appeals  in  a  letter  to  the  papal  secretary's  personal  knowl- 
edge. The  Pharisees,  he  says,  compass  sea  and  land  to  sweep  in 
proselytes.  They  hang  about  princes'  courts  and  rich  men's  houses. 
They  haunt  schools  and  colleges,  playing  on  the  credulity  of  chil- 
dren and  their  friends,  and  entangling  them  in  meshes  from  which 
when  they  are  once  caught  there  is  no  escape." 

Erasmus  does  not  mince  his  words.  "  The  world,"  he  says,  "is 
full  of  these  tricksters.  When  they  hear  of  a  lad  of  promise  with 
wealthy  parents  they  lay  traps  for  him  unknown  to  his  relations. 
In  reality  they  are  no  better  than  so  many  thieves,  but  they  color 
their  acts  under  the  name  of  piety.  They  talk  to  the  child  himself 
of  the  workings  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  of  vocations  which  parents 
must  not  interfere  with,  of  the  wiles  of  the  devil,  as  if  the  devil 
was  never  to  be  found  inside  a  monastery.  This  truth  comes  out 
at  last,  but  only  when  the  case  is  past  mending.  The  ears  of  all 
mankind  are  tingling  with  the  cries  of  the  wretched  captives  ! " ' 
Erasmus  tells  of  the  Collationary  fathers,  a  "  community  who  had 
nests  all  over  Christendom,  and  made  their  living  by  netting  prose- 
lytes for  the  religious  orders.  Their  business  was  to  catch  superior 
lads,  threaten  them,  frighten  them,  beat  them,  crush  their  spirits, 
tame  them,  as  the  process  was  called,  and  break  them  in  for  the 
cloister.  They  were  generally  very  successful.  They  did  this 
work  so  well  that  the  Franciscans  and  the  Dominicans  admitted 
that  without  their  help  their  orders  would  die  out." 

In  one  of  his  Colloquies  Erasmus  gives  this  advice  to  a  girl 
bent  on  taking  the  veil.     "  You  are  now  a  free  woman  about  to 

1  Erasm.  Epis.,  app.  442 ;  Fronde,  Life  and  Letters  of  Erasmns,  Lond.  and 
N.  Y.,  1894,  pp.  5,  6. 


ERASMUS.  105 

make  yourself  voluntarily  a  slave.  The  clemency  of  the  Christian 
religion  has  in  great  measure  cast  out  of  the  world  the  old  bond- 
age, saving  only  some  obscure  footsteps  in  a  few  places.  But  there 
is  nowadays  found  out  under  pretense  of  religion  a  new  sort  of 
servitude,  as  they  now  live  iudeed  in   many  monas- 

00  >  J  J  ERASMUS      ON 

teries.     You  must  do  nothing  there  but  by  a  rule,  and  nuns  and 

uv      v  °  J  '  MONKS. 

then  all  that  you  lose  they  get.  If  you  offer  to  step 
but  one  step  out  of  the  door  you're  lugged  back  again  just  like  a 
criminal  that  had  poisoned  her  father.  And  to  make  the  slavery 
yet  more  evident,  they  change  the  habit  your  parents  gave  you, 
and  after  the  manner  of  those  slaves  in  old  time,  bought  and  sold 
in  the  market,  they  change  the  very  name  given  you  in  baptism. 
...  If  a  military  servant  casts  off  the  garment  his  master  gave 
him,  is  he  not  looked  upon  to  have  renounced  his  master  ?  And 
do  we  applaud  him  that  takes  upon,  him  a  habit  that  Christ  the 
Master  of  us  all  never  gave  him  ?  He  is  punished  more  severely 
for  changing  it  again  than  if  he  had  a  hundred  times  thrown  away 
the  livery  of  his  lord  and  emperor,  which  is  the  innocence  of  his 
mind."  The  girl  replies  that  it  is  said  to  be  a  meritorious  work 
— entering  a  nunnery.  "  That  is  pharisaical  doctrine.  St.  Paul 
teacheth  us  otherwise,  and  will  not  have  him  that  is  called  free 
make  himself  a  servant,  but  rather  endeavor  that  he  may  be  more 
free.  And  this  makes  the  servitude  the  worse,  that  you  serve  many 
masters,  and  they  most  commonly  fools,  too,  and  debauchees  ;  and 
besides  that  they  are  uncertain,  being  every  now  and  then  new." ' 

It  would  appear  from  this  that  Erasmus  was  opposed  to  the  very 
idea  of  the  monastic  life  as  immoral  servitude,  but  he  is  not  to  be 
interpreted  so  strictly.  "  We  military  gospelers,"  says  a  monk  in 
another  Colloquy,  "  propound  to  ourselves  four  things :  To  take 
care  of  our  stomachs ;  that  nothing  be  wanting  below  ;  to  have 
wherewith  to  live  on  ;  and  lastly,  to  do  what  we  list."8  Erasmus 
compares  favorably  the  serious  discourse  to  be  heard  at  the  tables 
of  leading  laymen  in  England  with  the  ribaldry  of  the  monastic 
refectories. 

Erasmus  says  that  the  monks  teach  obedience  so  as  to  hide  that 
there  is  any  obedience  due  to  God.  "  Kings  are  to  obey  the  pope. 
Priests  are  to  obey  their  bishops.  Monks  are  to  obey  their  abbots. 
Oaths  are  exacted  that  want  of  submission  may  be  punished  as  a 
perjury.  It  may  happen,  and  it  often  does  happen,  that  an  abbot 
is  a  fool  or  a  drunkard.     He  issues  an  order  to  the  brotherhood  in 

1  Johnson's  Bailey's  Colloquies  of  Erasmus,  Lond.,  1878,  2  vols.,  i,  233. 
8  Ibid.,  ii,  176. 


106  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

the  name  of  holy  obedience.  And  what  will  such  an  order  be  ? 
An  order  to  observe  chastity,  to  be  sober,  to  tell  no  lies  ?  No.  It 
will  be  that  a  brother  is  not  to  learn  Greek  ;  he  is  not  to  seek  to 
instruct  himself.  He  may  be  a  sot ;  he  may  go  with  prostitutes  ; 
he  may  be  full  of  hatred  and  malice  ;  he  may  never  look  inside  the 
Scriptures.  No  matter.  He  has  not  broken  any  oath  ;  he  is  an 
excellent  member  of  the  community,  while  if  he  disobeys  such  a 
command  as  this  from  an  insolent  superior  there  is  the  stake  or 
dungeon  for  him  instantly."1  Erasmus  says  :  "The  New  Testa- 
ment knows  nothing  of  monastic  vows.  Christ  says  the  Sabbath 
was  made  for  man,  and  not  man  for  the  Sabbath  ;  and  when  such 
institutions  do  more  harm  than  good  there  ought  to  be  easier 
means  of  escaping  them  than  are  now  provided.  The  Pharisees  of 
the  Church  will  break  the  Sabbath  for  an  ox  or  an  ass,  but  will 
not  relax  an  inch  of  their  rule  to  save  a  perishing  soul.  There  are 
monasteries  where  there  is  no  discipline,  and  compared  with 
which  brothels  are  both  more  sober  and  more  chaste.  There  are 
others  where  religion  is  nothing  but  ritual,  and  these  are  worse 
than  the  first,  for  the  Spirit  of  God  is  not  in  them,  and  they  are 
inflated  with  self-righteousness.  There  are  those,  again,  where  the 
brethren  are  so  sick  of  the  imposture  that  they  keep  it  up  only  to 
deceive  the  vulgar.  The  houses  are  rare,  indeed,  where  the  rule  is 
seriously  observed,  and  even  in  these  few,  if  you  look  to  the  bot- 
tom, you  will  find  small  sincerity.  .  .  .  Young  men  are  fooled  and 
cheated  into  joining  these  orders.  Once  in  the  toils  they  are 
broken  in  and  trained  into  Pharisees.  They  may  repent,  but  the 
superiors  will  not  let  them  go,  lest  they  should  betray  the  orgies 
they  have  witnessed.  They  crush  them  down  with  scourge  and 
penance,  the  secular  arm,2  chanceries,  and  dungeons.  Nor  is  this 
the  worst.  Cardinal  Matteo  said  at  a  public  dinner  before  a  large 
audience,  naming  place  and  persons,  that  the  Dominicans  had 
buried  a  young  man  alive  whose  father  demanded  his  son's  release. 
A  Polish  noble  who  had  fallen  asleep  in  a  church  saw  two  Francis- 
cans buried  alive  ;  yet  these  wretches  call  themselves  the  represent- 
atives of  Benedict  and  Basil  and  Jerome.  A  monk  may  be  drunk 
every  day  ;  he  may  go  with  loose  women  secretly  or  openly  {qui 
scortatur  clam  et  palam,  nihil  enim  addam  obsccenius) ;  he  may 
waste  the  Church's  money  on  vicious  pleasures.  He  may  be  a 
quack  or  charlatan,  and  all  the  while  be  an  excellent  brother,  and 

1  Ep.  85  ;  Froude,  p.  68. 

2  The  civil  authorities  often   returned  deserters  to   their   monasteries  in 
chains. 


ERASMUS.  107 

fit  to  be  made  an  abbot ;  while  one  who  for  the  best  reasons  lays 
aside  his  frock  is  hooted  at  as  an  apostate.  Surely  the  true  apos- 
tate is  he  who  goes  into  sensuality,  pomp,  vanity,  the  lusts  of  the 
flesh,  the  sins  which  he  renounced  at  his  baptism.  All  of  us 
would  think  him  a  worse  man  than  the  other  if  the  commonness 
of  such  characters  did  not  hide  their  deformity.  Monks  of  aban- 
doned lives  notoriously  swarm  over  Christendom."  ' 

No  Protestant  ever  uttered  more  burning  words,  and  yet  Eras- 
mus did  not  finally  renounce  the  monastic  principle.  In  this  same 
letter  he  says  :  "  I  do  not  condemn  the  regular  orders  as  such.  If 
there  are  persons  for  whom  the  rule  is  salutary  the  vow  may  stand." 

Erasmus  ridiculed  invocation  of  the  saints,  reverence  for  relics, 
pretended  miracles,  and  prayers  to  the  Virgin  Mary.  He  makes 
Mary  thank  one  who  had  much  obliged  her,  "  in  that  you  have  so 
strenuously  followed  Luther  and  convinced  the  world  that  it  is  a 
thing  altogether  needless  to  invoke  saints.  For  before  this  I  was 
wearied  out  of  my  life  with  the  wicked  importunities  of  mortals."2 
The  reformer  has  no  patience  with  fasting,  Church  rules  concerning 
festivals  and  meats,  the  haste  to  baptize  children — "  dipping  chil- 
dren scarce  well  got  out  of  the  dark  caverns  of  the  mother's  womb 
all  over  in  cold  water,  which  has  stood  a  long  time  in  a  stony  font," 
damnation  of  unbaptized  children,  and  emphasis  on  places,  gar- 
ments, meats,  fasts,  and  the  like.3  "  From  whence  it  came  to  pass 
that  whereas  faith  and  charity  constitute  the  Christian  religion 
they  are  both  extinguished  by  these  superstitions."4  But  in  the 
immediate  context  the  statement  is  made  that  there  is  "  no  salva- 
tion out  of  the  pale  of  the  Church,  and  that  whosoever  does  not 
own  the  authority  of  the  Church  is  out  of  the  pale  of  the  Church."5 

There  was  scarcely  any  superstition  or  abuse  in  the  Eoman 
Church  that  Erasmus  did  not  denounce,  but  behind  the  supersti- 
tion there  was  truth,  and  he  denounced  as  heartily  those  who  would 
ruthlessly  do  away  with  all  the  old  ceremonies  and  rites  and 
observances. 

The  great  service  of  Erasmus  to  the  Church  was  his  work  for 

1  Ep.  442,  2d  series  ;  Fronde,  pp.  174,  175.  2  Colloquies,  ii,  5. 

3  See  the  whole  Colloquy.  lIbid.,  p.  53. 

5  The  Colloquies  were  published  in  their  revised  and  enlarged  form  in  1524, 
and  so  may  be  taken  as  representing  the  mature  views  of  the  author.  There 
is  an  edition  by  V.  S.  Clark,  Convivia  et  Colloquiis  Familiaribus  Selecta, 
Bost.,  1895.  See  the  Nation,  May  16,  1895,  p.  389.  In  the  Praise  of  Folly, 
Encomium,  Morice,  1511,  Erasmus  satirizes  the  monks  and  ecclesiastics,  their 
penance  and  debauchery,  and  the  futilities  and  vanities  of  contemporary 
theology. 


108  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

sacred  scholarship,  and  for  this  he  deserves  as  great  honor  as  Luther 
on  his  higher  ground.  This  work  lay  in  two  directions  :  first,  for 
the  Church  fathers ;  second,  for  the  Bible.  He  was  convinced 
that  if  the  Church  would  go  back  to  the  sane  and  Christian  teach- 
ing of  the  ancient  fathers  the  mediaeval  superstitions  and  excesses 
and  scholastic  vanities  would  disappear  and  be  forgotten.  And  so 
this  pale  and  sickly  scholar  set  himself  to  work  with 

SCHOLARLY  .  . 

-work of  heroic  determination  and  constancv  to  republish  the 

ERASMUS.  J  * 

fathers  in  correct  texts  and  worthy  form.  In  1516 
his  edition  of  Jerome  began,  completed  in  nine  folio  volumes, 
1520.  He  considered  Jerome  the  greatest  of  the  Latin  theolo- 
gians, and  yet  he  said  his  writings  have  been  left  in  the  worst 
condition ;  no  intelligible  meaning  can  be  had  from  them.  He 
compared  the  manuscripts  and  corrected  and  restored  the  text. 
The  work  was  dedicated  to  Leo  X,  who  not  only  accepted  it 
but  tried  in  various  ways  to  further  Erasmus's  literary  projects.1 
Erasmus  also  published  editions  of  Hilary,  1523;  Irenaeus,  1526; 
Ambrose,  1527;  Augustine,  1528  ("I  am  now  bringing  out  St. 
Augustine's  works,  corrected  and  annotated  ") ; a  Epiphanius,  1529; 
Chrysostom,  1530,  and  Origen,  1531.  Evidently  Erasmus  loved  the 
Greek  theologians,  as  we  may  suppose.  "  Origen  opens  out  new 
fountains  of  thought  and  furnishes  a  complete  key  to  theology." 3 

But  it  was  his  work  for  the  Bible  for  which  Erasmus  must  be 
held  in  everlasting  renown.     In  1505  he  edited  Valla's  Annotations 

on  the  New  Testament — a  pioneer  work  for  biblical 
biklical         criticism,  for  Valla  insisted   on  a  knowledge   of  the 

Greek  text  and  of  grammatical  principles  as  necessary 
to  a  true  interpretation.  In  1524  he  published  paraphrases  and 
comments  on  the  epistles  and  gospels,  in  which  he  substituted 
a  living  and  real  understanding  of  the  Scriptures  for  the  mechan- 
ical or  allegorical  explanation  of  the  scholastics.  These  para- 
phrases were  welcomed  by  all  the  better  spirits  of  the  time,  and 
they  were  so  much  esteemed  in  England  that  in  1547  it  was  made 
the  duty  of  every  parish  church  to  possess  a  copy  of  the  English 
translation,  and  they  were  read  in  the  churches  both  in  England 
and  on  the  continent.4 

1  It  is  needless  to  say  that,  although  edited  by  fine  critical  scholarship,  Eras- 
mus's Jerome  contained  spurious  writings,  and  has  long  since  been  superseded, 
notably  by  the  magnificent  work  of  the  learned  Dominican  of  Verona, Vallarsi, 
Ven.,  1734-42,  fol. ;  176&-72,  4to.  2Ep.  530.  sEp.  102. 

4  This  translation  was  made  by  Udall,  Coverdale,  and  the  English  reformers, 
and  published  in  London,  1548,  2  vols.,  fol.;  2d  ed.,  1551. 


ERASMUS.  109 

It  was  the  cordial  attitude  of  England  toward  him  while  Eras- 
mus was  suffering  the  stings  and  arrows  of  enemies  whom  his  tracts 
and  biblical  writings  had  embittered  that  led  him  to  look  back  with 
longing  on  happy  Albion.  "0  splendid  England,  home  and  cita- 
del of  virtue  and  learning.  .  .  .  No  land  in  all  the  world  is  like 
England.  In  no  country  would  I  love  better  to  spend  my  days. 
Intellect  and  honesty  thrive  in  England  under  the  prince's  favor. 
In  England  there  is  no  masked  sanctimoniousness,  and  the  empty 
bubble  of  educated  ignorance  is  driven  out  or  put  to  silence.  In 
this  place  [Louvain]  I  am  torn  by  envenomed  teeth.  Preachers 
go  about  screaming  lies  about  me  among  idiots  as  foolish  as  them- 
selves."1 

But  the  chief  work  of  Erasmus  was  his  edition  of  the  Greek  Tes- 
tament, 1516.  The  New  Testament  as  a  whole,  even  in  the  Latin 
Vulgate,  was  a  sealed  book  in  the  Middle  Ages. 
Scholars  and  theologians  studied  it  in  their  cloisters,  ment  of 
but  the  great  majority  of  the  priests  and  all  the  laity 
knew  of  it  only  in  the  extracts  in  the  breviary,  and  even  these 
extracts  in  a  superficial  and  dead  way.  It  was  the  aim  of  Eras- 
mus to  restore  the  New  Testament  to  the  world  as  the  apostles 
left  it,  and  by  a  new  Latin  translation  side  by  side  with  the  Greek 
text,  and  by  notes,  to  let  the  light  of  truth  in  on  that  monstrous 
medievalism  which  had  obscured  the  light  and  crushed  the  con- 
sciences of  men.  As  edition  succeeded  edition  these  notes  became 
longer  and  bolder.  Take  this  as  a  specimen.  He  is  remarking 
on  the  scribes  and  Pharisees  of  Matthew  xxiii  :  "You  may  find 
a  bishop  here  and  there  who  teaches  the  Gospel,  though  life  and 
teaching  have  small  agreement.  But  what  shall  we  say  of  those 
who  destroy  the  Gospel  itself,  and  make  laws  at  their  will,  tyran- 
nize over  the  laity,  and  measure  right  and  wrong  by  rules  con- 
structed by  themselves  ?  Of  those  who  entangle  their  flocks  in  the 
meshes  of  crafty  canons,  who  sit  not  in  the  seat  of  the  Gospel,  but 
in  the  seat  of  Caiaphas  and  Simon  Magus — prelates  of  evil,  who 
bring  disgrace  and  discredit  on  their  worthier  brethren?" 

It  was  not  Erasmus's  aim  to  deny  any  fundamental  doctrine  of 
the  Church,  but  in  the  most  direct  and  caustic  manner  he  attacked 
the  methods  of  the  scholastic  philosophy  and  the  abuses  and  cor- 
ruptions of  the  clergy  and  monks,  high  and  low.  No  racier  notes 
were  ever  written  on  the  Bible.8  It  was  the  application  of  the 
Bible  to  contemporary  life  with  a  vengeance.  And  what  gave  these 
notes  their  sting  was  the  fact  that  Pope  Leo  X  became  the  patron 
1  Ep.  241.  2  See  a  selection  in  Froude,  Erasmus,  pp.  121-126. 


110  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

of  the  work,  and  so  gave  his  quasi-sanction  to  all  that  Erasmus 
said.  The  publication  of  Erasmus's  Greek  Testament  was  the 
most  important  event  in  the  pre-Eeformation  period.  It  had  a 
potent  influence  upon  all  future  history.  Its  chief  significance 
was  in  throwing  aside  the  sacred  text  of  centuries  and  appealing 
to  the  original ;  and  in  that  it  marked  a  new  era  in  the  history  of 
mankind.1 

A  great  deal  has  been  written  on  Erasmus's  relation  to  Luther 
and  the  Eeformation,  and  like  all  liberals  and  moderates  the  retir- 

1  Erasmus's  Greek  Testament,  like  most  of  his  works,  was  published  by  Fro- 
ben  in  Basel.  It  was  preceded  in  preparation  by  the  Complutensian  Polyglot 
of  Cardinal  Ximenes  de  Cisneros,  1514-17,  though  not  in  publication,  as  the 
Greek  text  of  Ximenes  was  not  published  until  1521  or  1522.  From  the  elabo- 
rate and  learned  article  by  the  late  Ezra  Abbot  we  quote  as  follows  :  ' '  Eras- 
mus used  as  the  basis  of  his  text  in  the  gospels  an  inferior  Basel  MS.  of  the 
fifteenth  century,  and  one  of  the  thirteenth  or  fourteenth  century  in  the  Acts 
and  epistles.  With  these  he  collated  more  or  less  carefully  one  other  MS.  of 
the  gospels,  two  in  the  Acts  and  catholic  epistles,  and  three  in  the  Pauline 
epistles.  The  oldest  of  these  (cod.  1,  tenth  century)  has  a  good  text  of  the  gos- 
pels, but  Erasmus  made  very  little  use  of  it ;  the  others  are  comparatively 
modern  and  poor.  For  the  Revelation  he  had  only  a  single  MS.  of  the  twelfth 
century,  wanting  the  last  six  verses,  which  he  translated  into  Greek  from  the 
Latin  Vulgate.  In  various  other  places  in  Revelation  he  followed  the  Vulgate 
instead  of  the  Greek,  as  he  did  in  a  few  cases  elsewhere.  The  result  of  the 
whole  is  that  in  more  than  twenty  places  the  Greek  of  the  Textus  Receptus, 
which  is  derived  ultimately  in  the  main  from  the  fourth  edition  of  Erasmus,  is 
supported  by  the  authority  of  no  known  Greek  MS.  whatever.  The  first  edition 
of  Erasmus  was  sped  through  the  press  in  headlong  haste  (praecipitatum  fuit 
quam  oditum,  as  Erasmus  himself  says)  in  order  that  the  publisher  might  get 
the  start  of  the  Complutensian.  It  consequently  swarms  with  errors.  A  more 
correct  edition  was  issued  in  1519.  Mill  observed  more  than  four  hundred 
changes  in  the  text.  For  this  and  later  editions  one  additional  MS.  was  used 
in  the  gospels,  Acts,  and  epistles.  In  the  third  ed.,  1522,  the  changes  are 
much  fewer,  but  it  is  noted  for  the  introduction  of  1  John  v,  7,  from  the  codex 
Montfortianus  (16th  cent.).  In  the  fourth  ed.,  1527,  the  text  was  altered 
and  improved  in  many  places,  particularly  in  Revelation,  from  the  Complu- 
tensian Polyglot.  The  fifth  and  last  edition,  1535,  hardly  differs  from  the 
fourth."— Art.  Bible  Text,  New  Test.,  in  the  Schaff-Herzog  Encyc,  i,  273,  274. 
The  restoration  of  the  spurious  1  John  v,  7,  was  to  save  himself  from  some  of 
the  fierce  onslaughts  he  had  to  suffer — "ne  cui  foret  ansa  calumniandi." 
Within  a  few  decades  thirty  authorized  reprints  were  made  from  Erasmus's 
New  Testament.  Luther's  translation  was  based  upon  the  second  edition.  It 
is  a  remarkable  fact  that  although  the  so-called  Authorized  Version  was  made 
substantially  from  Erasmus's  Greek  Testament,  which  was  necessarily  founded 
on  comparatively  worthless  authorities,  it  still  keeps  its  place.  This  it  does 
on  account  of  the  bewitchery  of  its  peerless  English,  the  ordinary  reader  caring 
much  more  for  sound  than  accuracy. 


ERASMUS.  Ill 

ing,  timid  lover  of  books  and  peace1  has  come  in  for  abuse  from  the 
stalwarts  of  both  parties.     But  the  position  of  Eras- 

J?       -LI  1     •  J      •  1  TT  T>    4  J      ERASMUS  AND 

mus  is  perfectly  plain  and  simple.     He  was  a  Keiormed  the  refor- 

.  MAT  ION 

Roman  Catholic,  that  is,  he  believed  in  all  the  funda- 
mental teachings  of  the  Church  and  in  the  primacy  of  the  pope, 
but  he  did  not  believe  in  the  numerous  additions,  superstitions, 
corruptions,  for  which  in  the  popular  mind  the  Eoman  Church 
stood.  He  would  have  swept  away  all  the  mendicant  orders  ; 
he  would  have  reformed  the  rest ;  he  would  have  abolished  indul- 
gences, pilgrimages,  relics,  compulsory  clerical  celibacy,  image 
worship,  and  all  the  hateful  excrescences  on  which  he  pours  his 
scorn  and  wit  and  noble  indignation.  He  would  have  had  the 
priests  pure  men,  learned  in  the  Scriptures,  and  able  to  preach  and 
lead  the  people  upward;  he  would  have  unlocked  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures and  opened  their  rich  pastures  to  all,  so  that,  as  he  says,  the 
humblest  woman  might  read  them,2  and  he  would  have  substituted 
for  the  barren  discussions  of  the  scholastic  theology  the  rational 
and  biblical  methods  characteristic  of  a  more  truth-loving  and 
Christian  age. 

And  for  all  this  the  conservatives  of  the  old  Church  hated  him 
with  a  perfect  hatred.  They  even  accused  him  of  heresy,  and  the 
Sorbonne  in  1527  condemned  thirty-two  articles  extracted  from  his 
works,  as  they  had  previously  forbidden  the  circulation  of  his  Col- 
loquies in  France.  In  fact,  they  went  so  far  as  to  burn  at  the  stake 
in  Paris  in  1529  his  young  friend  and  disciple,  Berquin,  who  had 
translated  some  of  his  writings  into  French,  and  published  them 
with  additional  notes,  and  they  would  have  burnt  Erasmus  too. 
We  need  not  be  surprised,  therefore,  that  at  the  first  Erasmus 
hailed  Luther  as  a  fellow-worker,  wrote  kindly  to  and  of  him,  and 
resented  the  fierce  attacks  of  Luther's  enemies  as  though  they  had 

Erasmus  had  the  true  Quaker's  dread  of  war;  in  fact,  he  stood  with  Barclay 
and  Penn  in  believing  war  to  be  of  the  devil,  or  at  least  he  was  perfectly  sure 
that  war  between  Christians  was. 

2  "  I  altogether  and  utterly  dissent  from  those  who  are  unwilling  that  the 
Holy  Scriptures,  translated  into  the  vulgar  tongue,  should  be  read  by  private 
persons  (idiotis),  as  though  the  teachings  of  Christ  were  so  abstruse  as  to  be 
intelligible  only  to  a  very  few  theologians,  or  as  though  the  safety  of  the 
Scriptures  rested  on  man's  ignorance  of  it.  It  may  be  well  to  conceal  the  myste- 
ries of  kings,  but  Christ  willed  that  his  mysteries  should  be  published  as 
widely  as  possible.  I  should  wish  that  simple  women  (mulierculce)  should 
read  the  gospels  and  epistles  of  St.  Paul.  Would  that  the  Scripture  were  trans- 
lated into  all  languages  that  it  might  be  read  and  known,  not  only  by  Scots 
and  Irishmen,  but  even  by  Turks  and  Saracens." — Paraclesis  in  Nov.  Test. 


112  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

been  directed  against  himself.  On  the  other  hand  when  Luther 
developed  into  a  dogmatic  reformer,  when  his  followers  went  even 
farther  than  he,  when  tumults  and  rebellions  in  the  State  ensued, 
when  wild  excesses  came,  Erasmus  drew  back.  As  he  grew  older 
he  grew  more  conservative.  In  an  epistle  written  about  1529, 
called  out  by  the  noble  young  Berquin's  martyrdom,  there  is  an 
entire  lack  of  that  divine  anger  which  in  his  younger  days  such  an 
atrocity  would  have  called  out.  On  the  contrary,  he  matches  it 
with  extravagances  on  the  Protestant  side.  "In  some  German 
States  the  pope  is  antichrist,  the  bishops  are  hobgoblins,  the  priests 
swine,  the  princes  tyrants,  the  monasteries  Satan's  conventicles ; 
and  the  power  is  in  the  hands  of  Gospel  mobs,  who  are  readier  to 
fight  than  to  reason/'1 

Erasmus  probably  did  not  object  seriously  to  the  doctrine  of  jus- 
tification by  faith,  any  more  than  Contarini,  Sadolet,  and  Pole, 
and  others  who  remained  in  the  old  Church.  •  But  this  lover  of 
doctrinal  Origen  and  the  Greek  theology  did  object  strenuously 
withElu-NCES  t°  Luther's  predestinarianism,  and  entered  into  an  un- 
thkr.  fortunate  controversy  with  the  German,  1524,   1526. 

"  Erasmus  had  learned  and  taught  a  different  interpretation  of  the 
Scriptures  [from  that  of  Luther's  stern  predestination];  he  had 
worked  it  out  from  his  biblical  studies  ;  he  was  most  familiar  with 
the  Greek  fathers,  who  had  eluded  or  rejected  as  uncongenial  with 
their  modes  of  thought  all  those  momentous  questions  stirred  up  by 
Pelagianism."3  We  know  that  this  battle  over  the  decrees  struck 
Luther  on  what  he  considered  the  pivotal  principle  of  his  theology, 
because  at  the  end  of  his  reply  to  Erasmus's  book,  Diatribe  de  Libero 
Arbitrio,  Luther  congratulates  Erasmus  as  having  the  sole  honor  of 
seeing  the  vital  part  of  his  doctrine,  and  not  fatiguing  him  with 
arguments  concerning  papacy,  purgatory,  indulgences,  and  similar 
trifles,  but  striking  the  very  socket  and  throat  of  his  doctrine.3 

After  this  controversy,  Erasmus  naturally  drifted  farther  away. 
He  came  to  regard  the  Reformation  as  a  calamity,  if  not  a 
crime,4  and  allowed  even  the  power  of  the  State  to  punish  heretics 

1  Ep.  1060. 

2Milman,  Savonarola,  Erasmus,  and  other  Essays.     Lond.,  1870,  p.  140. 

3  Deinde  et  hoc  in  te  vehementer  laudo  et  praedico,  quod  solus  prae  omnibus 
rem  ipsam  es  aggressus,  hoc  est,  summum  causae,  nee  me  fatigaris  alienis  illis 
causis  de  papatu,  purgatorio,  indulgentiis  ac  similibus  nugis,  potius  quam 
causis  in  quibus  me  hactenus  omnes  fere  venati  sunt  frustra.  Unus  tu  et  solus 
cardinem  rerum  vidisti  et  ipsum  jugulum  petuisti,  pro  quo  ex  animo  tibi 
gratias  ago.  4  Ep.  906. 


ERASMUS.  113 

with  death.1  In  his  able  and  elaborate  study  of  Erasmus,  Milman 
says:  "The  general  tone,  and  too  many  passages  in  these  works 
[those  of  Sir  Thomas  More],  as  we  most  sadly  admit  in  those  of 
Erasmus,  show  that  both  had  been  driven  to  tamper  at  least  with 
the  milder  and  more  Christian  theoretic  principles  of  their  youth; 
branded  heresy  as  the  worst  of  offenses,  worse  than  murder,  worse 
than  parricide;  and  left  the  unavoidable  inference  to  be  drawn  as 
to  the  justice,  righteousness,  even  duty  of  suppressing  such  perilous 
opinions  by  any  means  whatever." a  The  work  of  Luther,  Erasmus 
considered,  interfered  with  peaceful  reformation,  with  quiet  in  the 
State,  and  with  the  pursuit  of  learning.  There  was  nothing  incon- 
sistent in  Erasmus's  attitude — he  held  to  the  best  in  the  old,  and 
he  hailed  the  new  so  far  as  he  thought  the  new  was  of  truth. 
It  was  characteristic  of  him  that  on  one  hand  he  declined  with 
thanks  and  appreciation  the  cardinal's  hat  offered  him  by  Paul 
III,  and  on  the  other  that  in  his  last  sickness  he  refused  to  see  a 
priest,  and  died  invoking  only  the  mercy  of  Christ.  Erasmus  was 
the  product  of  a  transition. 

The  brilliant  Henry  Rogers  repeats  the  ordinary  explanation  of 
Protestant  writers  that  the  reason  for  Erasmus's  indecision  is  con- 
stitutional timidity.3  He  founds  this  on  the  oft-quoted  remarks  : 
"  Let  others  affect  martyrdom  ;  I  do  not  think  myself  worthy  of 
this  honor."  "  Quarreling  is  so  unpleasant  to  me  that  I  should 
hate  truth  itself  if  she  became  seditious."  "All  men  have  not  suffi- 
cient courage  for  martyrdom  ;  I  fear  that  in  case  of  danger  I  should 
imitate  Peter."  "I  fear  that  if  I  were  tempted  like 
Peter  I  should  fall  like  Peter."  But  these  are  the  froudeon 
utterances  of  playfulness  when  not  of  humility,  and 
are  not  to  be  taken  too  seriously.  Did  ■  Erasmus  show  timidity 
when  attacking  abuses  in  Praise  of  Folly,  Colloquies,  letters,  lec- 
tures at  the  University  of  Cambridge,  and  in  his  notes  and  para- 
phrases to  the  New  Testament  ?  No  man  ever  fought  a  braver 
battle.  No  doubt  he  was  timid,  but  the  truth  and  moral  enthu- 
siasm made  him  brave.  Erasmus  clung  to  the  old  Church  be- 
cause at  the  bottom  he  believed  in  the  old  Church,  in  a  purified 
Catholicism — and  papal  at  that.  Professor  Schlottmann  has  studied 
thoroughly  Erasmus's  attitude  to  Luther  and  the  Eeformation, 
and  he  declines  to  attribute  the  isolation  of  the  Rotterdam  reformer 
to  a  selfish  timidity."     Nor  are  the  fascinating   comparisons  of 

!Ep.  526.  *L.  c.,pp.  147,  148. 

8  Erasmus  and  His  Age,  in  Essays  on  Theological  Controversies,  pp.  286  ff., 
p.  329.  *  Erasmus  Eedivivus,  Halle,  1883. 

10  2 


114  HISTORY   OF    THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Froude  to  be  received  on  their  face  value.  He  says  that  in  Luther 
•"  belief  in  God  and  goodness  was  a  certainty  ;  in  Erasmus  that 
belief  was  only  a  high  probability,  and  the  difference  between  the 
two  is  not  merely  great,  it  is  infinite.  In  Luther  it  was  the  root, 
in  Erasmus  it  was  the  flower.  In  Luther  it  was  the  first  principle 
of  life  ;  in  Erasmus  it  was  an  inference  which  might  be  taken  away, 
and  yet  leave  the  world  a  very  tolerable  and  habitable  place  after 
all."1  But  this,  like  so  many  of  Froude's  judgments,  is  too  easy- 
going. Erasmus  was  more  skeptical  than  Luther,  but  it  was  skep- 
ticism of  men's  opinions,  and  not  of  God  and  goodness.  In  these 
he  believed  as  heartily  as  Luther,  but  his  faith  expressed  itself  in 
a  different  way. 

Much  more  just  is  the  remark  of  a  recent  scholar  :  ' '  Eras- 
mus had  little  inclination  for  the  thorny  paths  of  polemical  the- 
ology. His  instincts  were  those  of  a  man  of  letters,  rather  than 
of  a  religious  controversialist.  Of  the  sincerity  of  his  religion 
there  can  be  no  doubt ;  but  religion  in  his  eyes  was  synonymous 
with  a  simple  and  practical  faith  in  the  person  of  our  Lord.  For 
the  rest  it  was  better  to  submit  himself  to  the  judgment  of  the 
Church.  It  was  better  to  err  with  the  Spouse  of  Christ  than  to 
plunge  with  Luther  into  a  headlong  course  of  opposition  to  her 
authority.  '  I  am  ready,'  he  once  wrote,  e  to  be  a  martyr  for 
Christ,  but  I  will  not  be  a  martyr  for  Luther.'  In  point  of  fact 
his  latter  days  would  have  been  easier  if  he  had  joined  the  Lu- 
theran party."2  For  this  reason  the  Episcopal  scholars  of  to-day 
eulogize  Erasmus.  "  To  an  English  Churchman  the  steady  refusal 
of  Erasmus  to  commit  schism  in  the  interest  of  reform  is  one  of 
the  chief  glories  of  his  life."  Friedrich  Lezius  is  correct  in  saying 
that  the  religion  of  Erasmus  was  the  religion  of  the  Humanists, 
that  he  was  negative  after  all  in  his  theological  protests,  and  that 
his  sympathies  were  with  Roman  Catholicism  rather  than  with 
Luther,  but  he  is  incorrect  in  saying  that  Erasmus  was  so  opposed 
to  strife  and  tumult  that  he  would  sacrifice  truth  and  right  to 
peace,  and  that  therefore  his  beliefs  are  not  worthy  to  be  called 
convictions,  but  must  be  regarded  as  opinions  merely.3  This  is  the 
common  view,  but  it  does  Erasmus  injustice.  When  the  Sorbonne 
formally  condemned  his  writings  he  made  no  effort  to  retract,  and 
his  writings  everywhere  bear  the  stamp  of  absolute  sincerity. 

1  Times  of  Erasmus  and  Luther,  in  Short  Studies  on  Great  Subjects,  i,  100. 

2  Church  Quar.  Rev.,  Lond.,  Jan.,  1883,  pp.  480,  481. 

3  Zur  Characteristic  des  religiosen  Standpunktes  des  Erasmus,  Gutersloh, 
1895. 

3 


.V  EUHAHD10  HOtltaOOA  31 


3HISM3   3  108  3HT 


LITERATURE  :   THE   REFORMATION   IN   GERMANY.        115 


LITERATURE:  THE  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 


I.  Luther's  Works. — There  are  three  standard  eds.  :  (1)  J.  G.  Walch,  24 
vols.,  1740-53;  new  ed.  rev.  and  improved,  St.  Louis,  1884-98.  See 
B.  B.  Warfield  in  Presb.  and  Ref .  Rev. ,  i,  689  ;  also  ii,  716  ;  iii,  594  ;  and 
ix,  170.  (2)  Erlangen  ed.,  67  Ger.  and  33  Lat.  vols.,  1826-73  ;  a  com- 
plete and  critical  ed.  by  J.  G.  Plochmann  and  T.  K.  Irmischer.  (3) 
Weimar  ed.  under  patronage  of  German  government  and  the  Berlin 
Academy  of  Sciences,  ed.  by  Knaake,  assisted  by  specialists,  1883  ff. 
Unlike  Walch's  and  the  Erlangen  ed.  this  arranges  Luther's  works 
chronologically.  See  E.  G.  Smyth,  in  Andover  Rev.,  i,  114.  There  are 
also  :  Sam.  Werke  in  beiden  orig.  Sprache,  hrsg.  T.  K.  Irmischer,  C. 
S.  Elsperger,  T.  J.  Schmid,  H.  Schmidt,  u.  E.  L.  Enders,  Stutt.,  1897 
ff . ;  Luthers  Werke  fur  das  christliche  Haus,  hrsg.  Buchwald,  Kaw- 
erau,  Kostlin,  Rade,  and  Schneider,  1890-98.  See  Th.  Litz.,  1893,  No.  3. 
II.  Luther's  Letters. — Eds.  by  De  Wette,  5  vols.,  Berl.,  1825-56;  Burck- 
hardt,  1866  ;  Hase,  Leipz.,  1878  ;  and  Kolde,  Gotha,  1883. 

III.  Luther's  Table    Talk. — Forstemann  and  Bindseil.     4  vols.      Leipz., 

1844-48.  Transl.  by  H.  Bell,  Lond.,  1680  ;  new  ed.  by  H.  Morley,  1886. 
Transl.  by  W.  Hazlitt.  Lond.,  1848  ;  new  ed.  with  adds.,  1857.  Phila., 
1868.     Also  Colloquia,  ed.  Bindseil,  3  vols.,  1863-66. 

IV.  English  Translations    of  Luther's  Works. — Ep.    to  the  Galatians, 

Lond.,  1575  ;  new  ed.,  1810  ;  later  ed.,  Lond.,  1845  ;  new  ed.,  1875  ;  Com. 
on  Genesis,  chaps,  i-v,  Edinb.,  1858  ;  Manual  of  the  Book  of  Psalms, 
Lond.,  1837  ;  Bondage  of  the  Will,  Lond.,  1823  ;  Com.  on  the  First 
Twenty-two  Psalms,  2  vols.,  Lond.,  1826;  Sermons,  N.  Y.,  1829; 
Select  Treatises,  Andover,  1846  ;  Eps.  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Jude,  N.  Y., 
1859  ;  Way  to  Prayer,  1846  ;  Pope  Confounded,  1836  ;  Letters  to  Women, 
1885  ;  Ninety-five  Theses,  To  the  Nobility  of  the  German  Nation,  Con- 
cerning Christian  Liberty,  On  the  Babylonish  Captivity  of  the  Church, 
with  theol.  and  hist,  introductions  by  H.  Wace  and  C.  A.  Buchheim, 
Lond.,  1883  ;  Phila.,  1885  ;  new  ed.,  with  Larger  Catechism  and  Smaller 
Cat.,  Lond.,  1897.  There  are  many  republications  of  Luther's  select 
works  and  of  selections  from  his  works  in  Germany. 
V.  Other  Sources. — Documents  of  1517-19  were  published  by  N.  E. 
Loscher.  3  vols.  Leipz.,  1720-29.  Other  documents  in  Neudecker's 
Urkunden,  1836,  and  his  Actenstiicke,  1838  ;  newed.,  Leipz.,  1841.  See 
also  Th.  Brieger,  Quellen  und  Forschungen  zur  Gesch.  der  Ref., 
Gotha,  1884,  and  P.  Tschackert,  Ungedruckte  Briefe  zur  allgemeinen 
Reformationgeschichte,  Gott.,  1894.  The  works  of  the  Reformers  are 
found  in  the  vast  collection,  Corpus  Reformatorum,  vols,  i-lxxxii, 
Braunsch.,   1834-95.     Valuable  writings   appear   in   the     Schriften   d. 


116  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

Vereins  f.  Reformationgeschichte,  Halle,  1890  ff.,  and  in  the  Flug- 
schriften  a.  d.  Reformationszeit,  Halle,  1885  ff.  See  also  Univ.  of  Penn- 
sylvania Reprints,  No.  1, 1894. 


Some  of  the  older  histories  are  J.  Sleidan,  De  Statn  Religionis  et  Reipub- 
licee,  Carolo  V.  Caesare,  Commentarii,  Anist.,  1555  ;  new  ed.,  Frankf.,  1785-86, 
3  vols.;  transl.,  Lond.,  1689;  E.  Spalatin,  Ann.  Reformations,  Leipz.,  1718; 
F.  Myconins,  Hist.  Ref.,  Leipz.,  1718.     Of  modern  histories  we  mention  : 

1.  Marheineke,  Ph.  Gesch.  d.  deutschen  Reformation.    4  vols.    Berl.,  1831-34. 

2.  Aubigne,  Merle  d1.  Hist,  de  la  Ref.  an  xvie  Siecle.     5  vols.    Paris,  1835-53. 

Many  eds.  and  transls.  Best  Eng.  5  vols.  N.  Y. ,  1870  ff .  Written  with 
all  the  fervor  and  intensity  of  an  enthusiastic  Protestant,  and  not  always 
critically  exact,  but  embodying  the  results  of  large  learning  and  exten- 
sive studies.  Hist,  de  la  Ref.  au  temps  de  Calvin.  5  vols.  Paris,  1862- 
75.     Best  Eng.  transl.     8  vols.     N.  Y.,1879ff.     More  valuable. 

3.  Ranke,  Leopold   v.     Deutsche   Gesch.    im   Zeitalter  d.    Reform.     7  vols. 

Berl.,  1839-47.  4th  ed.,  1869,  trans,  in  part.  3  vols.  Lond.,  1845-47. 
Romische  Papste,  ihre  Kirche  und  ihr  Staat  im  16  und  17  Jahrhh.  3  vols. 
1834-37.  9th  ed.,  1889.  Transl.  3  vols.  Lond.,  1842 ;  new  ed.,  1867. 
Also  in  Bonn  Libr.  Great  works  written  from  the  original  documents 
in  the  true  historic  spirit. 

4.  Hagenbach,  K.  R.     Gesch.  d.  Reformation.     Leipz. ,  1834-^3  ;  new  ed.,  re- 

written as  part  of  his  Church  History,  1869-72.  Transl.  2  vols.  Edinb., 
1878.     Excellent. 

5.  Waddington,  George.     A  History  of  the  Reformation  on  the  Continent. 

3  vols.     Lond.,  1841. 

6.  Dollinger,  J.  J.  I.  von.    Die  Reformation,  ihre  innere  Entwicklung  und  ihre 

Wirkungen.  3  vols.  Regensb.,  1846-48.  Filled  with  citations  from 
contemporary  and  later  writers  testifying  to  the  failure  or  bad  influence 
of  the  Reformation. 

7.  Hardwick,  Charles.     A  History  of  the  Christian  Church  during  the  Refor- 

mation. Lond.,  1856.  2d  ed.,  by  F.  Proctor,  1865.  3d  ed.,  by  W. 
Stubbs,  1873.     The  notes  are  specially  valuable. 

8.  Cunningham,  Win.     The  Reformers  and  the  Theology  of  the  Reformation. 

Edinb.,  1862.     Able. 

9.  Hausser,  Ludwig.     The  Period   of  the  Reformation,  1577-1648.     Transl. 

Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1874.  New  ed.,  1894.  Fine  historical  lectures  deliv- 
ered at  Univ.  of  Heidelberg,  rev.  and  enl.  by  W.  Oncken. 

10.  Krauth,  C.  P.     The  Conservative  Reformation  and  its  Theology.      Phila., 

1872.     A  standard  work  by  an  American  Lutheran  scholar. 

11.  Kahnis,  C.  F.  A.     Die  deutsche  Reformation.     1872. 

12.  Fisher,  G.  P.     The  Reformation.     N.  Y,  1873.     Written  in  an  impartial 

spirit,  on  broad  and  scholarly  lines. 

13.  Seebohm,  F.     The  Era  of  the  Prot.  Revolution.     Lond.  and   N.  Y.,   1874. 

An  admirable  introduction  to  the  study  of  the  Reformation. 

14.  Janssen,  J.    Geschichte  des  deutschen  Volkes  seit  dem  Ausgang  des  Mittel- 

alters.  8  vols.  Freib.  i.  B. ,  1876-94.  This  book  created  a  sensation  in 
Germany,  and  ran  through  as  many  editions  as  a  popular  novel.     It  at- 


LITERATURE  :   THE   REFORMATION  IN   GERMANY.        117 

tempts  by  an  extensive  canvass  of  the  sources  to  show  the  utter  collapse 
of  Protestantism  as  a  reform  movement  in  either  religion  or  politics,  the- 
ology or  morality.  It  is  the  greatest  book  on  the  Catholic  side.  It  was 
answered  by  Ebrard,  Kawerau,  Baumgarten,  Lenz,  Rade,  KOstlin,  and 
others.  To  these  Janssen  replied  in  An  meine  Kritiker,  Freib.  i.  B., 
1891,  and  E.  zweites  Wort  an  meine  Kritiker,  1895. 

15.  Lee,  F.  G.     Hist.  Sketches  of  the  Reformation.    Lond.,  1878.    Interesting 

and  valuable  accounts  of  some  of  the  less  known  events  of  the  English 
Reformation,  written  from  the  extreme  High-Church  point  of  view. 

16.  Lindsay,    T.    M.     The  Reformation.     Edinb.,    1882;   2d   ed.,  1884.     The 

best  of  the  smaller  books  on  the  Reformation  on  its  religious  and  theo- 
logical sides,  though  not  always  closely  accurate. 

17.  Creighton,   M.     Hist,  of  the  Papacy   during   the   Reformation.      5   vols. 

Lond.  and  N.Y.,  1882-94.  Newed.,  6  vols.,  1897-98.  Title  a  misnomer. 
Extends  from  1305  to  1527.  A  dry,  learned  work  of  great  importance. 
Many  original  documents  are  printed  in  the  appendices. 

18.  Beard,  Chas.     The  Reformation  in  its  Relation  to  Modern  Thought  and 

Knowledge.  Hibbert  Lectures.  Lond.,  1883;  2d  ed.,  1885.  A  strong 
and  brilliant  book  by  a  lamented  English  Unitarian  scholar,  from 
whom  we  gladly  would  have  had  more. 

19.  Schaff,    Philip.     The  German   Reformation.     N.   Y.,   1888;  2d  ed.,  rev., 

1889.     The  best  of  the  larger  works. 

20.  Hergenrother,  J.     Conciliengeschichte  :   nach  den  Quellen  bearbeitet  von 

C.  J.  von  Hefele.  Fortgesetzt  von  J.  Cardinal  Hergenrother.  Bd.  ix. 
Freib.  i.  B.,  1890.  This  9th  vol.  of  the  great  work  of  Hefele,  in  itself 
nearly  a  thousand  pages,  is  by  Hergenrother,  and  is  really  a  history  of  the 
Reformation  from  the  traditional  ultramontane  point  of  view.  See  H.  M. 
Scott  in  Presb.  and  Ref.  Rev.,  1892,  564-566. 

21.  Pastor,  L.     Hist,  of  the  Popes  from  the  Close  of  the  Middle  Ages.     Transl., 

Lond.,  5  vols.,  1891-98.  Written  from  the  documents  in  the  Vatican 
Library,  thrown  open  by  Leo  XIII,  but  not  embodying  very  many  fresh 
conclusions  of  importance  ;  indispensable  to  the  student  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, as  it  gives  the  latest  results  attained  by  a  fairly  impartial  Roman 
Catholic  scholar.  See  C.  A.  Scott,  in  Crit.  Rev.,  ii,  284-289  ;  vi,  70  ;  G. 
B.  Adams,  in  Andover  Rev.,  viii,  656  ;  xiii,  354  ;  H.  M.  Scott  in  Presb. 
and  Ref.  Rev.,  iii,  561-564 ;  Th.  Litblatt.,  May  15,  1896. 

Recent  historical  research  in  Germany  has  been  active  in  the  period  of  the 
Reformation,  but  space  will  not  allow  the  description  in  extenso  of  this  rich 
literature.  To  1891  belong  :  Nonne,  L.,  Reformationsbiichlein,  neu  bearb.  v.  A. 
Human,  Hildb.  ;  Jakels,  C,  100  Ersiihlgn.  a.  d.  Kirchen-  u.  Reformationge- 
schichte  m.  bes.  Beriicks.  d.  Gesch.  Luthers  u.  d.  evang.  kirchl.  Gedenktage, 
neu  bearb.  v.  Hermans,  Langeus;  Hase,  K.  v.,  Ref  ormation  u.  Gegenreformation, 
Leipz.  1892  :  Bittkan,  G.,  Einfiihrg.  d.  Reformation  in  Neu-Ruppin,  New  Rupp; 
Redenbacher,  W.,  M.  Luther,  od.  kurze  Ref-gesch.,  17  Aufl.,  Niirnb.  ;  Geyer, 
W.,  Einfiihrg.  d.  Ref.  in  Regensburg,  Regensb.  ;  Winckelmann,  0.,  Der  schmal- 
kaldische  Bund,  1530-32  u.  d.  niirnberger  Religionsfriede,  Strasb.  1893 : 
Gradl,  H.,  Ref.  in  Egerlande,  Eger ;  Ludewig,  G.,  Die  Politik  Niirnbergs  im 
Zeit.  d.  Ref.,  1520-34,  Gott.  [see  H.  Virck,  in  Th.  Litz.,  1893,  No.  25]  ;  Hof- 
mann,  R.,  Ref. -gesch.  d.  Stadt  Pirna,  Leipz.  ;  Meyer,  J.,  Einfiihrg.  d.  Ref.  in 


118  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Franken,  Ausb.  ;  Steffenhagen,  M.,  Georg  v.  Anhalt,  d.  Reforinator,  Merseb., 
and  45  Jahre  Kampf  um  d.  ev.  Wahrheit,  Merseb.  1894  :  Boetticher,  P.,  An- 
fange  d.  Ref.  in  d.  preuss.  Landern,  Konigsb.;  Walther,  W.,  Bedeutg.  d.  deut. 
Ref.  f.  d.  Gesundheit  uns.  Volksleben,  Leipz.;  Miiller,  W.,  Ref.  u.  Gegenref., 
ed.  by  G.  Kawerau,  Freib.  i.  B.  ;  Burkhardt,  0.,  Einfiihrg.  d.  Ref.  in  d.  reuss. 
Landern,  Leipz. ;  Wolkan,  R.,  Anf tinged.  Ref.  in  Joachimstbal,  Prag  ;  Grupp, 
G.,  Oettingiscbe  Geschichte  d.  Ref.-Zeit,  Nord.  ;  Kawerau,  W.,  Eberhard  Wei- 
densee  u.  d.  Reformation  in  Magdeburg,  Halle  ;  Tournier,  O,  Ref.  in  Mulhau- 
sen  u.  d.  Aufruhr  v.  1587,  Miilh.  i.  E.,  1895  :  Knodt,  E.  J.  Westermann,  d.  Re- 
formator  Lippstadts  u.  sein  sogen.  Katechisinus,  Gotha  ;  Weber,  B.,  Ref.- 
gesch.  d.  freien  Reichsstadt  Frankfurt  a.  M.,  Frankf.  a.  M.  ;  Kolde,  Th.,  Beitr. 
zur  bauerischen  Kircbengscb.,  vol.    i-iii,  1895-97  [see  Tb.  Litz.,  1896,  No.  6, 

1897,  No.  4,  1898,  No.  6.]  ;  Sopbronizon,  J.,  Gescb.  d.  Ref.  v.  ibrem  Ursprunge 
bis  auf  uns.  Zeiten,  Leipz.  ;  Freytag,  G.,  Aus.  d.  Jabrb.  d.  Reformation  [1500- 
1600],  Leipz.  ;  Keller,  L.,  Die  Gegenref.  in  Westfalen,  Leipz.  ;  Moritz,  H.,  Die 
Wabl  Rudolfs  II  der  Reicbstag  zu  Regensburg,  1576,  und  die  Freistellungsbe- 
wegung,  Marb.  [see  Tb.  Litz.,  1896,  No.  19]  ;  Bettany,  G.  T.,  Pop.  Hist,  of 
Ref.  and  of  Mod.  Protm.,  Lond.  [see  Presb.  and  R.  Rev.,  vi,  777]  ;  Gebbardt, 
B.,  D.  Gravamina  d.  deut.  Nation  gegen  d.  rom.  Hof  :  ein  Beitr.  z.  Vorgesch.  d. 
Ref.,  2ded.,  Bresl.;  Riimelin,  A.,  Ref.  in  Dessau,  Halle;  Berger,  A.E.  Kulturauf- 
gaben  der  Ref. ,  Berl.  1896  :  Hoerscbelmann,  F. ,  Andreas  Knopben  d.  Ref orma- 
tor  Rigas,  Leipz.  [see  Tb.  Litz.,  1896,  No.  19]  ;  Kayser,  K.,  Die  reform- 
atoriscben  Kircbenvisitation  in  den  weleiscben  Landen,  1542-44,  Gott.  [im- 
portant, v.  Tb.  Litz.,  '97,  No.  15]  ;  Kostlin,  A.,  Kawerau,  G.,  and  otbers.  Beitr. 
zur  Reformationgescbicbte,  Gotha  [excellent  essays  in  commemoration  of  tbe 
seventieth  anniversary  of  birth  of  the  great  Luther-scholar,  Kiistlin].  1897  : 
Ludwig,  K.,  Die  Gegenref.  in  Karlsbad,  Prag.  [see  Am.  Journal  of  Tbeol., 
Oct.,  1898,  951]  ;  Ralwes,  F.,  Die  Ref.  als  Kulturkampf,  Braunsch.;  Tschackert, 
P.,  Mag.  Joh.  Sutel,  1504-75,  Braunsch.  ;  Haupt.  H.,  Beitr.  zur  Reformation- 
gesch.  der  Reichstadt  Worms,  1523-24,  Giessen  ;  Keller,  L.,  Grundfragen  der 
Reformationgesch.,  Berl.  [see  Th.  Litz.,  1898,  No.  5]  ;  Hauthaler,  W.,  Card. 
Math.  Lang  u.  die  religios-sociale  Bewegung  seiner  Zeit  1517-40,  Salzb.;  Nathu- 
sius,  M.  v.,  Die  christlich-socialen  Ideen  der  Reformationszeit  und  ihre  Her- 
kunft,    Giitersl.    [see  Th.  Litz.,  1897,  No.  17;   Am.  Journal  of  Theol.,  Oct., 

1898,  p.  936].  1898  :  Schuster,  L.,  Fiirstbiscbof  Martin  Brenner,  Graz  [an 
elaborate  contrib.  (942  pp.)  to  Reformation  history]  ;  Erhard,  O.,  Die  Ref.  der 
Kirche  in  Bamberg  unter  Bischof  Weigand,  1522-56,  Erlangen. 

BIOGRAPHIES  OF   LUTHER   (SELECTION.) 

1.  Melanchthon,  Ph.     Vita   Lutheri,  Wittenb.,   1546.     Many   eds.,  esp.  Au- 

gusti,   Bresl.,    1817,   and  Neander,   Berl.,    1841.     Transl.   Lond.,    1561, 
1817. 

2.  Mathesius,   J.      Historien  von  des  ehrwiirdigen  Dr.  M.  Lutheri  Anfang, 

Lehre,  Leben  und  Sterben,  Niirnb.,  1566.     Many  eds. 

3.  Ukert,  G.  H.  A.     Dr.  Martin  Luthers  Leben  mit   einer  kurzen  Reforma- 

tionsgeschichte  Deutschlands  und  der  Literatur,  ed.  posthum.  by  F.  A. 
Ukert,  2  vols.  Gotha,  1817.     Rich  in  notices  of  literature. 

4.  Meurer,  M.  M.     Luthers  Leben,  aus  den  Quellen  erzahlt.     Dresd.,  1843-46  ; 

3d  ed.,  1870  ;  Transl.,  N.  Y.,  1848.     Draws  largely  from  Luther's  Letters. 


LITERATURE  :  THE   REFORMATION  IN   GERMANY.        119 

5.  Jurgens.     Luthers  Leben  [to  1517],  3  vols.  Leipz.,  1846-47.     A  thesaurus 

for  later  explorers. 

6.  Katzeberger,  M.  (Luther's  friend).     Handschriftliche  Geschichte  iiber  Lu- 

ther und  seine  Zeit.     Herausgegeben  von  C.  G.  Neudecker,  1850. 

7.  Worsley,  Henry.     The  Life  of  Martin  Luther.     2  vols.  Lond.,  1856. 

8.  Tulloch,  J.     Luther  and  the  Leaders  of  the  Reformation.     Edinb. ,  1859 ; 

3d  ed.,  1883. 

9.  Kostlin,   J.     Martin   Luther:  sein  Leben  und  seine   Schriften.     2  vols., 

Elberf.,  1883.  First  pub.  in  1875.  Ed.  of  1883,  rev.  and  enl.  The 
greatest  and  best  life  ever  published  :  impartial  and  comprehensive  work 
of  one  who  has  spent  his  life  in  the  study  of  Luther,  his  times,  and  his 
writings.  Luthers  Leben,  Leipz.,  1882;  9  Aufl.,  1891.  The  best  1  vol. 
life.  Transl.,  Lond.  and  N.Y.,  1883.  Luthers  Theologie.  2  vols.  Stuttg., 
1863  ;  transl.,  Phila.,  1897.  A  history  and  exposition — best  extant.  Mar- 
tin Luther  (Festschrift),  Halle,  1883  ;  22  Aufl.,  1884  ;  transl.,  Lond.,  1883. 

10.  Kuhn,  Felix.     Luther,  sa  vie  et  son  ceuvre.     3  vols.     Paris,  1883-84. 

11.  Vilmar,  A.     M.  Luther.     Giitersl.,  1883. 

12.  Stoughton,  J.     The  Homes  and   Haunts  of   Luther.     Lond.,    1875  ;  new 

ed.  with  addl.  chaps,  1883.     Transl.  into  French. 

13.  Kahnis,  K.  F.  A.     Die  Bedeutung  d.  Personlichk.   Luthers.     Leipz.,  1883. 

14.  Rein,  W.     Leben  Luthers,  Leipz.,  1883.     Transl.  N.  Y.,  1884. 

15.  Mead,  E.  D.     Martin  Luther  :  a  Study  of  the  Reformation.     Bost.,  1884. 

Rationalistic. 

16.  Froude,  J.  A.     Luther  :  a  short  biography.     Lond.,  1884. 

17.  Kolde,  Th.     Martin  Luther  :   eine  Biographie.     2  vols. ,  Gotha,  1884.     Ex- 

cellent. 

18.  Seiss,  J.  A.     Luther  and  the  Reformation :   the  lifesprings  of  our  liberties. 

Phila.,  1884. 

19.  Fehr,F.     M.Luther.     Stockh.,  1885. 

20.  Bayne,   Peter.     Martin  Luther  :   his  Life  and  Work.    2  vols.,  Lond.,  1887. 

The  best  life  in  English  ;  written  with  enthusiasm,  yet  with  schol- 
arly discrimination  and  with  profound  and  searching  remarks  and 
criticisms. 

21.  Beard.  Charles.     Martin  Luther  and  the  Reformation  in  Germany  until 

1560.     Lond.,  1889. 

22.  Freytag,  Gustav  v.  Doktor  Luther  :  ed.  with  introd.  and  notes  by  F.  P. 

Goodrich.  Bost.,  1894,  transl.,  Chicago,  1897.  A  brilliant  and  penetrat- 
ing treatment  of  the  larger  aspects. 

23.  Berger,  Arnold  E.     Martin  Luther  in  kulturgeschichtl.  Darstellung,  vol.  i, 

Berl.,  1895  ;  vol.  ii.  1898.  An  interesting  and  suggestive  study.  See  G. 
H.  Ferris,  in  Am.  Jour,  of  Theol.,  i,  1068,  ii,  913. 

24.  Jacobs,  H.  E.     Martin  Luther  :  the  Hero  of  the  Reformation,  1483-1546. 

N.  Y.,  1898.  The  best  1  vol.  life  written  in  English.  In  the  admirable 
series  ed.  by  Professor  Samuel  Macauley  Jackson. 

25.  Hay,  C.  E.     Luther  the  Reformer.     Phila.,  1898.     Brief  but  excellent. 

It  would  take  a  volume  to  mention  the  books  on  Luther  published  in  Ger- 
many within  the  last  twenty-five  years.  The  Luther  celebration  in  1883  called 
out  over  a  thousand  books  and  pamphlets.  Every  aspect  of  his  life  and  work 
has  been  discussed  over  and   over  again  with  infinite  pains  and  thorough- 


120  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

ness.  We  can  give  here  only  a  brief  selection.  We  shall  first  mention  two 
or  three  of  the  best  books  on  special  subjects,  and  close  with  a  few  recent 
books. 

1.  As  a  Bible  Translator:  Schott,  C.  H.,  Gesch.  der  deutschen  Bibeliiber- 

setzung  Martin  Luthers,  Leipz.,  1835  ;  Krafft,  W.,  Die  deutsche  Bibel  von 
Luther  sein  Verhaltniss  zu  derselben  und  seine  Verdienste  um  die  Bibel- 
iibersetzung,  Bonn,  1883  ;  Riehm,  E.,  Luther  als  Bibeliibersetzer,  Gotha, 
1884.  Compare  the  elaborate  work  of  W.  Walther,  D.  deut.  Bibeliiberset- 
zung  d.  Mittelalters,  3  vols.,  Braunschw.,  1891. 

2.  Luther  as  a  Preacher :  Jonas,  E.,  Die  Kauzelberedsamkeit  Luthers.  BerL, 

1853 ;  Gamier,  G.,  Sur  la  predication  de  Luther,  Montaub.,  1876  ;  Hast- 
ings, T.  S.,  in  Luther  Symp.  of  Union  Theol.  Sem.,  N.  Y.,  1883 ;  Snyder, 
W.  A.,  inLuth.  Ch.  Rev.,  Phila.,  Oct.,  1897;  Yutzy,  J.,  in  Luth.  Quar., 
Oct.,  1898. 

3.  Boyhood  and  Parentage  :  Mayhew,  H.,  Boyhood  of  Martin  Luther,  Lond., 

1863  ;  new  ed.,  1879  ;  Sears,  B.,  Luther,  with  special  ref .  to  earlier  periods, 
N.  Y.,  1850  [Barnas  Sears,  the  eminent  Baptist  educator,  was  an  able  Lu- 
ther specialist,  and  wrote  the  best  of  the  early  English  lives]  ;  Gopel, 
C,  Jugendleben  Luthers,  Eisenach,  1885  ;  Hunnius,  O,  Luther  d.  Schop- 
fer  d.  prot.  Schule  als  Knabe  u.  Schuler.      Riga,  1887. 

4.  Staupitz :  Works,  ed.  Knaake,  Gotha,  1867  ;  Kolde,  Th.,  Die  deutsche  Au- 

gustiner-Congregation  und  Johan  v.  Staupitz,  Gotha,  1879  [contains 
twenty-four  letters  of  Staupitz]  ;  Keller  L. ,  Johann  von  Staupitz  und  die 
Anfange  der  Reformation,  Leipz.,  1888  ;  Dieckhoff,  Theologie  des  Joh. 
v.  Staupitz,  Leipz.,  1887;  Paulus,  N.,  J.  von  Staupitz:  seine  vorgeblich 
protestantischen  Gesinnungen,  in  Hist.  Jahrb.,  ii,  2,  1891. 

5.  Frederick  the  Wise  :  Kolde,  Th.,  Friedrich  der  Weise  und  die  Anfange 

der  Reformation,  Erl.,  1881  ;  Baltin,  E.,  Fried,  d.  Weise,  Torg.,  1886; 
Nasemann,  0.,  Friedr.  d.  Weise,  Halle,  1889. 

6.  Erfurt  and  Wittenberg  :  On  the  Univ.  of  Erfurt,  see  F.  W.  Kampfschulte, 

Die  Universitat  Erfurt  in  ihren  Verhaltnisse  z.  Humanismus  und  Refor- 
mation, 2  vols.,  Treves,  1856-60;  Drews,  P.,  Humanismus  u.  Reforma- 
tion, Leipz.,  1887.  On  the  Univ.  of  Wittenberg  see  Grohmann,  An- 
nalen  der  Universitat  zu  Wittenberg,  2  vols.,  Wittenb.,  1802. 

7.  Journeys:  Koehler,  K.  F.,  Luthers  Reisen  u.  ihre  Bedeutung  f.  d.  Refor- 

mation, Eisenach,  1872. 

8.  Luther'' s  Mysticism :  Hering,  Die  Mystik  Luthers,  Leipz.,  1879  [treated  in 

relation  to  both  his  theology  and  the  older  mysticism]. 

9.  The  Ninety-five  Theses:  Discussions  by  Krauth,  C.  P.,  Phila.,  1872  ;  Bratke, 

E.,  1884  ;  Weicker,  G.,  Leipz.,  1888  ;  and  Liidemann,  Braunschw.,  1890. 

10.  Indulgences:  Hirscher,  J.  B.,  Die  Lehre  vom  Ablass.,  Tub.,  1844;  Dieck- 

hoff, A.  W.,  Der  Ablasstreit,  Gotha,  1886 ;  Lepicier,  A.  M.,  Indulgences, 
their  Origin,  Nature,  and  Development,  Lond.,  1895  (R.  C.) ;  Lea,  H.  C, 
Hist,  of  Auricular  Confession  and  Indulgences  in  the  Latin  Church, 
vol.  iii,  Indulgences,  Phila.,  1896  [a  thorough  and  scientific  work.] 

11.  Tetzel:  Kapp,  J.,  Schauplatz  des  tetzelschen  Ablasskrams,  2d  ed.,  Leipz., 

1720;  Hoffmann,  F.  G.,  Lebensbeschreibung  des  Ablassprediger  Tetzel, 
Leipz.,  1844.  On  same  subject  by  Kayser,  Annab.,  1877;  Koerner, 
Frakenbg.  i.  S.,  1880  ;  Kawerau,  Barmen,  1889  ;  and  (R.  C.)  Grone,  Sosst, 


LITERATURE  :   THE  REFORMATION   IN   GERMANY.        121 

1860;  Kolbe,  Steyl,  1882;  Hermann,  Frankf.  a.  M.,  1885;  Meijer, 
Utrecht,  1885,  and  Rohm,  Hildesheim,  1890. 

12.  Miltitz,  Eck,    and  Carlstadt:  Seidemann,  J.  O,  Karl  v.  Miltitz,  Dresd., 

1844 ;  Wiedermann,  T.,  Dr.  J.  Eck,  Regensb.,  1865  ;  Jager,  C.  F.,  Andr. 
Bodenstein  v.  Carlstadt,  Stuttg.,  1856.  See  also  Seidemann,  J.  C,  Die 
Leipziger  Disputation  (1519),  Dresd.,  1843  ;  Bauch,  G.,  And.  Carlstadt  als 
Scholastiker,  in  Ztschr.  f.  Kirchengesch.,  xviii,  1,  1897. 

13.  Charles  V:  Lang,  Correspondence   des   Kaisers  Karl    V,  3  vols.,  Leipz., 

1844-46;  Stirling,  W.,  Cloister  Life  of,  2d  ed.,  Lond.,  1853;  Robertson, 
W.,  Hist,  of  Reign  of,  with  Supp.  by  W.  H.  Prescott,  Phila.,  1857  ;  new 
ed.,  1890  ;  De  Lettenhove,  Commentaires  de  Ch.  V,  Brussels,  1862  ;  transl. 
Lond.,  1862  ;  Maurenbrecker,W.,  Karl  V  und  die  deutschen  Protestanten, 
1545-55,  Dusseld.,  1865  ;  Baumgarten,  H.,  Karl  V  und  die  deutsche  Refor- 
mation, Halle,  1889  ;  the  same,  Geschichte Karls  V,  3  vols.,  Stuttg.,  1892. 

14.  Aleander:  Balano,  P.,  Monumenta  Reform.  Luth.,  Regensb.,  1883.     This 

book  by  a  Roman  Catholic,  in  which  he  prints  the  original  dispatches  of 
Aleander  and  others  at  the  diet  of  Worms,  was  so  unsatisfactory  in  its 
revelations  that  the  authorities  of  his  Church  quietly  shelved  it.  The  same 
sources  were  consulted  by  Th.  Brieger  in  his  Aleander  und  Luther, 
Gotha,  1884,  and  interpreted  from  a  Prot.  standpoint.  Aleander's  dis- 
patches have  also  been  studied  by  Kalkoff,  Halle,  1886,  1897,  and  Virck, 
Barm.,  1888;  Hausrath,  A.,  Aleander  und  Luther  auf  dem  Reichstag  zu 
Worms,  Berl.,  1898. 

15.  Diet  of  Worms:  Kostlin,  J.,   Luthers  Rede  in  Worms  am  18  Ap.,  1521, 

Halle,  1874;  Brieger,  T.,  Neue  Mittheilungen  iiber  Luther  in  Worms, 
Marb.,  1883;  Luther  at  Worms,  by  T.  Kolde,  Halle,  1883;  F.  Soldan, 
Worms,  1883,  and  J.  Elter,  Bonn,  1886 ;  Haupt,  H.,  Beitriige  zur  Refor- 
mationgeschichte  der  Reichstadt  Worms,  Giessen,  1897. 

16.  Wartburg :  Witzschell,  A.,  Luthers  Aufenthalt  auf  der  Wartburg,  Vienna, 

1876  ;  Morris,  J.  G.,  Luther  at  Wartburg  and  Coburg,  Phila.,  1882. 

17.  Milnzer:  Strobel,  Leben,  Schrif ten  und  Lehre  Thoma  Miinzers,  Nurembg. , 

1795  ;  lives  by  Seidemann,  Dresd.,  1842;  Leo,  H.,  Berl.,  1856,  and  Merx, 
O.,  Gott.,  1889;  Enders,  E.  L.,  Aus  flem  Kampf  des  Sch warmer  gegen 
Luther,  Halle,  1893. 

18.  Emser:  Enders,  L.,  Luther  u.  Emser  ihre  Streitschriften  a.   d.  Jahr  1521, 

2  vols.,  Halle,  1889-90. 

19.  Peasants' War:  Histories  by  H.  Schreiber,  3  vols.,  Freib.,  1863-66  ;  R.  Zoll- 

ner,  Dresd.,  1872 ;  F.  L.  Baumann,  Stuttg.,  1876, 1878;  Hartf elder,  Stuttg., 
1884 ;  W.  Falckenheimer  (Phil.  d.  Grosmiitige  im),  1887 ;  W.  Vogt, 
Halle,  1887,  and  W.  Zimmermann,  Stuttg.,  1890. 

20.  Luther's  Wife :  Lives  of  Katharine  von  Bora,  by  W.  Beste,  Halle,  1843  ; 

F.  G.  Hofmann,  Leipz.,  1845;  M.  M.  Meurer,  Dresd.,  1854;  A.  Stein, 
1886;  transl.,  Phila.,  1890;  G.  Ehricke  (Martin  Luther  u.  seine  Kathe), 
Cbthen,  1897. 

21.  Clement  VII:  Grethen,  R.,  Die  politische  Beziehungen  Clemens  VH  zu  Karl 

V,  1523-27,  Hannov.,  1887  ;  Hellweg,  Die  politische  Beziehungen  Clemens 
VII  im  Jahre  1526,  Leipz.,  1889. 

22.  Adrian  VI:  Monographs  by  Nippold,  Leipz.,  1875  ;  Bauer,  Heidelb.,  1876 ; 

Hofler,  Wien,  1880  ;  and  Lapitre,  Paris,  1880. 


122  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

23.  Diets  of  Nuremberg :  Redlich,  0.,  Der  Reichstag  von  Nuremberg,  1522-23, 

Leipz.,  1887;  Richter,  A.,  the  same,  1524,  Leipz.,  1888. 

24.  Diets  of  Spires:  Friedensburg,  W.,  Der  Reichstag  zu  Speier,  1526,  Berl., 

1887 ;  Brasse,  Gesch.  der  Speirer  national  Councils,  1524,  Halle,  1890. 
See  also  Historische  Zeitschrift,  1888,  H.  1  ;  Luth.  Quar.,  Gettysburg, 
Jan.,  1888. 

25.  Tlie  Leagues:  Friedensburg,  W.,  Zur  Vorgeschichte  des Gotha-torgauischen 

Bundnisses  die  Evangelischen,  1525-26,  Marb.,  1884;  Stoy,  S.,  Erste 
Bundisbestrebung  ev.  Stande,  Jena,  1888. 

26.  Diet  of  Augsburg:  Forstemann,  C.  E.,  Urkundenbuch  zur  Geschichte  des 

Reichstag  zu  Augsburg,  2  vols.,  Halle,  1833-35;  Schirmacher,  Brief e  u. 
Acten  Gotha,  1876  ;  Lenk,  H.,  Der  Reichstag  zu  Augsburg,  Barm.,  1894. 
See  Bossert  in  Th.  Lit.-Blatt.,  Aug.  23,  1898. 

27.  Augsburg  Confession :  Text — Schaff ,  Creeds,  iii,  3  ff. ;  Jacobs,  Book  of  Con- 

cord, Phila.,  1882;  Kolde,  Th.,  Die  augsburgische  Konfession,  lat.  u. 
deutsch  mit  5  Beilage  :  1.  Die  Marburger  Artikel ;  2.  Die  Schwabacher 
do.;  3.  Die  Torgauer  do.;  4.  Die  Confutatio  pontificia;  5.  Die  Augustana 
von  1540,  Gotha,  1896.  History — Stuckenberg,  Hist,  of  Augsburg  Con- 
fession, Phila.,  1869  ;  Reim,  H.,  Die  Augs.  Conf.  mit  Einl.  u.  Anmerkun- 
gen,  Guters.,  1879;  Lectures  on,  Phila.,  1888;  Haas,  Genesis  of,  in 
Luth.  Church  Rev.,  Phila.,  Jan.,  1898.  On  the  Apology  and  Confuta- 
tion, see  Plitt,  Die  Apol.  der  Augustana,  Erl.,  1873;  Ficker,  Die  Confu- 
tation, Gotha,  1891. 

28.  Melanchthon:  Works  in  Corpus  Reformatorum,  28  vols.,  Halle,  1834-64; 

supplem.  vol.,  Halle,  1874.  On  the  Loci  see  Plitt  and  Kolde's  edition, 
Erl.,  1890,  and  on  his  theol.  see  Herrlinger,  Die  Theol.  Mel.,  Gotha,  1879. 
Lives — Cox,  F.  A.,  Lond.,  1817;  Mathes,  K.,  Altenb.,  1841  ;  Ledderhose, 
C.  F.,  Heidelb.,  1847 ;  tr.,  Phil.,  1855  ;  Schmidt,  C,  Elbf.,  1861 ;  Thiersch, 
H.  W.  J.,  Augs.,  1877;  Hartf elder,  K.,  Berl.,  1889,  also  Melanchthonica 
Psedagogica,  Leipz.,  1892;  Deane,  D.  J.,  Lond.,  1897;  Stump,  Jos., 
Reading,  Pa.,  1897;  Richard,  J.  W.  [the  best],  N.  Y.  and  Lond.,  1898. 

29.  The   Smalcald   League  :   Hortleder,   Karl  V  wider  die  schmal.     Bundes- 

verwandten,  2  vols.,  Frankf.,  1617;  Schneider,  E.,  Die  Wurtemberg 
Reformations  Gesch.,  Stiattg.,  1887  ;  Winckelmann,  O.,  Der  schmalcaldis- 
che  Bund  und  der  Niirnberger  Religionsfriede,  Strasb.,  1892. 

30.  Philip  of  Hesse:  Lives  by  C.  Rommel,  3  vols.,  Giessen,  1830,  and  J.  Wille, 

Tub.,  1882;  Heidenhain,  A.,  Die  Unions  politik  Landgr.  Philipps  u.  d. 
Unterstiitzg.  die  Hegendten  im  ersten  Religionskrieg,  Bresl. ,  1886 ;  new 
ed.,  1890;  Lenz,  M.,  Briefwechsel  Landgraf  Phil,  mit  Bucer,  2  vols., 
Leipz.,  1880-87. 

31.  The  Ratisbon  Conference:  Brieger,  A.  "W.,  Contarini  und  die  Regensburger 

Concordin-Werk,  Gotha,  1870  ;  Pastor,  L.,  Die  kirchliche  Reunionsbe- 
strebungen  wahrend  der  Regierung  Karls  Y,  Freib.  i.  B.,  1879  ;  Vetter,  P., 
Die  Religionsverhandlungen  auf  dem  Reichstage  zu  Regensburg,  1541, 
Jena,  1889;  Dittrich,  Miscellanea  Ratisbon,  1541,  Braunsbg.,  1892. 

32.  George  von  Polentz  :  Lives  by  G.  von  Polentz,  Halle,  1858,  and  P.  Tschack- 

ert,  Leipz.,  1888. 

33.  Paulus  Speratus:    Lives  by  Cosack,  Bruns.,  1861  ;  Pressel,  1862  ;  Trauten- 

berger,  1868;  Rogge,  Barm.,  1888;  and  Tschackert,  Halle,  1891. 


LITERATURE  :   THE   REFORMATION  IN   GERMANY.        123 

34.  Bans  Sachs:  For  eds.  of  works  see  Schaff-Herz.,  iii  (1883),  2092.     Lives— 

Ranisck,  S.,  Altenb.,  1765  ;  Hoffmann,  J.  L.,  Nuremb.,  1847  ;  Schultheiss, 
F.,  Leipz.,  1879 (in  seinem  Verhaltnisse  zu  Ref.);  Kawerau,  W.,  Halle,  1889 
(und  die  Ref.) ;  Schumann,  G.,  1890  ;  Goetze,  E.,  Bamb.,  1890  ;  Drescher, 
C,  Berl.,  1891  (Studien  zu) ;  Lutzelberger,  E.  K.  J.,  Niirnbg.,  1891 ;  Kiy, 
V.,  Leipz.,  1893;  Genee,  R.,  Leipz.,  1894  (elaborate);  Bondachzi,  F. , 
Prag,  1894;  Disselhef,  J.,  Leipz.,  1894  ;  Nover,  J.,  Hamb.,  1895  ;  N.  W. 
Clark,  in  Meth.  Rev.,  N.  Y.,  Sept.,  1895.  The  400th  anniv.  of  the  birth 
of  Hans  Sachs  was  celebrated  in  Germany  in  1894,  and  numerous  pam- 
phlets on  his  life  and  works  appeared. 

35.  The  Suicide  Legend :  The  story  of  Luther's  suicide  was  revived  by  P.  Ma- 

junke  (R.  C.)  in  his  Luthers  Lebensende,  Mainz,  1890;  5th  ed.,  1891.  He  was 
answered  by  E.  Bliimel,  Luthers  Lebensende,  Barm.,  1890  ;  G.  Kawerau, 
Luthers  Lebensende,  Barm.,  1890  ;  T.  Kolde,  Luthers  Selbstmord,  Leipz., 
1890 ;  G.  Rietschel,  Luthers  sel.  Heimgang,  Halle,  1890 ;  F.  W.  Schubart, 
Wie  starb  M.  Luther,  Dess.,  1892.  After  a  thorough  investigation  of  all 
the  evidence,  a  Roman  Catholic  scholar,  W.  Paulus,  in  his  Luthers  Le- 
bensende und  der  Eislebener  Apotheker,  Mainz,  1896  (see  Th.  Litz.,  1897, 
No.  11)  and  especially  in  his  Luthers  Lebensende,  Freib.  i.  B.,  1897,  has 
reached  the  same  conclusion  as  the  Protestant  opponents  of  Majunke  and 
gives  a  final  quietus  to  the  legend.  Philip  Schaff  gives  a  resume  of  the 
case  in  his  article,  Did  Luther  Commit  Suicide  \  in  Mag.  of  Chr.  Lit. ,  N. 
Y.,  Dec,  1890,  161  ff. 
We  now  give  a  select  list  of  recent  Luther  literature. 

1890 :  Painter,  F.  N.,  Luther  in  Education,  with  transl.  of  two  of  his  treatises, 
Phila. 

1891;  Robertson,  W.  B.,  Martin  Luther,  Edinb.,  2d  ed., 1892.  "  A  finely  wrought 
study  with  touches  approaching  genius."  Evers,  G.  G.,  Martin  Luther  : 
Lebens  u.  Charakterbild,  v.  ihm  selbst  gezeichnet  in  s.  eig.  Schriften  u. 
Correspondenzen,  Mainz ;  Martin  d.  Prophet  v.  Wittenberg,  Osnabr. 

1892  :  Lipsius,  R.  A. ,  Luthers  Lehre  von  der  Busse,  Braunsch. ,  1892  [see  Th. 
Litz.,  1893,  No.  1]  ;  Gutmann,  K.  A.,  Martin  Luthers  Leben  u.  Wirken, 
Rothenbg.  o.  T. 

1893:  Kolde,  Th.,  Martin  Luther,  2  vols,  [one  of  the  great  biographies]; 
Hausrath,  A.,  M.  L.s  Raufahrt,  Berl. 

1894:  Frey,  C,  Luther-Studien,  Leipz.  [a  defense  against  recent  Roman  at- 
tacks] ;  Nebe,  Aug.,  Luther  as  a  Spiritual  Adviser,  transl.,  Phila.  [presents 
the  reformer  in  a  new  and  welcome  light]. 

1895:  Berger,  A.  E.,  Die  Kulturaufgaben  der  Reformation:  Einleitung  in  e. 
Luther-biographie,  Berl.;  Zweynert,  E.,  Luthers  Stellung  zur  humanisti- 
chen  Schule  u.  Wissenschaft,  Leipz. ;  Kohler,  W.  E. ,  Luthers  Schrif t  an 
den  christlichen  Adel  deutschen  Nation  in  Spiegel  der  Kultur  und  Zeit- 
Geschichte,  Halle  [see  Th.  Litz.,  1896,  No.  6];  Frey,  C,  Urtheile  Dr. 
Martin  Luthers  iiber  das  Papstthum,  Leipz.  [an  able  defense  of  Luther, 
from  his  own  writings]. 

1896  :  Drews,  P. ,  Disputationes  Luthers  an  der  Univ.  Wittenberg,  2  vols,  [a 
book  of  inestimable  value,  ably  edited  ;  see  Buchwald,  in  Th.  Lit-blatt., 
July  12, 1895  ;  D.  Moore,  in  Presb.  and  Ref.  Rev.,  viii,  336-340  ;  Grit.  Rev., 
vi,  419 ;  and  F.  A.  Christie,  in  New  World,  vi,  385]  ;  Plitt,  G.,  Martin 


124  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

Luthers  Leben  u.  "Wirken,  4th.  ed.,  Leipz.,  completed  by  E.  F.  Petersen  ; 
Kleis,  J.  A. ,  Luthers  '  heiliges '  Leben  und  '  heiliger '  Tod,  tr.  from 
Norwegian,  Mainz  ;  see  Bossert  in  Th.  Litz.,  1897,  No.  7. 

1897 :  Porta,  M.  C. ,  Pastorallehre  aus  Luthers  Werken,  Braunsch. ,  valuable ; 
Bohling,  A. ,  Dr.  Martin  Luther  u.  Ignaz  v.  Loyola  :  eine  gesch.  Parallele, 
Heidelb.;  Veloni,  Martin  Luther,  Lond.;  Fauth,  Franz,  Dr.  Martin  Lu- 
thers Leben,  Leipz.  [see  Th.  Litz.,  1898,  No.  15,  416].  This  year  was  pub- 
lished also  a  continuation  of  Paul  Kalkoff's  important  Dispatches  of  the 
papal  Nuncio  Aleander  from  the  Worms  diet,  1521,  transl.  into  German 
and  annotated,  Halle  a.  S.  [see  A.  Wrede  in  Th.  Litz.,  1898,  No.  17]. 

1898  :  Die  sittliche  Triebkraft  des  Glaubens  :  eine  Untersuchung  z.  Luthers 
Theologie,  Leipz.;  Hartwig,  J.,  Luthers  Stellung  zur  Politik,  Leipz.; 
Braasch,  D.  A.  H.,  Luthers  Stellung  zum  Sozialismus,  Braunsch.  [see  Th.- 
blatt.,  30  June,  1898  ;  Th.  Litz.,  1898,  No.  18]  ;  Junge,  Fr.,  Martin  Luther : 
sein  Leben,  Berl.  It  is  impossible  for  lack  of  space  to  give  a  list  of 
review  articles  on  Luther.  A  long,  able,  and,  on  the  whole,  favorable 
treatment  is  in  The  Quar.  Rev.,  July,  1897,  and  a  symposium  on  various 
aspects  of  Luther  is  in  the  Luth.  Ch.  Rev.,  Phil.,  Oct.,  1897.  An  inter- 
esting discussion  of  Luther's  relation  to  persecution  is  given  by  Dunlop 
Moore  in  Presb.  and  Ref.  Rev.,  Jan.,  1897,  and  by  J.  W.  Early  in  Luth. 
Church  Rev.,  Jan.,  1898. 


LUTHER  AND  THE  GERMAN  REFORMATION.     125 


PART   II. 

THE  REFORMATION. 


I.    ON    THE    CONTINENT. 
CHAPTER  I. 

LUTHER  AND  THE  GERMAN  REFORMATION. 

However  high  may  be  the  estimate  which  future  ages  shall 
place  upon  other  great  reformers  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the 
position  of  the  foremost,  and  the  leader  of  all,  assigned  to  Martin 
Luther  by  his  contemporaries,  both  among  friends  and  foes,  and 
by  historians  from  that  day  to  this,  will  ever  be  maintained.  The 
great  truths  of  the  Reformation — the  supreme  author-  LUTHEB.S 
ity  of  the  sacred  Scriptures  and  justification  by  faith  leadership. 
alone — were  announced  by  others  earlier  than  by  him,  yet  their 
utterances  were  passed  by  in  silence.  But  when  Luther  spoke  he 
made  all  men  hear.  The  earnest  and  devout  rejoiced,  but  the 
potentates  of  the  Church,  which  then  was  a  mere  shadow,  trembled. 
Had  Rome  been  able  to  silence  Luther,  the  French  and  Swiss  Refor- 
mations would  have  caused  little  alarm.  Others  would  reform  a  city 
or  a  diocese  ;  he  would  reform  the  Church.  The  sweep  of  his  vision 
compassed  the  entire  horizon.  The  universality  of  the  man  pro- 
duces in  the  student  a  sense  of  the  illimitable  significance  of  Lu- 
ther's part  in  the  world's  history.  No  more  majestic  moment  is 
revealed  in  his  life  than  that  one  in  which  he  first  assaulted  the 
very  citadel  of  the  Roman  Catholic  faith,  and  when,  with  all 
Christendom  in  array  against  him,  he,  single  handed,  withstood 
the  shock  of  battle.1  When,  at  any  other  time,  did  the  whole  world 
spring  to  arms  to  defend  itself  against  one  man  ? 

The  sublimity  of  the  scene  does  not  arise  from  Luther's  exhibi- 

1  Berger  says  :  "  All  that  the  Humanists  had  taught  relative  to  human  dig- 
nity and  freedom  suddenly  appeared  small  and  poor  in  contrast  with  this  in- 
vincible consciousness  of  strength,  which,  lifted  above  all  sense  of  anxiety  and 
fear  of  ill,  all  feeling  of  dependence  upon  earth  and  restraint  by  reason  of  its 
bonds,  in  league  with  God,  ventured  to  assume  the  burden  of  a  conflict  with  the 
whole  world."    Die  Kulturaufgaben  der  Reformation,  p.  283. 


126  HISTORY   OP    THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

tion  of  personal  courage.  From  every  ordinary  point  of  view  it 
was  foolhardy  not  to  make  his  peace  with  the  offended  Church, 
and  a  sufficient  degree  of  obstinacy  might  account  for  his  refusal. 
In  the  firmness  of  Martin  Luther,  however,  the  chief  ingredient 
was  confidence  in  the  impregnability  of  the  position  he  had  taken. 
That  the  pope  would  sanction  the  deed  he  did  not  at  first  doubt. 
But  when  he  observed  with  amazement  that  the  pontiff  and  all  his 
counselors  were  against  him  and  little  Wittenberg,  he  still  did  not 
fear  the  result.  He  was  conscious  of  being  the  organ  of  an  al- 
mighty strength  because  he  championed  the  truth  of  Almighty  God.1 

None  but  a  great  personality  could  have  sustained  the  expan- 
sive force  of  such  a  conviction.  Such  a  personality  Luther  was. 
Gigantic  in  intellect,  of  accessible  yet  steadfast  and  unfathomed 
sensibilities,  he  was  of  pliant  but  irresistible  will.  Gentle  among  his 
friends,  in  anger  he  was  terrific.  In  the  vast  caverns 
personal-  of  Luther's  robust  Teutonic  soul  there  abode  in  per- 
fect harmony  the  tenderness  of  woman,  the  simplicity 
of  childhood,  and  the  fierce  and  untamable  spirit  of  the  lion.  His 
character  is  so  great  that  what  would  appear  as  contradictory  in 
others  in  him  excites  no  astonishment.  He  was  great  even  in  his 
faults.  To  call  him  a  genius  in  whom  met  the  streams  of  influence 
which  had  been  converging  for  hundreds  of  years  and  in  whom  the 
battle  of  these  conflicting  tendencies  was  fought  out,  and  who  as  a 
result  was  able  to  produce  a  formula  by  which  the  unconscious  antith- 
eses of  the  age  should  be  resolved,  is  both  erroneous  and  defective.8 

Luther  was  a  religious  genius,  and  in  his  experience  a  struggle 
took  place,  the  warring  factors  in  which  well  represent  certain  of 
the  elements  which  the  ages  had  not  been  able  either  to  reconcile 
or  to  set  aside.  But  while  the  scene  of  the  conflict  was  the  bosom 
of  Martin  Luther,  it  was  not  because  he  was  a  genius  but  because 
of  the  divine  ordering  of  his  life.  If  the  war  of  the  ages  was 
waged  in  this  one  man,  the  despair  of  the  ages  was  also  concen- 
trated in  him.  Martin  Luther,  left  to  himself,  had  failed  to  find  the 
peace  for  which  the  centuries  had  longed,  but,  in  the  providence 
of  God,  Staupitz  saved  him  from  his  despair  and  set  his  tempestu- 
ous soul  at  rest.  Not  as  consciously  or  unconsciously  embodying 
the  longings  and  strivings  of  his  times,  nor  as  springing  from 
those  Germans  who  were  least  influenced  by  the  ancient  Eoman 
civilization,3  nor  as  the  product  of  the  fresh  and  vigorous  peas- 

1  Berger  says  :  "  He  alone,  and  heaven  above  him,  and  God  in  him,  and  the 
whole  world  against  him."     Die  Knlturaufgaben  der  Reformation,  p.  283. 

2  Ibid.,  pp.  1-12,  282.  3  Ibid.,  pp,  286,  300. 


LUTHER  AND  THE  GERMAN  REFORMATION.     127 

ant  life  of  the  period,1  can  Martin  Luther  be  explained.  A 
genius  he  was,  indeed,  but  more.  He  was  the  man  of  providence. 
The  ages  past  did  not  make  him  ;  rather  did  he  make 

A.X.  1.1. •    1.  i.  A  U  4-U         LUTHER  THE 

the  ages  which  were  to  come.  As  one  by  one  the  man  of 
nature  of  the  corruptions  in  the  realm  of  ecclesiastical 
life  became  plain  to  him,  he  dried  up  the  sources  of  those  which 
were  barriers  to  his  purpose  ;  while  for  those  which  were  not  wholly 
without  remedy  he  dug  new  channels.  When  he  had  done  with 
his  age  it  wore  a  new  aspect.  He  rose  up  against  the  advancing 
tide  of  influences  which  had  been  accumulating  depth,  breadth, 
and  velocity  for  a  thousand  years,  and  turned  it  back. 

As  God  chose  the  man  and  fitted  him  by  singular  experiences 
for  the  work,  so  he  chose  the  time  best  suited  for  the  task.  The 
movements  of  the  Middle  Ages  by  which  the  Eeformation  was 
heralded  prepared  the  soil  for  the  new  seed."  There  was  not  only 
a  universal  desire  for  reformation  ;  there  was  widespread  expectancy 
as  well.  Prophecies  of  the  coming  change  were  frequent,  and  ap- 
proximately correct  as  to  agency,  method,  time,  and  place.3  The 
lives  and  labors  of  Wyclif  in  England,  Hus  in  Bohemia,  and 
Savonarola  in  Italy  had  not  been  in  vain.  Humanism  had  di- 
rectly and  indirectly  honeycombed,  and  the  spirit  of  the  times  had 
antiquated  the  Church.  If  the  rise  of  Luther  at  this  time  was  not 
specifically  providential,  we  may  despair  of  discovering  the  hand  of 
God  in  any  history. 

But  while  all  these  great  processes  of  historical  development  pre- 
pared the  way  for  Luther,  it  would  be  a  mistake  to  consider  him 
either  as  subordinate  to  or  coordinate  with  them  or  their  cham- 
pions.4 The  ideas  which  lived  in  him  were  incomparably  richer  and 
more  profound  and  comprehensive  than  those  of  the  Humanists, 
and,  great  as  were  the  conceptions  of  such  minds  as  Wyclif  and 

1  Berger  calls  attention  to  the  numbers  of  German  Humanists  who  were  sons 
of  peasants,  p.  280. 

2  On  this  whole  subject  Berger's  work  is  philosophical  and  fresh.  We  must 
not  overlook  the  recent  book  of  George  Burton  Adams,  Civilization  during 
the  Middle  Ages,  N.  Y.,  1894. 

3  A  holy  man  should  arise  through  whom  God  would  do  great  wonders,  who. 
would  command  that  the  Gospel  be  preached.  The  year  1520  was  designated 
as  the  commencement  of  a  great  excitement,  when  a  man  would  arise  who 
should  publish  writings  in  German  and  Latin  against  the  pope,  the  cardinals, 
and  the  unworthy  priesthood. — Berger,  p.  52. 

4  Beard  makes  the  Reformation  part  of  a  general  awakening  of  the  human 
intellect,  which  had  already  begun  in  the  fourteenth  century. — The  Reforma- 
tion in  its  Relation  to  Modern  Thought  and  Knowledge,  p.  2. 


128  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Hus,  they  fell  far  short  of  those  which  moved  the  mighty  German. 
These  men  were,  indeed,  filled  with  a  moral  and  religious  earnest- 
ness to  which  the  Humanists  were  utter  strangers,  but  it  remained 
for  Martin  Luther  alone  so  to  define  the  principles  of  the  Reforma- 
tion as  to  make  them  universally  effective.     He  lifted 

T  TTTl-TFR,   A 

working  the  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith  to  the  position  of 
a  truly  reformatory  principle.  Those  who  had  gone 
before  had  proclaimed  in  a  fragmentary  way  doctrines  to  which  he 
gave  symmetry  and  completeness  of  expression.  They  attacked 
existing  abuses  with  as  much  sincerity  as  distinguished  him,  but 
his  assaults  were  more  effectual,  because  they  were  supported:  by 
the  impregnable  rock  of  Holy  Scripture  and  animated  by  a  pro- 
found conviction  of  the  erroneous  character  of  the  doctrines  which 
had  made  them  possible.  Of  his  great  contemporaries  among  the 
reformers,  Melanchthon  was  Luther's  scientific  interpreter,  while 
Zwingli  and  Calvin  were  original,  but  rather  as  introducing  a  dis- 
tinct type  of  doctrinal  emphasis  and  practical  obligation. 

It  is  for  these  reasons  that  when  we  think  of  the  Reformation 
the  figure  of  Luther  at  once  arises  in  the  mind.  In  him  better 
than  any  other  man  the  Reformation  can  be  studied.  Calvin's 
type  may  have  had  more  followers  than  Luther's,  but  Luther  has 
influenced  the  Protestant  world  without  regard  to  types. 

Neither  by  direct  heredity  nor  by  his  studies  did  Luther  fall  heir 
to  the  reformatory  ideas  which  had  been  in  the  world  prior  to 
him.  He  did  not  study  the  lives  of  men  like  Wyclif 
for  refor-  and  Hus,  and  by  a  gift  of  eclecticism  choose  what  ap- 
peared suitable,  modifying  or  expanding  it  according 
to  his  needs.  Entirely  independent  of  them,  he  wrought  out  his 
ideas,  which  were  as  original  with  him  as  though  no  one  had  ever 
thought  of  them  before.  Nor  were  they  the  product  of  a  process 
of  reflection.  The  Reformation  had  fully  transpired  in  him  before 
he  suspected  that  he  was  to  reform  the  Church.  His  ideas  were 
more  than  opinions.  They  were  convictions.  They  did  not  have 
their  origin  in  the  intellect,  but  in  that  mysterious  realm  called 
the  heart,  where  all  the  processes  of  the  mind  operate  together,  so 
that  it  is  impossible  to  say  of  this  that  it  is  the  product  of  intellect, 
or  of  that  that  it  is  the  offspring  of  emotion  or  will.  This  is  the 
source  whence  all  those  ideas  have  their  birth  whose  mission  is  to 
turn  the  energies  of  men  into  new  channels. 

Such  is  the  man  and  such  his  relation  to  the  Reformation.  For 
well-nigh  thirty  years  the  man  and  the  movement  are,  especially  in 
Germany,  indistinguishable. 


LUTHER'S  PARENTAGE   AND    CHILDHOOD.  129 


CHAPTER   II. 

LUTHER'S    PARENTAGE   AND   CHILDHOOD. 

The  Luthers  from  whom  our  reformer  sprang  were  peasants. ' 
The  language,  "  I  am  the  son  of  a  peasant;  my  father,  grandfather, 
and  ancestry  were  true  peasants," 2  is  decisive.  The  use  of  an  ar- 
morial device  by  Luther  9  soon  after  the  beginning  of  his  reforma- 
atory  activity  was  simply  in  accordance  with  a  fashion  of  the  time, 
similar  to  the  assumption  of  Latin  or  Greek  for  German  names.4 
Luther  knew  of  a  noble  family  bearing  the  same  name,  but  claimed 
no  relationship  with  them.  Melanchthon,  also,  who  gathered  infor- 
mation for  Luther's  Life  from  the  reformer's  mother  and  brother, 
seems  not  to  have  suspected  that  the  family  descended  from  noble 
blood,5  but  asserted  that  they  were  an  ancient  family  of  the  middle 
class. 

The  Luther  family  appear  to  have  been  a  hardy  and  self-reli- 
ant people,  good  specimens  of  the  best  type  of  German  luther's 
peasantry.  The  name  of  Martin's  grandfather  was  ancestry. 
Heine,  or  Heinrich  ;  of  his  grandmother,  on  his  father's  side,  Mar- 
garete  Lindemann.6  His  father's  name  was  Hans  ;  the  name  of  his 
mother  Margarete  Ziegler.  The  grandmother  died  of  old  age  at 
Mansfeld,  in  1521. 

The  Zieglers  lived  in  the  vicinity  of  Eisenach.  But  the  Luthers 
had  their  home    at  Mohra,    a   village   on  the  southwest  spur  of 

1  The  name  is  variously  spelled  Luder,  Luder,  Lutter,  Luiter,  Lyder,  Lothar, 
or  Chlothar.  Martin's  name  was  given  at  Erfurt  as  Ludher.  He  first  wrote  it 
Luther  shortly  before  his  attack  on  the  indulgences.  He  varied  in  his  utter- 
ances as  to  the  derivation  of  the  name.  See  Beard,  Martin  Luther  and  the 
Reformation,  pp.  118,  119  ;  Kostlin,  i,  21,  22.  Kolde  does  not  discuss  Luther's 
parentage,  but  refers  his  readers  to  Kiistlin. 

2  Tischreden,  iv.  But  Luther  was  brought  up  as  a  citizen's  son.  See  Beard, 
p.  125. 

3  It  consisted  of  a  white  rose  with  a  cross  and  a  heart. 

*  Our  reformer  sometimes  signed  himself  Martinus  Eleutherius,  in  allusion, 
probably,  to  kXevdepog.     Comp.  Beard,  p.  119. 

6  Kostlin,  i,  22.  Corpus  Reformatorum,  vi,  156.  Melanchthon  speaks  of 
them  as  an  ancient  and  widely  diffused  family  of  the  common  people. 

6  Until  recently  it  has  been  believed  that  the  name  of  his  mother,  not  his  pa- 
ternal grandmother,  was  Lindemann.  The  error  is  a  perpetuation  of  a  state- 
ment of  the  Wittenberg  rector,  Schneidewin  (1558). — Kostlin,  i,  23. 

11  2 


130  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

the  Thuringian  forest.  The  population  was  small,  consisting  in 
1536  of  fifty-nine  families,  of  which  five  were  Luthers.  The  ma- 
jority were  proprietors  of  lands,  houses,  cattle,  and  horses,  and  knew 
and  maintained  their  rights.  One  of  the  principal  occupations  was 
copper  mining,  which  indeed  was  true  of  the  entire  region.  The 
village  had  a  chapel,  but  no  church,  and  was  dependent  for  reli- 
gious services  upon  Salzungen.1 

Hans  and  Margarete  removed  from  Mohra  to  Eisleben  early  in 
1483.  Their  exact  motive  for  the  change  of  residence  is  unknown. 
The  enemies  of  Luther  have  sometimes  endeavored  to  make  it 
appear  as  a  flight  from  justice,*  but  this  it  could  not  have  been, 
for  on  the  supposition  of  a  criminal  process  he  would  have  forsaken 
Saxony  entirely.  Had  there  been  any  good  foundation  for  such  a 
charge,  the  references  to  it  would  not  have  been  so 
family  meager.     The  enemies  of  the  Reformation  would  have 

rejoiced  to  be  able  to  demonstrate  the  violent  character 
of  Luther's  father.  The  probable  explanation  is  that  the  newly 
married  couple  were  seeking  a  residence  which  might  be  perma- 
nent. They  first  settled  in  Eisleben,  where  Martin  was  born,  but, 
thinking  to  secure  a  more  lucrative  position,  once  more,  soon  after 
Martin's  birth,  changed  their  place  of  abode  and  settled  in  Mans- 
feld.  Here,  but  a  short  distance  both  from  Mohra  and  Eisleben, 
Hans  did  in  reality  rise  to  prosperity.  That  he  became  a  magis- 
trate in  his  adopted  town  proves  the  respect  in  which  he  was  held, 
and  casts  improbability  upon  the  theory  that  he  was  under  ban  for 
crime.  In  fact,  both  Hans  and  Margarete  seem  to  have  been  people 
of  excellent  character,  pious,  upright,  and  justly  worthy  of  the 
regard  which  they  enjoyed. 

We  may  well  believe  that  no  shadow  of  accidental  or  intentional 
homicide  overhung  the  home  in  which  Martin  Luther  was  born,  at 

1K6stlin,  i,  20. 

2  The  first  mention  we  have  of  such  an  episode  in  Hans  Luther's  life  is  that 
of  George  Witzel,  an  apostate  from  the  evangelicals,  who  in  controversy  once 
exclaimed,  "  I  might  call  your  Luther  the  son  of  a  murderer."  The  next  men- 
tion is  in  a  pseudonymous  document  appearing  in  Paris  in  1565,  which 
called  Hans  a  homicide.  At  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century  a  report  of 
mining  affairs  in  Thuringia  speaks  of  the  matter  a  little  more  in  detail.  Kost- 
lin  suggests  that  either  the  report  arose  from  some  such  incident  in  the  life  of  a 
neighbor  or  relative  of  Hans,  or  that  it  might  possibly  have  been  true  of  him 
that  by  accident  or  in  self-defense  he  did  take  a  human  life,  in  which  case  it 
would  not  reflect  on  his  character. — Kostlin,  i,  24.  But  even  the  theory  of  ac- 
cidental or  excusable  homicide  is  irreconcilable  with  the  facts.  Kbstlin's  first 
alternative  may  be  correct. 


LUTHER'S   PARENTAGE   AND   CHILDHOOD.  131 

Eisleben,  on  November  10,  1483.  Margarete  remembered  well  the 
date  of  the  month  and  hour  of  the  night  when  her  firstborn  was  be- 
stowed upon  her,  although  memory  failed  her  as  to  the  martin's 
year.1  The  hour  was  between  eleven  and  twelve.  The  birth. 
next  day,  sacred  to  St.  Martin,  the  boy  was  baptized  in  St.  Peter's 
Church,  and  named  for  the  saint  whose  festival  was  being  observed. 

In  a  few  months  Hans  and  Margarete  took  their  newborn  son 
and  their  little  belongings  and  removed  to  Mansfeld,  where  they 
spent  the  remainder  of  their  lives.  They  were  very  poor  in  their 
earliest  married  years,  and  the  increasing  family  gave  them  but 
slight  opportunity  for  the  accumulation  of  wealth.2  Hans  was  en- 
gaged in  mining,  and  after  a  time  became  a  smelter  THB  Mans- 
of  the  ores,  thus  improving  his  pecuniary  situation,3  if  FELD  HOME- 
not  lightening  his  toil.  Margarete  was  as  frugal  and  industrious 
as  her  husband,  gathering  and  carrying  on  her  back  the  fuel  for  the 
household,  in  addition  to  other  domestic  cares.  Both  commanded 
the  respect  of  their  neighbors  :  Hans  for  his  integrity,  diligence  and 
good  sense  ;  Margarete  for  her  modesty  and  piety.  She  seems  to 
have  been  a  woman  who  loved  prayer.  When  Martin  was  but  eight 
years  old  Hans  had  attained  the  dignity  of  a  representative  of  the 
city  in  connection  with  the  city  council.  John  Kessler,  the  Swiss 
reformer,  saw  them  in  1522,  and  described  them  as  of  short  stature 
and  brown  complexion. 

These  honest,  God-fearing  parents  did  what  they  could  for  the 
boy  Martin.  They  sent  him  to  school,  where  he  learned  reading, 
writing,  arithmetic,  and  a  little  Latin.  He  said  afterward  that  in 
twenty  years  one  could  only  learn  enough  bad  Latin  to 
enable  him  to  become  a  priest  and  read  the  mass.  The  home  train- 
teachers  were  severe  and  unreasonable.  Martin  was 
whipped  fifteen  times  in  one  morning  for  inability  to  recite  de- 

1  Melanchthon  in  his  Vita,  speaking  of  Lather's  mother,  says:  "To  my  in- 
quiries concerning  the  time  when  her  son  was  born  she  replied  that  she  remem- 
bered with  certainty  the  day  and  hour,  but  was  in  doubt  about  the  year." — 
Corp.  Kef.,  vi,  156.  Luther  and  Melanchthon  hesitated  between  1484  and  1483, 
but  finally  settled  upon  the  latter.  This  is,  according  to  Melanchthon,  the  tes- 
timony of  Martin's  brother,  Jacobus,  who  declared  that  the  family  believed 
the  year  to  have  been  1483. — Corp.  Ref. ,  vi,  156. 

9  There  were  at  least  three  sons  and  three  daughters  besides  Martin.  Two 
of  the  sons  appear  to  have  died  young.  The  three  daughters  married  and 
made  their  homes  in  Mansfeld. — Kostlin,  i,  27. 

3  Upon  the  division  of  his  property  it  was  found  to  be  worth  from  $5,000  to 
$8,000,  a  good  sum  for  that  time.  This  fortune,  however,  was  gathered  but 
slowly. 


132  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

clensions  and  conjugations  which  he  had  never  been  required  to 
learn.  But  if  the  teachers  were  severe,  so  were  the  parents.  Upon 
one  occasion  Hans  whipped  the  boy  so  terrifically  that  for  a  long 
time  the  latter  was  afraid  to  stay  in  his  father's  presence.  Nor 
was  Margarete  more  gentle.  For  some  small  offense  she  whipped 
him  until  the  blood  flowed.  Martin,  looking  back  upon  these  early 
days,  saw  indeed  the  error  of  his  parents,  but  loved  them  none 
the  less  for  their  strictness,  attributing  it  to  an  erroneous  concep- 
tion of  their  duty  toward  him. 

In  their  religious  life  the  parents  were  loyal  adherents  of  the  old 

faith.1     They  taught  him  to  honor  St.  George,  the  patron  saint  of 

the  city,  to  whom  the  church  was  dedicated.     St.  Anne 

RELIGIOUS  ,  .  .    .  .,  -lx-  1T_ 

instruction  also,  whose  worship  received  a  mighty  impulse  about 
that  time,  and  who  was  especially  venerated  by  the 
miners,  he  was  taught  to  revere.  The  current  belief  in  demons  was 
blindly  accepted  by  his  parents,  and  instilled  into  the  boy's  mind.8 
At  school  he  learned  the  catechism,  the  creed,  the  Lord's  Prayer,  the 
Ten  Commandments,  and  some  psalms  and  German  and  Latin 
hymns.  The  curriculum,  both  in  its  religious  and  secular  aspects, 
was  sufficiently  broad  for  a  child,  and  if  it  had  been  carefully  and 
well  taught  must  have  resulted  in  a  considerable  mental  and  moral 
discipline.  And  we  suspect  that  notwithstanding  defective  methods 
of  instruction  Martin  received  much  benefit  from  those  early  days. 
Their  most  distinct  effect,  however,  seems  to  have  been  to  intimi- 
date him.  The  rough  treatment  which  he  received  at  the  hands  of 
his  teachers  and  well-meaning  parents  repressed,  though  it  did  not 
break,  his  spirit,  accustoming  him  to  pain  and  prejtaring  him  for 
the  hardships  which  he  was  to  endure  as  a  monk  in  later  years.3 
The  religious  impressions  which  Luther  carried  out  of  his  child- 
hood into  youth  were  chiefly  that  Christ  was  a  stern  judge  from 
whose  relentlessness  the  only  hope  of  release  was  the  mercy   of 

1  When  an  offer  of  sixty  days'  indulgence  was  made  to  those  who  should 
hear  mass  at  two  altars  newly  erected  to  certain  saints,  Hans  Luther  was  one 
of  the  first  to  avail  himself  of  the  privilege.  But  Hans  was  opposed  to  a  mon- 
astic life  for  Martin,  and  he  appears  to  have  been  free  from  much  of  the  pre- 
vailing superstition  of  the  time. 

2  Luther  believed  to  his  latest  days  in  the  deception  practiced  by  the  devil 
even  in  material  things,  making  them  see  in  heaps  of  earth  great  piles  of  rich 
ore. — Tischreden,  iii,  96  f.  He  was  sure  that  his  mother  had  been  sorely  plagued 
by  a  witch. 

3  Luther  affirms  that  the  reason  for  his  taking  refuge  in  the  cloister  and  be- 
coming a  monk  was  the  severe  and  harsh  life  he  had  led  while  a  boy. — Beard, 
131. 


LUTHER'S   PARENTAGE   AND   CHILDHOOD.  133 

the  Holy  Virgin.  But  in  later  years  he  remembered  with  delight 
the  songs  which,  though  there  was  no  teacher  to  explain,  yet 
gave  him  almost  the  only  enjoyment  of  his  early  life.  Some  of 
them  he  recommended  for  use  in  the  Protestant  churches,  as, 
"  Ein  Kindelein  so  lobelich  ist  uns  geboren  heute,"  for  Christmas  ; 
"  Christ  ist  erstanden  von  seiner  Marter  alle,"  for  Easter ;  and 
"  Nun  bitten  wir  den  heiligen  Geist,"  for  Pentecost.1 

The  Mansfelders  were  a  moral  people,  and  the  clergy  of  the  place 
in  Luther's  boyhood  were  more  exemplary  than  in  some  other  cities. 
Such  was  Luther's  later  recollection  of  them.  If  he  was  in  error 
here  it  was  because  the  wickedness  of  the  priests  was  kept  from  the 
knowledge  of  the  child.  There  is  nothing  in  the  home,  school, 
church,  or  social  life  of  Luther  during  this  period  which  could 
have  prepared  him  more  than  thousands  of  others  for  the  great 
duties  he  was  afterward  to  assume. 

When  the  boy  was  fourteen  years  of  age  it  was  determined  that 
he  should  not  remain  in  the  occupation  of  his  father,  but  be  edu- 
cated for  the  law.  Together  with  Johann  Eeineck,  or  Hans  Rei- 
nicke,  afterward  superintendent  of  foundries  in  Mans- 

THF    T  AD 

feld,  and  Luther's  lifelong  friend,  he  was  sent  to  school  maktin  at 
in  Magdeburg.  Here  he  was  brought  into  contact  with 
the  activities  of  a  larger  city,  with  more  numerous  churches,  and 
with  the  prevalent  type  of  piety  of  the  Middle  Ages.3  It  was  not 
uncommon  for  boys  whose  parents  were  well-to-do  to  support  them- 
selves in  whole  or  in  part  by  singing  from  door  to  door.  Luther 
took  pride  in  the  fact  that  he  had  sung  his  way  through  school  even 
in  Magdeburg.3  He  mentions  the  fact  that  he  had  for  his  instruct- 
ors the  Null  Briider,  or  Lollards,  identical,  perhaps,  with  the  Broth- 
ers of  the  Common  Life.4  From  them  he  must  have  received  tem- 
poral as  well  as  intellectual  assistance.     A  letter  written  by  Luther 

1  Kolde,  i,  34. 

2  See  ample  description  of  these  influences  in  Berger,  Martin  Luther,  i, 
22-25.  Here  it  was  that  Luther  saw  the  picture  which  represented  the  Church 
as  a  great  ship  in  which  no  layman,  king,  or  prince  could  be  seen,  but  only 
the  pope,  the  cardinals,  and  the  bishops,  with  the  Holy  Ghost  at  their  head 
and  with  priests  and  monks  at  the  oars.  The  laymen  swam  alongside,  some  of 
whom  were  saved  from  drowning  by  the  ropes  which  the  pope  in  his  goodness 
threw  out  for  the  laymen  to  take  hold  of. 

3  Kolde,  i,  34 ;  Berger,  i,  22. 

4  They  had  no  separate  school  in  Magdeburg  at  that  time,  but  there  was  a 
settlement  of  them  in  the  city,  and  as  they  were  famous  for  their  interest  in 
the  young  they  were  probably  employed  in  the  city  schools. — Kolde,  i,  35  ; 
Kostlin,  i,  34. 


134  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

in  1522  to  Storm,  then  Burgess  of  Magdeburg,  refers  to  the  time 
when  the  correspondents  were  guests  in  the  home  of  Mosshauer, 
from  which  also  we  see  that  he  was  not  left  to  himself  for  support. 
In  the  single  year  of  his  residence  in  Magdeburg  a  boy  of  his  age 
would  scarcely  receive  any  very  powerful  impulses  for  life,  yet  one 
scene  which  he  witnessed  was  never  effaced  from  his  memory.  It 
was  that  of  a  prince,  Wilhelm  of  Anhalt,  who  wore  the  cap  of  the 
barefoot  monks,  bending  under  the  weight  of  a  bag  which  he  car- 
ried on  his  shoulders  as  he  begged  bread  from  door  to  door.  It 
appeared  to  him  the  summit  of  piety,  and  to  put  to  shame  the 
secular  life  of  others.1 

The  Lollards  did  not  indeed  live  in  cloisters,  but  their  stern 
morality  must  have  contributed  to  Martin's  conception  of  duty. 
And  who  can  tell  what  unremembered  influence  their  zeal  for  the 
reading  of  the  Bible  and  for  religious  services  con- 
touch  on  ducted  in  the  native  languages  may  have  exercised 
upon  him?  Andreas  Proles,  the  then  vicar  general 
of  the  German  congregation  of  Augustinian  monks,  spent  the 
year  1497  in  Magdeburg,  and  it  is  possible  that  the  boy  was  di- 
rectly or  indirectly  under  his  influence.  He  seems  to  have  been 
a  man  of  independent  mind,  and  condemned  the  rewarding  of 
dishonorable  opponents  of  John  Hus  ;  and  it  is  said  that  he  proph- 
esied the  early  fall  of  the  papacy  and  the  appearance  of  a  heroic 
reformer.  But  there  is  no  evidence  that  these  opinions  nor  the 
other  one  attributed  to  him,  that,  contrary  to  the  doctrine  of 
merit,  we  are  indebted  for  all  we  possess  alone  to  God's  grace,  ever 
came  to  the  knowledge  of  Luther  in  his  Magdeburg  days.  The 
absence  of  direct  evidence  does  not,  however,  destroy  the  possi- 
bility, nor  even  the  probability,  of  such  contact  as  we  have  supposed. 

At  the  end  of  one  year  in  Magdeburg  his  parents  sent  him  to 
Eisenach,  where  he  remained  until  the  spring  of  1501,  in  all  about 
four  years.  His  mother's  family  resided  in  the  vicinity,  and  it  was 
not  far  from  Mohra,  the  home  of  his  grandparents  and  other  pater- 
luthek  at  na,l  relatives.  It  was  probably  the  desire  to  have  the 
eisenach.  boy  near  his  kindred  that  prompted  his  removal  to  Eis- 
enach. His  later  utterances  suggest  that  these  relatives  treated  him 
with  such  kindness  as  to  win  his  affection.  That  he  sang  for  his 
living  does  not  prove  that  he  received  no  assistance  from  them.  As 
he  was  singing  one  day  Frau  Ursula  Cotta  was  attracted  by  the 
heartiness  of  his  song  and  invited  him  into  her  home.  The  Cottas 
were  a  noble  Italian  family  of  great  influence  in  Eisenach.  They 
1  Opera,  Erlangen  Ausgabe,  31,  239  £. 


LUTHER'S   PARENTAGE   AND    CHILDHOOD.  135 

rendered  the  youth  just  the  assistance  he  needed  at  this  time. 
Through  them  he  was  relieved  of  anxiety  concerning  his  daily  bread, 
and  in  their  society  he  was  brought  into  contact  with  a  more  refined 
domestic  life  than  he  had  hitherto  known.1  His  association  with 
them  spared  him  the  inevitable  demoralization  otherwise  attendant 
upon  his  student  life. 

His  religious  life  seems  to  have  followed  here  the  regular  churchly 
channels.  The  principal  advantages  consisted  of  the  social  kind 
just  mentioned  and  in  the  superior  instruction  there  imparted. 
He  attended  the  school  attached  to  the  Church  of  St.  George.  The 
principal  teacher  was  Johann  Trebonius,  a  man  of  good  parts  but 
somewhat  eccentric.  He  always  removed  his  cap  upon  entering  the 
schoolroom,  because  he  knew  not  what  great  man  might  be  before 
him  in  the  person  of  one  of  these  boys.  Another  of  his  teachers 
whom  Luther  mentions  was  Wigand.  Under  the  more  genial  in- 
fluences which  now  surrounded  him  his  talents  began  to  display 
themselves.  He  outstripped  all  his  companions  of  like 
age,  and,  whether  in  prose  or  poetry,  he  exhibited  teachers  at 
remarkable  ability  and  skill.  KOstlin  mentions,  while 
Kolde  rejects  as  irrelevant,  the  case  of  one  Johann  Hilton,  a  Fran- 
ciscan monk,  who  had  courageously  attacked  the  rottenness  of  the 
Church,  who  lay  in  confinement  as  a  penalty,  and  who  proph- 
esied that  in  1516  a  man  would  arise  whom  the  monks  would  not 
be  able  to  resist.  Luther  claims  to  have  heard  Heinrich  Schalbe, 
a  relative  of  Frau  Cotta,  speak  of  Hilton  as  "one  who  lay 
bound."  But  it  is  not  probable  that  the  affair  affected  Luther's 
career.  Of  the  prophecy  Luther  did  not  even  hear  until  twenty 
years  later.  He  left  Eisenach  cured  of  the  unnatural  timidity  in- 
duced by  his  earlier  life,  and  elevated  and  refined  by  the  relations 
which  for  four  years  he  had  sustained  to  his  instructors,  school 
companions,  and  friends. 

•To  his  translation  of  Prov.  xxzi,  10,  which  chapter  describes  the  "virtu- 
ous woman,"  he  appends  the  comment :  "  There  is  nothing  more  precious  on 
earth  than  the  love  of  woman  to  one  to  whom  it  is  permitted,"  attributing  the 
authorship  of  this  praise  to  his  hostess  at  Eisenach. — Tischreden,  iv,  75.  Frau 
Cotta  was  no  longer  a  young  woman  in  Luther's  student  days.  See  Schneide- 
wind,  Das  Lutherhaus  zu  Eisenach,  1883. 


136  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  III. 

LUTHER  AS   A  STUDENT  AT  ERFURT. 

"While  the  first  seventeen  and  a  half  years  of  Luther's  life  had 
been  passing,  his  father's  financial  situation  had  materially  im- 
proved. When  the  youth  entered  upon  his  studies  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  Erfurt,  in  the  spring  of  1501,  his  father  was  able  to  provide 
the  means  needful  for  his  sustenance,  while  he  pursued  his  prepa- 
rations for  the  profession  of  the  law. '  The  university  was  the  most 
at  the  uni-  celebrated  in  Germany,  and  it  was  a  common  saying 
versity.  ^at  whoeyer  WOuld  be  a  true  scholar  must  go  to  Erfurt. 
Princes,  lords,  and  high  officials  in  the  Church  were  proud  to  have 
their  names  on  the  list  of  matriculants. a  The  splendor  of  the  cere- 
monies performed  upon  promotion  to  the  master's  or  doctor's  degree 
made  such  an  impression  upon  Luther  that  he  declared  no  earthly 
joy  greater  than  the  attentions  bestowed  upon  these  honored  ones. 
Among  the  most  celebrated  professors  were  Henning  Gode,  the 
jurist,  and  Jodocus  Trutvetter,  professor  of  philosophy,  which  de- 
partment included  logic,  dialectics,  metaphysics,  rhetoric,  the 
phenomena  of  earth  and  sky,  and  the  classical  languages  and 
authors,  especially  the  Latin. 

For  those  who  would  prepare  themselves  for  law  it  was  custom- 
ary to  pursue  a  course  in  philosophy.  In  this  Trutvetter  and  Ar- 
noldi,  of  Usingen,  were  the  principal  instructors.3  They  were  both 
adherents  of  the  nominalistic  school,  and  their  most  distinguished 
pupil,  Luther,  remained  a  nominalist  to  his  death.  The  admira- 
tion for  Humanistic  studies  found  a  congenial  soil  in 
traction  to"  Erfurt,  and  for  a  time  Jerome  Emser,  Luther's  later 
theological  antagonist,  was  one  of  the  lecturers  in  this 
field.  Luther  did  not  devote  himself  especially,  however,  to  the 
arts  so  delightful  to  the  "  Poets,"4  but  to  the  more  abstruse  spec- 

1  As  an  illustration  of  the  bountiful  supply  of  funds  furnished  by  his  father, 
it  is  stated  that  he  was  even  able  to  buy  his  own  books.  — Kolde,  i,  40  ;  Kbstlin, 
i,  40.  2  Kolde,  i,  37. 

3  A  good  work  on  Arnold  of  Usingen,  though  from  the  Roman  Catholic 
point  of  view,  is  "  Der  Augustiner  Bartholomaus  Arnoldi  von  Usingen,  Luth- 
ers  Lehrer  und  Gegner."     By  Nic.  Paulus,  Freiburg  i.  B.,  1893. 

4  His  Latin,  except  in  some  of  his  writings  to  Humanistic  leaders,  such  as 
Erasmus,  was  not  distinguished  for  elegance. 


LUTHER  AS  A   STUDENT   AT   ERFURT.  137 

illations  which  busied  the  scholastics.  He  mingled  with  a  wide 
circle  of  young  Humanists,  but  was  known  to  them  as  "The  Phi- 
losopher." So  diligently  and  successfully  did  he  pursue  his  studies 
that  at  Michaelmas,  1502,  he  attained  the  baccalaureate,  and  in 
1505,  at  Epiphany,  the  long-wished  honors  of  "  The  Master  "  were 
bestowed  upon  him.  Among  the  friends  of  these  years  in  Erfurt 
were  Crotus  Rubianus,  Johann  Lange,  and  Spalatin,  who  was  sub- 
sequently court  preacher  to  the  Elector  of  Saxony,  and  singularly 
useful  to  Luther  in  the  work  of  the  Reformation. 

Theologically  there  was  nothing  in  the  University  of  Erfurt  to 
modify  the  views  which  Luther  had  hitherto  held.  Certain  teach- 
ings of  professors  in  earlier  times  than  those  of  Luther  had  been 
forbidden  by  the  Church.  Among  them  were  the  utterances  of 
Johann  of  Wesel,  who,  with  much  greater  system  and  clearness  than 
Luther,  had,  between  1450  and  1460,  attacked  the  system  of  in- 
dulgences and  other  doctrines  of  the  Middle  Ages,  for  which  he  died 
in  prison.  But  the  evidence  is  against  the  supposition  that  Luther 
had  any  knowledge  of  this  while  he  was  at  Erfurt.  As  everywhere, 
there  were  those  in  Erfurt  who  questioned  the  justice  of  the  con- 
demnation of  Hus,  and  who  opposed  the  Roman  curia.  But  the 
university  was  loyally  Roman  Catholic.  In  his  religious  life  Luther 
met  with  nothing  up  to  this  time  to  change  its  usual  course.  He 
did  indeed  find  a  book  which  he  had  never  before  seen,  the  Bible, 
in  which  he  read  and  admired  the  story  of  Hannah,  and  Samuel. 
He  must  have  heard  the  earnest  preacher,  Sebastian  Weinmann, 
who  thundered  against  the  depraved  populace  of  Erfurt,  and  who 
is  said  to  have  declared  to  his  hearers  that  a  time  would  come 
when  the  Gospel  would  be  read  to  them  out  of  the  Bible,  and  who 
in  1508  denounced  a  vender  of  indulgences  so  severely  that  flight 
from  the  city  for  a  time  was  necessary.  An  illustration  of  Luther's 
unshaken  confidence  in  the  superstitions  of  the  Church  is  preserved. 
Having  started  on  a  tour  to  his  parental  home,  a  sword,  which, 
according  to  the  custom  of  the  time,  he  carried  at  his  side,  acci- 
dentally pierced  his  flesh  and  opened  an  artery.  Calling  upon  the 
Virgin  Mary,  he  lay  upon  his  back  until  a  surgeon  could  be 
brought.  When,  on  the  next  night,  the  wound  reopened,  and  the 
danger  of  bleeding  to  death  again  stared  him  in  the  face,  he  once 
more  cried  to  the  Virgin  for  help. 

At  this  point  it  will  be  well  to  review  briefly  the  hints  we  have 
as  to  the  development  of  his  inner  religious  life.  These  are  few, 
and,  so  far  as  given  by  Luther  in  later  years,  colored  by  the  views 
at  which  he  had   then  arrived.     Everything  points  to  his  having 


138  HISTORY   OF    THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

imbibed  the  conception  of  sanctity  then  prevalent.  Under  the  home 
influence  at  Mansfeld,  in  Magdeburg  under  the  instruction  of  the 
Lollards,  and  at  Eisenach,  where  the  memory  of  St. 
religious  Elizabeth  was  highly  honored,  the  continuous  stream 
of  monastic  suggestions  played  upon  him.  Severity 
toward  self  as  meritorious  and  as  tending  to  crucify  the  sinful  pro- 
pensities, and  benignity  toward  the  poor  and  distressed  as  a  neces- 
sary element  of  religious  life,  or  as  purchasing  salvation,  were 
constantly  inculcated  by  precept  and  example ;  and  we  have  seen 
how  in  Magdeburg  the  humility  of  the  princely  monk,  Wilhelm  of 
Anhalt,  excited  his  admiration. 

This  boyish  sentiment  we  discover  in  the  youth  at  Erfurt,  where 
the  pale  faces  of  certain  young  Carthusians,  with  bodies  prema- 
turely aged  as  a  result  of  self-inflicted  castigations,  were  to  him 
the  sure  sign  of  a  holy  life  consecrated  to  God.  Then  the  severity 
of  his  parents  against  the  smallest  infringement  of  the  moral  code, 
drawn  to-  so  far  from  reacting  in  the  interest  of  laxity,  as  would 
monastic5  have  been  the  case  with  a  shallower  nature,  imbued 
LIFE<  him  with  a  profound  sense  of  the  unyielding  require- 

ments of  God's  law.  The  anger  of  Christ,  the  awful  Judge,  as 
Luther  had  been  taught  to  regard  him,  brought  terror  to  his  soul. 
God  could  only  be  appeased  by  holy  living.  The  feelings  of  his 
heart,  which  were  hidden  to  the  outer  world  by  the  intensity  of 
his  application  to  study  and  by  his  joyousness  in  social  life,  were 
summed  up  in  the  language  which  he  attributes  to  these  early 
years,  "  0  when  wilt  thou  at  last  become  devout  and  perform  such 
deeds  as  will  make  God  gracious  to  thee  ?  " ' 

Such  an  exclamation  reveals  the  long-continued  effort  he  had 
made,  the  hunger  of  his  soul.  As  he  afterward  said,  in  that 
hour  of  need,  "No  man  gave  unto  him."  Knowing  the  richness 
and  passion  of  his  nature,  we  may  easily  comprehend  the  strength 
of  this  inward  craving  for  satisfaction.2  Gradually  there  would 
be  pressed  upon  his  attention  the  existence  within  him  of  yearn- 
ings which  nothing  he  had  yet  experienced  could  satisfy.  He  had 
known  the  earthly  joy  of  the  honors  bestowed  by  Erfurt  upon 
those  who  acquired  the  master's  degree.     He  was  in  high  favor 

1  0  warm  willst  du  einmal  fromm  werden  und  genug  thun,  dass  du  einen 
gnadigen  Gott  kriegst  ?  "  Certain  verbal  translations  of  this  cry  of  a  longing 
soul  are  truly  amusing. 

a  In  all  his  studies  of  the  Latin  classics  it  was  more  the  practical  life  of  the 
ancients  which  interested  him  than  the  form  of  their  literature. — Kostlin,  i, 
50  ;  Kolde,  i,  43. 


LUTHER  AS  A   STUDENT   AT  ERFURT.  139 

with  the  university  and  his  cultivated  associates,  but  this  unde- 
fined dissatisfaction  grew  in  spite  of  it  all.  He  felt  that  his  life 
thus  far  had  been  lived  for  himself.  He  knew  no  other  way  of 
giving  himself  to  God  than  to  enter  upon  a  monastic  life,  and  we 
must  infer  that  the  thought  of  this  duty  had  been  long  in  his 
mind.  In  no  other  way  can  we  explain  his  sudden  determination 
to  become  a  monk.  If  the  humiliations,  privations,  and  holy  exer- 
cises of  the  cloister  had  not  appeared  consciously  to  him  as  the 
religious  demand  of  the  powers  to  whom  his  soul  owed  obedience, 
his  vow  to  propitiate  those  powers  would  not  have  taken  this 
form.1 

1  Berger  treats  interestingly  the  internal  motives  which  drove  Luther  into 
the  convent. — Martin  Luther,  i,  47,  59.  As  a  motto  to  his  section  on  that  sub- 
ject he  quotes  from  Luther's  Kirchenpostille  :  "I  entered  the  monastery  and 
forsook  the  world  because  I  despaired  of  myself."  "  The  proverb  expresses 
the  truth  :  desperation  makes  the  monk." 


140  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

LUTHER  ENTERS  THE  AUGUSTINIAN  MONASTERY. 

A  deed  is  now  to  be  described  whose  consequences  to  Luther, 
and  through  him  to  the  Church,  it  would  be  difficult  to  overesti- 
mate. He  had  become  master,  and  with  this  dignity  he  had  ob- 
tained the  right  to  lecture  on  philosophy,  a  right  which,  however, 
he  did  not  exercise.  On  the  contrary,  he  had  begun  the  study  of 
law  in  accordance  with  his  father's  wish.  In  the  fond  hope  of  a 
famous  career,  and  a  rich  and  honorable  marriage  at  the  end  of  his 
legal  studies,  Hans  Luther  spared  no  expense  to  fit  him  for  his 
chosen  profession.1  His  bright  but  earthly  anticipations  for  his 
gifted  son  were  to  be  suddenly  blasted.  On  the  day  of 
become  a°  St.  Alexius,  July  17,2  1505,  Luther,  as  the  result  of  a 
sudden  decision,  entered  the  convent  of  the  Augustin- 
ians  in  Erfurt.  He  could  have  chosen  a  less  rigid  form  of  monas- 
ticism  in  the  university  town,  for  it  was  well  supplied  with  monas- 
teries ;  but  it  is  an  evidence  of  his  earnestness  that  he  chose  the 
Observantists  of  the  Augustinian  order  as  being  more  strict  and 
severe  than  others.3  Does  not  the  issue  warrant  the  thought  that 
God  was,  even  in  this  strange  act,  leading  him  straight  to  the  goal  ? 

The  external  circumstances  which  impelled  him  to  this  marvel- 
ous and  sudden  alteration  of  his  plans  for  life  are  easily  told.  As  he 
was  returning  on  the  2d  of  July  from  a  visit  to  his  parents,  he  was 
overtaken  by  a  severe  thunder  storm  near  the  village  of  Stotten- 

1  An  illustration  of  the  munificence  of  his  provisions  is  his  purchase  for 
Martin  of  the  Corpus  Juris,  at  that  time  a  very  expensive  work. 

2  The  date  generally  given  is  July  16  ;  but  Beard  points  out  that  in  the  Roman 
Breviary  St.  Alexius's  day  occurs  on  the  17th — p.  145,  n.  1.  Kolde  places  the 
date  as  the  17th — i,  45  ;  also  Kostlin — i,  56  f. 

3  For  an  excellent  and  somewhat  full  account  of  the  Observantists,  see  Beard, 
Martin  Luther,  pp.  148-150.  In  the  same  connection  he  also  refutes  the  idea 
that  Luther's  Augustinianism  was  imbibed  through  his  connection  with  the 
Augustinian  order.  M  oiler  says  :  ' '  Of  an  evangelical,  free  type  of  theology  in 
the  order,  as  is  frequently  assumed,  there  is  no  trace." — Kirchengeschichte, 
iii,  6  f.  Kolde  discusses  the  motives  which  led  Luther  to  choose  this  particu- 
lar convent.  He  mentions  the  fact  that  his  professor,  Arnoldi  von  TJsingen, 
was  an  Augustinian,  and  suggests  also  that  possibly  the  convent  had  a  brother- 
hood of  St.  Anne,  to  whom  Luther  had  pledged  himself  as  a  monk — i,  51. 


LUTHER  ENTERS   THE    AUGUSTINIAN   MONASTERY.      141 

heim,  not  far  from  Erfurt.  The  young  man  of  nearly  twenty-two 
was  terrified  at  the  thought  of  instant  death.  Falling  down  on 
his  knees  he  cried  out,  "Help,  St.  Anne,  I  will  become  a  monk." 
The  price  paid  to  the  saint  for  her  assistance  in  securing  him  im- 
munity from  immediate  death  was  the  monastic  vow.  It  is  evident 
he  had  not  taken  the  first  conscious  step  on  the  road  to  that  confi- 
dence in  Christ  which  but  a  few  years  later  enabled  him  to  look  the 
most  painful  death  calmly  in  the  face. 

Luther's  fear  of  death  from  the  wound  previously  referred  to, 
and  the  similar  terror  now  displayed,  call  for  explanation.  The 
sudden  death  of  a  friend,  which  took  place  about  this  time,  may 
have  contributed  to  his  dread  of  a  similar  fate  for  himself.1  But 
in  view  of  his  conception  of  Christ  as  an  angry  judge, 
and  the  consciousness  that  God  was  not  gracious  toward  fear  of 
him,  we  must  suppose  that  his  alarm  was  not  physical 
but  mental,  and  occasioned  by  the  sense  of  unfitness  for  judgment. 
He  desired  longer  life,  that  he  might  prepare  for  death.  The  con- 
vent was  to  his  mind  the  only  place  where  this  preparation  could 
be  adequately  made.  But  it  was  not  alone  sins  committed  which 
drove  him  to  the  cloister.  It  was  the  feeling  that  there  was  some- 
thing higher  in  life  than  the  pursuit  of  worldly  good,  and  to  this 
higher  life  he  had  felt  himself  distinctly  called  and  now  yielded. 
Often  and  appropriately  has  the  sudden  transformation  of  Luther's 
purposes  been  likened  to  the  conversion  of  Paul,  but  he  had  yet  a 
long  and  weary  road  to  travel  before  he  reached  the  altitude  which 
the  apostle  had  attained  when  he  cried  out,  "  Lord,  what  wilt  thou 
have  me  to  do  ?  "  Luther  was  still  seeking  through  men,  not  from 
God,  the  knowledge  of  the  way. 

His  vow  was  taken;  he  lost  as  little  time  as  possible  in  its  execu- 
tion. He  felt  that  he  had  vowed  almost  rashly,  and  suggestions 
came  from  his  own  heart  and  from  friends  to  recall  the  oath.  But 
there  was  something  more  in  the  circumstances  which  led  to  the 
act  than  the  mere  fright  in  the  storm,  and  thus  only  can  we 
account  for  the  constancy  of  his  purpose  and  the  zeal  with  which 
he  entered  upon  and  continued  in  the  new  life.  Two  years  later 
he  told  his  father  that  God  had  led  him  to  his  decision.  Had  a 
mere  respect  for  his  vow,  however  strong,  held  him  steadfast,  there 
would  have  been  less  of  heartiness  in  his  monastic  years. 

The  storm  was  but  the  occasion  which  brought  him  to  a  course 

1  By  a  misunderstanding  this  friend  has  been  sometimes  represented  as  killed 
by  lightning  at  Luther's  side  during  the  storm.  The  real  cause  of  the  death  is 
uncertain. 


142  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

of  conduct  long  considered  with  more  or  less  of  definiteness.  He 
had  yielded  to  a  deep-seated  impulse,  blind  though  it  may  have 
been,  to  seek  the  satisfaction  of  his  religious  needs.  Nothing  could 
more  clearly  demonstrate  the  fact  that  with  him  these  were  para- 
mount. It  was  this  which  made  him  the  fit  instrument  for  the 
reformation  of  the  Church. 

On  the  night  of  July  16  he  invited  his  nearest  friends  to  his 
apartments  to  take  his  final  leave  of  them.  The  evening  was  spent 
in  song,  accompanied  by  the  lute.1  He  was  enjoying  these  inno- 
cent pleasures  for  the  last  time.  Once  more  his  friends  tried  to 
dissuade  him  from  the  frightful  step.  It  seemed  impossible  that 
this  bright  and  joyous  youth  with  such  brilliant  prospects  should 
immure  himself  within  the  walls  of  a  convent.  But  he  said,  "  To- 
day you  see  me,  but  nevermore."  The  next  day  they  accompanied 
him,  with  tears,  to  the  convent  gate.  He  had  sold  his  books  and 
bidden  farewell  to  the  sciences  he  had  loved  so  much.  Only  Plau- 
tus  and  Vergil  were  taken  with  him.  For  days  his  friends  watched 
the  walls  in  the  hope  of  seeing  him  once  more,  but  for  a  month  no 
one  was  admitted  to  him.  He  said  later  that  he  had  entirely  died 
to  the  world,  and  that  he  had  no  thought  of  ever  leaving  the  con- 
vent. When  his  father  heard  of  his  act  he  was  greatly  displeased, 
but  Luther  felt  that  he  must  forsake  even  father  and  mother  for 
the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

According  to  the  requirements  he  must  have  spent  a  year  in  the 
novitiate.  Upon  entering  the  convent  he  threw  himself  before  the 
prior,  who  asked  him,  "What  dost  thou  desire?"  The  reply — 
according  to  the  regular  order  of  procedure — was,  "  The  mercy  of 
God  and  your  fellowship."2  He  then  received  the  garb  of  the 
order,  consisting  of  a  black  cowl  and  a  capped  mantle,  over  which 
was  a  white  chaplet.  A  cell,  so  situated  that  it  looked  out  into  the 
convent  garden,  was  given  him.  During  this  year  of 
augustinian   his  novitiate  he  was  under  the  special  oversight  of  the 

vow.  .  . 

master  of  novices.  He  was  put  to  the  most  degrading 
tasks,  as  though  the  brothers  were  jealous  of  his  superior  education 
and  ability  and  would  humiliate  him.  The  university,  membership 
in  which  he  had  not  forfeited  as  a  monk,  interceded  in  his  behalf 
and  somewhat  ameliorated  his  condition.  Upon  his  solemn  recep- 
tion into  the  order,  at  the  end  of  his  year  of  probation,  he  vowed 

1  Besides  the  term  "  philosopher,"  his  musical  talent  lent  him  among  his  stu- 
dent friends  the  title  of  "musician." — Moller,  Kirchengeschichte,  iii,  6. 

2Comp.  Kostlin,  i,  62.  The  reader  should  not  overlook  the  remarks  of 
Kolde — i,  51  ff.     He  describes  the  garb  somewhat  differently  from  Kostlin. 


LUTHER  ENTERS   THE   AUGUSTINIAN  MONASTERY.      143 

as  follows :  "  I,  Brother  Martin,  make  profession  and  promise 
obedience  to  God  Almighty  and  the  perpetual  Virgin  Mary  and  the 
holy  Father  Augustine  and  to  thee,  Brother  (AVienand),  Prior  of 
this  place,  in  the  name  and  in  the  stead  of  the  common  Prior  of 
the  Order  of  Hermits,  brothers  of  Bishop  St.  Augustine  and  his 
successors,  to  live  without  property  and  in  chastity,  according  to 
the  rule  of  the  said  holy  Father  Augustine,  until  death/'1  Upon 
taking  this  oath  he  received  a  new  name,  as  though  he  had  been 
newly  baptized  ;  but  the  name  of  Martin,  given  him  by  his  parents, 
he  used  in  preference  to  his  convent  name  of  Augustinus.  In 
May,  1507,  he  was  consecrated  to  the  priesthood.2 

The  external  forms  of  religious  exercises  were  alike  for  all  the 
brothers.  At  certain  hours  of  the  day  and  night  they  must  sing. 
There  must  be  constant  prayer  and  frequent  hearing  of  the  mass. 
Those  who  were  ordained  must  also  read  the  mass.  There  were 
regular  fasts.  Such  matters  as  the  position  of  the  body  in  stand- 
ing, sitting,  and  kneeling,  and  the  proper  mode  of  carrying  the 
arms  and  hands,  were  insisted  upon.  All  were  required  to  collect 
pious  gifts  and  provisions.  The  priests  read  mass  in  the  neighbor- 
hoods where  they  begged.  Luther  was  especially  oppressed  be- 
cause of  a  certain  pride  sometimes  manifested  by  him.3  But  he 
had  ample  time  for  study,  and  this  he  did  not  neglect,  for  Erfurt 
was  a  studium  generals,  thus  offering  him  special  facil- 
ities for  farther  education.     In  studying  the  works  of   thkological 

STTTDTFS 

William  von  Occam,  Gabriel  Biel,  Peter  d'Ailly,  John 
Gerson,  and  Bonaventura,  he  accumulated  a  vast  store  of  exact 
knowledge  illustrative  of  the  scholastic  theology,  which  he  could 
therefore  the  better  combat  in  later  years.  He  here  began,  although 
it  is  impossible  to  discover  to  what  extent  he  carried  through,  his 
reading  of  Augustine.  The  evidence  is  that  this  father  was  not 
much  studied  in  Erfurt ;  but  as  a  compensation  for  the  compara- 

1  See  the  detailed  description  of  the  ceremonies  in  Kolde,  i,  53,  54. 

'■'According  to  Kostlin,  Luther  now  met  his  father  for  the  first  time  since  his 
entrance  into  the  convent — i,  83.  Kolde,  on  the  other  hand,  maintains  that,  as 
early  as  his  full  reception  into  the  order,  Hans  Luther,  owing  to  the  death  of 
two  sons  by  the  plague,  had  been  reconciled  to  Martin's  monastic  life — i,  54. 
Berger  coincides  with  the  view  of  Kostlin — i,  79.  However,  at  the  feast  fol- 
lowing the  young  priest's  first  mass  Hans  reminded  the  company  present  that 
Martin  had  disobeyed  the  commandment,"  Honor  thy  father  and  thy  mother," 
and  upon  being  told  that  his  son  had  obeyed  a  vision  from  heaven,  he  replied 
that  he  hoped  it  might  not  prove  to  have  been  an  apparition  of  the  devil.  For 
a  full  description  of  the  consecration,  see  Kostlin,  i,  83,  84 ;  Kolde,  i,  65,  66  ; 
Beard,  155,  156.  3  Comp.  Kostlin,  i,  63,  64. 


144  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

tive  neglect  of  Augustine,  Melanchthon  mentions  that  he  knew  the 
works  of  Biel  almost  by  heart.  His  worst  enemies  did  not  deny  his 
remarkable  ability  and  superior  training.  The  Jesuit,  Maimbourg, 
declared  him  to  have  been  regarded  as  the  most  gifted  and  scholarly 
man  of  the  Augustinian  order  in  all  Germany. 

But  in  these  selfsame  scholastics  he  was  to  discover  doctrines 
which  he  subsequently  held  as  a  Protestant.  For  years  they  lay 
unfruitful  in  his  heart ;  when  the  time  came  they  would  germi- 
nate. Occam,  in  the  interest  of  the  civil  power,  had  combated  the 
unlimited  authority  of  the  pope.  Peter  d'Ailly  had  maintained 
the  rights  of  the  universal  Church  against  the  sole  authority  of 
the  pope  and  criticised  the  perversions  of  scholasticism.  He 
gave  Luther  his  first  suggestion  of  the  doctrine  of  consubstantia- 
tion  as  distinct  from  transubstantiation.  Biel's  utterances  con- 
cerning the  omnipresence  of  God  are  also  reflected  in  Luther's 
later  ideas.  The  mysticism  of  Gerson  and  Bonaventura  was  not 
without  its  influence ;  and  from  all  of  them  he  learned  what  he 
never  forsook,  namely,  that  reason  is  neither  appointed  to  judge  of 
theological  truth  nor  capable  of  such  decisions. 

More  than  in  all  these  together,  however,  Luther  found  in  the 

Bible,  during  this  period,  the  ideas  which  were  to  be  so 

studies  the    f ruitf ul  in  after  years.     The  copy  in  the  convent  was  a 

BIBLE. 

Latin  translation  bound  in  red  leather.  This  he  read 
through  and  through.  To  this  diligence  he  was  bound  by  the  new 
rules  introduced  by  the  vicar  general,  Staupitz,  in  1504.  But  in 
addition  to  the  advice  of  his  superior  his  own  inclination  prompted 
obedience  to  the  rule.  It  is  related  that  he  became  so  familiar  with 
the  book  that  he  could  tell  the  exact  page  upon  which  the  various 
passages  were  printed.  He  secured  a  Hebrew  lexicon,  and  began 
alone  the  study  of  the  Old  Testament  original,  there  being  no  one 
in  Erfurt  to  instruct  him.1 

These  were  providential  preparations  for  his  future  work  ;  but 
they  were  such  unconsciously  to  himself.  He  was  a  loyal  Roman- 
ist, yielding  himself  to  all  the  monkish  extravagances  of  the  time. 
The  Augustinian  father,  Johann  Nathin,  held  him  up  to  a  com- 
pany of  nuns  in  Miilhausen  as  another  Paul,  miraculously  con- 
verted to  the  ministry.  He  could  appeal  to  all  his  associates  in  the 
convent  as  to  the  strictness  of  his  life,  a  fact  which  none  of  his 
enemies  ventured  to  deny.  Even  as  late  as  1543,  when  Luther  was 
everywhere  regarded  as  a  lost  heretic,  an  old  monk,  who  had  been 

1  Kostlin,  i,  86,  where  the  existence  of  printed.  Hebrew  lexicons  of  that  early 
date  is  established. 


LUTHER  ENTERS   THE   AUGUSTINIAN   MONASTERY.      145 

in  the  convent  with  the  reformer,  remembered  how  the  apostate 
had  there  led  a  holy  life  in  stern  obedience  to  the  rules.  He  was 
determined  not  to  fail  of  heaven  if  monasticism  could  take  him 
there. ' 

This  thoroughgoing  devotion  to  the  monastic  life  was  accompanied 
by  an  equally  complete  acquiescence  in  the  doctrine  of  authority 
and  submission  to  the  regulations  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 
Upon  reading  some  of  the  writings  of  Hus,  preserved  unburned  in 
the  convent  library,  he  could  not  comprehend  why  a  man  who  so 
powerfully  preached  the  Scriptures  should  have  been 

T  TTTFTFTt'S 

condemned  to  the  stake  ;  but  so  great  was  his  faith  in  devotion  to 
the  Church  that  he  closed  the  book  with  the  thought 
that  Hus  must  have  written  these  things  before  he  became  a 
heretic.  When  in  the  course  of  his  study  of  the  Bible  he  was 
made  aware  of  papal  errors,  he  refused  to  entertain  the  sugges- 
tion ;  for  he  said  to  himself,  "  Art  thou  only  wise  ?  "  That  all  he 
says  later  concerning  his  loyalty  at  the  time  to  the  Church  is 
true  appears  from  the  reluctance  with  which  he  broke  with  the 
pope  and  ecclesiastical  authority  after  the  Eeformation  began. 
He  was,  in  fact,  as  he  said,  another  Saul,  who  would  gladly 
have  delivered  to  death  those  who  refused  obedience  to  the  Church 
or  pope,  and  who  would  even  have  gathered  fuel  for  the  burning 
of  the  heretics.  So  fully  must  all  honest  historians,  even  among 
Roman  Catholics,  recognize  the  faithful  adherence  of  Luther  to 
the  Church  at  that  time,  that  many  of  them  can  only  account  for 
his  apostasy  on  the  supposition  that  he  was  possessed  of  a  devil. 
In  fact,  he  was  led  to  a  perpetual  conflict  with  the  Church  by  the 
way  of  his  attempt  to  secure  a  knowledge  of  personal  salvation. 
But  the  Roman  Catholic  method  failed  to  satisfy,  and  in  the  order 
of  providence  Luther  came,  even  while  yet  a  Romanist,  to  adopt 
an  evangelical  view,  though  without  awakening  a  suspicion  of  dis- 
loyalty to  the  Church.2 

1  His  language  was :  "If  ever  a  monk  reached  heaven  by  means  of  his  mo- 
nasticism, I  was  determined  to  do  so." 

2  See  Moller's  most  excellent,  though  very  brief,  summary  of  Luther's  re- 
ligious career. — Kirchengeschichte,  iii,  5. 

12  2 


146  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  V. 

LUTHER'S  RELIGIOUS  STRUGGLES. 

Luther's  religious  nature  was  such  that  the  false  doctrines  of 
Roman  Catholicism  could  not  lead  him  to  the  light.  They  might 
bring  a  less  earnest  soul  to  contentment;  him  they  constantly  dis- 
appointed. From  Occam,  Biel,  and  d'Ailly  he  learned  that  man 
had  preserved  from  the  fall  the  power  to  secure  divine  grace  and 
to  fulfill  the  holy  law.  It  was  the  will  of  God  that  a  higher  nature 
should  rule  in  the  natural  man,  and  this  had  been  the  case  with 
Adam,  who  by  his  sin  lost  this  divine  spirit  for  himself  and  his 
progeny.  By  works  of  righteousness  man  could  secure  this  gift 
afresh,  and  in  its  strength  he  could  perform  works  which  might 
even  merit  everlasting  felicity.  So  little  had  the  teachings  of  Au- 
gustine concerning  sin,  grace,  and  redemption  impressed  the  mem- 
bers of  the  order  named  for  him. 

Nevertheless,  the  monastics  emphasized  the  so-called  counsels  of 
God  rather  than  his  merciful  love.  According  to  his  own  pleasure 
God  had  chosen  and  predestinated  those  who,  by  the  way  these  the- 
ologians had  pointed  out,  should  obtain  salvation,  yet  without  rob- 
bing men  of  the  freedom  of  their  own  effort.  Luther  now  feared 
that  he  was  not  one  of  those  who  had  been  thus  predestinated.  To 
this  thought  he  was  led  by  the  profound  sense  of  his  own  unwor- 
thiness  and  as  a  conclusion  from  the  failure  of  his  most  strenuous 
efforts  to  attain  the  blessedness  which  the  mystics  and  scholastics 
had  promised  him. 

Luther  had  entered  upon  the  monastic  life  with  the  utmost  sin- 
cerity of  purpose.  So  far  as  it  was  duty  he  determined  to  neglect 
nothing.  All  lofty  conceptions  of  monastic  life  were  centered  in 
him.  His  reception  into  the  order  was  represented  to  him  as  a 
new  baptism,  himself  as  a  newborn  child.     He  took 

LUTHER'S  x 

wrestlings  advantage  of  the  theory  that  by  going  back  in  thought 
and  forming  anew  the  purpose  to  become  a  monk  he 
could  repeat  at  will  the  virtues  of  this  regenerating  rite.  He 
sought  by  singing,  kneeling  in  prayer,  wakefulness  at  night, 
fasting,  self-inflicted  pains,  and  by  all  the  arts  known  to  monk- 
ery to  secure  for  himself,  and  that  he  might  distribute  them 
to   others,  the  daily  merits  of  which  he   deeply  felt  the  need. 


LUTHER'S   RELIGIOUS   STRUGGLES.  147 

But  it  was  all  in  vain.  He  had  been  taught  that  the  virtues  of 
the  monastic  life  were  far  beyond  those  required  in  the  Ten 
Commandments,  and  the  commandments  themselves  he  felt  that 
he  did  not  truly  keep.  So  far  from  merit  by  which  the  past 
could  be  covered,  he  felt  that  his  sins  were  piled  ever  higher 
upon  him.  The  new  baptism  could  not  comfort  one  who  feared 
that  he  had  lost  the  grace  of  the  first.  So  far  from  being  able  by 
the  Holy  Spirit  to  do  works  worthy  of  eternal  life,  he  thought  it  pre- 
sumption to  claim  possession  of  the  Spirit.  Nothing  that  he  could 
do,  no  spiritual  exercises  in  which  he  could  indulge,  could  set  his 
soul  at  rest.  On  the  contrary,  he  seemed  to  himself  to  fall  con- 
stantly deeper  into  sin,  and  to  depart  ever  farther  from  God.  He 
called  upon  the  saints,  but  they  could  not  help  him,1  and  upon 
God  himself,  but  he  heard  not.2  Following  the  direction  of  the 
convent  instructor,  Paltz,  he  would  sink  before  the  image  of  the 
Crucified,  and,  in  the  spirit  of  his  bitter  sufferings  and  death,  for- 
get all  things  earthly  ;  but  not  even  so  could  he  shake  off  the  fear 
that  he  had  no  good  works  to  offer.  He  did  not  know  that  no  one 
who  truly  apprehends  himself  and  at  the  same  time  the  holy 
demands  of  God  could  possibly  feel  other  than  he  felt.  He  was 
yet  to  learn  that  the  more  the  soul  looks  upon  itself  the  deeper  will 
appear  its  ruin,  and  that  the  only  hope  of  rest  is  in  looking  to 
Christ.  Nor  did  the  absolution  which  the  Church  gave  him  through 
its  priests  satisfy  his  mind.  This  was  conditioned  upon  the  con- 
fession of  every  sin — he  constantly  feared  that  some  sin  had  been 
overlooked  ;  upon  a  sufficiently  deep  contrition — he  had  not  felt  his 
sin  as  keenly  as  he  ought;  upon  the  proper  performance  of  penance 
— he  had  not  done  all  that  he  might.3  He  could  not  forget  that 
word,  "I  the  Lord  thy  God  am  a  jealous  God." 

The  fearful  thought  of  Christ  as  a  severe  judge  was  ever  in 
Luther's  mind.     Particularly  was  this  the  case  after  his  consecra- 

1  In  the  mass  he  did  this  systematically.  Selecting  twenty-one  saintly  pro- 
tectors he  called  upon  three  at  each  mass,  which  he  read  daily,  and  thus  went 
the  entire  rounds  in  the  course  of  a  week. — Kolde,  i,  67. 

2  He  preferred  to  pray  to  the  Virgin  Mary  because  her  womanly  heart  was 
more  easily  moved. — Ibid. 

3  We  have  a  formula  preserved  to  us  by  Luther,  according  to  which  the 
monks  were  accustomed  to  pronounce  absolution:  "  The  merit  of  the  sufferings 
of  Christ  and  of  the  Virgin  Mary  and  of  all  the  saints,  the  merit  of  the  order, 
the  humility  of  confession,  the  bruising  of  the  heart,  the  good  works  which, 
for  the  love  of  Christ,  thou  hast  done  and  will  do,  may  suffice  for  the  forgive- 
ness of  thy  sins,  the  increase  of  merit  and  of  grace,  and  for  the  reward  of  eter- 
nal life." 


148  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

tion  to  the  priesthood,  and  when  it  became  his  duty  to  perform  the 
mass.  For  all  the  duties  belonging  to  this  office  he 
sense  of  un-  felt  himself  unqualified  and  unworthy.  As  he  offered 
his  first  mass  he  dreaded  lest  he  might  commit  the  sin 
of  omitting  some  smallest  movement  prescribed  by  the  ritual,  and 
when  he  came  to  the  words,  "We  offer  to  Thee,  the  Living, 
True,  Eternal/'  he  was  so  terrified  at  the  reflection  that  he  was  in 
the  immediate  presence  of  the  divine  majesty  that  he  was  almost 
ready  to  forsake  the  altar.  This  dread  never  left  him.  Others 
might  jest  concerning  the  sacred  act  of  transforming  the  bread 
and  wine  into  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ ; '  to  him  it  was  a  matter 
of  awful  import.  Yet  with  all  the  agony  it  brought  him  he  per- 
formed his  duties  with  most  unresting  zeal,  in  the  belief  that  such 
was  the  way  to  please  God  and  to  save  his  soul. 

It  would  be  a  mistake  to  suppose  from  all  this  that  Luther  was  a 
sinner  in  the  gross  sense.  No  deed  of  sin  had  driven  him,  as  so 
many,  into  the  cloister.  He  took  everything  religious  earnestly. 
To  him,  therefore,  sin  was  no  trifle,  and  the  mental  sins  of  anger, 
hatred,  resentment,  and  pride,  which  peculiarly  beset  him,  were  in 
his  eyes  as  sinful  before  God  as  the  vilest  sins  of  the  flesh.  We 
should  err  did  we  imagine  that  in  the  attempt  to  live  a  life  of  chas- 
tity as  he  understood  it  he  never  had  occasion  to  repent  of  the 
thought  of  wrong,  but  it  remained  ever  a  thought,  nor  was  this  the 
principal  source  of  his  trouble.2  One  whose  standard  of  holiness 
was  lower,  or  who  could  content  himself  with  external  religious- 
ness, might  have  become  spiritually  proud  of  the  attainments  which 
were  so  little  to  Luther's  satisfaction. 

It  was  evident  that  he  was  not  to  find  rest  even  in  these  unceas- 
ing, unsparing,  and  systematic  efforts.  His  hope  was  not  in  fol- 
lowing, but  in  neglecting  the  monastic  principles.  These  were 
only  to  reveal  his  need  of  the  Saviour,  not  to  enable  him  to  save 
himself.  God  had  led  him  into  the  convent  that  he 
in  his  "pre-  might  know  the  bitterness  of  sin  and  learn  by  sorrow- 
ful experience  the  inefficacy  of  our  own  efforts  at  sal- 
vation. But  in  the  convent  he  was  also  to  find  the  helpers  who 
should  bring  him  out  into  the  light.  Among  these  was  his  "  pre- 
ceptor," probably  the  master  of  novices,  who  once  reminded  him 
of  the  words,  "  I  believe  in  the  forgiveness  of  sin,"  and  taught  him 

1  "  I  am  going  to  offer  a  child  to  the  Virgin,"  became  a  common  form  which 
priests  employed  when  they  were  about  to  read  the  mass. — Kostlin,  i,  85. 

8  See  his  triumphant  vindication  against  the  ultramontane  accusation  of 
fleshly  sins,  in  "  Das  6  Gebot  und  Luthers  Leben,"  by  Lutherophilus. 


LUTHER'S  RELIGIOUS  STRUGGLES.  149 

that  those  who  believed  according  to  God's  holy  commandment 
should  be  forgiven.  At  another  time,  when  Luther  was  bitterly 
bewailing  his  abandoned  condition,  he  told  him  that  God  had  com- 
manded us  to  hope.  He  thus  saw  that  he  was  commanded  to  be- 
lieve in  the  absolution  of  the  priest  whether  it  appeared  real  or  not. 
As  Luther  was  once  going  over  his  imaginary  sins  to  his  father 
confessor,  as  he  often  did,  the  father  said,  "  Thou  art  a  fool.  God 
is  not  angry  with  thee,  but  thou  provokest  him."  He  found  in 
the  writings  of  St.  Bernard,  also,  support  for  the  suspicion  that 
St.  Paul  taught  forgiveness  by  faith.  From  the  writings  of  Gerson 
he  learned  the  folly  of  keeping  in  mind,  even  to  repent  of  them, 
those  thoughts  which  Satan  arouses  in  us,  and  also  that  not  every 
failure  to  observe  ecclesiastical  and  conventual  order     „^,TT>  „„n„ 

Hiiiljir     r  IvOJYl 

is  a  mortal  sin.  Chiefly,  however,  it  was  Staupitz1  staupitz. 
who,  not  only  by  leading  him  to  the  Bible,  but  by  his  personal 
advices,  gave  him  comfort.  Of  noble  birth  and  good  education, 
this  vicar  general  of  the  German  Augustinians  was  a  true  Roman- 
ist, but  at  the  same  time  a  man  whose  practical  experience  had 
led  him  far  on  the  way  to  the  Reformation  ;  and  while  he  never 
forsook  the  Church,  and  severely  condemned  Luther  in  later  years, 
the  latter  always  felt  that  to  him  he  owed  a  debt  of  gratitude  he 
could  never  repay. 

If  Luther,  in  following  the  advice  of  Staupitz  in  the  reading  of 
the  Bible,  found  the  troublesome  passage,  "  I  the  Lord'  thy  God  am 
a  jealous  God,"  he  also  found  that  word  of  comfort  in  Ezekiel  that 
God  takes  no  pleasure  in  the  death  of  the  sinner,  but  rather  that 
he  should  turn  unto  him  and  live.  Staupitz  saw  in  Luther  a  man 
of  unusual  character  and  promise,  but  he  did  not  spare  him.  His 
imaginary  sins  he  called  doll  sins  (Puppensiinden),  with  which 
Luther  went  about  as  a  child  with  its  doll.  Sin  is  real,  not  in- 
vented, as  Christ's  work  is  real.  These  trials  of  Luther's  soul,  so 
far  as  they  were  of  God,  were  intended  by  him  for  their  sufferer's 
good.  This  plain,  common  sense,  practical,  and  worldly  wise 
course  was  just  what  Luther  needed  to  correct  his  artificial  though 
j:>rofound  views  of  life.  To  encourage  him  still  more  he  told  the 
sad-faced  youth  that  God  would  use  him  yet  for  great  things.  But 
it  was  especially  his  spiritual  advices  that  helped  Luther.  He  had 
himself  experienced  what  it  was  to  strive  after  piety  in  one's  own 
strength.     Of  the  law  he  said,  "  It  is  a  great  mountain.     But  thou 

1  Beard  gives  a  tolerably  full  account  of  the  life  of  this  man,  to  whom  Prot- 
estantism owes  much,  and  also  of  Luther's  uninterrupted  gratitude  to  him — 
pp.  152-154.     Of  the  latter  Kostlin  gives  some  interesting  instances — i,  80,  81. 


150  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

must  cross  it,  says  the  Law ;  I  will,  says  Presumption  ;  Thou 
canst  not,  says  Conscience ;  I  will  not  try,  says  Despair."  He 
pointed  Luther  to  Christ  as  the  refuge  from  despair — to  Christ, 
not  the  judge,  but  the  Saviour,  who  has  suffered  for  our  sins  and 
who  will  save  us.  He  assured  Luther  that  it  was  not  the  Christ  in 
the  mass  which  terrified  him,  for  Christ  does  not  terrify,  but  comforts 
us.  Instead  of  searching  out  the  hidden  counsels  of  God  as  to  his 
election,  he  told  Luther  to  look  at  the  wounds  of  Christ  and  to  his 
blood  shed  for  us.  As  to  the  sufferings  which  he  had  endured  on 
account  of  sin,  they  were  rather  a  token  that  God  loved  him  than 
that  he  was  rejected.  And  well  was  it  that  some  one  appeared  to 
lift  up  the  despondent  monk  ;  for  not  only  was  there  danger  that  his 
health  would  entirely  give  way  under  his  anguish,  but  there  was  a 
temptation  to  blaspheme  God  as  unjust  and  cruel  and  to  wish  him 
out  of  existence.  Speaking  in  language  similar  to  St.  Paul,  Lu- 
ther says  that  he  knew  a  man  who,  though  for  a  brief  period  of 
time,  suffered  such  pains  of  hell  as  no  tongue  can  tell,  no  pen  de- 
scribe, and  none  believe  who  had  not  had  a  like  experience  of  his 
own. 

The  way  had  been  dark,  the  experience,  as  he  himself  expressed 
it,  a  foretaste  of  hell,  but  this  was  the  man  who  was  to  restore  the 
Gospel  of  Christ  to  the  world.  It  must  needs  be  that  in  some 
measure  he  should  suffer  the  torments  of  the  damned,  that  he 
might  preach  with  greater  power  the  joy  and  freedom  of  salvation 
through  grace  by  faith.1 

1  He  afterward  regarded  his  experiences  as  a  divine  providence,  which 
taught  him  the  absolute  inutility  of  our  own  works  for  salvation. 


LUTHER  AT   WITTENBERG.  151 


CHAPTER  VI. 

LUTHER    AT   WITTENBERG. 

The  division  of  Saxony  into  the  electorate  and  the  dukedom1  in 
1485,  by  which  Leipzig  fell  to  the  latter  territory,  left  the  do- 
mains of  Frederick  the  Wise  without  a  university.  Wittenberg 
and  Torgau  were  the  electoral  residences,  and  although  the  former 
city  was  mean  in  appearance  and  its  population  not  highly  civil- 
ized,2 Frederick  determined  to  establish  a  university  there  in  1502. 
To  make  good  the  exchequer  the  pastoral  duties  of  the  Castle 
Church  and  the  Church  of  All  Saints  were  combined  with  those  of 
the  professors,  while  the  Augustinian  monastery  of  the  town  was 
also  to  furnish  its  quota  of  instruction'.  By  this  and  by  the  choice 
of  Staupitz  as  one  of  the  chief  advisers  in  its  establishment,  as  well 
as  its  first  theological  dean,  the  university  was  early  brought  into 
close  relationship  with  the  Augustinian  order.  Although  the  uni- 
versity was  not  under  the  direct  influence  of  the  Church,  it  had 
received  the  sanction  of  the  pope,  and  the  reputation  of  Frederick 
the  Wise  for  loyalty  to  Eoman  Catholicism3  was  sufficient  evidence 
that  he  did  not  expect  it  to  turn  out  as  it  did. 

Besides  Staupitz  there  were  several  other  important  professors. 
Martin  Pollich,  doctor  of  medicine,  law,  and  theology,  and  for- 
merly professor  at  Leipzig ;  Christopher  Scheurl,  the  FACULTY  AT 
jurist ;  Winceslaus  Link  ;  Jodocus  Trutvetter,  who  wittenberg. 
had  been  called  from  Erfurt,  and  who  was  the  most  celebrated  of 
the  entire  family  ;  Andreas  Bodenstein  of  Carlstadt,  hence  simply 
called  Carlstadt,  and  Nicolaus  von  Amsdorf.  All  of  these  had  ex- 
erted, or  were  to  exert,  a  powerful  influence  upon  Luther  and  the 

1  Beard  gives  a  somewhat  detailed  history  of  these  changes. — pp.  168,  169. 

2  Myconius  said  it  looked  more  like  a  village,  with  its  low,  ugly,  little,  and 
old  wooden  houses,  than  like  a  city.  Luther  described  the  population  as  un- 
friendly, impolite,  without  any  appreciation  of  gentle  and  high  education, 
and  on  the  outskirts  of  civilization,  or  even  beyond. — Kostlin,  i,  92. 

3  He  had  accumulated  about  five  hundred  holy  relics  in  the  Castle  Church, 
which  were  exposed  once  each  year  for  reverence.  It  was  estimated  that  a 
proper  use  of  these  relics  would  secure  an  indulgence  for  fourteen  hundred 
and  forty-three  years.  The  papal  legate,  Raimund,  promised  an  indulgence  of 
one  hundred  days  for  every  paternoster  offered  for  the  welfare  of  Frederick. 
—Kostlin,  i.  93. 


152  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Eef  ormation.  In  1508,  in  response  to  the  order  of  his  vicar  general, 
Staupitz,  Luther  went  to  Wittenberg  to  lecture  on  philosophy  and  to 
study  theology.  By  this  time  he  had  overcome  his  awful  fear  of 
God,  which  had  been  turned  into  confidence,  and  he  looked  upon 
his  call  to  Wittenberg,  which  was  not  to  his  liking,  as  a  strange 
yet  surely  blessed  providence.  His  thoughts  were  still  directed 
toward  the  questions  of  the  relationship  between  God  and  the  sin- 
ner. His  biblical  studies  had  led  him  to  see  unscriptural  elements 
in  the  Eoman  Catholic  Church,  but  in  these  early  Wittenberg  years 
he  compelled  himself  to  think  with  the  Church.  During  his  first 
years  in  Wittenberg  he  was  recalled  for  some  unknown  reason  to  Er- 
furt, where  he  lectured  in  the  university  three  semesters.  He  then 
returned  to  Wittenberg.  In  1512  he  became  doctor  of  theology 
at  Wittenberg,  after  having  passed  the  various  grades  required.1 

In  the  meantime  came  the  important  visit  to  Eome,  in  1511. 
Such  a  journey  had  long  been  his  heart's  desire,  and  now  a  dispute 
concerning  certain  convents  not  under  the  jurisdiction  of  Staupitz 
caused  the  latter  to  send  him  to  the  holy  city.2  Not  the  beauties  of 
Italian  scenery  which  Luther  admired,  nor  the  wonders  of  archi- 
tecture coming  down  from  heathen  Eome,  nor  the  peculiarities  of 

character  which  distinguished  the  Eomans,  nor  even 
visit  to  the  multitudes  of  relics  which  he  found  and  venerated 

on  every  hand,  attracted  his  chief  attention.  True, 
he  was  so  steeped  in  Eoman  superstition  that  he  lamented  the  fact 
that  his  parents  were  still  living,  since  if  they  had  been  dead  his  op- 
portunities in  Eome  to  get  them  out  of  purgatory  would  have  been 
superior.  Luther  ascended  on  his  knees  the  twenty-two  steps  at 
the  east  end  of  the  Place  St.  John,  said  to  have  formed  the  stair- 
way to  the  judgment  hall  of  Pilate.  But  as  he  prayed  during  the 
ascent,  the  passage,  ''The  just  shall  live  by  faith/'  came  into  his 
mind  with  such  force  that  he  ceased  to  pray.     It  was  the  plainest 

1  Kiistlin  gives  a  detailed  account  of  them — i,  98.  He  also  discusses  the  effect 
of  Luther's  return  to  Erfurt  upon  his  promotion — i,  99.     See  also  Beard,  177. 

8  Kawerau  is  certainly  in  error  when  he  says  that  Luther  represented  the 
convents  which  Staupitz  wished  to  include  in  his  jurisdiction  and  about  which 
the  dispute  arose.  See  his  language  in  Moller,  Kirchengeschichte,  iii,  7. 
The  relations  of  the  two  men  both  before  and  after  this  time  preclude  such  a 
situation.  Kustlin  carefully  discusses  the  date  of  this  visit — i,  101-103.  Moller 
says  also  that  Luther  won  his  case  for  the  convents.  But  Kostlin  calls  atten- 
tion to  the  fact  that  we  have  no  report  concerning  the  affair — i,  103,  104.  If 
Luther  represented  Staupitz  he  must  have  lost  the  case,  since  Staupitz  ceased 
to  press  his  claim.  Peace  seems,  however,  to  have  been  restored  between  the 
different  branches  of  the  German  Augustinians. 


LUTHER  AT   WITTENBERG.  15& 

intimation  that  he  had  yet  received  of  the  contrast  between  the 
external  works  regarded  with  such  favor  by  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  and  the  biblical  doctrine  of  justification. 

But  what  impressed  him  more  than  all  else  was  the  irreverence 
of  the  priests.  He  heard  it  openly  stated  that  there  were  priests 
who  in  celebrating  the  mass  would  say,  "  Bread  thou  art  and  bread 
thou  remainest ;  wine  thou  art  and  wine  thou  remainest,"  showing 
that  they  secretly  disbelieved  what  they  publicly  professed  as  to 
the  nature  of  the  sacrament.  He  was  shocked  to  see  the  haste 
with  which  the  priests  mechanically  went  through  the  mass.  But 
chiefly  was  it  the  unblushing  manner  in  which  sins  of  the  flesh 
were  practiced  by  priests  and  cardinals  that  grieved  the  sincere 
German  monk,  and  especially  was  he  amazed  to  learn  how  little 
reverence  was  paid  the  popes,  whose  unmentionable  crimes  were 
matters  of  common  talk. 

Luther  returned  from  Eome  a  loyal  Romanist,  but  he  had  caught 
a  glimpse  of  the  hollowness  of  the  system,  which  was  useful  to  him 
in  years  to  come. 

The  years  between  1512,  the  date  of  his  promotion  to  the  doctor- 
ate, and  1517  were  filled  with  an  immense  variety  of  burdensome 
duties.  He  was  preacher  of  the  convent,  and  also  in  one  of  the 
churches  in  the  city.  He  was  principal  teacher  at  the  convent  and 
professor  in  the  university.  He  was  vicar  of  his  order  for  eleven 
convents,  the  work  of  which  he  declared  to  be  equal  to  eleven 
priorates,  while  his  correspondence,  together  with  his  other  duties, 
absorbed  so  much  of  his  time  that  he  found  it  difficult  to  observe 
the  regular  hours  prescribed  for  Augustinian  monks.  Every  one 
of  these  offices  he  filled  with  diligence  and  zeal.  He  preached 
once  a  day,  and  during  Lent  twice  daily.  He  lectured 
once  a  day  in  the  university.  During  this  period  also  love  of 
he  learned  Greek  and  continued  his  study  of  Hebrew. 
His  sermons,  though  somewhat  pedantic,  aimed  to  edify  their 
hearers.  He  had  learned  by  sorrowful  experience  the  futility  of  our 
own  efforts  to  obtain  rest  for  the  soul,  and  he  proclaimed  to  others 
the  way  of  faith  and  grace.  The  study  of  Augustine  had  by  this 
time  led  him  to  see  the  errors  of  the  scholastics,  and  this  discovery 
prompted  him  to  devote  his  university  lectures  to  the  Bible  rather 
than  to  the  "  sentences  "  of  Peter  Lombard.  He  delighted  to  call 
himself  "  Doctor  of  the  sacred  Scriptures,"  whereas  others  thought 
it  more  honorable  to  lecture  on  the  theology  of  Lombard.  His 
first  lectures  were  on  the  Psalms,  in  which  he  saw  a  marvelous  re- 
flection of  human  experience  under  the  providence  of  God.     These 


154  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

were  followed  by  an  exposition  of  Eomans,  and  this  by  lectures  on 
Galatians,  Hebrews,  and  Titus.  All  of  these  were  influenced  by 
his  own  experiences  in  the  two  ways  of  seeking  salvation.  In 
the  study  of  Galatians,  however,  he  first  came  to  understand  the 
true  relation  between  the  law  and  grace. 

His  views  of  the  scholastic  theology  were  not  alone  influenced  by 
his  experiences,  but  as  well  by  the  discovery  that  the  scholastics 
had  drawn  their  principles  chiefly  from  Aristotle,  whom  Luther 
could  not  tolerate  either  as  to  his  philosophy  or  his  ethics.  A 
study  of  the  mystical  writings  of  Tauler,  and  especially  of  an 
anonymous  work  known  to  us  as  "  German  Theology,"  which  Lu- 
ther attributed  to  Tauler,  clarified  his  theological  views  and  sup- 
ported him  in  his  opposition  to  scholasticism.  The  novelty  of  his 
views,  the  earnestness  with  which  he  presented  them,  and  the 
talent  he  displayed  in  their  production  and  defense,  filled  his 
church  and  lecture  room  with  auditors  whenever  he  spoke.  The 
number  of  monks  who  came  to  Wittenberg  for  training  became  a 
great  burden  to  him.  But  it  was  unavoidable  that  while  he  drew 
to  him  many  of  the  brightest  minds  and  best  men  of  the  period,  as 
Link,  Lange,  Spalatin,  and  Scheurl,  he  should  also  excite,  by  his 
outspoken  condemnation  of  the  scholastic  theology,  the  enmity  of 
many  of  its  chief  representatives.  Even  so  early  as  this,  however, 
he  made  many  converts  from  their  ranks,  as  for  example,  Carlstadt, 
Lupin,  and  Amsdorf.  In  May,  1517,  he  wrote  to  Lange  that  only 
those  at  Wittenberg  who  lectured  on  the  Bible  or  St.  Augustine, 
or  some  other  real  Church  authority,  could  hope  for  a  hearing. 

Luther's  relation  to  the  Humanists  at  this  time  was  somewhat 
ambiguous.  He  approved  and  commended  their  condemnation  of 
scholasticism  and  of  ecclesiastical  abuses,  but  he  even  then  felt 
that  they  did  not  understand  nor  appreciate  the  life-giving  ele- 
ments of  the  Scripture,  while  they  still  held  to  the  righteousness  of 
good  works.  An  incident  of  this  period  will  illustrate.  Eeuchlin 
had  been  asked  by  some  zealots  whether  all  Jewish 
and  the  books  outside  of  the  Old  Testament  ought  not  to  be 

destroyed  by  imperial  command.  To  this  the  cele- 
brated Humanist  and  Hebraist  had  replied  in  the  negative.  The 
Cologne  faculty  of  theology  attacked  him  bitterly  for  this  opinion. 
Luther  took  up  the  dispute  in  defense  of  Eeuchlin  and  displayed 
his  ability  to  employ  epithets  of  a  most  uncomplimentary  kind  in 
controversy.  Of  Ortwin,  who  had  published  a  poem  in  which  he 
spoke  in  terms  of  scorn  of  the  Eeuchlin  party,  Luther  said  he  had 
always  thought  him  an  ass,  but  he  had  now  proved  himself  to  be  a 


LUTHER  AT   WITTENBERG.  155 

dog,  a  crocodile,  and  a  wolf,  who  pretended  to  the  majesty  of  the 
lion.1  He  thought  the  streets  of  Jerusalem  too  much  needed  cleans- 
ing for  the  theologians  to  waste  their  time  on  the  nonbiblical  books 
of  the  Jews.  But  when  in  the  next  year,  1515,  the  "  Epistolse 
obscurorum  virorum  "  appeared,  composed  in  part  by  Crotus  Ru- 
bianus,  his  former  friend  at  Erfurt,  and  intended  to  satirize  the 
monastic  and  scholastic  sons  of  darkness — the  opponents  of  Reuch- 
lin — and  to  point  out  their  excessive  ignorance,  narrowness, 
ridiculousness,  and  moral  corruption  in  a  clear  and  comical  light, 
Luther  objected  that  the  matters  with  which  these  letters  dealt 
were  too  serious  to  admit  of  such  treatment. 

While  we  who  look  back  upon  the  career  of  Luther  can  see  how 
God  was  preparing  him  for  the  function  of  reform  which  he  was  to 
fulfill,  such  a  thought  had  not  dawned  upon  him.  He  saw  the  neces- 
sity of  reform,  as  did  thousands  of  others,  but  he  was  true  to  the 
Church,  and  even  yet  did  not  see  how  the  views  which  by  this  time 
were  so  defined  must  logically  lead  him  out  of  Roman  Catholicism 
and  into  a  long  struggle  with  the  papacy.  Though  he  saw  the 
faults  of  individual  prelates  he  firmly  believed  in  the  inerrancy 
of  the  Church  as  a  whole.  What  the  Church  had  canonized  he 
accepted  without  question.  He  differed  from  the  majority  only  in 
limiting  the  appeal  to  saints  to  temporalities,  and  in  giving  prayer 
to  the  Deity  the  place  of  emphasis.  He  had  traveled  farther  than 
he  knew  on  the  road  to  "  heresy/'  which  was  to  him  very  baleful. 

1  Hagenbach  gives  a  vivid  account  of  Reuchlin's  troubles,  and  shows  that 
Luther  was  not  the  only  man  of  his  time  who  knew  how  to  call  names.  Reuch- 
lin  applies  such  epithets  as  venomous  beast,  monster,  hogs,  hell  furies,  and  the 
like — i,  45-55. 


156  HISTORY    OF   THE    CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE    NINETY-FIVE   THESES. 

In  the  interest  of  the  new  Church  of  St.  Peter  in  Rome,  Pope 
Julius  II  had  caused  indulgences  to  be  sold  as  early  as  1506,  and 
now  Pope  Leo  X '  continued  that  method  of  gathering  funds. 
The  Margrave  Albert  of  Brandenburg,  brother  of  Elector  Joachim 
1,  had  been  raised  to  the  archbishopric  of  Mayence  and  Magdeburg, 
and  had  been  intrusted  with  the  administration  of  the  bishopric  of 
Halberstadt.  These  honors  and  emoluments,  which  raised  him  at 
once  to  the  primacy  of  Germany,  had  been  bestowed  upon  the 
youth  of  twenty-four  years,  notwithstanding  he  had  been  but  one 
IND  year  in  orders,  because  of  the  political  power  of  the 

gences.  House  of  Brandenburg.     As  a  further  motive  for  his 

election  he  had  agreed  that  upon  himself  should  rest  the  burden  of 
paying  the  twenty  thousand  gold  florins  demanded  by  the  pope  for 
his  pallium.  In  order  to  reimburse  the  Fuggers  who  had  loaned, 
him  this  amount  he  secured  from  the  pope  the  monopoly  of  the  sale 
of  indulgences  within  his  ecclesiastical  domain  for  a  term  of  eight 
years.  The  half  was  to  go  to  the  pope  and  the  remainder  to  him- 
self, while  the  Fuggers  had  their  agents  accompany  the  salesman 
to  receive  on  the  spot  the  archbishop's  share  until  his  debt  to  them 
was  paid.  This  arrangement  was  made  in  April,  1515,  but  because 
the  pope  was  not  so  explicit  as  the  archbishop  desired  the  sale  was 
not  pushed  until  1517. 2  As  special  agent  for  the  indulgences  John 
Tetzel,  of  Leipzig,  was  chosen.     He  was  a  man  of  bad  reputation, 

1  Leo  was  a  man  of  but  little  principle,  though  better  than  many  of  his  pre- 
decessors. His  Christianity  was  a  matter  of  convenience,  rather  than  of  convic- 
tion. His  interest  in  the  Renaissance  secured  him  the  favor  of  the  German 
Humanists.  As  a  member  of  the  famous  House  of  Medici  he  brought  with 
him  to  the  papal  throne  all  the  financial  skill  for  which  they  were  celebrated. 
He  created  cardinals  and  new  offices  and  places  of  honor  for  the  sole  purpose 
of  securing  funds.  But  his  luxurious  tastes,  while  pleasing  to  lovers  of  earthly 
enjoyment,  demanded  still  wider  means  of  support.  See  a  brief  history  of  the 
origin  of  indulgences  in  Berger,  Martin  Luther,  i,  204-206.  In  1490  a  papal 
legate  carried  out  of  Erfurt  41,000  gulden  into  Rome,  with  which  the  pope  pro- 
vided his  daughter's  wedding  outfit. — Berger,  i,  33. 

2  Kawerau  leaves  the  erroneous  impression  that  the  sale  did  not  begin  until 
1517.— Moller,  iii,  10. 


THE   NINETY-FIVE   THESES.  157 

but  his  want  of  conscience  worked  together  with  his  shrewdness  to 
make  him  a  successful  instrument. 

The  doctrine  of  indulgences  was  not  clearly  defined  by  the 
Church,  and  it  was  for  the  purpose  of  the  settlement  of  many 
questions  which  arose  in  Luther's  mind  concerning  them  that  he 
posted  his  famous  theses.  The  theory  in  general  was  that  as  a 
reward  for  service  the  pope  had  the  power  to  grant  release  from 
the  temporal  punishment  for  sin  inflicted  by  the  Church,  whether 
in  this  life  or  in  purgatory.  Gradually,  and  as  a  result  of  the 
German  custom  of  commuting  punishment  by  a  payment  of 
money,1  the  indulgences  came  to  be  sold  outright.  The  scholas- 
tics had  taught  that  even  that  repentance  which  was  produced 
by  fear  of  punishment  was  sufficient  to  secure  the  sacramental 
absolution  by  which  the  eternal  punishment  for  sin  was  averted. 
Now  the  indulgence  purposed  to  set  aside  the  temporal  pains,  so 
that  sin  went  unpunished  by  both  God  and  the  Church,  and  the 
soul  could  obtain  everlasting  felicity  at  death  without  even  a  true 
change  of  heart.2 

This  would  appear  sufficiently  objectionable,  but  Tetzel  made 
it  worse  by  the  manner  of  his  preaching.  He  taught  the  deluded 
people  that  those  who  possessed  one  of  these  indulgences  might  be 
absolved  by  fathers  confessor  from  sins  which  otherwise  only  the 
bishops   and   popes    could  absolve,   and  that  by  the 

.1  .   ji  i      JOHN  TETZEL. 

payment  of  money  the  advantages  of  the  prayers  and 
masses  of  the  Church  could  be  secured.     Furthermore,  the  release 
of  a  soul  from  purgatory  could  be  thus  purchased.3     Tetzel  has  been 
accused  of  saying, 

"  Sobald  das  Geld  im  Kasten  klingt, 

Die  Seele  aus  dem  Fegfeuer  springt." 

As  a  matter  of  fact  he  never  denied  it,  but  went  even  farther 
than  this,  saying  in  his  theses,  written  probably  by  "Wimpina,  late 
in  1517,  not  merely  that  as  soon  as  the  money  strikes  the  bottom 

1  Kolde,  i,  129. 

2  See  a  very  clear  statement  of  the  case  in  Moller,  iii,  10.  Kolde  discusses 
the  subject  more  at  length  and  with  a  fuller  appreciation  of  the  various  opin- 
ions then  obtaining — i,  128-131. 

3  For  a  farther  elaboration  of  Tetzel's  promises  see  Kolde,  i,  133,  137.  Kost- 
lin  mentions  the  scandalous  language  attributed  to  Tetzel,  that  the  pope  could 
even  forgive  one  who  had  had  carnal  intercourse  with  the  Holy  Virgin.  Tet- 
zel denied  the  utterance,  and  in  Halle,  in  December,  1517,  appealed  to  certain 
persons  who  had  not  heard  him  use  the  language  but  who  would  have  heard  it 
had  he  used  it — i,  160.  D'Aubigne  gives  a  copy  of  one  of  these  letters  of  in- 
dulgence— i,  258. 


158  HISTORY    OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

of  the  chest  the  soul  springs  out  of  purgatory,  but  even  before  it 
reaches  the  bottom. 

As  early  as  1516  Tetzel  had  begun  his  work  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Saxony.  Within  that  territory  he  was  forbidden  by  Frederick 
the  Wise  to  ply  his  trade,  because  that  prince  would  not  consent 
that  Saxon  gold  should  fill  the  treasury  of  a  neighboring  elector- 
ate. The  first  mention  of  the  subject  in  a  sermon  by  Luther  was 
made  on  the  tenth  Sunday  after  Lent,  in  the  year  1516.  At  this 
luther  time  he  had  no  doubt  that  the  merits  of  Christ  and  the 

onEindul^  saints  could  be  purchased,  together  with  the  indul- 
gences.  gences.      He  only  complained  that  the  sale  was  carried 

on  for  the  purpose  of  gain,  and  that  sinners  were  encouraged  to 
continue  in  their  sins.  To  him  many  points  were  doubtful  which 
appeared  settled  in  the  minds  of  the  purchasers.  Luther's  purpose 
at  that  time  evidently  was  to  check  the  unreflecting  masses  from 
yielding  to  what  might  prove  a  deception. 

Again,  on  October  31,  just  one  year  before  he  posted  the  theses, 
he  preached  on  the  subject.  He  was  still  very  cautious,  but  exhorted 
his  hearers  rather  to  a  true  repentance  than  to  efforts  to  secure  immu- 
nity from  punishment.  On  February  24, 1517,  however,  he  spoke 
in  a  much  more  positive  tone.  Through  indulgences  the  people 
learned  to  fear  only  the  punishment,  not  the  guilt,  of  sin.  But  for 
the  fear  of  penalty  no  indulgences  would  be  purchased.  The  result 
was  a  feeling  of  security  in  sinful  practices.  As  Tetzel  approached 
nearer,  in  the  autumn  of  1517,  members  of  Luther's  parish  in  Wit- 
tenberg crossed  the  borders  and  purchased  indulgences,  returning 
to  Luther  and  defiantly  presenting  them  to  him  when  he  refused 
them  absolution  on  account  of  their  unrepentant  state.  It  was  plain 
that  the  whole  matter  needed  discussion  and  illumination. 

That  there  was  something  true  in  the  theory  of  indulgences 
Luther  firmly  believed,  yet  he  could  not  shut  his  eyes  to  the  in- 
jury they  were  causing  by  what  he  suspected  was  an  abuse.  He 
would  bring  the  matter  to  the  test.  On  October  31,  1517,  the  day 
before  the  festival  of  All  Saints,  he  nailed  his  ninety-five  theses  on 
the  door  of  the  Castle  Church,  where  they  would  be  seen  by  the 
theologians  and  others  who  would  throng  that  sanctuary  the  next 
day.1  They  were  posted  before  twelve  o'clock  noon,  and  on  the 
same  day  he  wrote  to  Archbishop  Albert  concerning  the  abuses  the 

1  Berger  quotes  the  sentence,  "  Out  of  love,  and  a  real  desire  to  bring  the 
truth  to  light,  the  following  should  be  discussed  in  the  name  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,"  and  adds,  "  This  opening  sentence  of  the  series  of  theses  is 
nothing  else  than  the  symbol  of  Protestantism." — Martin  Luther,  i,  198. 


THE   NINETY-FIVE   THESES.  159 

indulgences  were  introducing,  and  beseeching  him  to  disclaim  the 
responsibility,  warning  him  that  if  he  failed  some  one  would  arise 
to  oppose  the  professed  archiepiscopal  sanction,  which  event  would 
result  in  disgrace  to  his  Highness.  He  signed  himself,  "His 
Highnesses  unworthy  son,  Martin  Luther,  called  to  be  a  doctor  of 
theology." 

The  theses,  written  in  Latin,1  were  intended  for  the  eyes  of 
scholars,  and  did  not  treat  the  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith, 
but  rather  the  nature  of  true  repentance  and  its  relation  to  indul- 
gences. The  power  of  absolution  was  not  denied,  but  the  necessity 
of  true  repentance  was  emphasized  in  such  way  as  to 
make  this,  and  not  priestly  absolution,  the  all-important 
matter.  The  first  thesis  held  that  when  our  Lord  commanded  us  to 
repent  he  meant  that  repentance  should  extend  over  the  entire  life 
of  the  believer  ;  the  second,  that  this  repentance  cannot  refer  to  the 
sacrament  of  penance  ;  the  third,  that  inward  repentance  is  of  no 
avail  if  not  accompanied  by  the  crucifixion  of  the  flesh  ;  the  fifth, 
that  the  pope  cannot  and  will  not  remit  any  penance  except  such  as 
he  himself  or  the  Church  has  imposed  ;  the  seventh,  that  God  for- 
gives no  one's  sins  except  he  submit  himself  in  all  humility  to  the 
priest,  God's  representative  ;  the  twenty-second,  that  the  pope  can 
remit  no  penance  to  souls  in  purgatory  which  they  ought  to  have 
suffered,  according  to  ecclesiastical  ordinances,  in  this  world,  because 
(thirtieth)  the  dead  are  dead  to  the  canons  of  the  Church  ;  the 
thirty-third,  that  the  papal  indulgence  is  not  that  unspeakable  gift 
of  God  whereby  the  soul  is  reconciled  with  him  ;  the  thirty-sixth 
and  thirty-seventh,  that  to  every  Christian  who  truly  repents 
belongs  complete  remission  of  punishment  and  guilt  without  an 
indulgence,  and  every  true  Christian,  whether  living  or  dead,  has 
a  part  in  all  the  benefits  of  Christ  and  the  Church  as  the  gift  of 
God  without  the  papal  indulgence  ;  and  the  thirty-eighth,  that  the 
papal  forgiveness  is  not  to  be  despised,  since  it  declares  the  divine 
forgiveness.8 

Luther  had  no  expectation  that  the  effect  of  the  theses  would 
be  what  it  was.  He  was  amazed  that  in  a  fortnight  they  were 
known  all  over  Germany.     Myconius  said  that  in  a  month  they 

1  In  their  Latin  form  they  may  be  seen  in  Ranke's  Deutsche  Geschichte, 
vol.  vi,  6th  ed.,  pp.  83-89,  and  in  any  edition  of  the  works  of  Luther. 

2  See  most  of  the  theses  in  d'Aubigne,  vol.  i,  pp.  281-285,  and  complete 
in  Schaff,  vi,  160-166.  Schaff  also  appends  the  Protestation,  which,  as  its 
wording  shows,  was  not  an  original  part  of  the  theses.  They  are  also  com- 
plete in  Wace,  Bucheim,  and  Krauth. 


160  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

were  spread  throughout  all  Christendom,  as  though  carried  by  the 
swift  wings  of  an  angel.  The  day  of  press  censorship  had  not  yet 
arrived.  Soon  they  were  translated  into  German  and  made  avail- 
effect  of  a°le  to  the  laity.  To  this  end  they  were  not  well  adapted. 
the  theses.  According  to  custom  they  did  not  in  all  cases  clearly  ex- 
press what  their  author  wished  to  defend.  They  were  accepted  as 
statements  of  doctrine,  whereas  he  intended  them  only  as  scholastic 
theses  for  purposes  of  disputation.  In  some  quarters  they  excited 
great  favor.1  In  others,  as  in  Erfurt,  they  awakened  indignation. 
Reuchlin  rejoiced  because  he  thought  the  theses  would  keep  his 
enemies  so  busy  that  they  would  let  him  alone.  It  was  character- 
istic of  the  Humanists  thus  to  wish  for  quiet.  The  convent  in 
Wittenberg  was  alarmed  lest  the  order  should  be  brought  into  dis- 
repute. Tetzel  induced  Wimpina  to  write  a  set  of  counter  theses, 
which  were  discussed  in  Frankfort  in  January,  1518.8  The  order 
of  Dominicans  made  common  cause  with  him  against  the  Augus- 
tinians.  Luther's  theses  were  never  publicly  disputed.  They  were 
rather  taken  up  by  the  people  and  adopted  with  such  earnestness 
that  in  many  places  Tetzel's  occupation  was  gone.3  In  February, 
1518,  Luther  published  a  German  sermon  on  the  subject  of  in- 
dulgences and  grace,  in  which  he  more  fully  expressed  his  views, 
thereby,  however,  spreading  the  fire.  The  students  at  Wittenberg 
took  sides  with  Luther  and  carried  their  friendship  to  the  point  of 
danger.  The  elector  was  accused  of  instigating  Luther,  for  reasons 
of  jealousy,  against  Archbishop  Albert  of  Mayence,  but  he  quietly 
took  up  the  cause  of  the  monk,  so  far,  at  least,  as  to  protect  him.4 
Among  the  many  enemies  whom  these  theses  raised  up  for  Lu- 
ther none  was  more  bitter  than  Eck,  who  the  year  before  had 
apparently  been  his  friend.  Frightened  at  first,  Luther  soon  sum- 
moned courage  to  answer  his  opponents,  and  he  did  it  with  terrific 
vigor.  Not  only  were  his  arguments  mighty,  but,  unfortunately 
for  his  reputation  in  the  present  day,  he  used  most  abusive  lan- 

1  Erasmus,  Fleck,  prior  of  the  monastery  of  Steinislausitz,  Bibra,  Bishop  of 
Wiirzburg,  the  emperor,  Maximilian  I,  and  Leo  X  were  pleased,  or  at  least 
not  angered.     See  d'Aubigne,  i,  293-295. 

2  See  several  of  these  Tetzelian  theses  in  d'Aubigne,  i,  312,  313. 

3  Kostlin  describes  at  length  the  reception  of  the  theses  by  different  classes 
of  persons — i,  175-185. 

4  D'Aubigne  relates,  with  acceptance  of  its  essential  parts,  a  dream  of  the 
elector  to  the  effect  that  God  had  sent  him  a  monk  who,  with  a  pen  that 
reached  to  Eome,  pierced  the  head  of  a  lion  (Leo  X),  shook  the  triple  crown 
of  the  pope,  and  wrote  something  on  the  door  of  the  Castle  Church — i,  276-279. 
Schaff  and  Kostlin  regard  the  dream  as  wholly  fictitious. 


THE    NINETY-FIVE    THESES.  161 

guage.  Eck  he  called  Dreck  (dirt) ;  Tetzel,  he  said,  dealt  with 
the  Bible  as  a  "sow  with  a  sack  of  oats  ; "  Cardinal  Oajetan 
knew  no  more  of  true  theology  than  a  donkey  does  of  the  harp  ; 
Alveld,  of  Leipzig,  was  a  most  ' '  asinine  ass. " '  The  time  was 
approaching  when  this  undignified  mode  of  disputation  would  be 
displaced  by  one  of  the  sublimest  struggles  of  history. 

1  These  coarse  epithets  were  taken  as  arguments  by  many  controversialists 
of  the  time.     With  Luther  they  were  rather  the  spice  than  the  substance  of 
his  argument.     The  saying,  "  Spoken  in  jest,  meant  in  earnest,"  would  apply 
here. 
13 


162  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

FROM  THE  THESES  TO  THE  BURNING  OF  THE  POPE'S  BULL. 

The  theses  were  condemned  as  heretical  successively  by  the  fac- 
ulties of  Cologne,  Louvain,  and  the  Sorbonne.  At  first  Luther 
had  honestly  anticipated  a  favorable  judgment  of  the  pope,  who 
indeed  was  for  a  time  disposed  to  treat  the  matter  as  "a  mere 
squabble  of  envious  monks."  As  it  began  to  appear  that  the  pope 
would  really  join  issue  with  Luther,  the  latter,  whose  views  now 
developed  rapidly,  did  not  know  what  to  think  of  the  pope.  He 
alternated  between  the  most  abject  submission  to  his  authority  and 
the  suspicion  that  he  was  the  antichrist  of  revelation. 

In  March,  1518,  Leo  appointed  a  Dominican  monk,  Silvester 
Mazzalini,  commonly  called  Prierias,  head  of  a  commission  to  in- 
vestigate Luther's  cause.  He  reported  Luther  as  an  ignorant  and 
blasphemous  heresiarch,  and  spoke  of  the  effect  of  the  theses  as 
similar  to  the  bite  of  a  cur.  Luther  and  Prierias  fell  into  a  per- 
sonal controversy  which  only  increased  the  animosity  of  both  sides. 
As  a  result  Luther,  on  August  7, 1518,  was  cited  to  Rome  to  answer 
for  his  heresies.  The  pope  also  demanded  that  Frederick  the  Wise 
should  deliver  Luther  to  the  papal  legate.  The  elector  refused  to 
obey,  and  arranged  for  Luther  and  the  legate  to  meet  at  Augsburg, 
where  a  diet  was  in  session.  Cajetan,  the  legate,  was  a  man  of 
learning,  and  afterward  spent  his  energies  in  furthering  the  study 
of  the  Bible.  He  and  Luther  had  three  interviews  in  October, 
1518,  but  to  no  purpose.  Luther  bears  testimony  to  the  courtesy 
which  the  legate  showed  him,1  but  also  states  that  the  one  condi- 
tion of  peace  with  the  pope  was  recantation.  Cajetan,  the  dis- 
dainful Italian,  speaks  of  Luther  to  Staupitz  as  "  a  deep-eyed  Ger- 
man beast."  Staupitz  advised  and  assisted  him  to  make  good  his 
escape,  which  he  did,  arriving  at  Wittenberg  on  October  31,  just 
one  year  after  the  posting  of  the  theses. 

On  November  28  Luther  appealed  from  the  pope  to  a  general 
council.  Once  more  the  pontiff  undertook  a  peaceful  settlement 
of  the  dispute.     Sending  his  nuncio,  Miltitz,  with  the  decoration 

'In  a  letter  to  Carlstadt  under  date  of  October  14. — De  Wette,  i,  161. 
Luther's  opinion  of  the  spirituality  of  Cajetan  is  seen  in  his  letters  of  Novem- 
ber 19  and  December  13  to  the  elector  and  Staupitz  respectively. — De  Wette,  i, 
175,  194. 


FROM   THE   THESES   TO   BURNING  OF   POPE'S   BULL.      163 

of  the  Golden  Eose  to  Frederick,  he  was  to  demand  Luther's  deliv- 
ery to  Eome  in  return,  if  he  could  not  prevail  upon 

•  i-i  lf.u.,         ,,  LUTHER'S 

the  heretic  to  retract  or  keep  silence.  Miltitz  threw  appeal  from 
the  principal  blame,  not  on  Luther,  but  upon  Tetzel, 
who  died  soon  after  as  a  result  of  the  nuncio's  severe  censures. 
He  cajoled  Luther  and  begged  him  not  to  divide  the  Church.  The 
danger  of  such  a  division,  evidences  of  which  Miltitz  saw  on  every 
hand,  had  been  a  revelation  to  him  and  had  disposed  him  to  a 
friendly  course  of  procedure.  Luther  took  no  delight  in  schism, 
and  under  an  agreement  that  the  controversy  should  be  settled  by 
a  German  bishop  and  not  at  Home,  and  with  the  understanding 
that  his  enemies  were  to  keep  silence,  he  promised  to  agitate  his 
ideas  no  farther  and  to  advise  all  people  to  remain  in  the  Church. 
This  was  in  January,  1519.  In  March  of  the  same  year,  in  accord- 
ance with  his  promise  to  Miltitz,  he  humbly  sought  pardon  of  the 
pope,  while  reserving  the  right  to  hold  his  opinions.  But  Luther 
did  not  promise  to  refrain  from  farther  study,  and  his  investiga- 
tions led  him  more  and  more  to  see  the  tissue  of  falsehoods  upon 
which  the  papal  claims  were  based. 

Luther  may  have  repented  of  his  promise  to  keep  silence;  never- 
theless, he  was  faithful  to  the  truce  until  he  was  attacked  by  his 
enemies. '  In  fact,  Miltitz  appears  to  have  made  no  effort  to  silence 
Luther's  opponents.  At  any  rate,  John  Eck,  professor  of  theology 
in  Ingolstadt  in  Bavaria,  under  the  pretext  of  an  assault  upon 
Carlstadt,  who  by  this  time  had  begun  to  champion  Luther's  cause, 
attacked  positions  not  maintained  by  Carlstadt  but  by  Luther.  A 
disputation  between  Carlstadt  and  Eck  had  been  arranged  to  take 
place  during  the  summer  of  1519  at  the  university  in  Leipzig,  much 
to  the  disgust  of  the  faculty  of  theology,  but  under  command  of 
Duke  George.  After  Eck  had  dragged  Luther  into  the  contest 
the  reformer  demanded  a  part  in  the  disputation.  Eck  was  an 
able  and  experienced  debater,  but  was  more  successful  in  popular 
appeal  than  in  dealing  with  facts.2     In  accordance  with  this  policy 

1  Schaff  intimates  that  Luther  was  in  part  to  blame  for  the  reopening  of  the 
controversy — vi,  178.  This  is  unjust  to  the  reformer,  who  did  not  violate  his 
pledge,  but  was  released  from  it  by  the  breach  of  agreement  on  Eck's  part. 

2  Eck  was  much  disliked  by  many  and  was  frequently  nicknamed,  his  name 
affording  easy  opportunity.  He  was  called  Keck  (impudent),  and  Geek 
(silly  fop).  Willibald  Pirkheimer,  Luther's  friend,  the  patrician  and  humorist 
of  Nuremberg,  satirized  him  in  a  Latin  book  which  appeared  anonymously  under 
the  title,  Eccius  dedolatus— in  German,  Der  abgehobelte  Eck,  that  is,  the 
planed  corner.  For  a  description  of  the  disputants  written  by  an  eyewitness, 
see  Hagenbach,  Reformation,  i,  121,  122. 


164  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

he  forced  Luther  to  say  that  a  council  could  err  and  that  the  coun- 
cil of  Constance  had  erred  in  condemning  some  truths  held  by- 
John  Hus. 

From  this  time  forward  Duke  George  was  his  enemy  and  the 
Duchy  of  Saxony  closed  to  the  Eeformation.  Eck  now  openly 
accused  Luther  of  sympathy  with  the  Bohemians,  which  in  the 
minds  of  the  masses  was  a  frightful  charge,  but  which  Luther 
acknowledged,  declaring  some  of  the  truths  for  which  Hus  had 
been  burned  to  be  scriptural.  This  was  a  step  far  in  advance  of 
any  Luther  had  hitherto  taken.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  ac- 
tual merits  of  the  debate,  the  victory  in  which  was  claimed  by  both 
sides,  it  was  fortunate  that  Luther  was  brought  by  it  to  see  that 
there  was  no  middle  ground,  and  that  if  the  Scriptures  were  the 
authority  they  must  be  the  sole  authority.  Thus,  although  the  dis- 
putation seems  not  to  have  advanced  the  knowledge  of  the  truth, 
it  advanced  Luther  on  his  immortal  way  and  won  many  of  the  Leip- 
zig students  for  fearless  Wittenberg.1 

With  the  year  1520  Luther  appears  to  have  lost  faith  in  the 
reform  through  the  clergy,  and  while  he  did  not  appeal  to  arms  he 
did  demand  of  the  Christian  nobility  that  they  should 
peal  to  the  undertake  the  work  declined  by  the  bishops.  He  made 
this  manifest  in  a  work  published  in  the  summer  of 
1520,  which  spread  with  tremendous  rapidity  throughout  the  coun- 
try. It  bore  the  title,  "  To  His  Imperial  Majesty  and  the  Christian 
Nobility  of  the  German  Nation:  Concerning  the  Improvement  of 
the  Christian  Body."2  In  the  first  part  Luther  considers  the 
three  walls  which  he  says  Eome  has  thrown  up  for  its  defense, 
namely,  the  control  of  the  Church  by  the  clergy,  the  exclusive  right 
of  the  Church  to  interpret  Scripture,  and  the  exclusive  right  to 
summon  a  council.  The  believer  is  a  priest,  and  hence  there  can 
be  no  distinction  between  the  clergy  and  the  people  except  as  to 
their  functions.  The  Christian  has  the  individual  right  to  read 
and  interpret  the  Scripture  and  to  judge  for  himself  in  matters  of 
faith.  If  the  popes  act  in  a  manner  contrary  to  Scripture  they 
must  be  dealt  with  according  to  Matt,  xviii,  15-17,  the  same  as  other 
members  of  the  Church,  in  which  case  the  laity  would  have  the 
authority  and  be  bound  to  call  a  council.     In  the  second  part  he 

1  Another  result  of  the  Leipzig  disputation  was  that  it  brought  Luther  the 
sympathy  of  many  of  the  Humanists.     Comp.  Moller,  iii,  19. 

2  Schaff  gives  a  lengthy  summary  of  the  work  and  defends  Luther  against 
Janssen's  charge  that  the  reformer  counseled  war.  He  appears  in  the  "ad- 
dress "  as  the  patriot  rather  than  the  theologian— vi,  207-213. 


FROM  THE  THESES  TO  BURNING  OF  POPE'S  BULL.        165 

complains  that  the  pope  lives  in  a  style  of  worldliness  and  splen- 
dor superior  to  kings  and  emperors.  In  the  third  he  attacks  the 
temporal  power  of  the  pope,  compulsory  celibacy,  masses  for  the 
dead,  ecclesiastical  festivals,  the  perpetual  character  of  monastic 
vows,  the  interdiction  of  God's  word,  obligatory  fasts,  and  a  variety 
of  other  abuses. 

The  work  stirred  up  the  greatest  excitement.  Staupitz  tried  to 
prevent  its  publication.  Few  of  Luther's  friends  approved  it. 
Luther  felt  that  come  what  would  it  must  be  done.  His  chief 
hope,  probably,  was  the  calling  of  a  free  general  council. 

He  had  closed  the  address  to  the  German  nobility  with  the  taunt 
that  he  had  another  little  song  which  he  would  sing  if  Eome 
wished,  and  sing  with  all  his  might.  It  was  the 
work  entitled  The  Babylonish  Captivity  of  the  Church,  loni.shj;  re- 
published in  the  early  part  of  October,  1520.  In  this 
book  he  disputes  even  the  rightful  human  authority  of  the  pope. 
He  takes  up  the  Lord's  Supper  and  denies  the  right  to  withhold  the 
cup  from  the  laity.  If  they  have  the  thing,  why  deny  them  the 
sign?  He  also  denies  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation  and  an- 
nounces that  of  consubstantiation  in  its  place.  He  assaults  the 
sacrifice  of  the  mass,  the  pretended  offering  up  of  Christ  afresh 
at  every  celebration.  He  accepts  baptism  in  the  Roman  Catholic 
sense,  but  claims  that  the  baptismal  vow,  once  taken,  covers  the 
whole  life  and  needs  no  further  monastic  obligations,  which  are  a 
reflection  upon  the  binding  authority  of  the  sacrament.  Instead 
of  seven  he  allows  but  two  sacraments.  He  closes  the  book  with 
a  pledge  to  recant  in  such  a  manner  as  Rome  never  heard  of,  and 
this  work  was  to  emphasize  his  recantation. 

Luther's  manner  appears  insolent,  but  it  must  be  remembered 
that  before  the  publication  of  this  treatise  the  pope's  bull  of  excom- 
munication had  been  issued  against  him,  a  copy  of  which  he  had 
probably  seen.  Nevertheless,  Miltitz  did  not  even  yet 
despair  of  a  peaceful  settlement,  for  in  Lichtenburg,  breach  with 
October  11,  1520,  he  extracted  a  promise  from  Luther 
that  he  would  write  a  book,  and  accompany  it  with  a  letter  to  the 
pope,  in  which  the  reformer  was  to  declare  that  he  had  never  at- 
tacked the  pontiff  personally,  and  to  blame  Eck  for  the  whole 
difficulty.1  The  book  was  entitled,  Of  the  Freedom  of  a  Chris- 
tian Man.  Its  tone  was  not  polemical,  but  religious.  Schaff 
sums  it  up  in  the  words,  "The  Christian  is  lord  of  all  and  subject 
to  none  by  virtue  of  faith,  and  is  the  servant  of  all  and  subject 
1  Comp.  Schaff,  vi,  221. 


16G  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

to  everyone  by  virtue  of  love."  It  was  a  true  irenicon,  intended 
to  show  the  pope  what  was  his  real  preference  as  to  literary 
activity.  Far  rather  would  he  deal  only  with  religion,  but 
duty  called  him  to  attack  error,  and  he  had  obeyed.  The  let- 
ter, however,  was  adapted  to  undo  all  that  the  book  might  have 
accomplished.  He  protests  indeed  that  he  had  never  spoken  dis- 
respectfully of  Leo  in  person,  but  he  at  once  proceeds  to  tell  the 
pontiff  that  he  is  the  victim  of  a  corrupt  court,  in  a  den  of  thieves, 
wolves,  lions,  and  scorpions,  and  that  if  Christ  were  in  Rome  he 
would  not  need  the  pontiff  for  a  vicar,  with  many  other  most  uncom- 
plimentary facts.  The  letter  destroyed  the  last  hope  of  reconcilia- 
tion.1 It  was  best  it  should  be  so.  Luther's  boldness  was  not 
rashness.  He  was  telling  unwelcome  truths.  The  time  had  come 
when  they  must  be  told.  Too  long  already  had  chronic  wrongs 
gone  unchallenged.  For  such  a  time  as  this  Luther  had  been 
raised  up  and  providentially  prepared. 

If  anything  could  reveal  the  necessity  for  a  breach  with  Rome, 
such  as  Luther's  letter  made  inevitable,  it  was  the  bull  of  excom- 
munication issued  against  the  reformer  by  Leo  X,  on 

BULL  OF  -.T-iii  l-ii  l       • 

excommuni-    June  15,  1520.     Nearly  three  years  had  elapsed  since 

CATION. 

the  memorable  act  of  October  31,  1517.  Doubtless 
the  long  delay  was  occasioned  in  part  by  the  hope  of  a  peaceful 
resolution  of  the  difficulties.  But  the  chief  cause  was  the  election 
of  a  new  German  emperor,  in  which  the  voice  of  Frederick  the  Wise 
would  have  great  weight.  The  bull  begins  Exurge  Domine,  which 
words  gave  name  to  the  document.  They  are  from  the  twenty- 
second  verse  of  the  Seventy-fourth  Psalm,  which,  together  with  the 
twenty-third  verse,  is  quoted  in  full.  It  then  invokes  Peter,  Paul, 
and  all  the  saints  against  the  new  heresies,  deplores  the  entrance 
of  Bohemian  errors  into  Germany,  condemns  forty-one  propositions 
taken  from  Luther's  writings,  prohibits  their  defense  or  publica- 
tion, orders  the  writings  of  Luther  to  be  burned,  suspends  him 
from  the  ministry,  and  gives  him  sixty  days  in  which  to  recant,  on 
refusal  of  which  he  will  be  excommunicated.  The  bull  threatens 
all  persons  and  places  sheltering  Luther  or  his  followers  after 
excommunication  with  the  interdict  and  makes  provision  for  its 
own  promulgation  and  execution. 

It  is  particularly  noticeable  that  among  the  propositions  of 
Luther  condemned  by  the  pope  is  that  one  which  declares  it  con- 

1  The  book  and  letter  were  -written  about  the  middle  of  October,  but  dated 
back  at  the  suggestion  of  Miltitz  and  others  to  September  6,  to  make  it  appear 
that  Luther  was  not  moved  by  the  pope's  bull,  but  by  a  real  desire  for  peace. 


FROM  THE  THESES  TO  BURNING  OF  POPE'S  BULL.        167 

trary  to  the  will  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  burn  heretics. '  The  doctrine 
of  justification  by  faith  is  touched  only  indirectly.  With  singular 
unwisdom  the  pope  sent  Eck,  the  most  hateful  of  all  Romanists  in 
the  eyes  of  the  Germans,  to  publish  the  bull  in  Germany.  Not 
only  so,  he  empowered  Eck  to  insert  into  the  bull  the  names  of 
such  as  he  might  choose.  Eck  now  took  his  revenge  upon  certain 
of  his  enemies  and  satirizers.  Among  them  were  Carlstadt,  Adel- 
mann,  of  Augsburg,  Egranus,  of  Zwickau,  and  Spengler  and  Pirk- 
heimer,  of  Nuremberg,  most  of  whom  humbled  themselves  and 
received  absolution.  The  bull  was  to  be  received  in  an  unusual 
manner  in  Wittenberg.  Frederick  refused  to  have  it  promulgated, 
and  Luther,  to  demonstrate  his  complete  defiance  of  papal  author- 
ity and  the  equality  of  the  humblest  servant  of  God  with  the  most 
distinguished,  publicly,  after  due  announcement,  and  in  the  pres- 
ence of  a  vast  multitude  of  students  and  others,  committed  the 
bull  to  the  flames,  with  the  words,  "As  thou  hast  vexed  the  holy 
one  of  the  Lord,  may  the  eternal  fire  vex  thee."  With  the  bull  he 
burned  also  the  papal  decretals,  the  canon  law,  and  certain  writings 
of  Eck  and  Emser.2 

Frederick  the  Wise  called  upon  Erasmus  to  know  whether  to 
execute  the  bull.  The  great  scholar  declared  that  Luther's  sin 
had  been  in  touching  the  triple  crown  and  the  stomachs  of  the 
monks,  and  that  the  bull  was  offensive  to  all  good  men  and  unwor- 
thy the  vicar  of  Christ.  Frederick  therefore  declined  to  deliver 
up  his  celebrated  professor,  and  from  that  time  defended  him  in  such 
a  way  as  to  escape  the  imputation  of  heresy  for  himself.  Luther, 
meantime,  had  at  first  claimed  the  bull  to  be  a  forgery  of  Eck,  but 
afterward  in  a  tract,  Against  the  Bull  of  Antichrist,  angrily  as- 
saulted its  contents,  and  even  denied  the  possibility  of  salvation  to 
such  as  obeyed  it.  He  also  renewed  on  November  17,  1520,  his  ap- 
peal from  the  pope  to  the  free  general  council,  calling  the  pope  a  here- 
tic and  a  blasphemer.    The  lion  in  Luther's  nature  had  been  aroused. 

1  It  is  No.  33  in  the  list  of  the  heretical  propositions.  Thus,  under  given 
circumstances,  the  Holy  Spirit  might  not  forbid  Roman  Catholics  to  burn  here- 
tics even  to-day. 

2  This  bold  act  was  performed  on  December  10,  1520.  Luther,  Melanchthon, 
Carlstadt,  and  the  other  professors  of  the  university  returned  to  the  city  imme- 
diately, but  the  students  sang  the  Te  Deum  and  funeral  dirges,  afterward  burn- 
ing a  considerable  pile  of  Romish  books.  A  master  of  arts  lighted  the  fire. 
Luther  placed  the  copy  of  the  bull  in  the  flames  with  his  own  hand.  An  oak 
tree  surrounded  by  an  iron  fence  marks  the  spot,  near  the  Elster  Gate.  The 
deed  was  an  indirect  defiance  of  the  new  emperor,  who  had  caused  Luther's 
works  to  be  burned  in  the  Netherlands. 


168  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

LUTHER  AT  WORMS  AND    THE   WARTBURG-  CASTLE. 

The  death  of  Maximilian  I,  January  12,  1519,  brought  forward 
a  number  of  candidates  for  the  imperial  throne.  Maximilian  had 
indeed  secured  pledges  from  the  electors  for  his  nephew  Charles, 
as  king  of  the  Eomans.  Francis  I  of  France  now  pressed  his 
claims  also,  and  was  favored  by  the  pope.  "When  it  became  appar- 
ent that  Francis  could  not  be  elected,  the  pope  strove  at  the  last 
moment  to  secure  the  election  of  Joachim  I  of  Brandenburg,  or 
Frederick  the  Wise.  The  latter  would  probably  have  been  chosen 
had  he  not  declined  because  of  the  fear  that  his  wealth  and  influ- 
ence were  not  sufficient  for  the  task.  On  June  28  Charles  V 
was  unanimously  elected  emperor  of  Germany.  He  was  of  the 
house  of  Hapsburg  and  was  no  friend  to  the  spirit  of  reform. 
Though  his  selection  was  unwelcome  to  the  pope,  he  was  too 
loyal  to  the  Church  to  favor  the  Reformation  for  the  sake  of 
revenge.  He  religiously  regarded  his  new  duties  as  God-given, 
and  he  conscientiously  strove  to  banish  heresy  and  to  defeat  the 
oncoming  Turk.  Had  the  pope  been  as  solicitous  for  the  wel- 
fare of  the  Church,  the  Reformation  might  have  been  less 
successful. 

On  October  23  the  emperor  was  crowned  in  Aachen,1  when  he 
pledged  himself  to  the  maintenance  of  the  traditional  Roman 
Catholic  faith  and  to  subjection  to  the  pope  and  the  Church.  Im- 
mediately thereafter  he  departed  for  Worms,  where  a 

LUTHER  •*  -"_  ' 

before  the     diet  was  to  be  opened  on  November  1.      The  ques- 

DIET 

tion  whether  to  condemn  Luther  unheard  was  long 
considered,  but  finally,  out  of  deference  to  the  German  States,  it 
was  decided  to  hear  him.  The  notification  to  appear  before  the 
diet  was  carefully  worded.  He  was  addressed  as  "Worthy  of 
honor,  beloved  and  pious."  The  papal  nuncio  Aleander  strove 
to  the  last  moment  to  prevent  his  appearance.  He  arrived  in 
Worms  on  April  16,  1521,  and  on  the  afternoon  of  the  17th  he 
stood  for  the  first  time  in  the  presence  of  the  emperor  and  the 

1  Or  Aix-la-Chapelle.  For  an  account  of  the  places  of  the  coronation  cere- 
monies, together  with  the  crowns,  see  Bryce,  Holy  Roman  Empire,  p.  313  f., 
note,  and  p.  442. 


LUTHER  AT   WORMS   AND  THE  WARTBURG   CASTLE.     169 

imperial  representatives.1  Johann  von  Eck  (not  Luther's  bitter 
enemy),  acting  under  instruction  from  Aleander,  pointing  to  his 
books,  asked  Luther  if  he  would  recant.  The  monk  of  Witten- 
berg, so  bold,  seemed  now  overawed.  He  had  not  anticipated  the 
exact  form  of  procedure,  and  was  unprepared  for  it.  Hence  he 
asked  for  time  in  which  to  reflect. 

The  request  was  granted,  and  on  the  next  day,  the  memorable 
18th  of  April,  he  appeared  once  more  before  the  diet.  He  now 
exhibited  none  of  yesterday's  timidity.  He  had  considered  his 
answer,  and  he  had  come  fresh  from  the  place  of  prayer.2  He 
apologized  for  his  uncouth  manners,  and  said  he  had  been  brought 
up  in  a  monastery.  In  answer  to  the  question  whether  he  would 
defend  all  his  books  or  recant  some  part  of  them  he 

r  LUTHER'S 

replied  that  his  books  were  of  three  classes  :  those  FmM  sta>d. 
which  were  purely  for  edification,  and  which  even  his  enemies  would 
not  condemn ;  those  in  which  he .  had  attacked  the  pope  and 
papists,  and  which  he  could  not  possibly  retract ;  and  those  against 
individuals,  in  which  he  might  possibly  have  spoken  with  undue 
severity.  He  could  recant  only  if  overcome  by  a  scriptural  proof. 
Eck  reminded  him  that  his  errors  had  already  been  condemned  by 
the  council  of  Constance.  Luther  retorted  that  neither  the  opin- 
ion of  the  pope  nor  of  councils  was  sufficient  for  him.3  The  council 
of  Constance  had  in  several  instances  gone  contrary  to  the  Scrip- 
tures. Being  required  to  do  so,  he  gave  a  direct  answer  in  the 
following  words  :  "Unless  I  am  refuted  and  convinced  by  the  tes- 
timony of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  or  by  open,  clear,  and  distinct 
grounds  and  reasons — since  I  trust  neither  pope  nor  councils,  both 

1  His  friends  feared  for  his  life  and  warned  hiru  not  to  go  to  Worms,  but  he 
returned  them  the  famous  reply  that  he  should  go,  though  there  were  as  many- 
devils  there  as  tiles  upon  the  housetops.  The  man  who  used  so  much  to  fear 
death  had  gained  courage  since  finding  the  true  source  of  comfort.  Schaff 
beautifully  describes  Luther's  journey — vi,  294-300. 

2  It  is  reported  that  on  his  way  to  the  hall  George  von  Frundsberg  said  to 
him,  "  My  poor  monk,  my  poor  monk,  thou  art  going  to  make  such  a  stand  as 
neither  I  nor  any  of  my  companions  in  arms  have  ever  made  in  our  hottest 
battles.  If  thou  art  sure  of  the  justice  of  thy  cause,  then  forward  in  God's 
name  and  be  of  good  courage;  God  will  not  forsake  thee."  Mathesius  stands 
sponsor  for  this  incident.  Something  like  it  may  have  occurred,  but  the  lan- 
guage is  not  such  as  men  use  under  circumstances  like  these.  It  is  too  formal 
and  dramatic. 

3  He  had  spoken  at  first  in  German,  but  upon  request  repeated  his  speech  in 
Latin  to  the  great  satisfaction  of  the  elector.  So  Luther  himself  says.  See  the 
Erlanger  ed.  of  his  works,  lxiv,  370.  Spalatin  confirms  this.  Kostlin,  follow- 
ing other  sources,  reverses  the  order. 


170  HISTORY    OF   THE    CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

of  whom  have  evidently  often  erred  and  contradicted  themselves 
— in  which  case  I  am  overpowered  by  the  Holy  Scriptures  to  which 
I  have  just  referred,  and  my  conscience  led  captive  by  God's  word, 
I  cannot  and  will  not  recant,  because  it  is  dangerous  to  deal  con- 
trary to  one's  conscience."  '  At  this  point  in  the  procedure  there 
was  some  uproar  in  the  diet,  and  the  emperor  arose  and  cut  off 
farther  disputation.  Meanwhile  Luther  was  heard  to  say,  "  Here  I 
stand,  I  can  do  no  otherwise  ;  God  help  me.     Amen."2 

Aside  from  any  of  the  dramatic  elements  of  this  scene,  Luther's 
courage  and  constancy  must  be  admired,  and  he  persisted  even  in 
the  face  of  farther  effort  to  bring  him  over.  The  repeated  at- 
tempts in  the  days  immediately  following  April  18  to  secure  this 
by  persuasion,  and  even  by  bribe,3  were  vain.  The  Bible  was  the 
final  resort  to  which  all  questions  of  faith  and  practice  must  be 
submitted.  His  conduct  can  be  accounted  for  only  on  the  suppo- 
sition of  profound  conviction  and  unswerving  loyalty  to  conscience. 
The  emperor,  on  the  19th,  had  declared  his  purpose  to  proceed 
against  him  as  a  heretic.  To  all  human  appearances  Luther  could 
benefit  no  one  by  persisting  ;  death  and  ruin  were  before  him  and 
his  followers.  The  whole  matter,  therefore,  resolved  itself,  as  he 
said,  into  the  question  of  faithfulness  to  conscientious  convictions. 
He  spoke  the  truth  when  he  said  to  Spalatin  that  if  he  had  a  thou- 
sand heads  he  would  rather  have  them  all  cut  off  one  by  one  than 
make  one  recantation. 

Varying  opinions  were  held  of  Luther  as  he  appeared  to  the  diet. 
The  emperor  thought  him  a  man  of  little  power,  and  could  not  be- 
lieve him  to  be  the  author  of  the  books  attributed  to  him.  The 
varying  papal  legates,  the  Venetian  ambassador,  and  the  Span- 

concerning  iards  and  Italians  generally,  were  disappointed  or  dis- 
luther.  gusted  with  him.     The  Germans,  on  the  other  hand, 

were  pleased  with  his  manner  of  conducting  himself.  The  whole 
question  was  one  of  national  prejudice.  No  opportunity  was  offered 
for  him  to  display  either  ability  or  prudence.  He  had  not  been 
called  to  debate  the  matters  in  question,  but  to  answer  whether  he 
would  recant.     The  judgment  of  history  is  that  for  combined 

1  Both  the  German  and  the  Latin  text  may  be  seen  in  Schaff ,  vi,  305.  It  will 
be  noticed  that  there  are  some  changes  in  construction  which  indicate  that 
Lnther  was  under  excitement  when  he  spoke. 

2  On  the  exact  language  used  at  this  point  there  has  been  much  dispute,  and 
the  sources  do  not  agree.  See  Kostlin,  Luthers  Rede  in  Worms,  in  literature 
given  above.     Schaff  gives  a  full  statement  of  the  case — vi,  p.  309  f . 

3  The  Archbishop  of  Treves  offered  him  a  benefice  if  he  would  retract  his 
position  that  a  council  could  err. 


LUTHER   AT  WORMS   AND  THE  WARTBURG   CASTLE.     171 

modesty  and  firmness  the  world  has  never  witnessed  but  one  scene 
which  is  its  equal.  The  confessor  or  martyr  exhibits  greatness 
only  by  the  dignity  with  which  he  adheres  to  the  truth. 

The  emperor's  counselors  wished  his  majesty  to  revoke  the  safe- 
conduct  of  the  heretic,  but  Charles  was  too  wise,  if  not  too  con- 
scientious, for  such  a  deed.  Many  of  the  nobles,  most  of  the 
Humanists,  and  the  masses  of  the  people  were  on  Luther's  side. 
The  emperor  feared  to  anger  the  princes,  in  view  of  the  many 
troubles  in  which  he  would  need  their  help.  Already  LUTHFR 
had  begun  that  long  series  of  hindrances  to  the  execu-  under  ban. 
tion  of  the  edict  which  in  the  providence  of  God  were  to  give  the 
Reformation  ample  time  for  development.  On  May  25,  Frederick 
and  the  elector  Palatine  being  absent,  when  the  princes  and  the 
emperor  were  accidentally  together,  the  edict  prepared  by  the  papal 
nuncio  Aleander  was  read,  and,  without  formal  consideration  or 
vote,  declared.  The  emperor  signed  it  with  his  own  hand  the  next 
day.  It  was  dated  back  to  May  8  in  order  to  give  it  the  appearance 
of  unanimity.  The  edict  condemned  Luther  in  the  most  violent 
language,  demanded  his  delivery  to  the  emperor,  the  arrest  of  his 
followers  and  confiscation  of  their  property,  the  suppression  and 
burning  of  Luther's  books,  and  the  utmost  strictness  in  the  over- 
sight of  the  press  by  the  spiritual  authorities.  Luther  had  been 
placed  under  ban  by  the  emperor  and  pope.  The  world  was  to 
witness  the  impotence  of  their  rage. 

The  enemies  of  the  Eeformation  were  in  high  glee,  but  Freder- 
ick the  Wise  now  proved  himself  their  match  in  strategy.  Luther 
must  hide  himself  until  their  vengeful  and  bloodthirsty  appetites, 
aroused  by  the  apparent  certainty  of  their  prey,  should  be  some- 
what allayed.  The  elector  himself  must  be  able  to  say  that  he 
was  ignorant  of  Luther's  whereabouts.  As  Luther  was  returning 
to  Wittenberg  he  was  seized,  on  May  4,  as  though  by  luther's 
violence  and  by  enemies,  and  taken  to  the  Wartburg 
Castle,  within  Frederick's  territories.  He  was  once  more  in  the 
immediate  vicinity  of  his  former  benefactors  in  Eisenach,  but  he 
could  not  make  himself  known  to  them.  He  was  no  longer  Lu- 
ther, but  Knight  George.  A  portrait  of  him  with  full  beard  shows 
the  disguise  to  have  been  complete. 

Foes  rejoiced,  friends  mourned,  because  of  Luther's  supposed 
death.  The  famous  artist,  Albrecht  Diirer,  bewailed  his  demise 
in  memorable  language :  "Does  he  still  live,  or  have  they  mur- 
dered him  ?  That  I  know  not ;  but  he  has  suffered  for  the  cause 
of  Christian  truth,  and  because  he  attacked  the  unchristian  papacy 


172  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

with  its  imposition  of  human  laws  and  its  opposition  to  the  free- 
dom of  Christ.  0  God,  if  Luther  is  dead,  who  will  preach  us  the 
holy  Gospel  with  equal  clearness  ?  0  God,  what  might  he  not 
have  proclaimed  in  the  next  ten  or  twenty  years  !  0,  all  pious 
Christian  men,  help  me  appropriately  to  bewail  this  divinely  gifted 
man,  and  to  pray  God  that  he  will  send  us  a  divinely  enlightened 
substitute."  The  reformer  spent  his  time  in  part  in  hunting  and 
in  the  enjoyment  of  nature.  But  he  employed  his  leisure  chiefly 
in  literary  work  of  the  most  important  kind.  During  the  summer 
he  produced  a  number  of  controversial  writings,  which  convinced 
the  world  that  he  was  not  dead,  and  continued  his  sermons  on  the 
gospels  and  epistles  of  the  ecclesiastical  year.  In  December  he  began 
his  translation  of  the  New  Testament  out  of  the  original  Greek. 
It  was  published  in  September,  1522.  The  Old  Testament  trans- 
lation appeared  in  parts  in  the  course  of  the  years,  and  together 
with  the  New  Testament1  was  published  complete  in  1534.  This 
made  a  Eoman  Catholic  translation  necessary,  and  Emser's  ap- 
peared in  1527,  being  largely  a  copy  of  Luther's.  But  Emser,  so 
far  from  translating  for  the  people,  as  Luther  did,  warned  them 
not  to  trouble  themselves  about  the  Bible,  which  was  for  scholars, 
but  to  give  themselves  up  to  a  life  well  pleasing  to  God. 

During  Luther's  enforced  absence  from  the  scene  of  conflict 
new  difficulties  sprang  up  at  Wittenberg.  Carlstadt,  zealous  but 
carlstadt's  ill  balanced,  was  anxious  that  the  logical  conse- 
aberration.  qUences  0f  ^e  reformatory  principles  should  be  car- 
ried into  effect.  Not  only  did  he  justify  the  marriage  of  the 
clergy,  but  also  that  of  monks  and  nuns.  The  rejection  of 
their  vow  might  be  a  sin,  but  not  so  great  as  an  unchaste 
life.  This  mode  of  defense  for  monkish  infidelity  did  not 
satisfy  Luther.  He  was  inclined  to  think  that  the  monk's 
vow,  voluntarily  assumed,  was  an  obligation  more  binding 
than  the  compulsory  celibacy  of  the  clergy.  After  careful  study 
he  wrote  the  work  De  Votis  Monasticis,  in  which  he  laid  the 
stress  on  the  motive  for  the  assumption  of  the  vow.  In  most 
cases  it  was  the  sinful  one  of  endeavoring  to  attain  a  special  holi- 
ness by  self-effort.  Convent  life  was,  however,  not  a  high  grade 
of  morality,  but  a  selfish  neglect  of  duty  to  others.  While  evan- 
gelical freedom  is  consistent  with  a  self-imposed  rule,  an  oath 
taken  in  accordance  with  false  and  sinful  ideas  of  duty  must  be 
laid  aside. 

1  Schaff  treats  the  whole  subject  of  Luther's  translation  in  a  complete  and 
masterly  manner — vi,  340-368. 


LUTHER   AT   WORMS  AND  THE  WARTBURG   CASTLE.     173 

Carlstadt  also  began  agitation  against  the  worship  of  pictures, 
images,  and  saints,  and  in  favor  of  giving  the  cup  to  the  laity. 
At  Christmas  he  actually  celebrated  the  eucharist  without  confes- 
sion, and  the  sacrifice  of  the  mass  in  both  kinds,  and  without  the 
priest's  garb.  The  bread  was  given  into  the  hands  of  the  commu- 
nicants, and  the  wine  was  passed  from  hand  to  hand  in  an  ordi- 
nary drinking  cup.  The  Augustinians,  at  the  behest  of  Gabriel 
Zwilling,  suspended  the  daily  reading  of  the  mass  without  the 
presence  of  communicants.  This  Luther  defended  in  a  work 
entitled  Vom  Misbrauch  der  Messe  (Of  the  Abuse  of  the  Mass).  In 
November,  1521,  thirteen  Augustinian  monks  had  forsaken  the 
convent  and  become  artisans  and  citizens.  At  Epiphany,  1522,  the 
general  vicar  of  the  order,  Link,  issued  a  mandate  which  practi- 
cally dissolved  the  German  congregation  of  the  Augustinians. 
To  every  monk  was  conceded  the  right  to  leave  the  convents. 
Begging  and  votive  masses  were  abolished.  Those  who  remained 
in  the  convents  were  to  constitute  a  free  league,  whose  mem- 
bers should  preach  the  Gospel  or  labor,  as  God  had  given  them 
ability. 

Thomas  Miinzer,  of  Zwickau,  a  zealous  opponent  of  the  existing 
church  order,  a  mystic  who  pretended  to  receive  revelations,  had 
preached  the  immediate  coming  of  judgment  on  the  priests  and 
godless,  rejected  infant  baptism,  and  taught  that  the  Spirit  of 
God  ruled  the  true  Church,  not  by  the  letter  of  the  thomas 

Scripture,  but  by  revelations  and  visions.  Expelled 
from  Zwickau,  he  came  to  Wittenberg.  Melanchthon  did  not 
know  what  to  do.  He  could  not  answer  the  arguments  against 
infant  baptism.  He  appealed  to  Luther,  who,  defending  infant 
baptism,  advised  that  the  fanatics  be  questioned  as  to  their  pro- 
phetic calling  and  religious  experience,  but  not  treated  with  vio- 
lence. The  mystical  fanatics  found  favor  with  Carlstadt,  who  even 
went  so  far  as  to  renounce  academic  studies,  since  God  revealed 
himself  to  babes  and  not  to  the  wise.  Under  his  influence  the 
schools  in  Wittenberg  were  closed  and  the  parents  taught  to  be- 
lieve that  education  was  almost  sin,  while  vast  numbers  of  stu- 
dents left  the  university. 

Luther,  who  had  soon  begun  secret  communication  with  his 
friends,  was  appealed  to  as  early  as  December,  1521,  and  in 
response  wrote  his  Admonition  to  all  Christians  to  Guard 
against  Uproar  and  Revolution,  in  which  he  advised  that  the 
authorities  be  left  to  deal  with  abuses,  and  that  the  weak  in  faith 
should  not  be  hurt  by  extreme  measures,  while  Lutherans  should 


174  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

commend  themselves  by  something  better  than  railing  at  the  pope 
and  excesses  in  their  use  of  evangelical  liberty. 

But  Luther,  when  he  heard  of  the  extremes  to  which  Carlstadt 
and  the  prophets  had  gone,  determined  to  return  to  Wittenberg  at 
all  hazards.  Without  the  consent  of  the  elector  and  at  his  own 
risk  he  passed  through  the  domains  of  Duke  George  of  Saxony. ' 
Arriving  on  March  6,  he  began  the  following  Sunday  to  preach 
against  the  practice  of  excesses.  He  preached  daily  for  one  week, 
luther's  a*  *he  en(^  °^  whi°h  time  he  had  become  completely 
w?ttenbekg  master  °f  tne  situation.  Carlstadt  and  Zwilling  were 
won  back  to  sobriety,  and  Melanchthon,  who  had  been 
at  his  wits'  end,  was  reassured.  The  points  which  Luther  em- 
phasized were  the  knowledge  of  sin,  of  grace  in  Christ,  and  of 
brotherly  love,  the  last  of  which  had  been  violated  by  disregarding 
those  who  were  unprepared  for  such  radical  measures.  The  reforms 
introduced  had  been  in  some  cases  hasty.  Too  much  stress  had 
been  laid  on  externals.  The  prophets  now  tried  to  reach  him  by 
private  conferences,  but  he  held  up  the  Scriptures  as  final  against 
their  pretended  revelations.  They  left  the  city,  but  they  were  to 
give  him  trouble  in  the  future.  He  had  corrected  the  excesses  at 
Wittenberg  and  demonstrated  to  all  who  would  know  it  that  he 
did  not  favor  the  extravagances  which  were  afterward  to  bring  such 
disaster  to  their  deluded  victims. 

1  See  in  Schaff  a  full  and  interesting  account  of  Luther's  journey,  with  the 
incident  of  the  meeting  of  Luther  and  the  two  students  at  the  Black  Bear  in 
Jena — vi,  382-387.  One  of  the  students  was  John  Kessler,  afterward  active  in 
the  Reformation  in  Switzerland. 


HUTTEN,  SICKINGEN,  AND  MELANCHTHON.  175 


CHAPTER  X. 

HUTTEN,  SICKINGEN,  AND  MELANCHTHON. 

We  have  seen  that  The  Address  to  the  German  Nobility  in- 
dicated a  change  of  attitude  with  reference  to  Luther's  trust  in  a 
purely  ecclesiastical  reform.  Probably  he  had  been  led  to  expect 
that  many  of  the  German  nobility  would  at  least  demand  a  reform 
for  Germany.  Ulric  von  Hutten  was  the  projector  of  these  plans, 
in  which  Luther  was  evidently  interested.  The  reformer  soon 
learned  the  futility  of  all  earthly  help  and  returned  to  his  simple 
but  mighty  faith  in  God  and  his  truth.1  Hutten  was  a  young  and 
ardent  Humanist,  sprung  from  the  nobility,  but  with  compara- 
tively small  resources.  He  had  conceived  a  great  dis- 
like  for  Eoman  ecclesiastical  abuses,  and  was  especially 
aroused  to  the  sentiment  by  considerations  of  patriotism,  and  per- 
haps of  personal  ambition.  In  prose  and  verse  he  wrote  against 
Rome,  and  from  the  literary  point  of  view  was  almost  the  equal  of 
Luther. 

Hutten's  writings  influenced  the  masses  favorably  for  the  Refor- 
mation, and  one  at  least  of  his  publications  profoundly  affected 
Luther.  It  was  his  edition  of  a  work  by  Laurentius  Valla,  show- 
ing the  falsity  of  the  pretended  donation  of  Constantine,  on  which 
the  pope's  temporal  power  had  rested  for  centuries.  The  discovery 
of  this  fact  in  1520  stirred  still  more  deeply  Luther's  antagonism 
against  the  entire  papal  system,  and  strengthened  him  in  the  be- 
lief that  the  papacy  was  the  antichrist  of  Revelation.  Hutten 
busied  himself  with  plans  for  the  protection  of  Luther 

.,  ,  ,  -V.  •      •  SICKINGEN. 

and  for  the  forcible  overthrow  of  Roman  dominion  m 
Germany.     His  friend,  Franz  von  Sickingen,  whose  wealth  and 
standing  gave  him  power  with  the  princes  of  the  empire  and  with 
the  emperor  himself,  was  won  to  Luther's  side  by  Hutten.2     They 

1  Luther  never  favored  war  as  a  means  of  spreading  the  Reformation.  He 
did,  however,  hope  for  so  wide  an  acceptance  of  the  evangelical  doctrines  by 
the  secular  authorities  that  they  would  introduce  the  reforms  rejected  by  the 
Church. 

*  His  motto  was  :  "  The  die  is  cast.  I  have  ventured  it."  For  a  fair  sample 
of  his  style  of  writing  and  assault  see  Hagenbach,  i,  59-61,  where  may  be 
found  extracts  from  his  Vadiseus,  his  most  effective  work  against  Rome. 


176  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

hoped  even  to  gain  Ferdinand  of  Austria,  the  emperor's  brother. 
But  just  what  it  was  that  Hutten  hoped  to  accomplish  it  is  impossi- 
ble to  discover.  His  plans  seem  to  have  been  vague  and  undefined. 
At  length,  in  1522,  he  prevailed  upon  Sickingen  to  attack  the 
archbishop  of  Treves  for  the  purpose  of  forcing  the  Reformation 
into  his  territories.  The  attempt  was  a  failure.  Sickingen  died 
of  wounds  received  during  the  campaign.  Hutten  fled  to  Switzer- 
land, where  Erasmus  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  him,  though 
Zwingli  treated  him  kindly.     Hutten  died  in  1523. 

In  Melanchthon,  however,  Luther  and  the  Reformation  found  his 
most  useful  friend  and  champion.  He  was  a  grandnephew  of 
Reuchlin,  who  recommended  him  to  Elector  Frederick  as  the  only 
scholar  in  Germany  comparable  to  Erasmus.  He  had  been  edu- 
cated at  Pforzheim,  Heidelberg,  and  Tubingen.  Born  in  1497,  in 
the  Palatinate,  of  wealthy  parents,  he  had  become  master  of  arts 
melanch-  at  the  age  of  seventeen.  The  Greek  and  Latin  lan- 
thon.  guages  were  more  familiar  to  him  than  his  native  Ger- 

man. Nor  was  his  a  mere  facility  in  languages  and  in  the  acqui- 
sition of  learning  ;  his  judgment  grew,  as  his  knowledge  increased, 
very  rapidly.  He  entered  upon  his  duties  as  professor  at  Witten- 
berg in  August,  1518,  and  his  inaugural  address  proved  to  Luther 
that  in  the  sickly-looking  youth  he  was  to  have  a  valuable  coad- 
jutor against  the  scholastic  theology  and  in  favor  of  Bible  study. 
At  first  professor  of  philosophy,  he  took  the  degree  of  bachelor 
of  divinity  in  1519,  and,  while  not  wholly  forsaking  the  classical 
authors,  he  lectured  now  on  the  books  of  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments. The  two  men  were  much  unlike  in  their  nature,  dispo- 
sitions, training,  and  abilities,  yet,  complementing  each  other,  they 
remained  friends  and  colaborers  through  life. 

The  great  work  which  Melanchthon  was  to  perform  for  the  Refor- 
mation and  for  Protestantism  was  that  of  giving  scientific  and  sys- 
tematic expression  to  the  new  doctrines.  His  first  great  work  was 
his  Theological  Commonplaces,  which  appeared  in  the  latter  part 
of  1521. 1  The  book  grew  out  of  his  lectures  on  Romans,  and  is  an 
exposition  of  the  doctrines  of  sin  and  grace,  repentance  and  sal- 
vation. The  work  was  greatly  improved  in  later  editions,  as  to 
form,  contents,  and  completeness.     Melanchthon's  labors  were  con- 

]  The  original  title  in  Latin  is :  Loci  communes  rerum  theologicarum  seu 
hypotyposes  theologicce.  Kawerau  says  :  "  Here  one  can  see  summarized  the 
theological  results  of  the  new  movement." — Moller,  iii,  35.  On  pp.  35,  36,  he 
gives  in  German  an  excellent  outline  of  the  Loci.  For  a  tolerably  full  outline 
in  English  see  Hagenbach,  i,  161-160. 


HUTTEN,    SICKINGEN,    AND   MELANCHTHON.  177 

tinued  in  the  great  Augsburg  Confession,  in  which  he  reduced  to 
writing  the  final  symbol  of  Lutheranism.  While  Luther  experi- 
enced no  appreciable  alteration  of  opinion  in  his  contact  with  other 
reformers,  Melanchthon  was  influenced  by  them.  Holding  at  first 
to  the  absolute  slavery  of  the  human  will,  even  to  the  verge  of 
making  God  responsible  for  the  sins  of  David  and  Judas,  he  at 
length  came  to  see  the  dangerous  character  of  this  stoical  philoso- 
phy and  its  unscriptural  nature.  Rejecting  the  doctrine  of  man's 
total  inability,  he  asserted  that  the  word  of  God,  the  Holy  Spirit, 
and  man's  will  are  all  concerned  in  human  salvation.  He  gave  up, 
early  in  the  eucharistic  controversy,  the  extreme  literal  view  of  the 
words  of  institution  held  by  Luther,  and  by  emphasizing  the  real 
but  spiritual  presence  of  Christ  in  the  Lord's  Supper  approached 
very  near  to  Calvin's  opinions.  On  the  doctrine  of  justification  by 
faith  he  saw  the  necessity  of  holding  to  faith  alone,  but  in  later  life 
emphasized  works  as  a  proof  of  our  salvation. 

These  modifications  of  faith,  which  occurred  in  part  even  during 
Luther's  lifetime,  never  interfered  seriously  with  the  friendship  of 
the  two  great  reformers,  nor  did  Luther  ever  openly  oppose  Me- 
lanchthon's  modified  views.  Each  thought  the  other  superior  to 
himself.  But  the  gentle  Philip  could  not  sanction  the  bitterness 
of  the  epithets  applied  by  Luther  to  his  theological  opponents, 
and  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  he  sometimes  felt  it  necessary 
to  reserve  the  expression  of  his  opinions  out  of  fear  of  Luther's 
violent  temper. 

Schaff  compares  Calvin's  Institutes  and  Melanchthon's  Common- 
places, 1  and  calls  attention  to  the  interesting  fact  that  the  authors 
of  these  two  great  works  were  laymen. 

1  History  of  Christian  Church,  vi,  374. 
14  a 


178  HISTORY    OF    THE    CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  XL 

PERSONAL    CONTROVERSIES-THE    PEASANT    WAR. 

After  the  Leipzig  disputation  Eck  gave  himself  no  rest  until  Lu- 
ther had  been  formally  excommunicated.  To  his  death  he  was  one 
of  the  reformer's  bitterest  opponents.  Besides  him  there  was  Jerome 
Emser,  whose  Humanistic  lectures  Luther  had  heard  at  Erfurt.1 
He  attacked  Luther 's  translation  of  the  New  Testament,  charging 
him  with  one  thousand  errors  and  fourteen  hundred  heresies.  The 
usual  batch  of  hard  names  was  mixed  with  argument  in 

V  TVT  SFR 

this  controversy.  Emser  was  the  "Goat  of  Leipzig" 
and  the  "Scribbler  of  Dresden."  Luther  was  the  "Capricorn  of 
Wittenberg. "  The  names  of  Murner,  Cochlaeus,  Faber,  Schatzger, 
and  Dietenberger  must  not  be  forgotten  among  the  knights-errant 
of  the  pen  against  Luther. 

But  among  his  literary  opponents  was  no  less  a  personage  than 
King  Henry  VIII  of  England,  who  wrote  a  work  defending  the 
seven  sacraments  of  the  Church,  for  which  he  received  from  the 
pope  the  title  of  "  Defender  of  the  Faith  "  and  the  present  of  a  beau- 
tiful purple  vellum  manuscript.  The  language  of  this  work  was 
disdainful.  Luther  was  called  a  servant  of  Satan  and  a  blasphemer. 
The  reformer  felt  constrained  to  reply  in  equally  con- 
temptuous terms.  His  work  was  written  in  both  Latin 
and  German,  and  in  the  latter  edition  he  calls  Henry  a  "  crowned 
ass,"  a  "wretched  fool,"  a  "profligate  knave,  shameless  liar,  and 
blasphemer."  In  1525  Luther  had  some  hope  of  winning  Henry 
to  the  Eeformation,  and  wrote  to  him  humbly  apologizing  for 
his  previous  brutal  language,  although  not  retracting  his  doc- 
trines.3 The  king  replied  by  declaring  that  Luther  was  not  only  a 
heretic  but  a  coward,  and  charged  him,  because  of  his  marriage, 
with  having  violated  a  nun  whose  life  had  been  consecrated  to 
God.  Emser  saw  his  opportunity  to  injure  Luther,  and  published 
the  correspondence  in  German. 

None  of  the  adversaries  of  Luther  were  his  equal.  There  remained 
one,  however,  in  whose  ability  to  match  the  reformer  the  Eomanists 

1  Emser  was  private  secretary  to  Duke  George  of  Saxony,  and  a  man  of  learn- 
ing. 

2  For  the  details  of  the  correspondence  see  Kostlin,  ii,  143,  146. 


PERSONAL   CONTROVERSIES— THE   PEASANT   WAR.       179 

had  perfect  confidence.  But  they  were  not  quite  sure  that  he  was 
not  in  sympathy  with  the  Eef ormation. '  He  had  so  bitterly  at- 
tacked ecclesiastical  abuses  and  had  spoken  so  highly  of  Luther  as 
to  arouse  the  fear  that  he  too  had  been  alienated  from  the  Church. 
When  he  professed  to  be  loyal  to  the  old  faith  he  was  urged  by  the 
pope,  the  emperor,  and  King  Henry  VIII  of  England,  with  many 
others,  to  announce  himself  publicly. 

This  was  the  great  Erasmus.  But  he  was  averse  to  controversy, 
and  besides  had  expressed  himself  in  favor  of  many  of  the  reforms 
introduced  by  Luther,  and  could  see  no  place  at  which  to  direct  a 
formidable  assault.     Upon  his  rejection  of  Hutten's  friendship  in 

1522  the  latter  had  declared  him  an  apostate  from  the  Gospel  and  a 
man  of  weak  character.  This  gave  Erasmus  an  occa-  breach 
sion  for  declaring  himself  and  for  pleading  that  the  luther  and 
questions  in  dispute  should  be  settled,  without  passion,  ERASMUS- 
by  scholars.  Early  in  1524  Luther  sought  to  avert  what  seemed 
to  be  an  approaching  breach  between  Erasmus  and  the  Reforma- 
tion, and  the  tone  of  his  letter  was  exceedingly  offensive  to  Erasmus, 
who  determined  to  begin  the  strife.  He  first  wrote  a  sharp  letter  to 
Luther,  and  followed  this  with  a  work  on  the  freedom  of  the  will,  in 
which  he  assaulted  Luther's  language  of  1520  to  the  effect  that  the 
freedom  of  the  will  is  mere  fiction,  a  name  without  any  correspond- 
ing reality.  Luther  was  slow  about  answering,  and  when  his  reply 
came  it  was  couched  in  terms  of  respect,  and  in  his  best  Latin. 
The  book  was  entitled  The  Slavery  of  the  Will,  and  affirmed 
such  a  predetermination  of  human  action  as  would  result  in  abso- 
lute philosophical  fatalism.  To  this  Erasmus  replied  in  his 
Hyperaspistis,  in  which  he  exhibited  the  immoral  consequences  of 
Luther's  opinion  of  the  slavery  of  the  will.  The  two  men  were 
alienated  forever.  In  1529  Luther  applied  some  of  his  most  abu- 
sive language  to  the  old  scholar.  He  declared  him  to  be  the 
enemy  of  Christ  and  of  all  religion,  a  perfect  example  of  the 
epicure,  a  true  Lucian,  a  vain  creature,  and  an  angry  viper. 

Meantime  other  events  more  hurtful  to  the  Reformation  had 
been  transpiring.  Luther  had  silenced  Carlstadt  by  force  of  supe- 
rior ability,  but  he  had  not  thoroughly  changed  either  his  opin- 
ions or  his  nature.     The  latter  had  been  chosen  in  the  autumn  of 

1523  as  the  pastor  of  the  congregation  in  Orlemiinde.  Here  he 
agitated  his  old  iconoclastic  ideas  and  taught  the  rightfulness  of 
bigamy  and  the  identification  of  Sabbath  and  Sunday.     Thomas 

1  To  the  last  ardent  Roman  Catholics  called  him  the  father  of  Luther.  They 
asserted  that  Erasmus  had  laid  the  egg  which  Luther  hatched. 


180  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Munzer  began  to  gather  congregations  of  "  saints,"  who  cher- 
ished mystical  and  communistic  ideas  and  looked  for  the  early 
mazer's  penal  judgment  of  God  upon  the  godless,  chief  among 
fanaticism.  whom  were  the  princes  and  lords.  Luther  advised 
peace  if  possible,  force  if  necessary,  to  check  the  rising  tumults. 
Carlstadt  opposed  Miinzer's  violence,  but  returned  to  a  bitter  war- 
fare against  Luther's  doctrine  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  All  efforts  at 
reconciliation  failed.  Luther's  work,  Against  the  Heavenly  Proph- 
ets, was  directed  against  Carlstadt.  Its  influence  on  the  sacra- 
mental controversy  was  very  great. 

Miinzer,  called  to  Weimar  to  answer  for  his  conduct,  fled  to 
Miilhausen.  Here  he  was  expelled  from  the  city,  after  which  he 
traversed  southern  Germany  and  Switzerland,  wrote  and  spoke  in 
the  bitterest  language  against  Luther,  and  at  length  began  to  co- 
operate with  those  Swiss  Protestants  who  thought  Zwingli  too  slow 
in  his  processes  of  Eeformation,  and  who  regarded  his  opposition 
to  them  as  enmity  to  Christianity  itself.  Balthasar  Hubmaier,  a 
former  friend  and  colaborer  of  Zwingli,  was  so  influenced  by  Munzer 
that  he  forsook  the  former  for  the  latter,  and  in  Waldshut  pro- 
ceeded according  to  the  radical  plans,  including  rebaptism,  but 
not  forbidding  "weak"  parents  to  baptize  their  children.  Infant 
baptism  was  regarded  as  the  greatest  abomination  of  the  devil  and 
the  pope.  The  Bible  alone  furnished  the  rule  for  their  ecclesi- 
astical ideas.  No  experience  of  subsequent  history  was  of  any 
value.  The  adherents  to  these  ideas  were  the  true  Christians,  and 
none  but  such  belonged  to  their  conventicles.  Vast  numbers  of 
artisans  became  followers  of  these  fanatical  theories,  although 
they  rejected  Miinzer's  warlike  spirit.  No  effort  on  the  part  of 
Zwingli  or  the  authorities  could  restrain  the  movement. 

Besides  all  these  disturbances,  which  brought  the  Reformation 
into  disrepute  with  many  who  could  not  or  would  not  distinguish 
between  the  two  movements,  and  which  diverted  attention  from 
the  sober  and  essential  elements  of  the  true  reform  while  center- 
ing thought  in  nonessentials,  a  still  more  serious  phenomenon  is 
now  to  be  mentioned.  The  Eeformation  did  not  originate, 
although  it  fed,  the  spirit  which  soon  broke  out  in  the  Peasant 
War.  As  the  cities  rose  to  wealth  and  freedom  the  peasantry  be- 
peasant  came  discontented  with  their  lot.     Wars  devastated 

WAB-  their  lands ;  the  introduction  of  the  Roman  Code  had 

added  to  their  burdens  in  the  interest  of  the  nobility,  while  a  variety 
of  religious  and  superstitious  ideas  raised  their  expectations  of 
relief.     The  Reformation,  with  its  doctrine  of  individual  freedom 


PERSONAL   CONTROVERSIES— THE   PEASANT   WAR.       181 

and  responsibility,  nourished  the  spirit  of  unrest,  and  the  peasants 
of  Upper  Suabia  constituted  themselves  into  the  "  Christian 
Union,"  whose  fundamental  law  was  the  Gospel,  but  which  ex- 
pected to  accomplish  its  ends  by  peaceful  means.  This  was  on 
February  24,  1525.  A  wider  league  of  peasants  in  southern  Ger- 
many, under  the  influence  of  evangelical  ideas,  adopted  as  a  pro- 
gram the  so-called  Twelve  Articles  of  Peasantry.  They  were 
agrarian  and  economic  in  their  character.  They  claimed  the 
right  to  choose  their  own  pastors  in  order  to  secure  the  preaching 
of  the  true  Gospel.  The  tenth  they  were  willing  to  pay,  but 
wished  to  have  control  of  it  for  the  support  of  their  own  clergy 
and  for  the  care  of  the  poor.  The  whole  program  was  re- 
formatory, not  revolutionary.  "  The  evangelical  spirit  which 
had  found  its  way  into  the  movement  had  produced  modera- 
tion."1 "When  the  Suabian  League  declined  to  give  them  any  re- 
lief, the  radical  element  began  to-  apply  violence.  Luther  had 
written  too  late  his  Admonition  to  Peace  upon  receiving  a  copy 
of  the  Twelve  Articles.  He  charged  the  princes  with  blame,  and 
exhorted  them  to  kind  treatment  of  the  peasants.  At  the  same 
time  he  warned  the  peasants  that  their  cause  would  lose  its  Chris- 
tian character  the  moment  they  appealed  to  force.  Defeat  in  battle 
at  Leipheim,  Wurzach,  and  Weingarten  ended  their  hopes. 

The  death  of  Frederick  the  Wise,  on  May  5,  1525,  was  saddened 
by  the  thought  that  the  horrors  of  the  revolution  were  a  punish- 
ment for  the  wickedness  of  the  princes.     Luther  felt 
that  the  revolutionists  were  emphasizing  the  Eeforma-     poses  the 

PEASANTS. 

tion  to  its  detriment  for  the  support  of  their  cause. 
It  was  purely  in  the  interest  of  the  Gospel  that  he  wrote  his  tract, 
Against  the  Murderous  Robber  Peasants,  in  which  he  called  upon 
the  authorities  to  do  their  duty,  at  the  same  time  giving  them  to 
understand  that  they  deserved  this  disaster.  He  advised  them 
to  try  peaceable  methods  of  settlement  and,  if  these  failed,  to  use 
the  sword  in  suppressing  the  rebellion,  but  to  treat  the  prisoners 
with  kindness.  It  was  not  that  Luther  disregarded  the  claims  of 
the  peasants.  These  were,  at  least  in  part,  just ;  but,  holding  in 
common  with  his  age  to  the  doctrine  of  official  responsibility,  he 
could  not  tolerate  revolution.  The  greatest  mercy  consisted  in 
the  most  vigorous  suppression  of  violence  in  the  governed  classes. 

1  The  entire  treatment  in  MSller  of  the  years  in  which  the  Reformation  sepa- 
rated itself  from  Humanism,  the  Anabaptist  fanaticism,  and  the  excesses  of  the 
peasantry,  is  excellent.  It  constitutes  chap.  3  of  vol.  iii  of  that  invaluable 
work,  and  is  entitled  "  Die  Jahre  der  Klarung  und  der  Scheidung,  1534,  1525." 


182  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Their  right  to  agitate  he  would  not  dispute.  These  things, 
together  with  the  apparent  ruin  in  which  the  peasants  were  about 
to  involve  the  Reformation  by  claiming  its  principles  as  their  own, 
aroused  Luther  against  them. 

It  is  difficult  to  estimate  which  was  the  wise  course.  Had 
Luther  taken  side  with  the  peasants  his  enemies  would  have 
charged  the  Reformation  with  the  entire  trouble.  That  he  op- 
posed them  did  not  save  him  from  this  charge,  while  he  lost 
favor  with  the  discontented  classes.  All  this  Luther  could  foresee. 
It  is  to  his  credit  that  he  did  what  he  thought  right,  regardless  of 
consequences.  Philip  of  Hesse,  Elector  John,  Duke  George,  and 
the  counts  of  Middle  Germany  combined  against  the  revolution- 
ists and  crushed  them  in  the  battle  of  Frankenhausen  on  May  15. 
Miinzer  was  captured  and  executed.  Notwithstanding  Luther's 
advice  for  the  kind  treatment  of  the  captives,  the  cruelties  they 
experienced  were  laid  to  his  charge.  His  language  had,  indeed, 
as  was  the  habit  with  him,  been  so  bitter  as  naturally  to  excite  the 
enmity  of  the  peasants.  Friends  were  inclined  to  censure,  and  his 
Roman  Catholic  opposers  openly  blamed  him  for  the  war,  and  pro- 
posed to  suppress  the  Reformation  in  the  interest  of  civil  peace.1 

The  marriage  of  Luther  to  Catharine  von  Bora,  an  escaped  nun, 
on  June  13,  with  the  wedding  festival  June  27,  produced  much 
scandal.  Luther  had  theoretically  maintained  the  right,  and  even 
the  duty,  of  marriage.  The  evil  times  on  which  the  world  had 
fallen  and  the  prospect  of  his  early  and  violent  death  led  him  to 
"  defy  the  devil  before  he  died,  by  marriage,  even  though  it  might 
luther's  be  nothing  more  than  an  engagement  like  Joseph's." 
marriage.  j£e  kag  fog^  blamed  for  living  in  marriage  with  Catha- 
rine before  the  wedding  festivities,  but  the  festivities  were  not 
the  marriage.  In  the  light  of  our  customs  the  postponement  of 
the  festival  may  appear  strange,  but  it  was  not  unusual  in  that 
day.  The  regularity  of  the  marriage  is  amply  justified,  and  the 
base  gossip  which  suggested  a  sinful  intercourse  between  the  monk 
and  the  nun  prior  to  the  wedding,  and  to  which  even  Erasmus  lent 
himself  for  a  time,  is  absolutely  without  foundation.  Many  of  his 
friends,  Melanchthon  included,  opposed  his  marriage  as  a  humilia- 
tion of  so  great  a  man.  They,  together  with  his  foes,  thought  the 
time  most  inauspicious.  The  sorrows  of  the  Peasant  War  oppressed 
the  people  while  Luther  celebrated  his  nuptial  feast.  But  the  re- 
former had  acted,  as  usual,  conscientiously  and  prayerfully,  and 

1  A  very  full  account  of  the  Peasant  War  in  both  Germany  and  Switzerland 
may  be  found  in  Hagenbach,  i,  379-398. 


PERSONAL   CONTROVERSIES— THE   PEASANT  WAR.        183 

was  not  disturbed  by  the  clamor  of  friends  or  foes.  His  married 
life  was  happy,  and  he  had  vindicated  by  his  own  deed  the  holiness 
of  the  married  state  and  set  an  example  which  has  resulted  in  the 
purification  and  elevation  of  clerical  life  from  that  day  to  this.1 

The  Peasant  War  had  not  destroyed  the  popular  movement  of 
the  Anabaptists.  They  spread  everywhere  with  tremendous  ra- 
pidity and  threatened  the  existence  of  the  evangelical  Churches. 
Every  artisan  who  adhered  to  this  zealous  company  carried  the 
doctrine  to  all  places  of  his  sojourn.  Many  able  leaders  appeared 
among  them,  and  their  claim  to  being  Bible  Christians  gave  them 
favor  with  all  who  opposed  the  superabundance  of  the  THe  ana- 
human  element  in  the  Eoman  Catholic  Church.  The  baptists. 
causes  which  led  to  the  movement  have  been  generally  understood 
to  be  the  principles  of  the  Kef  ormation  carried  out  to  their  extreme 
consequences,  without  regard  to  practical  common  sense.  Many  of 
its  representatives  were  originally  followers  of  Luther  or  Zwingli, 
which  fact  lends  color  to  the  idea  that  they  were  merely  ultra- 
protestants.  This  is  partly  true  and  partly  false.  Their  original 
impulse  toward  a  purer  faith  and  practice  undoubtedly  sprang 
from  the  influence  of  the  Reformation.  But  in  their  mystical, 
apocalyptic  and  chiliastic  excesses  they  were  the  true  sons  of  the 
Middle  Ages.2 

The  reformed  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith  alone  they  re- 
jected. All  efforts  to  suppress  them  failed.  They  were  drowned, 
beheaded,  or  burned  by  the  thousand,  by  imperial  command  and 
by  Eoman  Catholic  authority,  as  well  as  by  order  of  the  Swiss 
magistrates.  But  the  more  they  were  persecuted  the  more  rapidly 
their  numbers  increased.  Luther  was  opposed  to  the  forcible 
suppression  of  faith,  while  Melanchthon  thought  it  right  for  the 
secular  authority  to  proceed  against  false  doctrines.  The  result 
was  that  tolerance  was  not  practiced  even  in  the  land  which  had 
given  birth  to  a  Reformation  based  upon  the  rights  of  the  indi- 
vidual conscience  as  one  of  its  pillars. 

1  Kostlin  treats  Luther's  marriage  in  a  masterly  way,  and  defends  him  tri- 
umphantly against  the  slanders  circulated  by  Roman  Catholics. — Martin  Lu- 
ther, i,  760-773. 

2  Such  is  essentially  the  view  of  Kawerau,  who  follows  Albrecht  Ritschl  (Der 
Pietismus). — Moller,  iii,  82,  where  see  the  entire  discussion. 


184  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  NEW  CHURCH  ORDER  IN  GERMANY. 

Although  Luther  had,  out  of  consideration  for  the  weakness 
of  some,  held  fast  to  many  features  of  public  worship  which  were 
objectionable  to  the  evangelical  sentiment,  he  would  have  been 
german  iK-  more  radical  than  he  was  had  not  Frederick  the  "Wise 
^nto^church  restrained  him.  Soon  after  the  elector's  death,  and  the 
service.  accession  of  Johann,  a  more  thorough  reformation  of 
the  forms  of  worship  began.  On  September  23,  1525,  "  the  entire 
pope,"  as  Spalatin  says,  "was  thrown  out  of  the  Church."  On 
October  29  of  the  same  year  the  German  service  was  introduced 
in  place  of  the  former  Latin,  for  Sunday  use,  and  adapted  to  the 
evangelical  ideas.  For  the  week-day  services  the  Latin  was  still 
to  be  employed.  At  first  intended  for  the  churches  in  Wittenberg, 
the  service  was  afterward  prepared  for  general  use,  and  published 
early  in  1526,  under  the  title  German  Mass  and  Order  of  Service.1 

Luther  accompanied  the  work  with  a  declaration  that  it  was 
published  at  the  request  of  others,  and  that  no  one  was  to  feel  con- 
strained to  use  it  unless  prompted  by  his  conscience,  and  indeed 
that  such  forms  were  only  necessary  to  unripe  Christians.  But 
while  he  maintained  the  necessity  of  these  more  formal  services 
for  the  general  public,  he  thought  it  would  be  an  excellent  idea  to 
have  a  congregation  within  the  congregation,  whose  names  should 
be  especially  enrolled,  and  which  should  be  composed  only  of 
genuine  Christians.  Here  could  be  put  into  practice,  as  nowhere 
else,  the  real  principles  of  true  religious  service.2 

Luther  made  much  of  the  power  of  song  in  the  German  tongue. 
He  translated  and  versified  the  old  Latin  Da  pacem  Domine, 
Verleib  uns  Frieden  gnadiglich,  and  Te  Deum  laudamus,  Herr 
Gott  dich  loben  wir,  and  modified  the  litany  to  suit  evangelical 
needs.  He  wrote  forty  or  fifty  hymns  and  poems,  twenty-one  of 
luther's  which  dated  from  the  year  1524.  Schaff  and  others 
hymns.  can  attention  to  the  scriptural  character  of  many  of 

his  hymns,  and  to  his  free  use  of  hymns  in  the  Latin.3  Of  the 
latter,  besides  those  mentioned  above,  we  have  Komm,  Gott,  Schop- 

1  Kostlin  gives  an  outline  of  the  order  of  services — ii,  20. 

2  Ibid.,  ii,  17-19.  3  Schaff,  vi,  503  f. 


THE  NEW  CHURCH  ORDER  IN  GERMANY.      185 

fer,  Heiliger  Geist — Veni,  Creator  Spiritus ;  Nun  komm,  der 
Heiden  Heiland — -Veni,  Redemptor  gentium  ;  Christ  lag  in  Todes 
banden — Surrexit  Christus  hodie — the  third  stanza  of  which  is  as 
follows : 

"  Es  war  ein  wunderbcher  Krieg 

Da  Tod  und  Leben  rungen  : 
Das  Leben  das  behielt  den  Sieg. 

Es  bat  den  Tod  verseblungen. 
Die  Scbrift  bat  verkundet  das, 
Wie  da  ein  Tod  den  andern  frass, 
Ein  Spott  aus  dem  Tod  ist  worden.1 
Hallelujah  !  " 

Of  the  scriptural  hymns  the  most  important  are  two  from  the 
second  chapter  of  Luke  : 

"  Voni  Himmel  bocb  da  kam  icb  bier," 

and 

"  Vom  Himmel  kam  der  Engel  Scbaar," 

and  three  from  the  Psalms  : 

"  Acb  Gott,  vom  Himmel  si  eh  darein  "  (Psalm  xii), 
"  Aus  tiefer  Noth  schrei  icb  zu  dir  "  (Psalm  cxxx), 
and 

"Ein'  feste  Burg  ist  unser  Gott"  (Psalm  xlvi), 

"  the  Marseillaise  of  the  Reformation,"  as  Heine  calls  it.  This 
last  is  the  most  celebrated  hymn  of  Luther.  It  has  been  fre- 
quently translated  into  English.  Thomas  Carlyle,  T.  ,  , 
C.  Porter,  and  F.  H.  Hedge  have  given  us  the  most  burg." 
effective  versions.2  This  truly  great  hymn  was  not  composed,  as 
might  be  surmised,  in  the  very  earliest  years  of  the  Reformation, 
but  in  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1527.  On  November  1  of  that 
year  Luther  wrote  to  Amsdorf  about  the  internal  terrors  and 
external  struggles  with  which  he  had  to  contend  in  that  time  of 
devastating  pestilence,  and  spoke  of  "the  rage  of  Satan"  and  his 
"power  and  guile."  These  and  other  expressions  in  the  same  let- 
ter breathe  the  thoughts  that  pervade  the  hymn.  It  first  appeared 
in  print  in  1528.     Coupling  this  fact  with  the  resemblance  between 

1  The  following  translation  is  from  Schaff ,  vi,  504 : 
"  That  was  a  wondrous  war,  I  trow, 

When  life  and  death  together  fought ; 
But  life  hath  triumphed  o'er  his  foe. 

Death  is  mocked  and  set  at  naught. 
'Tis  even  as  the  Scripture  saith, 
Christ  through  death  hath  conquered  death." 

5  Kostlin  discusses  the  date  of  the  origin  of  the  hymn — ii,  182. 


186  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

the  thoughts  of  the  hymn  and  the  letter,  we  must  conclude  that 
the  hymn  was  composed  about  this  time.  Hedge's,  the  most  poeti- 
cal of  the  English  translations,  is  as  follows  : 

"  A  mighty  fortress  is  our  God, 

A  bulwark  never  failing  ; 
Our  helper  he,  amid  the  flood 

Of  mortal  ills  prevailing. 
For  still  our  ancient  foe 
Doth  seek  to  work  us  woe  ; 
His  craft  and  power  are  great, 
And,  armed  with  cruel  hate, 

On  earth  is  not  his  equal. 

"  Did  we  in  our  own  strength  confide, 

Our  striving  would  be  losing  ; 
"Were  not  the  right  man  on  our  side, 

The  man  of  God's  own  choosing. 
Dost  ask  who  that  may  be  ? 
Christ  Jesus,  it  is  he  ; 
Lord  Sabaoth  is  his  name, 
From  age  to  age  the  same, 

And  he  must  win  the  battle. 

"  And  though  this  world,  with  devils  filled, 

Should  threaten  to  undo  us  ; 
We  will  not  fear,  for  God  hath  willed 

His  truth  to  triumph  through  us. 
The  prince  of  darkness  grim — 
We  tremble  not  for  him  ; 
His  rage  we  can  endure, 
For  lo  !  his  doom  is  sure, 

One  little  word  shall  fell  him. 

"  That  word  above  all  earthly  powers- 
No  thanks  to  them — abideth  ; 

The  Spirit  and  the  gifts  are  ours 
Through  him  who  with  us  sideth. 

Let  goods  and  kindred  go, 

This  mortal  life  also  ; 

The  body  they  may  kill ; 

God's  truth  abideth  still, 
His  kingdom  is  forever." 

Preaching  services  were  held  three  times  on  Sunday — at  five  or 
six  in  the  morning,  at  eight  or  nine  in  the  forenoon,  and  at  ves- 
preaching  pers.  To  Luther's  mind,  the  important  part  of  the 
emphasized.  service  was  preaching.  At  the  first  service  the  epistle, 
at  the  second  the  gospel,  and  at  the  third  the  Old  Testament  were 
employed.    Because  many  of  the  preachers  were  very  unskillful 


THE   NEW   CHURCH   ORDER  IN   GERMANY.  187 

he  proposed  that  they  should  read  printed  sermons  to  the  congrega- 
tions. He  was  the  more  willing  for  this  that  he  might  prevent 
fanatical  utterances  in  the  pulpits.  Daily  services  were  held  dur- 
ing the  week,  from  Monday  until  Friday  early  in  the  morning,  and 
on  Saturday  at  vespers.  He  allowed  the  burning  of  lights  and  the 
wearing  of  priestly  garments  where  any  desired  it,  but  if  abuses 
grew  out  of  this  concession  he  proposed  to  do  away  with  the  dan- 
gerous custom ;  for  ritualistic  forms  did  not  exist  for  their  own 
sake,  but  for  the  assistance  they  might  afford.  It  is  interesting  to 
note  that  in  his  order  of  baptism,  1526,  he  did  away  with  the  use 
of  salt,  saliva,  and  oil,  but  retained  exorcism,  abbreviating  the  ad- 
dress to  the  "unclean  spirit." 

The  sense  of  freedom  which  the  spirit  of  Protestantism  con- 
tained worked  together  with  differences  of  judgment  to  prevent  a 
harmonious  development  of  doctrine  and  practice  in  the  Protes- 
tant Church.  While  Luther's  great  influence  brought  the  majority 
into  conformity  with  his  views,  there  still  existed  variations  in  ref- 
erence to  the  practices  of  the  old  Church,  which  were  sometimes 
yielded,  sometimes  maintained.  There  were  some  of  the  clergy 
even  within  electoral  Saxony  who  remained  loyal  to  Eomanism. 
Many  of  the  clergy  were  unqualified  by  defective  training  for  a 
correct  understanding  of  the  new  doctrines  and  their  intelligent 
exposition.  The  followers  of  Carlstadt  and  other  fanatics  added 
variety  to  the  confusion  already  existing. 

Multitudes  of  the  peasants  no  longer  attended  upon  the  Protes- 
tant services,  and  yet  they  had  forsaken  Rome.  It  was  evident 
to  all  observing  minds  that  something  must  be  done  to  reduce  to 
order  the  chaos  which  had  fallen  upon  the  land.  The  clergy  did 
not  possess  the  authority,  and  particularly  had  Luther  no  power 
to  enforce  his  opinions.  His  only  recourse  was  the  influence  he 
could  wield  by  tongue  and  pen.  This  was  indeed  mighty,  but  not 
sufficient.  Hence  he  advised  the  elector  to  take  the  initiative. 
The  secular  power  had  the  right,  not,  indeed,  to  compel  belief,  nor 
to  punish  dissent  with  death,  but  to  prevent  such  differences  of 
opinion  as  would  result  in  anarchy.  It  was  the  duty  of  the  prince 
to  provide  for  the  support  of  the  Church,  just  as  he  would  for 
highways  or  any  other  public  necessity.  The  method  by  which 
the  needed  changes  might  be  discovered  was  to  institute  a  visita- 
tion in  the  various  districts.  The  visitors  or  superintendents 
could  have  the  power  to  test  the  orthodoxy  and  capacity  of  the 
clergy  and  to  remove  those  who  were  unworthy.  Elector  Johann 
went  even  farther  than  Luther  suggested.     Those  who  would  not 


188  HISTORY   OF    THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

or  could  not  conform  to  the  faith  and  order  of  the  evangelical 
Church  were  required  to  sell  their  property  and  goods  and  leave 
the  realm. 

One  of  the  necessities  of  effectual  visitation  was  a  formula  of 
doctrine,  which  was  prepared  by  Melanchthon,  Luther,  and 
others.1  For  the  children  there  was  also  need  of  a  form  of 
instruction  by  which  the  faith  might  be  instilled  into  their  minds. 
lutheb's  In  order  to  meet  this  demand  Luther  published  a 
catechisms.  catecfasm  fa  the  early  part  of  1529.  Though  after- 
ward known  as  the  Larger  Catechism,  to  distinguish  it  from  the 
later  and  abbreviated  form  of  the  same  work,  it  originally  bore  the 
title  German  Catechism.  He  treated  the  three  principal  parts  of 
religious  instruction  under  the  heads  of  The  Ten  Commandments, 
The  Apostles'  Creed,  and  The  Lord's  Supper.  The  work  was  not 
framed  in  the  form  of  question  and  answer,  as  the  name  would 
seem  to  suggest,  but  consisted  of  a  running  commentary  on  the 
three  articles  just  mentioned.2 

An  appendix  to  the  Shorter  Catechism3  contained  a  form  of 
marriage  ceremony,  the  chief  interest  of  which  lies  in  the  princi- 
ples concerning  marriage  which  are  here  enunciated.  With  Luther 
marriage  was  a  concern  of  the  secular  life,  and  hence  the  Church 
must  leave  its  regulation  to  the  State.  But  while  it  belongs  to 
the  temporal  concerns,  it  nevertheless  was  a  God-given  institution, 
and  hence  far  more  holy  and  pure  than  monasticism,  which  was 
entirely  of  human  origin.  Though  it  is  an  affair  of  the  State, 
the  minister  may  join  such  in  marriage  as  desire  him  to  do  so,  and 
for  this  purpose  he  provides  the  simple  ceremony,  in  which  he 
distinguishes  between  the  true  union  of  the  couple,  which  results 
from  their  own  promises  made  in  the  presence  of  the  proper  offi- 
cials, and  the  blessing  which  is  pronounced  by  the  minister. 

1  The  visitation  articles  of  Saxony  (1592),  which  are  of  course  much  later  than 
Luther  and  Melanchthon,  may  be  seen  in  Schaff's  Creeds  of  Christendom,  iii, 
181-189. 

2  Schaff  treats  with  considerable  fullness  Luther's  catechisms  and  the  typi- 
cal catechisms  of  Protestantism — vi,  550-557.  Comp.  also  Kostlin  for  a  schol- 
arly and  complete  account  of  the  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms,  with  their 
appendices,  contents,  and  doctrinal  teachings — ii,  50-65. 

3  This  was  also  published  in  1529  (July).  It  is  given  in  Schaff's  Creeds  of 
Christendom  in  German  and  English — iii,  74-92. 


INFLUENCE   OP   PAPAL  AND   IMPERIAL   POLITICS.        189 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

INFLUENCE   OF    PAPAL   AND    IMPERIAL   POLITICS   ON   THE 
REFORMATION  IN   GERMANY. 

The  history  of  the  causes  which  saved  the  Reformation  in  Ger- 
many from  destruction  after  the  diet  of  Worms  is  largely  that  of 
the  relations  of  pope  and  emperor  to  each  other,  and  of  the  em- 
peror to  his  dominions.  The  immediate  execution  of  the  edict  of 
the  diet  was  prevented  by  the  irregular  manner  in  which  it  was 
finally  promulgated,  and  by  the  departure  of  the  emperor  from 
Germany  directly  upon  the  close  of  the  diet. 

The  Council  of  Regency,  with  its  headquarters  at  Nuremberg, 
had  charge  of  imperial  affairs,  under  the  presidency  of  Ferdinand 
of  Austria  in  the  absence  of  the  emperor.  The  majority  of  the 
council  favored  the  execution  of  the  edict,  but  were  prevented  by  a 
variety  of  causes,  especially  by  the  fear  that  any  serious  antago- 
nism to  Luther  would  result  in  a  new  outbreak  of  the  radical  ele- 
ment, which  Luther  alone  had  been  able  to  suppress. 

The  diet  at  Nuremberg,  in  the  autumn  of  1522,  gave  the  execu- 
tion of  the   edict  careful  consideration.     The  newly 
elected  pope,  Adrian  VI,  favored  immediate  proceed-    diets  of 

.      r       ,,  ,      .  ,  .  ,,  ,  NUREMBERG. 

mgs  against  Luther,  and  in  order  to  win  those  who, 
while  they  did  not  approve  of  Luther's  course,  yet  deeply  felt  the 
need  of  ecclesiastical  reform,  he  confessed  through  his  nuncio  the 
sins  of  the  Church,  inclusive  of  the  popes  who  had  preceded  him, 
and  the  cardinals  and  bishops,  and  assured  the  diet  that  reforms 
would  at  once  be  undertaken.1  The  diet,  however,  saw  the  im- 
possibility of  carrying  out  the  wishes  of  the  pope  without  danger 
of  plunging  Germany  into  civil  war.  They  contented  themselves, 
therefore,  with  providing  that  no  farther  writings  adapted  to  pro- 
duce religious  excitement  should  be  tolerated,  and  with  a  demand 
that  within  one  year  a  council  should  be  held  on  German  soil  for 
the  settlement  of  religious  disputes.  Meantime  the  Gospel  might 
be  preached  according  to  the  true  Christian  understanding  of  the 
same — a  formula  so  ambiguous  as  to  give  the  reformatory  move- 
ment freedom  of  action. 

1  See  the  favorable  judgment  of  this  pope  in  Eanke,  Die  romische  Papste  der 
letzten  vier  Jahrhunderten,  i,  60. 


190  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Another  diet  held  in  Nuremberg  early  in  1524  resulted  in  a  re- 
cess, which  pleased  neither  the  pope,  the  emperor,  nor  Luther, 
although  it  was  in  fact  most  favorable  to  Luther's  cause.  Pope 
Clement  VII,  who  had  been  chosen  the  successor  of  Adrian  VI,  to- 
gether with  the  emperor,  demanded  emphatically  the  prompt  exe- 
cution of  the  edict  of  Worms.1  But  the  diet  went  no  farther 
than  to  recognize  the  validity  of  the  edict,  and  to  agree  to  enforce 
it  as  far  as  possible.  At  the  same  time  the  diet  renewed  the  de- 
mand for  a  national  Church  council,  and  provided,  as  before,  for 
the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  according  to  its  true  Christian  under- 
standing, but  added  by  way  of  definition  that  this  should  be  de- 
termined by  an  appeal  to  generally  accepted  teachers  of  the 
Church. 

Luther  ought  to  have  been  contented  with  so  favorable  an  issue, 
but  he  could  not  refrain  from  pointing  out  the  contradiction  be- 
tween the  maintenance  of  the  ban  against  him  and  the  purpose  to 
consider  his  doctrines  at  the  proposed  council.  While  the  con- 
clusions of  the  diet  opened  the  way  for  the  civil  authority  to  pro- 
ceed against  the  heretics  wherever  they  saw  fit,  it  also  gave  liberty 
to  such  princes  as  Frederick  the  Wise  to  leave  them  unmolested, 
on  the  plea  that  the  edict  could  not  be  enforced,  while  the  con- 
clusions themselves  naturally  suggested  the  postponement  of  the 
whole  matter  until  the  proposed  council  had  met. 

The  emperor  even  went  so  far  as  to  forbid  the  calling  of  the 
council.  Campeggi,  the  pagal  legate,  feared  that  Luther  might 
appear  before  it,  if  held,  which  event  he  thought  would  lead  to 
perpetual  schism.  Duke  Ferdinand  of  Austria,  who  had  his  hopes 
set  on  becoming  king  of  the  Eomans,  feared  lest  if  such  an  assem- 
bly were  held  the  States  might  choose  another  than  himself  for 
that  dignity.  Thus  on  every  hand  the  States  saw  their  desires 
thwarted.  To  remedy  their  grievances  the  dangerous  plan,  after- 
fobmation  ward  fraught  with  much  disaster,  of  forming  leagues 
or  leagues.  ^or  seif_neip  was  resorted  to.  The  beginning  was 
made  by  the  Roman  Catholics,  in  accordance  with  the  advice  of 
Campeggi,  and  under  the  personal  leadership  of  Ferdinand. 
Calling  the  dukes  of  Bavaria  and  the  majority  of  the  bishops  of 
southern  Germany  together  at  Eegensburg  in  June,  1524,  he  or- 
ganized a  league  against  the  heretics,  whose  business  it  was  to  pre- 
vent the  reading  of  Luther's  writings,  and  attendance  upon  the 
university  at  Wittenberg,  and  at  the  same  time  to  bring  about  a 

1  Clement  VII  was  a  cousin  of  Leo  X,  a  man  of  comparative  blamelessness  of 
life,  but  an  Italian  who  resumed  at  once  the  methods  of  Leo. 


INFLUENCE   OF   PAPAL   AND   IMPERIAL  POLITICS.       191 

reformation  in  the  number  of  Church  festivals  and  a  reduction  of 
ecclesiastical  taxes  within  their  territories.  This  league  was  met 
by  one  composed  of  the  Protestant  cities  of  upper  Germany,  with 
the  purpose  of  furthering  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  in  its  purity 
and  for  mutual  help  against  a  compulsory  execution  of  the  edict 
of  the  diet  of  Worms. 

Had  Clement  VII  been  as  anxious  to  suppress  the  heresy  of 
Luther  as  he  was  to  protect  his  own  personal  interests  he  might  now 
have  had  the  opportunity  ;  for  early  in  1525  the  emperor,  in  the 
battle  of  Pavia,  almost  annihilated  the  French  army  and  took 
Francis  I  of  France  prisoner.  The  opportunity  was  thus  afforded 
him,  for  the  first  time,  to  carry  out  his  sincere  wish  to  extirpate 
the  Lutheran  errors  ;  and  it  was  his  purpose  to  employ  it  as  soon 
as  he  could  be  crowned.1  But  while  the  pope's  fears  led  him 
to  form  an  alliance  with  Charles  V,  it  also  prompted  him  to  do 
secretly  all  that  lay  in  his  power  to  undermine  him.  He  even 
absolved  Francis  I  from  the  oath  Avhich  he  had  taken  to  refrain 
henceforth  from  wars  and  alliances  against  the  emperor,8  and  he 
went  so  far  as  to  form  a  league,  known  as  the  Holy  LEAGUE  Gf 
League  of  Cognac,  in  which,  besides  himself,  there  cognac. 
were  included  Francis  I  and  the  cities  of  Milan,  Florence,  and 
Venice,  under  the  protection  of  King  Henry  VIII  of  England. 
The  ostensible  purpose  was  to  maintain  a  lasting  peace  among  Chris- 
tian princes.  Its  real  purpose  was  to  oppose  the  plans  of  Charles  V. 
That  this  policy  on  the  part  of  the  pope  should  bring  about  a  con- 
flict between  him  and  the  emperor  was  natural.3  The  emperor 
now  appealed  from  the  pope  to  a  general  council,  and  began  a  war 
against  his  holiness.  But  while  he  was  engaged  in  punishing  the 
pope  for  his  treachery,  the  cause  of  the  Reformation  was  enjoying 
a  period  of  quiet  development  most  necessary  to  its  welfare  at  this 
stage  of  its  progress. 

Meantime  the  formation  of  leagues,  offensive  and  defensive, 
proceeded.  In  July,  1525,  just  subsequent  to  the  terrible  scenes 
of  the  Peasant  War,  Duke  George  of  Saxony  formed  a  league  for 

1  He  intended  to  return  and  "  root  out  and  extirpate  such  unchristian,  evil, 
licentious  doctrines,  and  restore  and  establish  the  holy  Roman  empire  in 
unity."     See  Gieseler,  iv,  123,  n.  1. 

2  But  it  must  be  said  to  the  disgrace  of  Francis  that  he  took  the  oath 
without  the  slightest  intention  of  keeping  it,  and  only  in  order  to  effect  his  re- 
lease. Such  was  his  own  statement  to  the  notables  whom  he  assembled  in  the 
year  1527. — Isambert,  Recueil  des  anc.  lois  franc,  xii,  292. 

3  See  Ranke,  Deutsche  Geschichte  im  Zeitalter  der  Reformation,  ii,  324. 


192  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

the  eradication  of  what  he  conceived  to  be  the  root  of  this  evil — 
that  is,  of  the  Peasant  War — the  Lutheran  sect.  It  included,  be- 
sides Duke  George,  the  Elector  Joachim  of  Brandenburg,  and 
Herbert  of  Mayence,  and  Dukes  Erich  and  Henry  of  Braunsch- 
weig. Elector  John  and  Philip  of  Hesse  had  been  invited  to  the 
meeting.  It  was  supposed  that  because  they  had  witnessed  the 
excitement  and  peril  of  the  war  they  would  trace  it  to  Luther 
and  be  ready  to  combine  with  others  against  him  and  his  followers, 
but  both  declared  themselves  true  to  the  Kef ormation. ' 

A  glance  at  the  map  of  Germany  at  that  period  will  show  how 
narrowly  the  Reformation  escaped  the  opposition  of  a  league  which 
league  of  should  cover  all  northern  Germany.  The  prospect  of 
tokgau.  another  diet,  in  which  the   Eoman  Catholic  League 

would  be  strong,  and  united  in  its  efforts  to  execute  the  edict  of 
Worms,  induced  a  closer  union  of  the  Protestant  princes,  resulting 
in  the  so-called  League  of  Torgau.  This  originally  included  only 
Elector  John  and  the  Landgrave  Philip  ;  but  subsequently  Dukes 
Philip,  Otho,  Ernst,  and  Francis  of  Braunschweig-Ltineburg, 
Henry  Duke  of  Mecklenburg,  Wolfgang  of  Anhalt,  Gebhard  and 
Albert  Counts  of  Mansfeld,  the  city  of  Magdeburg,  and  Albert 
Duke  of  Prussia.2  Attempts  were  also  made  by  the  Protestants 
to  form  an  alliance  with  Frederick  I  of  Denmark  and  Gustavus 
Vasa.3 

With  these  leagues,  the  one  for  aggression  against  Luther's 
errors  and  the  other  for  the  defense  of  religious  liberty,  the  time 
approached  for  the  diet  of  Spires,  in  June,  1526.  Had  the  pope's 
League  of  Cognac  not  been  in  existence,  the  emperor's  demands, 
including  the  prohibition  of  all  farther  modifications  of  ecclesi- 
astical practices  in  the  interest  of  Lutheranism,  the  punishment 
of  all  who  disregarded  the  orders  of  the  diet,  and  the  final  en- 
forcement of  the  edict  of  Worms,  together  with  his  yet  severer 
measures,  proposed  secretly  to  Ferdinand,  might  have  been  car- 

1  Philip's  language  in  reply  to  Duke  George  is  worthy  of  quotation  :  ' '  Your 
highness  writes  that  the  rebellion  has  risen  from  Lutheranism  ;  with  this  I 
cannot  agree.  .  .  .  Thus,  I  have  punished  no  Lutheran  with  the  sword,  but 
wicked,  rebellious  persons,  who  do  not  hold  Luther's  doctrine.  .  .  .  The 
Gospel,  which  must  now  be  called  Luther's  doctrine,  teaches  no  rebellion  to 
the  peasants,  but  peace  and  obedience  to  all  men.  Accordingly,  among  those 
people,  and  in  those  regions  which  adhere  to  the  Gospel  called  Lutheran,  there 
is  less  rebellion,  in  some  places  none  at  all,  than  in  those  which  persecute  the 
Gospel. "— Rommell,  Philipp  der  Grossmuthige,  ii,  85. 

2  See  Gieseler  for  the  language  of  the  compact — iv,  124,  125. 

3  Comp.  Moller,  iii,  65. 


INFLUENCE   OF   PAPAL   AND   IMPERIAL   POLITICS.        193 

ried.  True,  the  cities  of  Nuremberg,  Ulm,  and  Strasburg  boldly- 
declared  the  impossibility  of  executing  the  famous  edict.  But 
had  the  Roman  Catholic  party  not  felt  that  all  the  time  and 
energies  of  the  emperor  must  be  devoted  to  the  war  against  the 
Cognac  League,  they  would  probably  have  ordered  all  that  his 
majesty  required.  As  it  was,  the  best  that  could  be  done  was 
to  order  that  each  State  should  proceed  as  responsibility  to  God 
and  the  emperor  demanded.  Once  more,  also,  measures  were 
taken  to  secure  the  long-desired  general  or  national  council, 
which  was  to  undertake  the  peaceable  settlement  of  the  disputes. 

Although  nothing  probably  was  farther  from  the  intention  of 
the  diet,  this  conclusion  was  understood  as  granting  the  right  of 
each  territory  to  adjudicate  in  ecclesiastical  matters  according  to 
its  pleasure.  The  Protestant  princes  held  that  their  responsi- 
bility to  the  emperor  would  be  discharged  when  they  had  proved 
themselves  ready  to  justify  their  cause  from  God's  word. 

Aggravating  as  this  was  to  the  emperor  and  the  Roman  Cath- 
olics generally,  they  were  powerless  to  prevent  it.  Indeed, 
everything  which  happened  to  the  Roman  Catholic  authority, 
whether  of  good  or  of  ill  fortune,  turned  out  for  the  further- 
ance of  the  Gospel.  A  national  council  the  emperor  would  not 
have  ;  a  general  council  he  could  not  have  so  long  as  his  contro- 
versy with  the  pope  lasted  ;  and  until  his  hands  were  free  from 
the  war  with  the  Cognac  League  he  could  not  lend  the  influ- 
ence of  his  personal  presence.  Meantime  his  brother,  Ferdinand 
of  Austria,  a  bitter  opponent  of  the  Reformation,  was  prevented 
by  his  good  fortune  from  acting  in  opposition  to  the  Evangeli- 
cals. By  the  death  of  Louis,  king  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia,  he 
became  king  of  those  territories.  This  would  have  given  him 
a  great  accession  of  power,  had  he  been  able  to  wield  it,  against 
the  Reformation,  but  his  elevation  brought  with  it  the  respon- 
sibility of  the  war  with  the  Turks.  This  not  only  occupied  his 
energies,  but  made  the  friendship  of  the  Protestant  princes  a 
necessity.  He  who  had  formerly  proceeded  with  such  bitterness 
against  the  Lutherans  in  his  own  territories  was  now  obliged  for 
a  time  to  tolerate  them  in  the  interest  of  his  personal  dominion. 
His  election  also  secured  him  the  ill-will  of  the  Duke  of  Bavaria, 
thus  dividing  the  enemies  of  the  Reformation.1 

While  the  political  situation  thus  favored  the  Protestant  cause, 

the  Lutheran   princes  and  theologians    were   brought   to  shame 

and   disrepute  by  a  forgery  of   Otto  von  Pack,  a  chancellor   of 

1  Moller,  iii,  66,  67  ;  Gieseler,  iv,  127,  where  see  his  numerous  references. 
15  2 


194  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Duke  George  of  Saxony. '  He  pretended  to  know  of  a  league  be- 
tween Ferdinand,  the  Elector  of  Mayence  and  Brandenburg,  the 
archbishop  of  Salzburg,  the  bishops  of  Bamberg  and  Wiirzburg, 
George  Duke  of  Saxony,  and  the  dukes  of  Bavaria,  for  the  alleged 
purpose  of  annihilating  the  principal  Protestant  States  and  giving 
them  over  to  the  government  of  the  Roman  Catholics.  This  in- 
formation he  revealed  to  Philip  of  Hesse.  By  the  payment  of  a 
pack's  large  sum  of  money  Pack  was  induced  to  produce  a 

forgery.  copy  of  the  agreement,  said  to  have  been  signed  at 
Breslau.  His  official  position,  while  it  emphasized  his  treachery  to 
Duke  George,  at  the  same  time  lent  color  to  the  truth  of  the  story. 
The  well-known  hatred  of  Ferdinand,  Duke  George,  and  others 
supposed  to  be  a  part  of  the  league  toward  the  Reformation  also 
made  it  appear  credible.2  Pack  affirmed  its  truth  in  such  a  man- 
ner as  to  convince  Philip,  Elector  John,  and  Luther  of  its  gen- 
uineness. 

Melanchthon  regarded  it  as  spurious.  But  while  Luther  held 
John  back  from  the  aggressive  war  which  Philip  thought  necessary 
under  the  circumstances,  Philip  armed  his  soldiers  and  appeared 
upon  the  borders  of  the  territories  of  the  bishops  of  Bamberg  and 
Wiirzburg,  and  compelled  them  to  pledge  themselves  to  peace, 
and  also  to  assume  the  cost  of  the  war.  The  result  of  the  mat- 
ter was  injurious  to  the  cause  of  the  Reformation,  exhibiting  an 
unwonted  degree  of  suspicion  in  the  minds  of  the  reformers  and 
placing  them  in  the  attitude  of  aggressors.  That  Luther,  the 
real  leader  of  the  Reformation,  was  opposed  to  war  did  not  quiet 
the  antagonism  which  the  affair  aroused.  The  Reformation  had 
assumed  a  political  aspect  which  made  it  responsible  for  the  acts 
of  even  the  secular  authorities. 

Nor  was  it  long  before  a  greater  danger  threatened  the  cause  of 
the  Reformation.  The  war  with  the  Cognac  League  was  won  by 
the  emperor,  and  now  he  could  turn  his  attention  once  more  to 
the  religious  disputes  at  home.  To  the  diet  convened  by  him  at 
the  diet  of  Spires,  in  1529,  he  proposed,  not  indeed  the  unquali- 
fied enforcement  of  the  edict  of  Worms,  but  severe 
measures  against  the  farther  progress  of  the  Reformation.  The 
diet  declared  the  Protestant  interpretation  of  the  edicts  of  1526 
erroneous,  and  rendered  the  recess  of  that  diet  invalid.     The  edict 

1  Gieseler  thinks  it  could  hardly  have  been  an  invention  by  Pack,  but  was 
probably  a  project  drawn  up  by  a  counselor  of  Ferdinand — iv,  130. 

2  For  an  account  of  this  affair  comp.  Kostlin,  Martin  Luthei,  sein  Lebenund 
seine  Schriften,  ii,  117-120. 


INFLUENCE   OF  PAPAL   AND   IMPERIAL   POLITICS.        195 

of  Worms  was  to  be  carried  out  only  in  the  Roman  Catholic  do- 
mains, but  the  Protestant  territories  must  introduce  no  farther 
reforms,  and  allow  the  Roinan  Catholic  form  of  worship  to  con- 
tinue unmolested.  The  efforts  of  Philip  to  unite  the  reformed 
territories  in  a  secret  league,  including  the  Swiss,  were  prevented 
by  the  unfortunate  sacramentarian  controversy.  There  were  now 
several  leagues  of  Protestants,  but  they  were  divided  among  them- 
selves on  account  of  the  doctrinal  issues,  instead  of  uniting  against 
the  common  foe.  The  pope  and  the  emperor,  on  the  other  hand, 
had  become  friends,  and  the  emperor  was  crowned  at  Bologna  in 
December,  1529.  The  emperor  and  Francis  I  of  France  had  also 
been  reconciled. 

While  the  Protestants  were  thus  falling  apart,  the  Roman 
Catholic  enemies  were  being  brought  together.  At  about  the 
same  time,  January  21,  1530,  the  diet  to  be  held  at  Augsburg 
in  June  of  the  same  year  had  been  convoked.1 

We  confine  ourselves  to  the  political  significance  of  this  diet. 
The  emperor  proposed  to  have  it  deal  first  with  the  war  against 
the  Turks,  and  afterward  with  questions  of  faith.  The  Reforma- 
tion had  by  this  time  grown  to  such  proportions  that  both  the 
emperor  and  pope  felt  it  necessary  to  proceed  in  a  spirit  of  con- 
ciliation. The  emperor  now  began  his  efforts  for  a  reunion  of 
the  divided  Church.  After  all  the  reforms  introduced  by  the 
Lutherans,  they  still  claimed  to  belong  to  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church.  The  hopes  of  the  emperor  did  not  therefore  seem  un- 
founded. The  Protestants  succeeded  in  having  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal differences  considered  first,  and  their  efforts  were  directed 
toward  a  justification  of  their  previous  conduct.  This  harmonized, 
in  spirit  at  least,  with  the  purpose  of  the  emperor  to  do  away 
with  the  ecclesiastical  schism  and  to  unite  the  parties  in  a  har- 
monious comprehension  of  Christian  truth. 

The  pugnacious  disposition  of  Eck,  who  laid  before  the  em- 
peror a  bitter  attack  upon  the  Protestants  of  all  schools,  was  at 
this  point  the  only  visible  hindrance.  The  emperor  himself  made 
the  Apostles'  Creed  the  test  as  to  correctness  of  doctrines. 

Melanchthon  strove  earnestly  to  meet  the  emperor's  conciliatory 
tone  by  carefully  expurgating  from  the  confession  which  he  pre- 
pared all  unnecessarily  harsh  expressions,  by  yielding  all  that  he 
possibly  could,  and  by  omitting  all  mention  of  some  of  the  prin- 

1  Luther  was  not  permitted  to  enter  Augsburg,  and  he  was  obliged  to  remain 
at  the  Coburg  Castle,  whence  he  kept  up  constant  communication  with  the  re- 
formers who  were  at  the  diet. 


196  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

cipal  articles  of  the  Protestant  faith ;  but  in  vain. '    All  efforts  at 

reunion  failed,  since,  however  much  the  reformers  yielded,  the 

Eoman  Catholic  theologians  still  demanded  more.     Be- 

FTTTTT  V  pw. 

forts  for  sides,  the  pope's  legate  called  the  attention  of  Charles 
to  the  omission  of  several  points  of  Protestant  belief. 
This  the  Protestants  would  not  deny.  At  length  the  emperor  him- 
self laid  a  confession  before  the  diet,  in  which  he  declared  the 
Protestants  to  be  refuted,  and  which  he  required  them  to  accept. 
This  aroused  the  ire  and  spirit  of  independence  of  the  Protestant 
princes,  and  proved  how  foolish  had  been  the  attempt  of  the 
Protestant  theologians  to  satisfy  the  Eoman  Catholic  demands. 

Charles  gave  the  Protestant  princes  until  April  15,  1531,  to  de- 
cide whether  they  would  accept  the  confession  which  he  had  laid 
before  them.  Until  then  he  would  wait  patiently.  The  recess 
also  reiterated  the  necessity  of  a  council,  and  the  Protestants  were 
required  to  combine  with  the  emperor  in  resistance  to  the  Zwing- 
lians  and  Anabaptists. 

1  He  continued  his  efforts  so  long  and  with  so  many  concessions  that  the  Ro- 
manists had  good  hope  of  winning  him  back  to  their  cause. 


THE   SMALCALD   LEAGUE.  197 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE    SMALCALD    LEAGUE. 

The  Elector  John  was  displeased  with  the  recess  and  declined 
to  participate  further  in  the  actions  of  the  diet.  Philip  of  Hesse 
had  left  the  diet  in  disgust  much  earlier  in  the  session,  and  with- 
out the  imperial  permission.  Luther,  who  though  enforced  to 
stay  at  the  Castle  of  Coburg,  watched  with  eagle  eye  every  move- 
ment of  his  foes,  was  also  very  indignant  at  the  requirements  of  the 
emperor.  Hitherto  he  and  the  Wittenbergers  generally  had  op- 
posed as  unlawful,  not  to  say  unchristian,  any  armed  resistance  to 
the  emperor ;  but  the  Wittenberg  jurists  had  recently  ruled  that 
when  a  judge  continues  a  case  after  an  appeal,  or  exercises  judicial 
powers  not  rightfully  belonging  to  him,  he  may  be  forcibly  resisted. 
Such,  it  was  claimed,  had  been  the  case  with  the  emperor  in  his 
dealings  with  the  Protestant  States.  Thus  the  legal  difficulties  in 
the  way  of  armed  resistance  were  removed. ' 

The  expressed  purpose  of  the  emperor  to  secure  for  his  brother 
Ferdinand  the  Roman  crown  met  with  opposition  from  both  Prot- 
estant and  Roman  Catholic  princes,  although  the  necessary  num- 
ber of  votes  was  subsequently  secured.  The  emperor 
also  strengthened  the  Roman  Catholic  element  in  the  of  the 
high  court  of  judicature,  and  ordered  it  to  proceed 
against  those  who  had  confiscated  church  property,  thus  greatly 
displeasing  the  Protestant  party.  These  two  imperial  acts  were 
the  immediate  cause  of  the  formation  of  the  Smalcald  League. 
Elector  John  united  with  the  upper  German  cities  in  a  protest 
against  both  of  these  plans  of  the  emperor  as  early  as  Decem- 
ber, 1530,  at  which  time  also  the  league  was  practically  created. 
In  spite  of  the  protest  Ferdinand  was  elected  king  of  the  Ro- 
mans on  January  5,  1531.  This  prompted  the  meeting  which 
resulted  in  the  formal  conclusion  of  the  league  in  February, 
1531,  including  Saxony,  Hesse,  Braunschweig-Ltineburg,  Braun- 
schweig-Grubenhagen,  Wolfgang  of  Anhalt,  two  Counts  of  Mans- 
feld,  and  the  cities  of  Strasburg,  Ulm,  Constance,  Reutlingen, 
Memingen,   Lindau,    Biberach,  Isny,    Lubeck,    Magdeburg,    and 

1  See  Gieseler,  iv,  152,  n.  ;  Walch,  x,  656  ;  Erlangen  ed.  xxv2,  12, 113  f. ;  Kolde, 
Martin  Luther,  ii,  377  ff. 


198  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

Bremen.  The  league  was  to  continue  six  years,  and  new  mem- 
bers might  be  admitted  under  proper  limitations.1  The  league 
subsequently  formed  alliances  with  the  dukes  of  Bavaria  and  with 
France  and  Denmark.2 

The  strength  of  this  league  was  such  as  to  render  futile  all 
thought  of  compelling  the  Protestant  States  to  accept  the  recess 
of  Augsburg.  The  reunion  of  northern  and  southern  Germany 
in  the  interest  of  the  Keformation,  though  with  some  remaining 
differences  of  doctrine,  was  also  brought  about.  Switzerland,  how- 
ever, was  left  to  stand  by  itself.  But  it  was  agreed  that  the  Ger- 
mans would  not  aid  the  emperor  in  the  violent  suppression  of  the 
Zwinglian  doctrines. 

The  Turk  was  again  at  the  gates  of  the  empire,  and  the  emperor 
was  compelled  once  more  to  undertake  efforts  for  peace  with  the 
Protestants,  rather  than  measures  to  force  upon  them  the  accept- 
ance of  the  Eoman  Catholic  faith.  The  pope  was  also  favorable 
to  the  attempt  to  secure  the  aid  of  the  Smalcald  League  against 
the  Turks.  He  even  had  the  Augsburg  Confession,  which  was  the 
official  declaration  of  the  faith  of  the  league,  examined  by  certain 
of  his  theologians,  in  the  hope  that  it  might  be  made  the  basis  of 
a  compromise.  But  such  was  the  consciousness  of  the  league, 
both  as  to  its  power  and  its  right,  that  it  made  demands  to  which 
neither  emperor  nor  pope  could  accede.  The  proposed  peace,  the 
Protestants  affirmed,  must  include  not  only  those  who  were  now 
Protestants,  but  their  future  converts  as  well.  All  persecution  of 
the  Protestants  must  at  once  cease.  All  legal  processes  against 
them  then  before  the  high  court  of  judicature  must  be  dismissed, 
and  a  council  must  be  called  in  which  all  questions  of  faith  were 
to  be  settled  alone  according  to  God's  word.  That  the  Catholics 
could  not  accept  these  terms  without  ruin  to  their  cause  in  Ger- 
many is  plain. 

The  emperor  was  compelled  by  force  of  circumstances  to  con- 
clude a  truce  which  amounted  practically  to  an  edict  of  toleration. 
The  religious  conditions  were  to  remain  unchanged  until  the  meet- 
ing of  a  new  diet  or  a  council.  The  Protestants  were  assured 
that  if  they  would  propose  in  any  case  the  dismissal  of  the  pro- 
cesses against  them  in  the  high  court,  their  plea  would  be  heeded  ; 

1  All  the  parties  to  the  league  must  know  of  and  consent  to  the  admission  of 
the  new  member. — Holler,  iii,  105. 

2  Gieseler,  iv,  153  ;  Moller,  iii,  107.  Kawerau  regards  the  necessity  of  these 
foreign  alliances  as  having  weakened  Germany  and  as  having  led  to  the  dog- 
matic character  which  distinguished  the  German  Church. 


THE   SMALCALD   LEAGUE.  199 

but  this  was  a  private  arrangement  between  the  emperor  and  the 
league,  and  was  not  made  known  to  the  Eoman  Catholic  princes. 
This  truce  was  signed   and  sealed  at  Nuremberg  in 

„  !•!•,!  i  i  ,,         THE  RELIG- 

July,  1532,  from  which  it  has  become  known  as  the  ious  peace  of 

_    , .     .  _.  _  „  .  T  .  .     „    .,  NUREMBERG. 

Eeligious  Peace  of  J\  uremberg.     In  August  following, 
Elector  John  the  Constant  died,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son, 
John  Frederick  the  Magnanimous.     Through  his  connection  with 
the  league  he  was  to  lose  his  domain,  but  not  until  he  had  done 
good  work  for  the  Protestant  cause. 

The  emperor  could  not  fulfill  his  promises  with  reference  to  the 
processes  at  law,  and  the  league  took  the  matter  in  its  own  hands. 
Nor  could  he  secure  the  long-desired  council.  The  pope  felt  that, 
whatever  the  council  might  do,  the  result  would  be  disunion.  If 
it  declared  its  own  superiority  to  the  pope,  the  division  was  sure  ; 
if  the  superiority  of  the  pope  to  the  council,  the  Protestants 
would  be  discontented,  and  the  breach  then  existing  would  only 
be  widened.1  While  the  Eoman  Catholics  were  trifling  with  the 
Protestants  with  reference  to  the  conditions  upon  which  a  council 
might  be  held,  Philip  of  Hesse  succeeded  in  restoring  Ulrich  to 
his  possessions  in  Wiirtemberg  and  thus  in  gaining  a  powerful 
ally  to  the  Protestant  cause.  Ulrich  had  been  driven  out  of  his 
territory  by  the  Suabian  League,  and  his  domain  bestowed  upon 
Ferdinand.  The  people  of  the  territory  did  not  like  the  Austrian 
rule,  and  they  came  more  and  more  to  love  Ulrich  after  he  had 
become  a  Protestant.  Philip,  supported  by  French  gold,  com- 
pelled the  recognition  of  Ulrich  as  rightful  ruler.  The  Smalcald 
League,  on  the  other  hand,  dropped  its  opposition  to  Ferdinand's 
election,  while  Ulrich  was  to  have  the  right  to  introduce  the  Eef- 
ormation  into  Wiirtemberg — a  right  which  he  subsequently  exer- 
cised ;  but  the  Sacramentarians — that  is,  the  Anabaptists — were  to 
be  excluded. 

The  death  of  Clement  VII  in  1534  brought  to  the  papal  throne 
Paul  III,  a  man  who  recognized  the  need  of  a  council,  and  saw 
that  the  only  way  to  exclude  heresy  was  to  reform  the  Church. 
The  emperor,  fresh  from  the  triumphs  over  the  Turks,  also 
pressed  hard  for  a  council,  which  was  in  fact  called  for  May,  1537. 
But  new  troubles  arose  with  France,  and  it  became  impossible  to 
carry  out  the  original  plan.  Meantime,  however,  the  Protestants 
were  invited  to  send  representatives.  This  they  declined  to  do 
until  it  was  determined  whether  they  were  to  be  cited  as  heretics 
or  on  a  par  with  the  Eoman  Catholic  States.     When  they  were 

1  Moller,  iii,  109. 


200  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

peremptorily  required  to  reply  whether  they  would  attend  the 
council  they  answered  that  no  council  could  be  held  while  the 
political  situation  continued  as  it  was  ;  and  that,  furthermore,  they 
could  not  become  a  party  to  a  council  over  which  an  unrepentant 
pope  was  to  act  as  judge. 

This  decided  stand  taken  by  the  Smalcald  League  resulted  in 
the  formation  of  a  "  Defensive  League  "  on  the  part  of  the  Roman 
Catholics,  which  was  signed  in  Nuremberg  in  June,  1538,  by  the 
emperor,  Ferdinand,  the  dukes  of  Bavaria,  George  of  Saxony, 
Dukes  Erich  and  Henry  of  Brunswick,  Albert  of  Mayence,  and 
the  archbishop  of  Salzburg.1  But  the  refusal  of  many  of  the  Ro- 
therelig-  man  Catholic  princes  to  join  the  league,  his  losses 
oFUFRA^fK-E  during  the  last  Avar  with  France,  and  the  danger  from 
fort.  ^e  Turks  caused  the  emperor  to  continue  his  friendly 

attitude  toward  the  Protestants.  By  the  good  offices  of  Joachim 
of  Brandenburg  and  the  Count  Palatine  Louis,  a  new  truce  was 
agreed  upon  on  April  19,  1539,  at  Frankfort,  known  as  the  Relig- 
ious Peace  of  Frankfort.  This  continued  fifteen  months,  and 
resulted  in  giving  both  the  emperor  and  the  Protestants  an  exten- 
sion of  time. 

1  See  Hausser,  The  Period  of  the  Reformation,  p.  186,  and  Moller,  iii,  121,  n.  2. 
The  instigator  of  these  proceedings  was  Vice-Chancellor  Held,  who  had  made 
the  demand  that  the  Protestants  should  attend  the  proposed  council  and  to 
whom  their  refusal  was  given.  He  acted  in  a  spirit  quite  contrary  to  that  of 
Charles,  who,  however,  did  not  understand  his  own  mind. 


THE   BIGAMOUS   MARRIAGE   OF   PHILIP   OF   HESSE.       201 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE    BIGAMOUS    MARRIAGE    OF    PHILIP    OF    HESSE    AND    ITS 
EFFECT    ON    THE    REFORMATION. 

The  Smalcald  League  had  been  for  eight  years  a  tower  of 
strength  to  the  Protestant  cause.  But  it  was  about  to  experience 
one  of  its  darkest  days.  Philip  of  Hesse  had  been  its  soul,  but,  it 
must  be  confessed,  not  so  much  because  of  any  real  power  which 
the  Gospel  had  over  him  as  because  of  his  willfulness  and  a  restless 
love  of  activity.  His  one  great  sin  was  licentiousness.  Though 
married  to  a  daughter  of  Duke  George  of  Saxony,  by  whom  he  had 
seven  children,  he  had  never  loved  her.  For  a  long  series  of  years 
subsequent  to  his  early  marriage  he  had  been  untrue  to  philip's 

his  marital  vows.    But  while  his  adherence  to  the  Prot-  SIN- 

estant  faith  did  not  strike  deep  enough  into  his  nature  to  correct 
the  sensuality  of  his  character,  it  did  produce  in  him  an  uneasy  state 
of  conscience.  For  fifteen  years  his  oft-repeated  sin  gave  him 
such  a  sense  of  unfitness  as  to  keep  him  during  all  that  period 
from  the  Lord's  Supper.1  On  the  one  hand  his  passion  was  strong, 
on  the  other  his  conscience  smote  him  with  a  deep  sense  of  guilt. 
The  blame  for  his  difficulty  he  attributed  to  lack  of  affection  for 
his  wife.  Had  he  a  wife  whom  he  loved  he  could  avoid  his  beset- 
ting sin.  But  for  a  divorce  there  was  no  sufficient  ground.  Was 
not  a  bigamous  marriage  under  these  circumstances  allowable  ? 

Such  was  the  argument  as  it  presented  itself  to  his  mind.  It  is 
not  difficult  that  one  who  wishes  to  justify  his  sin  should  find  at 
least  a  palliation.  Philip  recalled  the  fact  that  several  of  the  Old 
Testament  patriarchs  had  had  a  plurality  of  wives.  philip's 
Nor,  he  argued,  was  polygamy  directly  forbidden  in  the  defense. 
New  Testament,  but  rather,  by  implication,  permitted  to  all  but  the 
clergy,  according  to  1  Tim.  iii,  2.  He  had  observed  several  utter- 
ances of  Luther's  which  could  be  warped  to  suit  his  purposes. 
Henry  VIII  of  England  had  met  with  serious  opposition  from  the 
English  reformers  when  he  wished  to  put  away  Catharine  of  Aragon 
and  marry  Anne  Boleyn.  All  these  considerations  had  intrenched 
Philip  in  his  opinion  that  a  bigamous  marriage  was  justifiable,  and 

1  See  his  letter  to  Luther  under  date  of  April  5,  1540,  and  Schaff's  incisive 
note — vi,  581. 


202  HISTORY  OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

even,  in  his  circumstances,  righteous.  But  after  his  marriage  with 
Margarete  of  Sala  on  March  4,  1540,  by  consent  of  his  wife  and  the 
young  lady's  mother,  he  discovered  that  it  was  greeted  with  tre- 
mendous opposition.  He  assumed  the  air  of  a  martyr  for  the  right. ' 
The  political  consequences  were  serious.  Isolated  from  the  Smal- 
cald  League,  at  least  in  point  of  sympathy,  he  made  a  treaty  with 
the  emperor  not  to  form  any  alliance  for  himself,  nor  to  consent  to 
such  alliance  for  the  Smalcald  League,  with  France  or  any  other 
foreign  power ;  nor  to  consent  to  the  reception  of  William  of 
Cleves,  Charles's  Protestant  neighbor  in  the  Netherlands,  into 
the  league.  The  hope  of  reliance  upon  Sweden,  Denmark,  and 
France  was  thus  destroyed  and  the  influence  of  the  league  greatly 
reduced. 

But  the  most  painful  part  of  the  story  remains  to  be  told. 
philip  and  When  Philip  in  1539  became  enamoured  of  Margarete 
bucer.  }ie  took  Bucer  into  his  confidence.     Bucer  feared  that 

if  the  reformed  theologians  declined  to  approve  the  contemplated 
marriage,  Philip  would  be  turned  from  his  adherence  to  Protes- 
tantism. Such  an  opinion  was  a  practical  confession  that  Philip's 
connection  with  the  Protestant  cause  was  a  mere  matter  of  con- 
venience. But  this  was  injustice  to  the  Landgrave.  The  event 
proved  that  he  was  affected  only  in  his  relation  to  the  league  by 
the  attitude  of  other  Protestants.  But  Bucer's  fears  overcame 
his  scruples,  and  if  he  did  not  approve,  he  at  least  did  not  op- 
pose Philip's  purpose. 

When  Luther  was  first  approached  with  reference  to  the  admis- 
sibility of  a  bigamous  marriage,  he  answered  that  it  was  not  suffi- 
cient that  God,  out  of  consideration  for  the  weakness  of  man, 
had  permitted  polygamy  among  his  people.  In  order  to  jus- 
tify it  in  a  Christian  there  was  need  of  explicit  divine  authority.2 
luther  and  But  wnen  the  political  consequences  of  their  positive 
thon  compli-  disapproval  came  to  be  considered,  both  Luther  and 
cated.  Melanchthon  practically  gave  their  consent.3    Bigamy, 

they  said,  could  not  be  legalized  in  Christian  lands.  The  original 
order  in  creation  was  monogamy,  to  which  polygamy  was  in  contra- 
diction. In  certain  cases,  however,  where  conscience  demanded,  a 
second  and  bigamous  marriage  might  be  allowable  ;  but  it  is  rather 

1  He  said  that  all  who  strove  to  serve  God  must  suffer  persecution.  See  Lenz, 
Briefwechsel,  i,  365. 

2  De  Wette,  Briefe,  iii,  139  f.;  vi,  79  ;  and  Moller,  iii,  131. 

3  Moller,  iii,  132  ;  De  Wette,  v,  238  ff. ;  Corpus  Reformatorum,  iii,  863, 1079  ; 
and  Lauterbach's  Tagebuch,  p.  197. 


THE   BIGAMOUS  MARRIAGE   OF   PHILIP  OF   HESSE.       203 

a  dispensation  than  a  rule,  and  to  be  used  only  in  cases  of  extreme 
need,  and  as  a  lesser  evil.  By  all  means,  also,  such  a  marriage  is 
to  be  kept  a  secret,  since  it  could  not  be  publicly  defended.  But 
while  it  might  be  permissible  in  case  Philip  could  not  restrain  his 
unchaste  passions,  it  was  his  duty  to  make  the  effort  before  going 
any  farther.  Thus,  although  with  many  scruples  and  cautions, 
their  consent  was  given. 

To  the  surprise  of  Luther  and  Melanchthon,  the  marriage  be- 
came known,  and,  as  might  have  been  expected,  produced  the 
most  intense  excitement.  Luther  advocated  a  denial  of  the  mar- 
riage, but  Philip,  certain  of  the  virtuousness  of  his  course,  re- 
fused.1 That,  at  the  time  and  since,  this  unfortunate  decision 
of  the  principal  Wittenberg  reformers  has  been  the  occasion  of 
scandal,  need  not  be  stated.  They  had  not  only  consented  to 
bigamy,  but  had  reduced  the  second  wife  to  the  position  of  a 
mere  concubine.  It  was  inexcusable.  But  the  blame  lies,  not  on 
Protestantism,  although  the  act  was  performed  by  Protestants, 
but  on  Eoman  Catholicism,  for  during  all  the  centuries  of  their 
exclusive  rule  they  had  not  effectually  taught  any  higher  ethics 
than  those  apparent  in  the  act  of  Philip  and  in  the  decision  of 
Luther  and  Melanchthon.2  The  reformers  were  only  twenty-two 
years  away  from  the  eventful  day  when  Luther  nailed  the  ninety- 
five  theses  on  the  door  of  the  Castle  Church.  It  was  too  early  for 
all  the  refining  and  sanctifying  influences  of  the  Reformation  to 
have  become  controlling  in  their  lives. 

While  the  double  marriage  of  Philip  weakened  it  did  not  de- 
stroy the  league.  The  gains  in  other  directions  had  been  so  rapid 
and  extensive  as  to  compel  the  emperor  to  endeavor  more  zeal- 
ously than  before  to  bring  about  a  union.3  A  conference  held 
in  Hagenau,  in  January,  1540,  from  which  Melanchthon  was  de- 
tained by  illness  induced  by  the  trouble  which  followed  Philip's 
marriage,  resulted  in  nothing  but  a  postponement  to  C0NFERENCE 
autumn,  when  the  conference  was  to  be  resumed  at  at  hagenau. 
Worms.  Both  the  Roman  Catholic  and  Protestant  parties  were 
ably  represented  when  the  conference  met  in  the  fall  of  1540,  and 
at  first  the  prospects  were  good  for  an  issue  favorable  to  the  de- 
sired reconciliation.  But  in  April,  1541,  the  emperor  opened  a 
diet  at  Regensburg,  whither  he  ordered  the  disputants. 

The  personnel  of  the  conference  was,  however,  somewhat 
changed  after  the  removal.  On  the  Roman  side  were  Pflug, 
Gropper,  and  Eck ;  on  the  Protestant,  Melanchthon,  Bucer,  and 

1  Lenz,  i,  373,  383.      2  Kolde,  Martin  Luther,  ii,  488.      3  See  Hausser,  183  f . 


204  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Pistorius.1  The  Count  Palatine  Frederick  and  the  Imperial 
Counselor  Granvella  presided.  The  so-called  Ratisbon  Interim  2 
diet  at  was  made  the  basis  of  the  discussion.     It  had  been 

kegensbubg.  pasge(i  from  one  prince  to  another,  and  finally  to 
Luther  for  his  opinion.  The  first  serious  dispute  occurred  on  the 
doctrine  of  justification.  But  a  final  agreement  was  reached  in 
which  the  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith  was  asserted,  and  that 
of  merit  denied.  Eck  consented  under  protest.  Contarini,  the 
joapal  legate,  thought  the  article  was  capable  of  a  Roman  Catholic 
construction,  and  forwarded  it  to  Rome,  certain  that  it  would  be 
acceptable  there.  Expectations  ran  high  that  at  last  the  parties 
would  be  harmonized.  But  they  were  doomed  to  disappointment. 
In  Rome  the  doctrine  of  merit  could  not  be  yielded.  Luther,  on 
the  other  hand,  called  the  article  a  patchwork  whose  utterances 
he  could  accept  only  on  condition  that  the  Roman  party  would 
confess  having  taught  contrary  thereto  in  the  past.3 

Both  parties  were  suspicious  each  of  the  other.  The  Duke  of 
Bavaria  wished  to  appeal  to  arms  rather  than  to  enter  upon  peace- 
able negotiations,4  and  other  Roman  Catholic  civil  authorities 
feared  lest  the  Romanists  were  being  deceived  with  mere  pretenses. 
The  Elector  of  Saxony  had  objected  from  the  first  because  the 
Augsburg  Confession  had  not  been  made  the  basis  of  the  confer- 
ence.5 Luther  declared  that  if  the  Roman  Catholics  had  been  in 
earnest  they  would  have  accepted  all  the  articles  and  not  merely 
the  first  four,  since  the  last  ten  naturally  followed  when  these 
were  accepted.  Because  of  this  suspicion  he  declined  to  join  in 
the  efforts  of  certain  Protestant  princes  to  form  a  union  with  the 
Roman  Catholics.  The  conference  had  failed  to  meet  the  emper- 
or's wish.  But  the  Turks  were  threatening  the  empire.  Help 
must  be  had.  The  diet,  therefore,  finally  reached  a  conclusion 
which  was  favorable  to  the  Protestants,  whose  assistance  the  em- 
peror needed  at  once.  The  results  of  the  colloquy  were  to  be  laid 
before  a  universal  or  national  council. 

The  emperor  was  to  call  another  diet  within  eighteen  months. 

1  These  names,  together  with  the  futile  efforts  at  reconciliation,  suggested  the 
following  witty  remark  :  "Sie  pfliigen,  eggen,  graben,  putzen,  und  backen,  und 
richten  nichts  aus.1'— Corp.  Ref.,  iv,  335.     Quoted  by  Schaff,  vii,  383,  n.  5. 

2  That  is,  a  tentative  formula  upon  which  the  disputing  parties  might  unite 
for  the  time.  The  authorship  has  been  much  discussed.  See  Gieseler,  iv,  174; 
Moller,  iii,  128,  129.  Luther  did  not  approve  the  articles,  nor  did  he  think  they 
would  be  approved  by  the  Roman  Curia.     His  judgment  proved  correct. 

3  De  Wette,  v,  353  f .  4  Gieseler,  iv,  175,  n.  44. 
5  Ibid.,  p.  176,  n.  45,  where  see  authorities. 


THE   BIGAMOUS  MARRIAGE   OF  PHILIP   OF   HESSE.       205 

The  Protestants  were  to  conform  to  the  articles  agreed  upon.    The 
Koman  prelates  were  to  reform  their  clergy,  while  both  the  religious 
peace  of  Nuremberg  and  the  recess  of  Augsburg  were 
renewed.     The  emperor  personally  issued  a  declaration  issue  to 
in  which  he  assured  the  Protestant  clergy  that  they 
as  well  as  the  Romans  should  be  protected  in  the  matter  of  reve- 
nues ;  that  no  one  should  be  forbidden  to  adopt  the  Protestant 
faith  ;  that  the  Protestants  should  be  represented  in  the  high  court 
of  judicature  ;  that  the  monasteries  should  be  reformed  ;  together 
with  other  equally  fair  promises.1 

The  emperor,  in  the  hope  of  drawing  the  Turks  away  from  Aus- 
tria, started  upon  a  campaign  against  Algiers,  which  ended  disas- 
trously, in  October  and  November,  1541.  A  new  war  with  France 
was  anticipated.  The  war  with  the  Turks  made  peace  with  the 
Protestants  a  necessity.  Peace  for  five  years  longer  was  purchased 
by  the  promise  of  continued  assistance  on  the  part  of  the  Protest- 
ants against  the  Eastern  foes,  at  the  diet  of  Spires,  in  February, 
1542.  These  were  years  of  rapid  progress  for  the  Reformation,  but 
they  preceded  a  frightful  catastrophe,  which  previous  events  had, 
unforeseen,  prepared. 

1  Corpus  Reformatorum,  iv,  612  ff. ;   632  ff.  Waleh,  xvii,  999. 


206  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

GEOGRAPHICAL    EXPANSION    OF    THE    REFORMATION    IN 
GERMANY. 

The  rapid  spread  of  the  new  doctrines  has  been  the  wonder  of 
all  observers.1  It  was  not  alone  because  of  their  truth,  for  the 
truth  was  the  same  in  those  countries  where  it  did  not  prevail. 
The  political  conditions  were  such  as  to  favor  the  activity  of  the 
reformers.  But  we  must  also  take  into  account  other  causes.  The 
providen-  chief  of  these  was  the  prepared  condition  of  the  soil 
tial  aids.  £or  ^ke  gee(j#  Then,  too,  it  must  be  remembered  that 
Luther  had  no  intention  of  placing  himself  in  antagonism  to  the 
Church,  nor  did  he  excite  such  expectation  in  those  whom  he  con- 
verted to  his  ideas.  The  doctrines,  therefore,  were  firmly  imbedded 
in  the  minds  and  hearts  of  large  masses  before  it  was  discerned  that 
the  result  would  be  a  division  of  the  Church.  The  art  of  printing  had 
been  discovered  just  in  time  to  make  possible  the  widest  and  most 
rapid  diffusion  of  Luther's  writings.2  All  these  may  be  called  the 
providential  aids,  and  one  who  believes  in  the  power  of  God  in 
history  cannot  doubt  that  Luther  was  raised  up  at  the  appointed 
time,  when  all  the  conditions  most  favorable  to  the  needed  work 
concurred. 

But  besides  these  causes  Luther's  personality  was  such  as  to 
make  a  most  powerful  impression.  He  was  original  in  method, 
aim,  and  thought ;  strong  in  conviction  and  deter- 
pebsonal  mined  in  effort ;  and,  withal,  learned  and  able.  He 
had  attracted  vast  numbers  of  students  before  he  en- 
tered upon  his  open  opposition  to  ecclesiastical  abuses.     These  he 

1  At  the  diet  of  Spires  twenty-four  imperial  cities  were  looked  upon  as  relig- 
iously disobedient  to  the  emperor ;  besides,  of  the  princes  and  other  nobility 
present,  Elector  John,  Philip  of  Hesse,  Margrave  George  of  Brandenburg, 
Dukes  Ernst  and  Francis  of  Braunschweig-Luneburg,  Prince  Wolfgang  of 
Anhalt,  and  several  other  cities  and  noblemen,  openly  espoused  the  Protestant 
doctrine. — Kolde,  Martin  Luther,  ii,  302. 

2  So  potent  was  the  press  in  the  diffusion  of  the  reformed  doctrines  in  France 
that  Francis  I,  by  the  advice  of  the  theologians  of  the  Sorbonne,  issued  an  edict 
forbidding  the  use  of  the  art  of  printing  in  his  realm.  Berger  says  that  up  to 
1513  only  90  German  works  had  been  printed;  in  1519  nearly  three  times  as 
many.  From  1513  to  1517  the  number  was  527 ;  from  1518  to  1523,  3,113  — 
Martin  Luther,  i,  408. 


EXPANSION   OF   THE   REFORMATION   IN   GERMANY.      207 

held  in  the  main  to  his  way  of  thinking,  and  they  became  the 
champions  of  his  cause  in  almost  every  land.  The  early  friends  of 
Luther  may  not  be  overlooked  by  one  who  would  understand  tli3 
marvelous  progress  of  the  Reformation  in  its  earliest  years.  Many 
of  them  have  been  already  mentioned.  On  the  whole  the  Reforma- 
tion was  propagated  by  the  peaceful,  and  at  the  same  time  most 
powerful,  means  of  the  pulpit  and  the  press.  Men  accepted  the 
Gospel  from  conviction,  not  from  compulsion  ;  and  the  most  stren- 
uous endeavors  and  most  cunning  intrigues  of  its  enemies  could 
not  hold  the  movement  in  check. 

While  the  Saxon  electorate  had  become  Protestant  in  the  first 
years  of  the  Reformation,  the  Saxon  dukedom  which  lay  to  the 
south  of  the  electorate  remained  Roman  Catholic  until 
1539.  This  was  due  to  the  influence  of  Duke  George, 
who,  though  not  unfavorable  to  reform,  conceived  a  violent  hatred 
for  Luther  at  the  Leipzig  disputation.  Luther,  in  return,  at  first 
employed  the  most  bitter  language  concerning  him  ;  although  later 
he  made  a  humiliating  attempt  to  effect  a  peace.1  But  the  im- 
portant Hessian  State  was  early  brought  over  to  the  ranks  of  the 
Protestants  through  the  influence  of  the  Landgrave  Philip,  Duke 
George's  son-in-law.  He  first  made  the  acquaintance  of  Luther 
at  the  diet  of  Worms  in  1521.  In  1524,  under  the  instruction  of 
Melanchthon,  he  came  out  boldly  for  the  Reformation:2  When  the 
diet  of  Spires  in  1526  granted  the  right,  according  to  Protestant 
interpretation,  to  each  State  to  order  its  own  religious  affairs,  Philip 
took  immediate  advantage  of  the  supposed  permission.  In  har- 
mony with  his  promptness  of  character  he  allowed  but  two  months 
to  elapse  before  he  had  assembled  a  synod  at  Homburg,  attended 
by  representatives  of  the  clergy,  the  nobility  and  the  cities. 

Philip  had  placed  the  work  of  introducing  the  Reformation  in 
the  hands  of  Lambert  of  Avignon.  This  eccentric  Frenchman 
proposed  to  make  only  those  members  of  the  reformed  communion 
who  offered  themselves  as  such,  and  wrought  out  a  complete  plan 
of  church  organization,  which,3  however,  was  rejected  at  the  sug- 
gestion of  Luther.  The  Reformation  was  introduced  into  Braun- 
schweig-Liineburg  by  Duke  Ernst  in  1527.  In  1530  the  responsi- 
bility of  introducing  the  more  formal  reforms  was  imposed  by 
him  upon  Urban  Rhegius,  who  was  in  turn  Romanist,  Lutheran, 
Zwinglian,  and  moderate  Lutheran,4  yet  who  wrought  effectually 

1  See  Kostlin,  Martin  Luther,  ii,  4-6.  2  Moller,  iii,  41. 

3  For  details  see  Kostlin,  Martin  Luther,  ii,  49,  f .  ;  Kolde,  Martin  Luther,  ii, 
239  f .  ;  Moller,  iii,  72  ;  Schaff,  vi,  579-587.  4  Schaff,  vi,  576. 


208  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

for  the  Eeformation.     Still  earlier  was  Prussia  in  the  adoption  of 

reforms.    As    early  as  1523    Luther  had  exhorted  the   Teutonic 

Order,1  which  was  the  ruling  body  in  Prussia,  to  do 

PRUSSIA.  .  .  ... 

away  with  their  monastic  discipline  ;  and  at  the  request 
of  Albert,  grand  master  of  the  order,  he  sent  a  reformed  preacher, 
John  Briessmann  by  name,  who  preached  the  Gospel  in  Konigsberg 
until  his  death.  In  1525  George  of  Polentz,  bishop  of  Sammland, 
having  been  converted  to  Protestantism,  gave  up  his  bishopric,  with 
its  secular  authority,  into  the  hands  of  the  civil  power,  and  was  ap- 
pointed a  sort  of  evangelical  superintendent  over  his  former  diocese. 
This  was  in  May.  In  July  Duke  Albert  ordered  Protestant  preach- 
ing throughout  his  domain,  while  the  assembly  provided  for  a  new 
order  of  church  government.  Erhard  of  Queiss  followed  in  the 
footsteps  of  George  of  Polentz  in  1527,  although  he  had  previously 
learned  to  believe  in  the  authority  of  the  word  rather  than  the 
Church.  He  died  in  1529,  but  was  succeeded  by  Speratus,  an 
evangelist  sent  out  by  Luther.  Albert,  as  civil  ruler,  regarded 
himself  also  the  head  of  the  Church. 

Outside  of  Wittenberg,  Nuremberg  was  the  earliest  to  give  Lu- 
ther's ideas  cordial  reception.  Willibald  Pirkheimer,2  although 
from  the  Humanistic  standpoint  and  with  little  pro- 
found conviction,  materially  aided  the  spread  of  re- 
formed opinions,  not  only  in  Nuremberg,  but  wherever  he  was 
known.  Christopher  Scheurl,  professor  of  jurisprudence  in  Wit- 
tenberg during  Luther's  earliest  years  in  that  university,  had 
removed  to  Nuremberg,  where  he  befriended  Luther  in  a  variety 
of  ways.3  Besides  these  two  laymen  there  were  Lazarus  Spengler, 
secretary  of  the  city  magistracy,  and  a  man  of  great  influence,  Al- 
bert Diirer,4  the  celebrated  artist,  and  Hans  Sachs,  the  poet  of  the 

1  Kolde,  Martin  Luther,  ii,  90-92. 

2  The  patrician  author  of  Der  abgehobelte  Eck  (The  Planed  Corner),  a  satir- 
ical dialogue  elicited  by  Eck's  attack  upon  Luther  at  the  Leipzig  disputation. 

3  See  Kostlin,  i,  94,  144  f . 

*  Diirer  was  in  Antwerp  when  the  news  went  abroad  that  Luther  had  been  cap- 
tured on  his  return  from  Worms.  In  his  journal  he  wrote  some  pathetic  words, 
a  translation  of  which  may  be  found  above,  pp.  171,  172.  Diirer  was  justly 
held  in  great  affection  and  honor  by  the  people  of  Nuremberg.  His  house  is 
still  carefully  preserved  in  that  city,  where  also  a  beautiful  monument,  begun 
in  1771  and  surmounted  since  1840  by  his  statue  in  bronze  by  Rauch,  stands 
to  his  memory.  Pirkheimer  and  Diirer  were  warm  and  fast  friends,  and  the 
former  was  largely  helpful  in  the  development  of  the  artistic  genius  of  the 
great  painter.  Diirer  early  adopted  the  doctrine  and  favored  the  cause  of 
Luther. 


EXPANSION   OP   THE   REFORMATION   IN   GERMANY.      209 

Reformation. ]  This  may  be  regarded  as  a  fair  specimen  of  Sachs's 
poetic  spirit : 

' '  Awake  !  the  dawn  is  drawing  near, 
And  singing  in  the  hedge  I  hear, 
So  wondrous  sweet,  a  nightingale. 
Her  voice  resounds  o'er  hill  and  dale, 
The  night  drops  toward  the  Occident, 
The  day  springs  from  the  Orient, 
The  ruddy  glow  of  early  morn 
Flushes  the  clouds,  erst  black — now  torn 
By  the  sun's  rays,  that,  flashing  brightly, 
Make  the  moon  veil  her  beams,  unsightly 
Pallor  and  dimness  now  o'erspreading 
Her  who,  while  late  false  radiance  shedding, 
Did  the  whole  flock  of  sheep  so  blind, 
That,  turning  from  their  shepherd  kind 
And  from  the  mead  where  once  they  fed, 
They  to  the  wilderness  all  sped, 
Chasing  the  beams  that  them  beguiled 
Into  the  forest  dark  and  wild. 

"  Who  is  that  lovely  bird  whose  strain 
Proclaims,  The  bright  day  comes  amain  ? 
'Tis  Doctor  Martinus  Luther, 
An  Augustinian  brother. 
He  wakes  us  from  the  gloomy  night, 
In  which  we  erred  by  pale  moonlight. 

"  Then,  Christians,  up  !  where'er  ye  be. 
Quickly  forsake  the  popish  waste, 
And  to  our  Shepherd  Jesus  haste. 
He  a  good  Shepherd  is  and  kind  ; 
To  prove  his  love  he  life  resigned. 
'Tis  through  him  that  we  have  salvation, 
He  is  our  only  consolation, 
Our  only  hope,  our  righteousness, 
Eternal  life  and  blessedness. 
All  who  upon  his  name  believe, 
Say  Amen,  if  ye'd  those  receive."2 

Each  of  these  colaborers,  especially  Sachs,  greatly  assisted  in  the 
diffusion  of  the  reformed  doctrines  throughout  Germany.  Among 
the  theologians  who  supported  the  Reformation  were  Winceslaus 

1  See  an  appreciative  and  discriminating  article  on  Sachs  by  President  N.  W. 
Clark,  in  the  Methodist  Review  for  September-October,  1895,  p.  698  ff.  Sachs 
called  Luther  "  The  Wittenberg  Nightingale." 

2  This  poem  is  taken  from  Miss  E.  Moore's  translation  of  Hagenbach's  History 
of  the  Reformation,  Edinb.,  1879. 

16  2 


210  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Link,  prior  of  the  Augustinian  Convent  at  Nuremberg  and,  sub- 
sequent to  the  death  of  Staupitz,  vicar-general  of  his  order;  Schleup- 
ner,  a  former  pupil  of  Luther  and  now  pastor  of  St.  Sebaldus  ; 
Osiander,  the  violent  controversialist,  pastor  of  St.  Lorenz,  and 
John  Camerarius,  professor  of  Greek  and  history  in  the  newly 
founded  college  in  that  city. 

Bremen  received  the  Gospel  by  the  official  call  of  Heinrich  von 
Ziitphen  (properly  Heinrich  Moller)  to  the  parish  of  St.  Ansgar 
in  1522.  The  magistracy  protected  him  against  his 
clerical  superiors,  but  two  years  later  he  sealed  his 
ministry  by  giving  his  life  as  a  testimony  to  the  preciousness  of  the 
faith  that  was  in  him  and  of  the  faith  he  had  preached.  In  1527 
there  remained  not  a  church  in  Bremen  which  was  not  manned  by 
a:  Protestant  pastor,  while  the  convents  had  been  transformed  into 
hospitals  and  schools.1  Hamburg  began  about  the  same  time  to 
"inquire  concerning  the  word  of  God,"  and  the  populace  witb 
stood  the  tyranny  of  the  bishops.  The  preachers  of  the  city  one 
hambukg  and  Dy  one  confessed  their  allegiance  to  the  Gospel.  The 
magdeburg.  parish  desired  Bugenhagen,  Luther's  firm  friend  and 
supporter,  as  their  pastor,  and  in  1528  the  magistracy  yielded  to 
their  demands,  thus  giving  official  sanction  to  the  Eeformation. 
Magdeburg  had  to  contend  against  the  opposition  of  Archbishop 
Albert  of  Mayence,  but  in  1522  Mirisch,  formerly  prior  of  the 
Augustinian  Order  in  Dresden,  began  to  preach  the  Gospel,  main- 
taining his  position  alone  for  two  years,  when,  in  1524,  the  magis- 
tracy called  to  his  aid  Nicholas  von  Amsdorf,  as  pastor  of  the 
Ulrich  church,  where  he  introduced  the  reformed  methods  of  wor- 
ship. The  city  was  ready  to  resist  with  armed  force  the  attempts 
of  the  emperor  to  execute  the  edict  of  Worms. 

Augsburg  had  a  true  promoter  of  the  Lutheran   doctrines  in 

Frosch,  the  prior  of  the  Order  of  Carmelites.     The  priests  began 

publicly  to  take  wives.     In  1524  Urban  Rhegius  began 

his   labors,  celebrating   the  Lord's  Supper  with   the 

assistance  of  Frosch  by  distributing  both  wine  and  bread  to  the 

communicants. 

The  populace  of  Strasburg  had  been  completely  won  to  the  Refor- 
mation as  early  as  1523  by  the  efforts  of  Zell,  to  whose  aid  came 
Bucer  and  Capito.     Ulm  called  Konrad  Sam  in  1524 
and  esslin-      as  its  first  regular  Protestant  pastor.     Esslingen  was 
influenced  for  the  Reformation  by  its  representative  at 
the  diet  of  Worms,  who  returned  a  Lutheran  convert.     Michael 
1   Kostlin,  i,  649  ;  Schaff,  vi,  574  f. 


EXPANSION   OF   THE   REFORMATION  IN   GERMANY.      211 

Stiefel,1  an  Augustinian  monk,  and  a  champion  of  Luther's  cause, 
was  driven  from  the  city  by  the  efforts  of  the  Suabian  League  under 
the  Austrian  rule  in  Wtirtemberg.  Nevertheless,  the  movement 
maintained  itself,  though  with  much  difficulty.  In  Suabian  Hall, 
Wimpffen,  and  Worms  also,  the  new  doctrines  took  early  hold  upon 
the  masses,  who  were,  as  in  all  the  cities,  the  chief  though  incon- 
spicuous, supporters  of  the  reformed  movement.  In  eastern  Ger- 
many Breslau  was  one  of  the  principal  cities  of  the  Eeformation. 
Lutheran  preaching  was  afforded  the  monks  of  one  of  eastern 
the  cloisters  as  early  as  1520,  and  so  great  was  the  favor  Germany. 
with  which  the  populace  looked  upon  the  Lutheran  views  that  the 
clergy  feared  an  uprising  against  them  in  1522.  The  magistracy 
called  John  Hess  in  1523  to  a  pastorate,  and  after  a  disputation, 
in  which  he  was  the  chief  represesentative  of  the  Protestants,  or- 
dered all  preachers  henceforth  to  proclaim  the  true  doctrine  as 
found  in  God's  word,  regardless  of'  tradition  and  the  fathers. 
Duke  Charles  of  Munsterberg  and  Duke  of  Liegnitz  urged  on  the 
fight  against  Eome  and  protected  the  Protestant  preachers,  thus 
affording  in  a  large  portion  of  Silesia  a  good  opportunity  for  the 
growth  of  the  Eeformation.  Here  it  was  also  that  much  of  the 
activity  of  Kaspar  Schwenkfeld  of  Ossig  was  so  fruitful.  In  the 
Duchy  of  Mecklenburg  Dukes  Henry  and  Albert  requested  Luther 
in  1524  to  send  evangelists  into  their  territories.  In  response  two 
Augustinian  monks  were  designated,  but  secretly,  since  the  dukes 
would  not  publicly  espouse  the  cause.  The  effect  of  the  restoration 
of  Ulrich  of  Wtirtemberg  to  his  possessions  has  been  already  men- 
tioned. 

In  Frankish  Brandenburg,  where  Dukes  Casimir  and  George 
ruled,  the  movement  took  early  root,  but  was  prevented  by  Casimir 
from  bringing  forth  fruit.     Upon  his  death,  however,        branden- 
George  became  ruler  of  the  entire  realm,  and  imme-        burg. 
diately  introduced  the  Eeformation,  following  the  church  order  of 

1  Stiefel  was  an  eccentric  man,  who  was  capable  of  writing  verse,  of  which 
the  following  is  a  specimen  : 

"  Nun  griiss  ich  dich  von  Herzen, 

Du  edles  Wittenberg  ! 
Viel  Frommer  litten  Schmerzen, 
Dir  ging  es  uberzwerg  " — 
which  Miss  Moore  (in  Hagenbach)  translates  as  follows  : 
' '  Brave  Wittenberg  !  a  greeting 

Now  sends  to  thee  my  heart, 

Pangs  all  the  saints  were  meeting, 

But  thine  the  bitterest  part." 


212  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Nuremberg. ]  In  the  electorate  of  Brandenburg,  on  the  other  hand, 
Elector  Joachim  persecuted  even  his  own  wife  Elizabeth,  niece  of 
John  of  Saxony.  In  1528  she  had  received  the  sacrament  in  both 
kinds.  The  anger  of  Joachim  was  terrible  when  he  learned  the 
fact.  He  hesitated  whether  to  divorce  or  to  kill  her.2  Elizabeth 
fled  to  her  uncle  at  Torgau.  Every  act  of  Luther  in  reference  to 
the  matter  only  intensified  the  hate  which  Joachim  felt  toward 
him.3  Upon  the  death  of  the  elector,  in  1535,  his  son  Joachim  II 
was  expected  to  turn  the  electorate  over  to  Protestantism.  But  a 
variety  of  considerations  held  him  back  from  so  aggressive  an  atti- 
tude.4 Nevertheless  he  was  not  unfavorable  to  the  reformed  ideas, 
and  his  brother  John,  who  inherited  the  New  Mark,  yielded  his  ad- 
herence for  himself  and  territory  to  the  Protestant  doctrines.  Grad- 
ually the  new  elector  followed  his  deepest  convictions,  and  in  1539 
practically  transformed  the  doctrines  and  worship  of  the  elector- 
ate from  the  Roman  Catholic  to  the  Protestant.  But  he  con- 
tinued to  hold  a  sort  of  middle  position,  which  may  have  been 
beneficial  to  the  interests  of  peace.  In  the  same  year  the  long 
contest  with  the  Duchy  of  Saxony  was  ended  by  the  death  of 
George  and  the  efforts  of  his  brother  Heinrich  the  Pious,  who 
had  fallen  heir  to  the  dukedom.  Thus  was  wo  ■•  for  the  Ref- 
ormation, not  only  an  important  territory,  including  ■'uch  cities 
as  Leipzig  and  Dresden,  but  the  great  university  in  t^  former 
city.5 

While  thus,  by  the  year  1539,  so  large  a  portion  of  Germany  hau 
been  brought  over  to  the  Reformation,  several  of  the  territorie?  not 
only  declined  to  adopt  it  but  persecuted  its  representatives.  Many 
were  the  confessors  and  martyrs  for  the  Protestant  faith  on  German 
soil.  Heinrich  von  Ziitphen  had  been  burned  at  the  stake  in  1524. 
«™>~  In  1527  George  Winckler,  who  had  been  cited  to  Aschaf- 

MORE  ° 

martyrs.  fenburg  to  answer  for  having  administered  communion 
in  both  kinds,  was  assassinated  by  unknown  hands  on  his  return  to 
Halle.  Luther  with  a  good  degree  of  probability  laid  at  the  door 
of  Albert  of  Mayence  at  least  a  connivance  at  the  deed.  In  Ba- 
varia, George  Wagner  was  burned  at  Munich  and  Leonard  Kaiser 

1  Kostlin,  ii,  114  f.  2  Kolde,  ii,  293.  3  Ibid.,  ii,  296,  297. 

4  His  father,  Joachim  I,  had  required  him  to  take  an  oath  to  maintain  the 
ceremonies  of  the  Church  and  to  remain  obedient  to  the  pope.  He  was  also  the 
son-in-law  of  Sigismund  of  Poland,  a  stanch  Roman  Catholic,  and  was  in- 
fluenced by  political  considerations.     See  Kolde,  ii,  478. 

5  For  the  details  of  the  bitter  controversy  between  Duke  George  and  Luther 
see  Kostlin  and  Kolde. 


EXPANSION   OF   THE   REFORMATION   IN  GERMANY.      213 

at  Passau  during  the  year  1527.'  In  Austria,  Caspar  Tauber  was 
beheaded  in  1524  as  a  punishment  for  the  rejection  of  the  doc- 
trine of  purgatory  and  transubstantiation.  This  was  at  Vienna. 
His  body  was  afterward  burned.2  It  is  to  the  credit  of  George  of 
Saxony  that  he  never  shed  the  blood  of  heretics  on  account  of 
their  errors.  Louis,  king  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia,  was  also  one 
of  the  persecutors  of  the  faith.  A  bookseller  of  Pesth  was  burned 
with  his  books  in  1524.  But  the  most  significant  German  terri- 
tories from  which  the  Gospel  was  excluded  have  now  been  men- 
tioned. Religious  convictions  had  worked  together  with  time  and 
death  to  introduce  the  Reformation  into  all  those  parts  of  Ger- 
many which  constitute  the  most  important  States  of  the  present 
empire. 3 

1  Bavaria  was  one  of  the  strongholds  of  the  papacy  through  the  efforts  of  the 
dukes,  whom  the  pope  had  bound  to  himself  by  the  grant  of  important  rights. 
— Kostlin,  i,  651. 

2  Ferdinand  persecuted  whenever  and  wherever  he  could.  His  animosity  was 
held  in  check  at  times  by  his  political  necessities. 

3  For  an  extended  and  interesting  account  of  the  earliest  spread  of  the  Lu- 
theran doctrine  see  Hagenbach's  History  of  the  Reformation,  Miss  Moore's 
translation,  i,  195-218. 


214  HISTORY   OF  THE  CHRISTIAH  CHURCH. 


OHAPTEK    XVII. 

CLOSING-    DAYS    OF    THE    REFORMATION    IN    GERMANY. 

We  turn  to  the  closing  scenes  in  the  cradle  of  the  Reformation* 
Even  after  the  disgraceful  marriage  of  the  Landgrave  Philip  the 
Reformation  continued  to  spread.  Regensburg  became  Protestant. 
The  election  of  Julius  von  Pflug,  a  zealous  Romanist,  to  the  vacant 
bishopric  of  Naumburg,  the  Elector  John  refused  to  confirm. 
continued  Nicholaus  von  Amsdorf  was  consecrated  by  Luther  for 
protestant  the  place-  In  1542  the  Reformation  was  introduced 
doctrines.  infc0  the  Duchy  of  Braunschweig,  after  a  war  of  Elector 
John  Frederick  and  Philip  with  Duke  Henry.  About  the  same 
time  Protestant  ideas  prevailed  in  Hildesheim.  The  Palgrave  Otto 
Henry  of  Neuburg  introduced  the  Reformation,  in  a  modified  form, 
into  his  territories,  in  June,  1542.  He  was  a  brother-in-law  of  the 
dukes  of  Bavaria,  who  had  been  requested  to  admit  the  Protestant 
form  of  worship,  while  a  similar  demand  had  been  made  of  King 
Ferdinand  himself  in  Austria. 

For  a  long  time  the  Reformation  had  been  progressing  in  Metz. 
Count  Hermann  of  Wied,  archbishop  and  elector  of  Cologne, 
encouraged  by  Duke  William  of  Cleves,  within  whose  territory 
Cologne  was  situated,  became  an  adherent  of  the  Reformation.1 
His  example  was  followed  by  Count  Francis  of  Waldeck,  bishop  of 
Munster,  Minden  and  Osnabriick,  while  Duke  Maurice  of  Saxony 
turned  the  bishopric  of  Merseburg  over  to  the  Protestants  by  the 
appointment  of  Prince  George  of  Anhalt  as  bishop  and  Augustus 
of  Saxony  as  secular  administrator. 

Everything  seeme  1  favorable  to  the  progress  of  the  Protestant 
cause  so  far  as  its  growth  upon  the  convictions  of  the  people  was 
concerned.  Not  so  in  its  political  aspects.  A  variety  of  causes 
conspired  to  reduce  the  power  and  effectiveness  of  the  Smalcald 
League.  The  cities  complained  against  the  electors.  Maurice, 
duke,  and  John  Frederick,  elector  of  Saxony,  fell  into  controversy. 
As  early  as  1542  the  former  was  so  discontented  that  he  withdrew 

1  The  act  was  very  displeasing  to  the  Roman  Catholics,  and  the  constitution, 
written  by  Bucer  under  consultation  with  Melanchthon,  failed  to  satisfy  Luther 
because  it  was  silent  on  the  presence  of  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ  in  the  ele- 
ments. 


CLOSING  DAYS  OF  THE  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY.     215 

from  the  league.  The  treaty  of  Philip  with  the  emperor  made 
the  accession  of  William  of  Cleves  to  the  league  impossible.  It 
was  in  1544  that  Luther  reopened  the  eucharistic  controversy  with 
the  Swiss.  About  the  same  time  the  emperor,  assisted  by  Eng- 
land, conquered  Francis  I,  at  Crespy,  on  September  14,  1544,  and 
Francis  pledged  himself  not  to  give  the  Protestant  princes  in  Ger- 
many any  farther  help,  while  the  pope  called  the  long-wished-for 
council  for  March  15,  1545. 

Under  such  circumstances  the  gains  of  the  Protestants  were  of 
slight  political  value.     The  Elector  Frederick  II  of  the  Palatinate 
began  the  work  of  reform,  and  even  Sebastian  von  Heusenstamm, 
successor  of  Cardinal  Albert  of  Mayence,  seemed  inclined  to  fol- 
low the  example  of  Hermann  of  Cologne.     But  the  former  did  not 
join  the  league.     William  of  Cleves,  left  without  the 
assistance  of  the  league,  was  overpowered  by  the  em-     political 
peror  and  compelled  to  undo  all  his  new  ecclesiastical 
arrangements  and  come  to  the  aid  of  the  emperor;  while  Hermann, 
denounced  to  pope  an  1  emperor  by  the  cathedral  chapter,  received 
no  help  from  the  league.     The  emperor  busied  himself  with  pre- 
tended efforts  at  reunion,  but  it  was  in  reality  only  that  he  might 
gain  time  in  which  to  strike  a  more  fatal  blow  at  the  Protestants, 
whose  help  he  just  now,  as  in  times  past,  needed.     Charles  was 
doing  his  best  to  destroy  the  Reformation,  but  he  was  too  slow  for 
the  pope. 

The  Protestants  looked  forward  with  concern  to  the  approaching 
council,  where  they  could  scarcely  hope  for  any  but  unfair  treat- 
ment. The  emperor  pretended  to  have  no  thought  of  violence  in 
dealing  with  the  religious  conditions,  but  meantime  he  had  made 
all  his  arrangements  to  proceed  against  the  Protestants  with  an 
armed  force.  He  was  in  fact  greatly  displeased  because  the  pope 
insisted  upon  dealing  with  the  errors  of  the  Protestants  before  tak- 
ing up  the  reforms  to  be  introduced  into  the  Church.  Hence  he 
called  a  colloquy  at  Eegensburg,  but  the  Eomanists  were  bound  by 
the  actions  of  the  council,  and  in  March,  1546,  the  Protestant  visit- 
ors forsook  the  colloquy.  A  political  storm  was  gathering  over 
the  Reformation. 

But  Luther  was  to  be  mercifully  spared  from  witnessing  its  de- 
vastations.    It  is  a  singular  coincidence  that  he  should  have  died  in 
Eisleben,  where  he  was  born.     The  place  had  been  but  the  tempo- 
rary home  of  his  parents,  and  Luther  was  there  in  these      luther's 
last  days  to  assist  the  counts  of  Mansf eld  in  compro-      L  s 
mising  a  difficulty  into  which  they  had  fallen  among  themselves. 


216  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

His  last  years  had  been  marked  by  personal  affliction  of  body  and  of 
mind.  The  severity  of  his  labors  and  of  the  strife  with  the  Roman 
Catholic  foe  had  been  increased  by  divisions  among  the  Protestants, 
and  even  among  his  own  party.  Under  these  afflictions  he  had 
grown  impatient  and  pessimistic.  He  thought  all  the  signs  of  the 
times  pointed  to  a  speedy  end  of  the  world.  But  the  baseless  slan- 
ders invented  and  circulated  by  Roman  Catholics  concerning  his 
death  only  prove  how  impossible  it  is  for  his  maligners  to  see  the 
plainest  truth. 

The  dreadful  story  of  the  Smalcald  war  is  soon  told.  The  em- 
peror, when  forced  to  make  known  his  purpose  to  go  to  war  with 
the  Smalcald  League,  protested  that  it  was  not  for  the  purpose 
of  destroying  the  Reformation,  but  of  punishing  the  political  sins 
of  the  Protestant  princes.  The  pope,  not  caring  for  Charles's 
reputation  for  truth,  called  upon  all  the  Roman  Catholic  powers  to 
aid  the  emperor.  He  himself  furnished  troops  and  money,  and 
provided  the  sinews  of  war  out  of  the  Spanish  ecclesiastical  in- 
comes. This  papal  interest  could  have  but  one  explanation.  But 
jealousy,  ambition,  and  promises  by  the  emperor  combined  gave 
the  latter  the  powerful  aid  of  Maurice  of  Saxony.  To  him  was 
promised  the  electorate  when  John  Frederick  should  be  duly 
humbled. 

Erich  of  Braunschweig  and  the  Margrave  Albert  of  Brandenburg 
allied  themselves  with  the  emperor  against  their  brethren  in  the 
faith.  John  of  Kiistrin  became  his  commander  of  horse.  The 
unexpected  announcement  of  the  pope,  referred  to  above,  disclosed 
the  true  animus  of  the  coming  war,  and  the  League  prepared  to 
strike  before  the  emperor  could  get  ready.  Had  they  been  decided 
the  smal-  an(^  prompt  in  their  action  they  might  have  won  in 
cald  war.  i^q  struggle.  "While  the  league  council  was  delaying 
Maurice  fell  upon  the  Saxon  electorate,  and  John  Frederick  was 
obliged  to  give  his  attention  to  the  protection  of  his  own  domains. 
In  April,  1547,  the  emperor  surprised  the  elector,  and  in  the  battle 
of  Miihlberg,  on  April  24,  made  him  an  imperial  prisoner.  The 
capitulation  at  Wittenberg  provided  that  the  electorate  should  go 
to  Maurice,  together  with  half  the  electoral  territory.  The  war 
was  continued  by  Philip  for  a  time,  but  vainly.  He  was  compelled 
to  submit,  and  was  taken  prisoner.  Of  all  Protestant  Germany 
the  only  portion  which  remained  unconquered  was  Magdeburg. 

Had  the  pope  now  been  true  to  his  treaty  with  Charles,  the  Ref- 
ormation would  undoubtedly  have  been  annihilated  in  Germany. 
But  jealousy  caused  him  to  remove  the  council  from  Trent  to  Bo- 


CLOSING  DAYS  OF  THE  REFORMATION  IN   GERMANY.    217 

logna,  where  the  influence  of  the  emperor  could  not  be  too  great. 
He  had  also  withdrawn  his  troops  in  January,  1547,  in  the  midst  of 
the  war.  All  these  things  both  angered  Charles  and  taught  him 
that  he  must  depend  upon  himself  for  the  regulation  of  the  reli- 
gious affairs  of  Germany ;  but  chiefly  they  restrained  him  from  a 
violent  suppression  of  Protestantism.  In  order  to  aid  his  purposes 
he  had  Pflug  prepare  an  interim,  which  was  ruinous  to  Protestant- 
ism, but  which  made  some  slight  concessions  to  the  Protestants.1 

This  was  adopted  into  the  recess  of  the  diet  of  Augsburg,  1548. 
The  Roman  Catholic  clergy  and  princes  wanted  the  interim  to  ap- 
ply only  to  Protestant  lands.  The  Protestants  were  discontented 
with  its  severity.  The  pope  was  unwilling  to  sanction  struggle 
it,  because  this  would  recognize  the  right  of  the  em-  pope  and 
peror  to  interfere  in  religious  concerns.2  The  struggle  emperor. 
between  emperor  and  pope  became  so  bitter  that  the  latter  advised 
Henry  II  of  France  to  join  with  the  German  Protestant  princes 
against  Charles,  while  Charles  threatened  to  appeal  to  the  council 
against  the  pope,  and  even  to  bring  about  a  schism.  Finally  the 
pontiff  sent  legates  to  Germany  to  introduce  the  new  religious  and 
ecclesiastical  order,  and  in  1551  opened  the  council  once  more  in 
Trent.  Meanwhile  the  Leipzig  interim  was  adopted  in  Saxony,  but 
its  contents,  though  more  favorable  to  Lutheranism  than  that  of 
Augsburg,  were  most  objectionable  to  the  strict  Lutherans,  and  be- 
cause it  had  been  prepared  by  Melanchthon  led  to  a  division  among 
the  German  Reformers  themselves.3 

The  almost  tyrannical  conduct  of  Charles,  whose  successes  had 
been  practically  uninterrupted,  produced  a  reaction  against  him, 
even  among  Roman  Catholic  princes.  Henry  II  of  France  joined 
with  Maurice,  who  was  angered  at  the  treatment  his  father-in-law, 
Philip  of  Hesse,"  had  received  at  the  hands  of  the  emperor,  in  a 

1  See  its  twenty-six  articles  in  Gieseler,  iv,  194-196. 

2  It  was  much  satirized  by  the  wits  of  the  time.     The  following  is  a  specimen  : 

"  Hut'  dich  vor  dem  Interim, 
Es  lauert  ein  Schalk  hinter  ihm." 
(Of  the  Interim  beware, 
For  a  knave  is  hiding  there.) 
See  Hagenbach,  ii,  282,  and  Moller,  iii,  144. 

3  The  terms  of  the  Leipzig  Interim  are  given  by  Gieseler,  iv,  201-203. 

4  The  dispute  between  Maurice  and  the  emperor  turned  on  the  word  that  was 
used  in  reference  to  Philip's  imprisonment  in  the  treaty  which  closed  the 
Smalcaid  war.  Maurice  claimed  that  Philip  was  to  be  spared  einige  (any)  im- 
prisonment ;  the  emperor,  that  he  had  promised  that  Philip's  imprisonment 
should  not  be  ewiger  (perpetual). 


218  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

campaign  against  his  majesty.  Ferdinand  was  estranged  from  his 
brother  because  he  proposed  his  own  son,  rather  than  Ferdinand's, 
as  successor  on  the  imperial  throne.  By  the  activity  or  connivance 
of  all  these  enemies  of  Charles  his  power  was  broken.  The  so- 
called  treaty  of  Passau  resulted,  according  to  which 
peaceIOof  there  were  to  be  mutual  amnesty  and  a  truce  until  the 
augsburg.       next   diet  gllould   decide  how  the  schism   might  be 

healed.  This  was  in  1552.  On  every  side  the  demand  now  was 
for  a  peaceful  solution.  Charles  was  disinclined  to  this  for  reasons 
of  conscience,  but  at  length  he  turned  the  whole  matter  over  to 
Ferdinand.  In  1555  a  diet,  under  the  presidency  of  Ferdinand, 
assembled  in  Augsburg.  A  league  of  sixteen  princes  of  Protestant- 
ism, according  to  which  the  Augsburg  Confession  was  to  be  main- 
tained at  all  hazards,  was  formed.  This  made  immediate  decision 
a  necessity.  The  outcome  was  the  Eeligious  Peace  of  Augsburg, 
according  to  which  the  questions  of  religion  should  be  left  to  the 
rulers  of  each  territory.1  On  the  whole  it  was  very  favorable  to 
the  Protestant  cause.  It  was  a  practical  recognition  of  the  rights 
of  the  evangelicals.  The  pope  was  angry,  but  the  Reformation  had 
triumphed. 

1  Important  selections  from  the  original  in  Gieseler,  iv,  207,  208.  On  pp. 
208,  209,  he  gives  the  conditions  of  the  Reservation  ecclesiasticum ;  that  is,  the 
provision  that  prelates  who  might  go  over  to  Protestantism  should  lose  their 
secular  rulership. 


LITERATURE:   THE   REFORMATION  IN   SWITZERLAND.    219 


LITERATURE  :  THE  REFORMATION  IN  SWITZERLAND. 

I.    GENERAL  WORKS. 

1.  Simler,  J.  J.     Sammlung  alter  und  neuer  Urkunden  zur  Beleuchtung  der 

Kirchengeschichte  vornehmlich  des  Schweizerlandes.    2  vols.    Ziir.,  1757- 
1763. 

2.  Hottinger  and  Vogeli's  ed.  of  Heinrich  Bullinger's  Reformationsgeschichte 

from  1519-1532.     3  vols.     Frauenfd.,  1831-1840. 

3.  Gotzinger's  edition  of  Johannes  Kessler's  Chronik  der  Jalire  1523-1539. 

St.  Gallen,  1866-1868. 

4.  Strickler,  J.    Acteusammlung  zur  schweizerischen  Reformationsgeschichte 

in  dem  Jahre  1521-1532.     5  vols.     Ziir.,  1878-1884. 

5.  Egli,  E.     Actensammlung  zur  Geschichte  der  Ziiriclier  Reformation  in  die 

Jahre  1519-1533.     Ziir.,  1879. 

6.  Archiv  fur  die  schweizerischen  Reformationsgeschichte.     Under  the  aus- 

pices of  the  schweizerischer  Piusverein  (Roman  Catholic).    3  vols.     Sol. , 
1868-1876. 

7.  Herminjard,  A.  L.     Correspon dance  des  Reformateurs.     7  vols.     Geneva, 

1866-1886.     Invaluable.     Vols,  i  and  ii  pertain  especially  to  Switzerland. 

8.  Nippold,  Friedrich  (editor).  Berner  Beitriige  zur  Gesch.  der  schweizerischen 

Reformationskirchen.     Bern,  1884.     Important  essays  on  various  aspects 
of  the  Swiss  Reformation. 

9.  Tschudi,  V.     Chronik  d.  Reformationsjahre  1521-1533.      Herausgegeben 

von  J.  Strickler.     Bern,  1889. 
See  also  histories  of  Switzerland  by  L.  Hug  and  R.  Stead,  Lond.  and  N.  Y. , 
1890 ;  Grieben,  Lond.,  1893  ;  F.  Segmuller  (Kirchengesch.),  Einsied.,  1895  ;  K. 
Dandliker,  3  vols.,  Ziir.,  1895  ;  and  others. 

n.    TJXRICH   ZWINGLI. 

Works.  Opera  ed.  M.  Schuler  et  J.  Schulthess.  8  vols.  Zur.,  1829-1842. 
Usteri  and  Vogeli :  Zwinglis  Schriften  im  Ausziige.  2  vols.  Ziir.,  1819,  1820 
(German)  Transl.  of  his  Works  in  modern  High  German.  By  R.  Christoffel. 
9  vols.  Ziir.,  1843.  Schweizer,  Paul  :  Zwingli  Autographen  in  Staats- Archiv  zu 
Ziir.,  1885.  See  Finsler's  and  Von  Wartensee's  Zwingli-Bibliographie.  Zur., 
1897. 

Biographical.     We  give  a  selection  only. 

1.  Myconius,  Oswald.     De  Vita  et  Obitu  Zwingli,  1536.     Intimate  friend  of 

Zwingli.     Repub.  by  Neander  in  Vitse  quatuor  Reform.     Berl.,  1841. 

2.  Hess,  J.  C.     Vie  d'Ulrich  Zwingle.      Geneva,   1810.     Transl.  by  Aiken. 

Lond.,  1812. 

3.  Franz.     Zwinglis  Geburtsort.     St.  Gallen,  1818. 

4.  Schweizer,  L.  J.     Kernstellen  aus  Zwinglis  Schriften.     Ziir.,  1819. 

5.  Schuler,  J.  M.     Huldr.  Zwingli.     Geschichte   seiner  Bildung  zum  Refor- 

mator  des  Vaterlandes.     Ziir.,  1819. 


220  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

6.  Frohlich,  A.  E.    Ulrich  Zwingli.     21  Gesiinge.     Zur.,  1840. 

7.  Weddik,  B.  T.  L.     Luther  en  Zwingli  in  1529  of  het  godgeleerd  gesprek  te 

Marburg.     Amst.,  1842. 

8.  Hottinger,  J.  J.     Ulrich  Zwingli.     Zur.,  1842.    Transl.  into  Dutch.  Amst., 

1844.     Into  English.    Harrisburg,  1857. 

9.  Zeller,  E.     Das  theologische  System  Zwinglis  dargest.     Tiib.,  1853. 

10.  Sigwart,  Ch.     Ulrich  Zwingli.     Stuttg.,  1855. 

11.  Tichler,  Johann.     Huldrich  Zwingli,  de  kerkhervormer.    Utr.,  1857-58. 

12.  Christoffel,  R.      Huldreich   Zwinglis  Leben   und   ausgewahlte  Schriften. 

Elberf.,  1857.     Transl.     Edinb.,  1858. 

13.  Cramer,  S.     Zwinglis  leer  van  het  godsdienstig  geloof.  Midd.,  1866. 

14.  Spoerri,  H.     Zwingli-Studien.     Leipz.,  1866.     Zwingli.  Hamb.,  1882. 

15.  Morikofer,  J.    C.     Ulrich   Zwingli   nach  den  urkundl.  Quellen.     2  vols. 

Leipz.,  1867. 

16.  Blackburn,  W.  M.     Ulrich  Zwingli.     Phila.,  1868. 

17.  Volkmar,  Gustav.     Zwinglis  Leben  und  Wirken.     Zur.,  1870. 

18.  Finsler,  G.     Ulrich  Zwingli.     Zur.,  1873.     The   same  author  delivered  a 

Commemorative  Address.     Ziir.,  1883. 

19.  Hardy,  Mrs.    The  Story  of  a  Noble  Life  ;  or,  Zurich  and  its  Reformer.  Lond., 

1874. 

20.  Brouwer,  R.     Ulrich  Zwingli.     Amst.,  1877. 

21.  Bavinck,  H.     De  Ethiek  van  Zwingli.     Kamp.,  1880. 

22.  Werder,  Jul.     Zwingli  als  politischer  Reformator.     Bas.,  1882. 

23.  Grob,  J.     Huldreich  Zwingli.     Milev.,  1883.     Transl.  N.  Y.,  1884. 

24.  Fenner,  H.     Zwingli  als  Patriot  und  Politiker.     Frauenf.,  1883. 

25.  Usteri,  J.  M.     Ulrich  Zwingli,  ein  Martin  Luther  ebenbiirtiger  Zeuge  des 

evang.  Glaubens.  Ziir.,  1883.  See  S.  M.  Jackson,  in  Presb.  Rev.,  1885, 
pp.  161-163. 

26.  Maaldrink,  D.  M.     Ulrich  Zwingli,  de  Hervormervan  Duitschland.    Amst., 

1883. 

27.  Schweizer,  Alexander.     Zwinglis  Bedeutung  neben  Luther.     Ziir.,  1884. 

28.  Heer,  G.     Ulrich  Zwingli  als  Pfarrer  von  Glarus,  1887. 

29.  Baur,  A.     Zwinglis   Theologie.     2  vols.    Halle,  1885-89.     In  this  admira- 

ble work  Baur  did  for  Zwingli  what  Kostlin  did  for  Luther  in  his  Luthers 
Theologie,  1863.  See  excellent  review  by  S.  M.  Jackson,  in  Presb.  Rev., 
1886,  754,  755. 

30.  Persuis,  K.     Huldreich  Zwingli.     Barm.,  1888. 

31.  Gosse,  R.  W.     Zwingli.     Lond.,  1892. 

32.  Stahelin,  Rudolf.  Huldreich  Zwingli  sein  Leben  und  Wirken.  2  vols. 
Basel,  1895-97.  This  great  work,  not  yet  complete,  is  the  definitive  life 
of  Zwingli.  See  Crit.  Rev.,  vii,  488  ;  Lezius  in  Th.  Lit.-blatt.,  Feb.  28, 
1896,  Jan.  28,  1898,  June  3,  1898  ;  Bossert  in  Th.  Litz.,  1898,  No.  16,  445- 
448.     Good  in  Presb.  and  Ref.  Rev.,  viii,  334-336. 

33.  Jackson,  S.  M.     Ulrich  Zwingle.    N.  Y.  and  Lond.,  1900.     The  best  life  in 

English  :  written  in  a  fresh  and  interesting  manner  after  a  thorough  study 

of  all  the  sources. 

For  a  bibliography  of  the  Commemorative  Addresses  at  the  Fourth  Centennial 

of  Zwingli's  birth,  1884,  see  Schaff,  vii,  18,  19.     Some  recent  contributions  are  : 

I.  Tudcis,  Zwingli  mint  Dogmaticies,  Saros  Patak,  1892  ;  See  F.  Balogh  in  Presb. 


LITERATURE:  THE  REFORMATION   IN   SWITZERLAND.    221 

and  Ref.  Rev.,  v,  150  ff.  ;  E.  Nagel,  Zwinglis  Stellung  zur  Schrift,  Freib.  i.  B., 
1896  ;  see  Th.  Litz.,  1897,  No.  6  ;  G.  Wunderli,  Huldrych  Zwingli  in  die  Ref. 
in  Zurich,  Zur.,  1897  ;  Zwingliana — Mittheilungen  zur  Gesch.  Ref.  Zur.,  1897  ; 
see  Th.  Litz.,  1898,  No.  17.  For  Review  articles  see  Zwingli  as  a  commentator 
in  Mercersburg  Rev.,  iv,  55,  453  ;  H.  S.  Burrage,  Zwingli,  in  Bap.  Rev.,  Jan., 
1884,  68  ff.  ;  Usteri,  Tuitia  Zwingli,  in  Studien  u.  Kritiken,  1885,  H.  iv, 
where  full  information  as  to  Zwingli's  education  and  early  studies  may  be  had ; 
Zwingli  and  his  work  in  Lond.  Quar.  Rev.,  xii,  209  ;  Schaff,  Theol.  of  Zwingli, 
in  Ref.  Quar.  Rev.,  xxxvi,  423  (comp.  Presb.  and  Ref.  Rev.,  v,  150-152)  ; 
P.  Kind,  Zwingli  und  Franz  II  Sforza,  1531,  in  Th.  Ztschr.  aus  der  Schweiz, 
xiii  (1896),  3. 

For  the  contemporaries  and  friends  of  Zwingli,  there  are  lives  of  Faber,  by 
C.  E.  Kettner,  Leipz.,  1737,  and  A.  Harowitz,  Vienna,  1884  ;  of  Glareanus,  by 
H.  Schreiber,  Freib.,  1837,  and  O.  F.  Fritzsche,  Frauenf.,  1890  ;  of  Myconius, 
by  M.  Kirchofer,  Ziir.,  1813,  and  K.  R.  Hagenbach,  Elberf.,  1859  ;  of  Bullin- 
ger,  by  J.  Simler,  Tig.,  1575 ;  L.  Krafft,  Elbf.,  1870 ;  C.  Pestalozzi,  1858,  and 
R.  Christoffel,  Ziir.,  1875  (see  Egli's  rev.  of  Heer's  art.  in  Hauck's  Realencyclo- 
ptidie,  1897,  vol.  ii,  pp.  536-549)  ;  of  Leo  Jud^us,  by  Pestalozzi,  Elbf.,  1860  ; 
and  of  GScolampadius,  by  Hess,  Ziir.,  1791  ;  J.  Herzog,  2  vols.,  Basel,  1843,  and 
K.  R.  Hagenbach,  Basel,  1868. 

Of  the  local  histories  of  the  Reformation  in  Switzerland  the  following  may 
be  mentioned  :  Basel,  :  J.  Burckhardt,  1819  ;  K.  R.  Hagenbach,  1827  :  Fischer, 
1850  ;  Vischer  (Actenstiicke  zur  Gesch.  der  Ref.  in  Basel,  in  Basler  Beitriige, 
1854),  and  the  Basler  Chroniken,  ed.  by  Vischer,  Leipz.,  1872.  Berne  :  S. 
Fischer,  1828  ;  G.  J.  Kuhn,  1828  ;  M.  Kirchofer  (B.  Haller  oder  die  Ref.  v. 
Berne),  Zur.,  1828;  Von  Stiirler,  2  vols.,  1855-77;  Stahelin  and  Wyss  (Berner 
Chronik),  2  vols.  1884-86.  St.  Gall  :  Bernet,  J.  Kissler,  St.  Gall,  1826 ;  T. 
Pressel,  J.  Vadian,  Elbf.,  1861  ;  J.  Kessler,  Chronik  der  Jahre  1523-39,  2 
vols.,  1866-68  ;  R.  Stahelin,  Die  reformatorische  Werksamkeit  Vadians,  Basel, 
1882 ;  H.  G.  Sulzberger,  Gesch.  der  Ref.  der  Kantons  Glarus  und  St.  Gall, 
Heid.,  1875  ;  Aus  dem  Brief  wechsel  Vadians,  St.  Gall,  1886. 

GENEVA. 

1.  Gaberel,  J.    Histoire  de  l'e'glise  de  Geneve  depuis  le  commencement  de  la 

reforme  jusque  en  1815.     3  vols.     Gen.,  1855-63. 

2.  Jubile  de  la  reformation  (de  Geneve)  histoire  d'autrefois.     2d  ed.     Gen., 

1835. 

3.  Memoires  et  Documents  publies  par  la  societe  d'histoire  et  d'archeologie  de 

Geneve,  vol.  i-xiv,  1840. 

4.  Baudry,  L'Abbe   de.     Expose  des  discussions  survenues  a  Geneve  entre  les 

protestants  sur  l'autorite  de  l'ecriture  sainte.     Gen.,  1852. 

5.  Achinard,  Andre.     Geneve  ecclesiastique  on  livre  des  spectables  pasteurs  et 

professeurs  qui  ont  ete  dans  cette  eglise  depuis  la  reformation.    Gen.,  1861. 

6.  Charpenne.     Histoire  de  la  reformation  et   des  reformateurs  de  Geneve. 

Paris,  1861. 

7.  Bonivard,  Francois.     Les  chroniqnes  des  Geneve.     2  vols.      Gen.,  1867. 

8.  Galiffe,  J.  B.  G.     Geneve  historique  et  archeologiqne.     Gen.,  1869. 

9.  Roget,  Amedee.     Histoire  du  peuple  de  Geneve  depuis  la  reforme  jusqu'a 

l'escalade,  1536-67.     7  vols.     Gen.,  1870-83. 


223  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

10.  Fleury.     Histoire  de  l'eglise  de  Geneve.     2  vols.     Gen.,  1880. 

11.  Fazy,  Henry.     Geneve,  le  parti  huguenot  et  la  traite  de  Soleure  (1574-79). 

Gen.,  1883.     See  H.  M.  Baird,  in  Presb.  Rev.,  1884.  p.  369. 

12.  Documents  relating  to  the  Genevan  Reformation,  in  Univ.  of  Pennsylva- 

nia's Translations  and  Reprints.     Phila.,  1896. 

13.  Choisy,  E.     La  theocratie  a  Geneve  au  temps  de  Calvin.     Paris,  1898. 

FABEL. 

1.  Kirchhofer,   M.      Das  Leben  Wilhelm  Farels.     2  vols.      Ziir.,    1831-33. 

Transl.  into  Eng.     Lond.,  1837. 

2.  Cheneviere,  Ch.     Farel,  Froment,  Viret,   reformateurs  rel.  du  16e  siecle. 

Gen.,  1835. 

3.  Schmidt,  Karl.    Wilh.  Farel  und  Peter  Viret.     Elbf .,  1860. 

4.  Blackburn,  W.  M.     The  Life  of  Farel.     Phila.,  1865. 

5.  Junod,  L.   Farel,  reformateur  de  la  Suisse  romande.     Neuch.,  1865. 

6.  Goguel.    Farel.     Neufchatel,  1873. 

7.  Bevan,  Frances.  William  Farel.     4th   ed.  Lond.,  1893.     See  Stahelin's  re- 

vision of  Herzog's  art.  in  Hauck's  ed.  of  the  Realencyelopadie  (1898),  v, 
762-767. 


1.  Jaquemot.     Viret,  reformateur  de  Lausanne.     Strasb.,  1856. 

2.  Carl.     Pierre  Viret,  le  reformateur  Vaudois.    Lausanne,  1864. 

3.  Godet,  T.     Viret.     Lausanne,  1892.     See  Cheneviere  and  Schmidt,  under 

Farel,  above. 


REFORMATION  IN   GERMAN   SWITZERLAND— ZWINGLI.    223 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  REFORMATION  IN  GERMAN  SWITZERLAND 

-ZWINGLI. 

Ulrich  Zwingli  '  was  to  the  German  Swiss  Reformation  what 
Luther  was  to  the  Reformation  in  Germany.  He  was  the  third 
son  of  Ulrich  and  Margaretha  Zwingli,  and  was  born  on  January 
1,  1484,  but  a  few  weeks  later  than  Luther.  His  parents,  like 
Luther's,  were  peasants ;  but  Zwingli's  father  was  a  magistrate, 
and  well-to-do. 

Wildhaus,  the  place  of  Zwingli's  nativity,  is  situated  in  the 
upper  Toggenburg,  a  part  of  what  is  now  the  canton  of  St.  Gal- 
len.  It  is  a  very  beautiful  valley,  situated  high  up  in  the  moun- 
tains. Most  of  the  inhabitants  were  shepherds.  As  zwingli's 
spring  advanced,  the  flocks  were  driven  higher  and 
higher  up  the  mountain  sides,  where  they  were  shepherded  by  the 
elder  portion  of  the  population.  On  Sundays  it  was  customary  for 
the  younger  people  who  had  remained  at  home  during  the  week  to 
go  to  these  hilltops  and  spend  the  day  with  their  elders.  Upon  the 
approach  of  winter  the  flocks  were  again  brought  down  into  the 
valley.  In  this  way  both  the  elder  and  the  younger  people  lived 
much  out  of  doors,  and  habitually  feasted  their  eyes  on  the  most 
beautiful  scenes  in  summer  and  the  most  glorious  spectacles  of 
ice  and  snow  in  the  winter.  The  mountain  peaks  towered  high  on 
every  side,  and  must  have  impressed  every  susceptible  soul  with 
their  grandeur.  Those  who  knew  Zwingli  best  believed  that  he 
was  greatly  influenced  by  his  early  surroundings,  and  especially  by 
the  rugged  character  of  the  country  in  which  he  was  brought  up.2 

1  Vilmar  says  that  Zwingli's  Christian  name  was  Ulrich,  not  Huldreich  nor 
Huldrich,  although  the  form  Huldreich  was  preferred  by  him  ;  and  that  wher- 
ever he  is  mentioned  by  his  contemporaries,  within  or  without  Switzerland,  he 
is  never  called  anything  but  Master  Ulrich  or  Master  Uli.  He  also  says  that 
in  Vienna  he  matriculated  under  the  name  Cogentius.  See  his  Luther,  Me- 
lanchthon,  and  Zwingli,  p.  92,  n.  According  to  Moller  his  name  appears  in 
the  list  of  matriculants  of  Basel  University,  May  1,  1502,  as  Udalricus  Zwyng- 
ling — iii,  45,  n.  3. 

2  Christoffel  quotes  Oswald  Myconius  as  saying  :  "  I  have  often  thought  .  .  . 
that  from  these  sublime  heights,  which  stretch  up  toward  heaven,  he  has  taken 
something  heavenly  and  divine  " — p.  3.     So  also  Morikof er,  i,  4. 


224  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Zwingli's  uncle  on  his  father's  side,  Bartholomaus  Zwingli,  was 
the  priest  in  charge  of  the  church  in  Wesen,  only  a  little  distance 
from  the  town  where  Zwingli  was  born.  His  uncle  on  his  moth- 
er's side,  John  Meili,  was  also  a  priest,  and  afterward  abbot  of 
Fischingen,  in  Torgau.  It  was  the  wish  of  these  uncles  that 
young  Zwingli  should  be  educated  for  the  priesthood,  and,  in  con- 
sequence, his  father  determined  to  give  him  the  best  education 
which  the  times  could  afford.  He  was  first  sent  to 
early  Wesen  to  live  in  the  home  of  his  uncle  Bartholomaus. 

Here  he  went  to  the  public  school,  and  quickly  learned 
all  that  was  there  taught.  He  was  next  sent  to  Basel,  to  the  school 
of  George  Binzli,  a  friend  of  Bartholomaus,  and  a  very  learned  man. 
It  was  but  a  short  time  until  Ulrich  had  mastered  everything  that 
Binzli  could  teach  him,  and  he  was  then  sent  to  Berne,  where  the 
learned  Lupulus  was  teaching  Greek  and  Latin  with  great  enthusi- 
asm to  multitudes  of  students.  But  although  Zwingli  was  a  stu- 
dent under  this  great  teacher  of  both  languages,  he  pursued  the 
Latin  only.  Here  also  he  proved  himself  a  very  bright  student, 
and  it  was  not  long  until  he  began  to  attract  the  attention  of  the 
people  of  the  place. 

The  Dominican  monks,  always  on  the  lookout  for  recruits  to 
their  number,  saw  the  bright  promise  of  the  youth,  and  undertook 
to  secure  him  for  their  order.  They  offered  him  a  home  in  the 
cloister,  and  actually  induced  him  to  reside  among  them  for  a 
time ; ]  but  when  his  father  and  uncle  heard  of  it,  they,  fearing 
he  might  become  a  monk,  induced  him  to  leave  Basel,  and  sent 
zwingli  at  him  to  Vienna,  where  the  university,  under  the  patron- 
age of  Maximilian  I,  had  recently  risen  to  great  dis- 
tinction. It  has  been  asserted  that  here  he  made  the  acquaintance 
of  a  number  of  men  who  afterward  figured  as  his  friends  or  foes 
in  the  great  work  to  which  God  called  him  in  his  subsequent  life, 
among  them  the  famous  Eck.  Others,  with  better  reason,  dispute 
the  statement.2  However  this  may  be,  it  is  certain  that  he  there 
came  directly  under  the  influence  of  Humanism,  which  he  pursued 
with  great  enthusiasm.  This  prepared  the  way  for  the  thoughts 
and  opinions  which  he  was  to  promulgate,  and  afforded  the  knowl- 
edge that  was  finally  to  lead  him  away  from  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  into  a  work  second  only  to  that  which  Martin  Luther  him- 
self performed. 

1  Christoffel,  pp.  5,  6. 

2  Christoffel  asserts — p.  6  ;  Schaff,  appealing  to  Horawitz,  Der  Humanismus 
in  Wien  (1883),  denies— vii,  23,  n.  2. 


REFORMATION   IN   GERMAN  SWITZERLAND— ZWINGLI.    225 

For  some  reason  his  father  called  him  from  Vienna  in  1502, 
when  he  was  eighteen  years  of  age,  after  which  he  spent  some 
time  at  home.  His  desire  for  knowledge,  however,  soon  led  him  to 
Basel  again,  where  he  taught  in  the  school  of  St.  Martin  and  also 
studied  in  the  university.  It  was  at  this  time  that  he  came  under 
the  influence  of  the  celebrated  Thomas  Wyttenbach,  who  was  not 
only  a  great  scholar  in  the  Greek  and  Latin  languages,  zwingli's 
but  combined  with  love  of  learning  a  love  for  the  Holy  residence 
Scriptures,  and  knew  how  to  bring  out  their  depths  of  AT  BASEL- 
meaning  in  lively  contrast  with  the  dry  scholastic  theology  which 
had  prevailed  during  the  Middle  Ages,  and  which  even  yet  exercised 
a  controlling  influence  in  theology.  Wyttenbach  was  undoubtedly 
to  him  what  Staupitz  was  to  Luther,  only  that  while  Staupitz  gave 
comfort  to  the  distressed  and  anxious  feelings  of  the  German  monk, 
and  pointed  out  to  him  the  way  of  personal  satisfaction  in  Jesus 
Christ,  Wyttenbach  performed  no  such  task  for  the  Swiss  student, 
who  was  not  deeply  troubled  on  account  of  his  sins.  Zwingli  ap- 
proached the  doctrines  which  he  afterward  taught,  not  under  the 
promptings  of  a  conscious  personal  need,  but  rather  from  the  stand- 
point of  a  literary  man.  It  was  his  Humanistic  studies  that  led  him, 
step  by  step,  away  from  the  doctrines  and  practices  of  the  Eoman 
Catholic  Church.  While  he  was  at  the  university  in  Basel  the 
second  time  he  became  master  of  arts,  which  was  the  highest  title 
to  which  he  ever  attained.  Even  of  this  he  was  not  careful  to 
claim  the  honors.1  He  used  to  say  that  one  was  our  Master,  even 
Christ,  and  consequently  it  mattered  little  to  him  whether  or  not 
he  should  be  called  Master  Ulrich. 

In  1506,  being  now  twenty-two  years  of  age,  and  having  been 
ordained  by  the  bishop  of  Constance,  he  became  pastor  of  the 
church  in  Glarus,  not  far  from  his  boyhood  home.  He  pastor  at 
had  been  unanimously  chosen  by  the  people ;  but  the  GLABUS- 
pope  had  a  favorite  upon  whom  he  wished  to  confer  the  benefits 
of  that  position,  and  although  the  parish  refused  to  accept  the 
papal  candidate,  Zwingli  was  obliged  to  pay  to  his  rival  a  consider- 
able sum  of  money  for  the  privilege  of  enjoying  the  living  to  which 
he  had  been  regularly  called. 2  This  was  one  of  the  first  instances 
in  which  Zwiugli  experienced  the  power  and  corruption  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church.  During  this  period  it  was  that  he  first 
studied  Greek,  which  it  is  said  he  learned  in  one  year.  It  is  also 
stated  that  he  soon  became  so  familiar  with  the  language  that  for 
purposes  of  reading  it  was  as  available  as  his  mother  tongue.     He 

1  Ckristoffel,  p.  8.  2  Ibid.,  p.  9,  and  Schaff,  vii,  24. 

17  * 


226  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

entered  upon  this  study  in  order  that  he  might  the  more  readily 
reach  the  original  word  of  God,  which  was  growing  constantly  in 
his  esteem,  and  whose  teachings  he  was  learning  more  and  more  to 
appreciate,  chiefly,  however,  from  the  Erasmian,  that  is  to  say,  the 
Humanistic  standpoint. 

During  his  stay  of  ten  years  in  Glarus  he  was  an  ardent  cham- 
pion of  the  pope's  cause,  favoring  the  employment  of  the  Swiss 
mercenaries  in  the  interests  of  the  pope  rather  than  of 

ZWINGLI'S  t  .  i  • 

military         the  French ;  and  in  at  least  two  campaigns  of  the  former 

EXPERIENCE.  ,  *  •      t       ,i 

against  the  latter  he  accompanied  the  mercenaries, 
witnessing  several  important  battles.  His  duties,  however,  were 
those  of  a  chaplain,  not  of  a  regular  soldier ;  yet  it  is  said  of  him 
that  he  displayed  his  courage  by  the  risks  he  took  in  the  cause  for 
which  the  soldiers  whom  he  accompanied  fought.  He  afterward 
regretted  his  connection  with  these  military  expeditions,  not  because 
he  was  opposed  to  military  life,  but  because  it  had  been  in  the 
interest  of  the  pope,  and  because  he  had  begun  to  see  the  great  evil 
which  came  to  the  Swiss  people  by  hiring  out  their  soldiers  to  a 
foreign  commander.1  But  while  he  himself  regretted  them  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  in  these  early  expeditions  he  saw  the  Eoman 
Catholic  Church  as  he  could  not  have  seen  it  had  he  remained  in 
his  native  land.  In  one  of  these  Italian  campaigns  he  found  a  mass 
book  which  otherwise  would  have  remained  hidden  from  his  sight, 
and  by  which  he  was  convinced  that  the  Church  of  his  day  was 
not  the  Church  of  the  times  of  the  early  disciples  and  the  imme- 
diately subsequent  centuries.2 

At  his  entrance  upon  the  work  of  the  priesthood  in  Glarus  he, 
like  Luther,  entertained  very  high  ideals.3     He  trembled  at  the 

1  Christoffel  gives  an  extensive  extract  from  his  argument,  the  points  of 
which  are  as  follows  :  The  first  and  great  danger  was  that  they  would  bring 
down  upon  themselves  the  wrath  of  God  because  of  the  practice  of  the  cruel- 
ties of  war  as  a  mere  means  of  gain.  The  second  danger  was  that  justice  be- 
tween man  and  man  would  be  hindered  by  hiring  out  soldiers  to  help  forward 
unjust  wars.  The  third  danger  was  that  with  foreign  money  and  foreign  wars 
the  manners  of  the  Swiss  people  would  become  corrupted  and  debased.  The 
fourth  danger  was  that  the  gifts  of  the  foreign  lords  would  breed  hatred  and 
distrust  among  the  Swiss.  The  cure  of  these  evils  was  abstinence  from  selfish- 
ness— pp.  42-49. 

2  Luther  appears  to  have  made  in  Milan  a  similar  discovery  with  reference 
to  the  method  of  celebrating  mass. — Kostlin,  Martin  Luther,  i,  106. 

3  He  said  :  "  I  will  be  true  and  upright  before  God  in  every  situation  in  life 
in  which  the  hand  of  the  Lord  may  place  me."  "  Hypocrisy  and  lying  are 
worse  than  stealing.  Man  is  by  nothing  brought  so  much  to  resemble  God  as 
by  truth."— Christoffel,  p.  10. 


REFORMATION   IN   GERMAN  SWITZERLAND— ZWINGLI.    227 

thought  of  the  responsibility  that  had  been  placed  upon  him.  His 
innate  love  of  truth  prompted  him  to  resolve  that  he  would  never  de- 
part from  it,  and  that  his  life  should  always  correspond  to  his  highest 
conception  of  what  a  Christian  and  priest  of  God  ought  to  be.  But, 
though  he  had  these  high  ideals  before  him,  truth  compels  the  ad- 
mission that  in  some  respects  he  fell  far  beneath  them.  The 
country  was  full  of  corruption  ;  the  morals  of  the  people,  especially 
in  reference  to  sins  of  the  flesh,  were  at  the  lowest  conceivable  ebb. 
The  marriage  vow  was  lightly  esteemed.  The  priests, 
generally,  lived  in  open  or  concealed  concubinage,  not  main- 
They  must  not  marry,  but  they  might  have  children. 
The  disgrace  was  not  in  being  fathers  but  in  being  husbands. 
In  his  inmost  soul  Zwingli  revolted  from  such  corruption  as  this, 
and  believed  that  the  true  course  for  the  priests  was  to  enter  the 
married  state,  considering  this  far  better  for  their  morals  and  more 
conducive  to  the  purity  of  the  Church  and  its  individual  members. 
But  he  could  find  no  encouragement,  and  even  when  later  he,  with 
several  others,  sent  an  appeal  to  the  diet  of  Switzerland  for  the 
right  of  the  clergy  to  marry,  he  was  refused.1  Zwingli  was  not 
strong  enough  to  stem  the  tide  of  temptation  that  surrounded 
him  on  every  hand,  and  painfully  we  must  admit,  as  he  himself 
admits,  that  he  fell  into  gross  sin.2  How  long  he  continued,  or 
to  what  extent  it  was  carried,  it  is  impossible  for  us  to  say.  In 
confessing  the  fact  he  makes  light  of  it,  comparatively,  excusing 
himself  on  the  ground  that  in  the  grosser  forms  of  sin  he  had  never 
indulged.3  When  judging  him  we  must  remember  the  times  in 
which  he  lived ;  and  while  the  standard  of  morals  never  changes, 
man's  conception  of  it  varies,  and  we  must  judge  men,  at  least  in 
part,  by  the  prevailing  ethical  sentiment,  and  not  alone  by  the 
unchanging  standard.  So  much  at  least  is  true,  that  he  was  no 
worse  than  thousands  of  others  about  him  ;  and  it  is  also  true  that 
he  repented  and  strove  to  overcome  his  sin,  whereas  others  indulged 
themselves  without  remorse.  Eoman  Catholic  writers,  especially 
in  recent  times,  have  exaggerated  his  fault,  and  the  exact  facts 

1  This  petition  was  written  in  July,  1522,  although  he  had  been  previously 
married  in  secret.     Among  the  signers  were  Leo  Juda  and  John  Faber. 

2  For  particulars  see  Schaff,  vii,  27-30,  and  Christoffel,  pp.  12,  13.  Zwingli 
and  the  others  confessed  ' '  das  unehrbar  schandlich  Leben,  welches  wir  leider 
bisher  gefuhrt  haben  .  .  .  mit  Frauen." 

3  He  denies  that  he  had  ever  dishonored  a  married  woman,  a  virgin,  or  a  nun 
("  ea  ratio  nobis  perpetuo  fuit,  nee  alienum  thorum  conscendere,  nee  virginem 
vitiare,  nee  Deo  dicatam  prof  anare  ").  See  the  entire  letter  by  him  on  this  sub- 
ject, under  date  December  3,  1518,  in  his  works,  vii,  54-57. 


228  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

should  be  known,  that  the  base  slanders  against  him  may  be 
refuted.1 

While  here  he  took  such  a  decided  interest  in  the  pope's  cause 
that  many  of  the  French  party  became  his  enemies,  and  it  was 
zwingli  at  necessary  for  him  to  leave  Glarus.  Supplying  his  place 
einsiedeln.  witk  &  yjcar>  fa  removed  tc  Einsiedeln  in  1516,  where 
he  remained  for  two  years,  during  which  time,  in  accordance  with 
the  desire  of  the  parish,  he  drew  the  salary  of  the  Glarus  church. 

Einsiedeln  was  a  popular  resort  for  pilgrims.  The  abbey  there 
had  among  its  treasures  a  black  image  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  which 
was  said  to  have  fallen  from  heaven,  and  which  was  visited  annually 
by  scores  of  thousands,  that  they  might  have  healing  miracles 
wrought  upon  them.  Even  to  this  day  the  image  is  supposed  to 
work  wonders.  Eesidence  there  gave  Zwiugli  abundant  opportunity 
to  see  the  corruption  of  the  Church  in  this  particular,  and  he  did 
not  hesitate  to  denounce  it. 

During  these  two  years  Bernhardin  Samson,  a  seller  of  indul- 
gences, was  making  his  way  through  Switzerland,  and  approached 
the  neighborhood  of  Einsiedeln.     Zwingli  denounced 

INDULGENCES  °  ° 

in  switzer-  the  sale  as  unscriptural  and  unprincipled,  and  some 
have  therefore  supposed  that  his  reformation  began 
as  early  as  Luther's,  and  on  the  same  grounds.  But  the  case  of 
Zwingli  was  not  parallel  to  that  of  Luther.  He  preached  against 
indulgences,  and  opposed  them  with  argument.  But  his  success 
was  due  to  the  bishop  of  Constance,  who  desired  a  monopoly  of 
the  sale  in  his  own  diocese.  There  was  no  nailing  of  theses  to 
church  doors,  no  excitement  throughout  the  country,  and  no  crisis. 
In  fact,  the  genial  Swiss  was  developed  into  a  reformer  without 
a  crisis  of  any  kind.  There  was  simply  a  gradual  emancipation 
from  the  corruptions  of  the  Eoman  Catholic  Church,  until,  almost 
unknown  to  himself,  he  had  become  its  mighty  opponent. 

1  Janssen  assails  the  character  of  Zwingli  in  a  manner  little  adapted  to  leave 
the  impression  of  historical  fairness  which  he  so  nmch  professed  to  cherish. 
From  the  petition  for  the  right  to  marry,  which  was  written  in  1522,  Janssen  in- 
fers that  from  the  time  of  his  fall  in  Glarus  to  1522  Zwingli  had  been  practi- 
cing this  sin,  and  would  even  make  his  married  life  prior  to  its  public  announce- 
ment an  unchaste  intercourse. — Geschichte  des  deutschen  Volkes,  iii,  83  ff. 
Unratified  secret  marriages  were  very  common  in  those  days,  and  were  regarded 
as  altogether  honorable.  See  Morikofer,  i,  211.  The  principal  modern  litera- 
ture of  the  subject  is  found  in  Janssen's  Geschichte,  his  An  meine  Kritiker, 
1883,  and  his  Ein  zweites  Wort  an  meine  Kritiker,  1883,  with  the  answers  by 
Ebrard  in  his  Janssen  und  die  Reformation,  1882,  and  Usteri,  Ulrich  Zwingli, 
1883. 


LABORS   OF   ZWINGLI   AT   ZURICH.  229 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

LABORS  OF  ZWINGLI  AT  ZURICH-THE  BEGINNINGS  OF   REFORM. 

After  two  years  in  Einsiedeln,  Zwingli  was  called  to  the  great 
minster  church  in  Zurich,  where  he  began  his  labors  on  January  1, 
1519,  the  day  upon  which  he  entered  his  thirty-sixth  year.  This 
was  on  Saturday.  The  next  day  he  began  a  series  of  sermons  from 
the  gospel  according  to  Matthew,  breaking  away  thereby  from  the 
regularly  appointed  Scriptures  employed  for  sermons  in  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  and  taking  up  a  line  of  work  peculiarly  his  own. 

In  the  course  of  the  next  four  years  he  preached  on  the  entire 
New  Testament,  with  the  exception  of  the  book  of  Revelation, 
which  he  did  not  accept  as  canonical.  He  had  hardly  ZWINgli 
entered  on  the  work  in  Zurich  when  a  pestilence  broke  ™AewES 
out  which  carried  away  twenty-five  hundred  of  the  pop-  TESTAMENT- 
ulation,  or  one  third  of  the  entire  number  of  inhabitants  in  the 
city  at  that  time.  Zwingli  had  been  growing  in  popularity  for 
many  years.  The  people  of  Zurich  had  heard  him  preach  at  Ein- 
siedeln when  they  went  there  on  their  pilgrimages,  and  it  was  on 
this  account  that  they  called  the  eloquent  young  priest  to  the  min- 
ster church.  His  work  as  pastor  in  Zurich  also  had  given  him 
great  popularity,  and  when,  having  been  away  from  the  city  for 
some  little  time  in  order  to  enjoy  a  brief  opportunity  for  recupera- 
tion, and  having  learned  that  a  pestilence  had  broken  out,  he  re- 
turned to  the  city  and  at  once  entered  on  the  work  of  caring  for 
the  bodies  and  souls  of  those  who  were  afflicted,  his  influence  over 
the  masses  became  almost  unlimited.  He  finally  yielded  to  the 
pestilence  and  was  taken  seriously  ill.  After  he  recovered  he  wrote 
a  series  of  three  poems,  entitled  :  "  The  Beginning  of  the  Sickness," 
"  In  the  Midst  of  the  Sickness,"  and  "  The  Recovery  from  the  Sick- 
ness."1    It  has  been  thought  by  some  that  it  was  during  the  pes- 

1  The  following  translation  is  taken  from  d'Anbigne's  History  of  the  Refor- 
mation.    The  English  affords  a  fair  conception  of  the  spirit  of  the  poems : 

"  THE   BEGINNING   OF   THE   SICKNESS. 

"Lo,  at  the  door 

I  hear  death's  knock  ; 
Shield  me,  0  Lord, 

My  strength  and  rock. 


230  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

tilence  that  he  himself  became  so  deeply  pious  ;  and  in  fact  there 
are  those  who  say  that  it  was  during  this  time  he  met  with  a  very 
sudden  change  of  heart.  But,  unlike  Luther,  he  never  experienced 
any  sudden  change,  and  he  never  passed  through  any  great  strug- 
gle like  that  of  Luther.  His  life  had  not  been  as  pure  as  Luther's, 
but  he  never  had  the  consciousness  of  sin  that  Luther  had.  In- 
stead of  a  crisis  bringing  him  out  into  a  pure  life,  his  spiritual  and 
moral  nature  was  gradually  developed.  Nevertheless,  we  must  sup- 
pose, as  we  read  these  poems,  that  he  did  receive  an  impetus  toward 
holy  living  arising  from  gratitude  on  account  of  his  recovery. 

His  real  work  of  reformation  did  not  begin  until  1522.  Some, 
indeed,  affirm  that  it  began  fully  as  early  as  Luther's.  Others 
claimed  at    that   time,    and    have   claimed    since,   that    he   was 

"  The  hand  once  nailed 

Upon  the  tree, 
Jesus  uplift — 

And  shelter  me. 

"  Wiliest  thou,  then, 

Death  conquer  me 
In  my  noonday  ? 

So  let  it  be  ! 

"  O,  may  I  die, 

Since  I  am  thine  ; 
Thy  home  is  made 

For  faith  like  mine." 

"in  the  midst  of  the  sickness. 

"  My  pains  increase  ; 

Lord,  stand  thou  near. 
Body  and  soul 

Dissolve  with  fear. 

"  Now  death  is  near, 

My  tongue  is  dumb  ; 
Fight  for  me,  Lord, 

Mine  hour  is  come  ! 

"  See,  Satan's  net 

Is  o'er  me  tost — 
I  feel  his  hand  ; 

Must  I  be  lost  ? 

"  His  shafts,  his  voice, 

Alarm  no  more  ; 
For  here  I  lie 

Thy  cross  before." 


LABORS   OF   ZWINGLI  AT   ZURICH.  231 

dependent  upon  Luther  for  his  ideas.1    Zwingli  always  regarded 
the  beginnings  of  his  reformatory  work  as  original,  and  said  that 

even  before  Luther  was  mentioned  in  Switzerland  he 
of  swiss  bbp-  had  been  preaching  these  doctrines  of  free  grace  in 

opposition  to  the  authority  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church.  We  must  admit  that  Zwingli  started  on  his  work  from 
an  entirely  different  standpoint  from  that  of  Luther.  Therefore 
he  did  not  need  the  great  German  reformer  to  assist  him  to  begin. 
But  we  must  also  believe,  from  the  fact  that  he  read  and  recom- 
mended Luther's  works,  that  he  was  powerfully  influenced  and 
greatly  strengthened  by  the  support  which  he  found  for  his  own 
ideas  in  the  works  of  his  colaborer  in  Germany.2 

During  the  Lenten  season  of  1522  he  preached  a  series  of  ser- 
mons in  which  he  denounced  the  habit  of  fasting  as  unscriptural 
and  as  based  only  upon  human  authority.  This  called  forth  a 
protest  on  the  part  of  those  who  slavishly  followed  all  the  regula- 
tions of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  It  was  in  the  same  year 
that  he  joined  with  ten  other  priests  in  requesting  of  the  diet  of 
Switzerland  the  right  of  marriage  for  the  clergy.  For  this  also  he 
was  denounced.  In  reply  to  his  assailants  he  wrote  the  work  en- 
titled Archeteles  (The  Beginning  and  the  End),  in  which  he  un- 
dertook to  prove  that  the  Bible  is  the  final  resort  in  matters  of 

"the  recovery  from  the  sickness. 

"  My  God,  my  sire, 

Healed  by  thy  hand, 
Upon  the  earth 

Once  more  I  stand. 

"  From  guilt  and  sin 

May  I  be  free  ; 
My  mouth  shall  sing 

Alone  of  thee. 

"  The  uncertain  hour 

For  me  will  come, 
O'erwhelmed  perchance 

With  deeper  gloom. 

"  It  matters  not ; 

With  joy  I'll  bear 
My  yoke,  until 

I  reach  heaven's  sphere." 

1  See  Zwingli's  estimate  of  his  relation  to  Luther,  and  of  Luther  himself,  in 
Christoffel,  Zwingli,  pp.  73-76. 

s  See  the  two  men  compared  in  Schaff,  vii,  34-37. 


232  HISTORY    OF   THE    CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

faith  and  practice,  and  that  the  Church  has  only  a  derived  author- 
ity, which  cannot  be  set  up  against  that  of  the  Holy  Scriptures. 
Such  bitter  discussion  ensued  that  the  council  of  the 
appeal  to  city,  being  entirely  unable  to  settle  the  questions  at 
issue,  yielded  to  the  request  of  Zwingli  and  provided 
for  a  disputation  in  which  the  Holy  Scriptures  should  be  the  test 
of  truth,  and  that  whoever  could  prove  his  theories  from  the  Holy 
Scriptures  should  be  regarded  as  the  victor. 

Zwingli  wrote  out  sixty-seven  "  conclusions," '  which  he  pro- 
posed to  defend  according  to  the  Scripture,  and  on  January  29, 
1523,  the  disputation  took  place  in  the  presence  of  six  hundred 
first  public  Pe°ple-  It  was  in  a  large  measure  a  farce,  for  it  was 
disputation,  prejudged  by  the  conditions.  The  patrons  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  view  could  not  claim  that  they  had  a  more 
scriptural  foundation  for  their  ideas  than  Zwingli  had  for  his,  nor 
did  they  believe  that  such  scriptural  foundation  was  necessary, 
because  to  them  the  authority  of  the  Church,  which  they  regarded 
as  being  filled  and  guided  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  was  fully  equal  to 
the  authority  of  the  Bible.  There  were,  therefore,  few  persons 
present  to  oppose  the  theses  of  Zwingli.  The  only  capable  repre- 
sentative of  the  opposition  was  John  Faber,  and  he  did  not  wish 
to  enter  into  the  discussion,  believing  that  such  disputations  should 
be  left  to  the  universities,  and  not  be  conducted  before  public 
assemblies.  The  disputation  was  soon  ended,  and  the  next  day  a 
decision  favorable  to  Zwingli  and  his  party  was  brought  in,  where- 
upon the  council  declared  that  there  must  be  no  preaching  except- 
ing that  which  could  be  supported  from  the  Holy  Scriptures.3 

Practical  reforms  followed  very  rapidly.  The  monasteries  soon 
began  to  be  emptied.  Priests  absolved  themselves  from  their  vows 
of  celibacy  and  took  wives.  Nuns  became  wives  of  priests  and 
others.  The  destruction  and  removal  of  pictures  and  crucifixes 
from  the  churches  soon  began,  and  the  lamps  which  had  been 
kept  continually  burning  were  extinguished.     All  these  measures 

1  See  these  propositions  in  Gieseler,  Ecclesiastical  History,  iv,  89-91;  in 
Schaff's  Creeds  of  Christendom,  vol.  iii,  197-207  ;  and  abbreviated  in  Schaff , 
History,  vii,  52,  53.  Besides  the  works  of  Zwingli  referred  to  in  the  text  see  his 
Von  Erkiesen  und  Freiheit  der  Speisen,  Der  Hirt,  wie  man  die  waren  christ- 
lichen  Hirten  und  widerum  die  falschen  erkennen  solle,  and  Ulrich  Zwingli's 
Lehrbuchlein,  oder  wie  man  die  Jugend  in  guten  Sitten  und  christlicher  Zucht 
auferziehen  und  lehren  solle.  Herausgegeben  von  Emil  Egli.  Zurich,  1884. 
The  Baptismal  Services  of  1523  and  1525  may  be  found  in  the  Werke,  ii,  224. 

■  For  full  particulars  of  the  disputation  see  A.  Baur,  Die  erste  Ziiricher  Dis- 
putation.    Halle,  1883. 


LABORS   OF   ZWINGLI  AT   ZURICH.  233 

were  executed  with  the  greatest  violence  and  irreverence.  Zwingli 
was  strongly  opposed  to  such  methods,  and  tried  to  persuade  the 
council  to  agree  to  accomplish  the  reforms  in  an  orderly  way.  That 
the  method  and  extent  of  the  changes  to  be  adopted  SEC0ND 
might  be  finally  settled,  the  council  called  a  second  disputation. 
disputation,  which  was  held  in  October,  1523,  but  which  concerned 
itself  with  the  images  and  pictures  in  the  churches  and  with  the 
mass,  which  also  Zwingli  had  vigorously  attacked.  The  result  was 
the  same  as  that  of  the  first,  because  it  was  to  be  tested  by  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  and  it  was  demonstrated  that  the  Old  Testament, 
especially  the  second  commandment,  was  decidedly  opposed  to 
idolatrous  worship. 

The  other  cantons  of  Switzerland  soon  set  themselves  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  Eeformation  that  was  taking  place  in  Zurich,  and 
hinted  to  the  Zurichers  that  they  were  breaking  their  pledge  and 
their  oath.  But  the  courageous  followers  of  Zwingli  replied  that 
while  they  had  no  thought  of  breaking  their  pledge  to  the  other 
cantons  they  could  not  give  up  their  individual  belief  with  refer- 
ence to  these  doctrines  that  were  founded  on  God's  own  word.1 
At  Easter  time,  1525,  the  first  observance  of  the  Lord's  Supper 
according  to  the  reformed  method  took  place. 

The  Roman  Catholic  administration  and  reception  of  the  eucha- 
rist  were  connected  with  an  elaborate  ritual.  After  the  elements  had 
been  consecrated  they  were  elevated  for  worship,  that 

J  ,  x  REFORMED 

process  being  called  the  Elevation  of  the  Host.  After  celebration 
this  the  communicants  came  forward,  and  the  priest  lord's  sup- 
took  a  wafer  between  his  fingers  and  placed  it  in  the 
mouth  of  the  participant.  The  cup  was  never  handed  to  the  laity, 
but  was  reserved  exclusively  for  the  priests.  In  the  reformed  cele- 
bration the  altar  was  abolished,  and  in  its  place  tables  were  arranged, 
on  one  side  of  which  sat  the  men,  the  women  on  the  other.  The 
tables  were  spread  with  white  cloths.  The  ministers  entered  the 
altar  place  and  consecrated  the  elements  and  then  partook  of  them, 
after  which  they  handed  them  to  the  communicants — the  bread 
upon  a  wooden  tray,  the  wine  in  a  wooden  cup — the  people  kneeling 
as  they  received  the  bread  and  wine.  A  part  of  the  liturgy  of  the 
mass  was  preserved,  but  the  liturgical  element  of  the  celebration 
was  very  simple.     The  effect  upon  the  feelings  of  the  participants 

1  Compare  Moller,  iii,  50.  The  answer  was  written  by  Zwingli.  The  action 
of  the  other  cantons  was  elicited  by  Zwingli's  Short  Christian  Introduction, 
which  had  been  prepared  at  the  suggestion  of  the  Council  of  Two  Hundred, 
and  by  it  sent  to  the  bishops  and  the  other  cantons. 


234  HISTORY   OF    THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

was  not  unlike  that  of  the  best  type  of  modern  revival  service. 
People  that  had  been  estranged  forgave  each  other  and  became 
friends.  The  members  of  the  congregation  were  united  in  bonds 
of  true  Christian  fellowship,  and  it  could  be  truthfully  said  that 
while  all  others  were  engaged  in  strife  these  reformed  Christians 
loved  one  another.1 

Other  changes  in  the  forms  of  public  worship  were  soon  made. 
A  simple  form  of  baptism  was  adopted,  omitting  the  rites  of  exor- 
cism.   The  sacrament  was  no  longer  covered  over  and  its 
bitual  significance  obscured  by  elaborate  ceremonial.     To  the 

catechumens  the  ministers  gave  simple  exhortations  to 
virtue  and  holiness,  in  which  Zwingli  believed  confirmation,  in  its 
original  form,  to  consist.  But  while  these  changes  were  sober  and 
beneficial,  others  less  liable  to  commend  themselves  to  our  judg- 
ment were  also  introduced.  All  songs  were  banished,  together 
with  the  use  of  the  organ  for  divine  worship.8  The  wonder  is, 
however,  not  that  some  extremes  were  resorted  to,  but  that  the 
reaction  was  so  slight. 

1  See  all  sympathetically  and  fully  described  in  Christoffel,  pp.  146-150. 

2  Bullinger  says  the  organ  was  abolished  because  it  did  not  well  comport  with 
the  apostolic  doctrine  of  1  Cor.  xiv.  Christoffel  quotes  the  language  of  a  lay- 
man written  shortly  before  the  Reformation  :  ' '  The  popes  and  the  priests  have 
completely  oppressed  us.  Firstly,  they  have  discovered  the  way  to  fish  out  all 
secrets,  namely,  by  the  confessional.  They  next  compel  us  to  go  to  church,  but 
it  is  only  that  we  may  sacrifice  our  money.  On  the  other  hand,  they  never  go 
to  church  themselves,  except  when  they  hope  to  get  money.  Their  duty  is  to 
come  to  church  to  sing,  but  that  they  may  be  obliged  to  sing  less  they  have  set 
up  the  organs  to  do  their  work.  There  fails  but  one  thing,  and  for  this  they 
work  night  and  day,  and  that  is,  that  we  may  go  to  hell  for  them."  See  his 
Zwingli,  p.  151. 


SPREAD   OF   REFORMATION  TO   OTHER  CANTONS.        235 


CHAPTER  XX. 

SPREAD  OF  THE  REFORMATION  TO  OTHER  CITIES  AND  CANTONS. 

Meantime  the  Reformation  had  taken  root  in  other  Swiss  cities, 
and  several  valuable  coadjutors  had  risen  up  to  support  Zwingli's 
cause.  In  Basel,  Capito  had  devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  the 
Bible  in  the  spirit  of  Erasmus,  and  had  freely  criticised  the  abuses 
of  the  Church.1  Hedio  and  Pellicanus  were  among  the  Human- 
ists in  Basel  who  stirred  up  enthusiasm  for  Luther  after  the  Leip- 
zig Disputation.3  More  important,  however,  was  (Ecolampadius, 
who  as  early  as  1521  had  been  an  ardent  disciple  of  THE  REFORM 
Luther,  and  who  came  to  Basel  in  1522,  where  he  INBASEL- 
won  great  applause  by  his  preaching  and  his  university  lectures 
on  the  Bible.  In  vain  the  bishop  forbade  attendance  upon  his 
lectures.3  Multitudes  were  attracted  by  his  utterances.  He  be- 
came a  warm  friend  of  Zwingli,  whose  views  he  shared  on  almost 
every  disputed  point ;  and  at  length,  on  this  account,  the  friend- 
ship which  had  existed  between  himself  and  Luther  and  Melanch- 
thon  was  weakened  if  not  destroyed.  He  continued  the  proclama- 
tion of  the  pure  Gospel  and  his  opposition  to  the  abuses  of  the 
Roman  Church  until,  in  1529,  he  was  permitted  to  witness  the 
introduction  of  reformed  religious  services  by  order  of  the  council. 

Great  was  the  disgust  of  Erasmus  with  these  violent  proceed- 
ings,* and  he  departed  from  Basel,  followed  by  the  Humanists  and 
the  university  professors  in  general,  who  feared  that  the  intellec- 
tual revival  would  suffer  from  theological  and  ecclesiastical  quar- 
rels. They  saw  the  abuses  of  the  Church  of  Rome  and  they  were 
anxious  for  reform,  but  they  did  not  want  a  reformation  so  radical 
in  its  nature  as  to  attract  attention  away  from  the  Humanistic 
studies  they  ardently  loved.  They  believed  that  the  necessary  re- 
forms would  come  about  naturally  if  the  studies  they  were  pro- 
moting were  generally  pursued  by  the  people. 

The  theocratic  ideas  of  the  Church  and  State  which  prevailed 
in  Basel,  as  in  other  parts  of  Switzerland,  led  to  civil  penalties 
for  denial  of  the  tenets  of  the  Apostles'  Creed,  and  for  blasphemy. 

1  Moller,  iii,  51 ;  Hagenbach,  i,  269,  270.  5  Moller,  iii,  51. 

3  Ibid.     Comp.  also  Hagenbach,  i,  275-278. 

4  See  part  of  hia  letter  to  Pirkheimer  in  Schaff,  vii,  112. 


236  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

These  penalties  were  confiscation  of  property,  banishment,  and,  in 
extreme  cases,  death. 

Even  earlier  than  in  Basel  the  Eeformation  had  triumphed  in 
Berne.  There  the  gentle  Berthold  Haller  and  the  pugnacious 
Sebastian  Meyer   preached  the  true  doctrine  and  spread  it  among 

the  people.  On  the  main  questions  at  issue  the  council 
meter  ln        was  characterized  by  indecision,  but  they  were  at  least 

agreed  that  there  should  be  no  disputing,  and  so  they 
banished  Meyer,1  as  also  his  opponents,  from  the  city.  Being 
really,  however,  more  inclined  toward  the  Eoman  than  toward  the 
reformed  faith,  they  ordered  Haller  to  begin  again  the  reading  of 
the  mass  according  to  the  ritual  of  the  Eoman  Catholic  Church. 
Although  so  mild  in  his  disposition  he  had  the  courage  of  a  true 
reformer,  especially  under  the  stimulating  influence  of  Zwingli,  and 
he  refused  to  obey  the  mandate  of  the  council.  A  new  council, 
favorable  to  the  reformed  cause,  was  chosen  in  1527.  They  ap- 
pointed a  disputation,  which  was  to  take  place  on  January  6, 1528. 
It  lasted  nineteen  days.  There  was  comparatively  little  response 
to  the  invitation  to  join  in  the  disputation,  it  being  claimed  by 
the  Eoman  Church  that  for  them  the  questions  proposed  for  dis- 
cussion had  been  already  settled  by  the  Baden  conference.  Never- 
theless there  were  enough  participants  to  give  the  disputation  a 
show  of  respectability.  Ten  theses,  which  had  been  written  by 
Haller,  were  adopted  by  the  hearers,  and  afterward  legalized  by 
the  council.2     The  Eeformation  thus  brought  about  in  Berne  was 

1  For  a  sample  of  Meyer's  spirit  and  style  see  Christoff el,  Zwingli,  p.  66. 

2  The  theses  were  as  follows  : 

1.  The  holy  Christian  Church,  whose  only  head  is  Christ,  is  born  of  the 
Word  of  God,  and  abides  in  the  same,  and  listens  not  to  the  voice  of  a  stranger. 

2.  The  Church  of  Christ  makes  no  laws  and  commandments  without  the 
"Word  of  God.  Hence  human  traditions  are  no  more  binding  on  us  than  as  far 
as  they  are  founded  in  the  Word  of  God. 

3.  Christ  is  the  only  wisdom,  righteousness,  redemption,  and  satisfaction 
for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world.  Hence  it  is  a  denial  of  Christ  when  we  con- 
fess another  ground  of  salvation  and  satisfaction. 

4.  The  essential  and  corporal  presence  of  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ  can- 
not be  demonstrated  from  the  Holy  Scripture. 

5.  The  mass  as  now  in  use,  in  which  Christ  is  offered  to  God  the  Father  for 
the  sins  of  the  living  and  the  dead,  is  contrary  to  the  Scripture,  a  blasphemy 
against  the  most  holy  sacrifice,  passion,  and  death  of  Christ,  and  on  account  of 
its  abuses  an  abomination  before  God. 

6.  As  Christ  alone  died  for  us,  so  he  is  also  to  be  adored  as  the  only  Mediator 
and  Advocate  between  God  the  Father  and  the  believers.  Therefore  it  is  con- 
trary to  the  Word  of  God  to  propose  and  invoke  other  mediators. 


SPREAD   OF   REFORMATION   TO  OTHER   CANTONS.        237 

afterward  adopted  in  the  entire  canton  by  a  popular  vote,  few, 
comparatively,  voting  against  it.1 

In  St.  Gallen  images  had  been  burned  in  1526,  and  again  in  1528, 
while  services  according  to  the  reformed  order  were  introduced  in 
1527.  The  abbot  having  died,  the  abbey  itself  was  abolished  and 
its  property  confiscated  in  1529.  It  was  an  act  of  violence  and  of 
injustice,  but  it  was  not  out  of  harmony  with  the  entire  conception 
of  the  external  features  of  the  Reformation  as  it  was  conducted  in 
Switzerland.     After  the  battle  of   Cappel,  in   which 

VADIAN  AND 

Zwingli's  valuable  life  was  destroyed,  a  reaction  took     kessler  in 

l  *  1  1       i        j-i         •      ,  i  .>  -r.  -ht  ST-  GALLEN. 

place  more  favorable  to  the  interests  ot  Kome.  Never- 
theless, St.  Gallen  remained  a  Protestant  canton.  Among  the  chief 
agents  in  the  introduction  and  establishment  of  the  Eeformation 
in  this  canton  was  Joachim  von  Watt,  or,  as  he  is  generally 
known,  Vadian,  a  layman  and  physician  and  a  poet  laureate  of 
Maximilian  I.     Close  beside  him  stood  John  Kessler,  a  minister 

7.  Scripture  knows  nothing  of  a  purgatory  after  this  life.  Hence  all  masses 
and  other  offices  for  the  dead  are  useless. 

8.  The  worship  of  images  is  contrary  to  Scripture.  Therefore  images  should 
be  abolished  when  they  are  set  up  as  objects  of  adoration. 

9.  Matrimony  is  not  forbidden  in  the  Scripture  to  any  class  of  men,  but  for- 
nication and  unchastity  are  forbidden  to  all. 

10.  Since,  according  to  the  Scripture,  an  open  fornicator  must  be  excommu- 
nicated, it  follows  that  unchastity  and  impure  celibacy  are  more  pernicious  to 
the  clergy  than  to  any  other  class. 

All  to  the  glory  of  God  and  his  holy  Word.     See  Schaff,  vii,  104,  105. 
1  The  contribution  of  the  painter  and  poet,  Nicolaus  Manuel,  to  the  work   of 
reform  in  Berne  should  also   be  mentioned.     The  following  is  a  part   of   his 
Eaters  of  the  Dead,  a  comedy  enacted  by  students  on  Shrove  Tuesday,  1522  : 

"  The  laymen  soon  our  wiles  must  see, 

If  thou  wilt  not  our  helper  be. 

In  everything  we'll  sure  be  lacking, 

For  all  are  to  the  Scripture  packing. 

The  printers — whom  may  Satan  seize  on  ! — 

Are  Germanizing  all  that's  reason, 

The  Testaments,  both  Old  and  New — 

Would  the  knaves  had  their  fiery  due  ! 

E'en  every  reading  peasant  lout 

Can  put  an  honest  priest  to  rout." 
"The  very  names  of  the  dramatis  personae  indicate  the  tendency  of  the  poem. 
There  appears  Pope  Entchristilo  [Antichrist],  Cardinal  Anshelm  Hochmuth 
[Pride] ,  Bishop  Chrysostom  Wolfsmagen  [Wolf's-belly],  Prior  Frederick  Geiz- 
sack  [Miser],  Dean  Sebastian  Schinddebauren  [Flay-the-peasants],  Abbot  Nim- 
mergnug  [Never-satisfied],  Purveyor  Ohneboden  [Bottomless]." — Hagenbach, 
i,  265. 


238  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

who  preached  whenever  occasion  presented  itself,  both  in  the  city 
and  country,  but  who  supported  himself  by  his  trade,  which  was 
that  of  a  saddler.  Kessler  will  be  remembered  as  one  of  the 
students  who  met  Luther  at  the  "  Great  Bear  "  when  the  reformer 
was  returning  from  the  exile  in  the  Wartburg  to  Wittenberg.  He 
had  subsequently  studied  under  Luther,  and  was  therefore  well 
fitted  to  carry  on  the  work  of  reform. 

In  the  cantons  of  Schaffhausen,  Graubilnden  (where  both  Eoman 
Catholics  and  Protestants  were  tolerated  and  each  forbidden  to 
persecute  the  other),1  Appenzell,  and  the  county  of  Toggenburg, 
Zwingli's  early  home,  as  well  as  in  other  places,  the  Reformation 
was  confirmed  and  established  by  force  of  superior  numbers,  and 
its  progress  followed  the  usual  order :  first,  of  destruction,  often 
other  literally  and  violently,  and  afterward  of  construction. 

cantons.  Perhaps  this  order  was  necessary,  although  it  was 
entirely  contrary  to  the  personal  development  of  Zwingli  himself, 
in  whose  character  there  was  but  little  of  destructiveness.  Neither 
on  the  one  side  nor  on  the  other  was  there  proper  toleration.  To 
this  statement  Glarus,  where  Zwingli  first  labored  as  priest,  was 
about  the  only  exception.  Here  Zwingli  had  organized  a  school, 
from  which,  among  others,  there  went  out  three  men  who  were 
destined  to  affect  greatly  the  Reformation  in  that  place.  They 
were  iEgidius,  Peter,  and  Valentin  Tschudi.2  iEgidius  has  been 
called  the  Swiss  Herodotus.  Goethe  names  his  History  of  Switzer- 
land as  one  of  two  books  which  if  read  and  studied  would  give  one  a 
the  tschudis  liberal  education.  His  talents  received  recognition  at 
in  glarus.  ^e  nan(js  0f  the  citizens,  who  placed  him  in  a  variety 
of  positions  of  honor,  responsibility,  and  power.  He  always  adhered 
to  the  old  faith,  though  he  was  tolerant  of  the  new,  and  his  friend- 
ship with  the  reformers  was  never  severed  on  account  of  the  dif- 
ferences of  opinion  between  him  and  them.  Peter  was  an  ardent 
follower  of  Zwingli,  but  he  did  not  live  long  enough  to  carry  his 
work  very  far.  Valentin  was  a  reformer,  but  tolerant  in  his  spirit 
toward  the  Roman  Catholics,  so  tolerant  that  it  became  necessary 
for  him  to  defend  his  conduct  before  Zwingli,  who  doubted  the 
wisdom  of  his  course.     The  moderation  which  he  displayed  at  that 

1  Moller,  iii,  74,  n.  2. 

2  These  young  men  had  all  been  encouraged  in  their  studies  by  Zwingli  when 
he  was  in  Glarus.  They  were  his  warm  admirers  to  the  last.  JEgidius  wrote 
to  him,  "  Nowhere  do  I  like  so  well  to  dwell  as  near  thyself."  Peter  wrote 
from  Paris,  "  Thou  art  to  us  like  a  guardian  angel."  Valentin  said,  "  Can  I 
ever  cease  to  be  grateful  to  thee  for  thy  great  benefits  ?  "    See  Christoffel,  p.  11. 


SPREAD  OF   REFORMATION  TO   OTHER  CANTONS.       239 

time  continues  even  to  this  day  in  the  relation  between  the  Roman 
Catholic  and  the  Protestant  portions  of  the  population  of  Glarus. 
They  use  the  same  church  successively  on  the  same  Sabbaths  in 
which  to  hold,  first  Roman  Catholic,  and  subsequently  Protestant 
religious  services.  This  is  a  phenomenon  which  is  but  occasionally 
seen  in  Europe.1 

1  The  origin  of  this  custom  is  described  in  ' '  Die  Entstehung  der  kirchlichen 
Simultaneen. " — Theodor  Lauter,  Wurzburg,  1894. 


240  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


CHAPTEK   XXL 

EARLY  FRIENDS  OF  ZWINGLI. 

Some  friends  of  Zwingli's  early  years  ought  here  to  be  recalled, 
in  addition  to  those  already  mentioned  as  having  aided  in  various 
places  the  work  of  reformation.  They  may  be  divided  into  three 
classes  :  those  who  never  favored  his  reformatory  ideas,  but  always 
championed  the  Koman  Catholic  faith ;  those  who  leaned  toward 
the  Eeformation,  but  only  from  the  Humanistic  standpoint ;  and 
those  who  adopted,  and  by  every  means  in  their  power  advanced, 
the  doctrines  of  Zwingli.  In  the  first  class  we  must 
not  fail  to  include  the  famous  Dr.  John  Eck,  the 
learned  and  vociferous  disputant  on  the  Eoman  Catholic  side  in 
the  Leipzig  disputation.  It  is,  however,  uncertain  whether  he 
was  really  a  friend  of  Zwingli.  The  assertion  has  often  been 
made,  but  apparently  without  sufficient  foundation,  that  Eck  and 
Zwingli  were  friends  at  Vienna.  There  is  certainly  no  evidence 
of  special  friendship  subsequently.  In  the  conference  at  Baden  in 
1526  he  vociferated  against  the  Swiss  Eeformation,  as  at  Leipzig 
against  the  German.  In  Cardinal  Schinner,  however,  Zwingli 
had  a  real  friend,  or  perhaps  we  ought  to  say  the  Eoman  Catholic 
Church  had  a  real  friend ;  for  it  is  impossible  to  decide  whether 
the  papal  pension  he  secured  for  Zwingli  was  intended  to  befriend 
Zwingli  or  to  bind  him  to  the  Church.1 

The  friendship  which  existed  between  Zwingli  and  John  Faber  has 
also  been  traced  to  Vienna,  but  without  good  reason.  That  such 
a  friendship  existed  for  a  time  is  not  disputed.  Faber 
afterward  became  general  vicar  of  the  diocese  of  Con- 
stance. He  was  a  man  of  learning  and  a  good  debater.  At  the 
first  Zurich  disputation  he  dealt  mildly  with  the  reformers,  though 
afterward  he  tried  to  cover  his  defeat  by  misrepresentations  con- 
cerning the  progress  of  the  discussion.  As  the  Eeformation  went 
forward  he  turned  openly  and  bitterly  against  Zwingli.  In  the 
intensity  of  his  zeal  he  proposed,  subsequently  to  the  conference  at 
Baden,  to  have  both  Protestant  heretical  works  and  Protestant 
versions  of  the  Bible  burned.3 

1  See  the  particulars  somewhat  in  detail  in  Christoffel,  13,  14. 

2  Comp.  Schaff,  vii,  101. 


EARLY   FRIENDS   OF   ZWINGLI.  241 

Among  the  Humanists  Glareanus  was  one  of  the  most  important 
of  Zwingli's  friends.  He,  like  von  Watt,  with  whom  he  had  studied 
at  Vienna,  had  been  crowned  poet  laureate  by  Maximilian  I.  He 
was  a  man  of  many  attainments  and  of  much  distinction,  greatly 
admired  by  Erasmus.  To  him  Zwingli  owed  his  first 
introduction  to  and  subsequent  friendship  with  the 
great  leader  of  the  Humanistic  movement  in  Switzerland.  He 
helped  forward  Zwingli's  studies  by  means  of  books  sent  from 
Basel ;  but  he  adhered  to  Eoman  Catholicism,  and  while  he  de- 
nounced the  corruption  of  the  Church  he  could  not  tolerate  the 
reformer. 

Beatus  Rhenanus,  another  Humanistic  friend  of  Zwingli,  had  en- 
couraged the  reformer  in  his  attacks  upon  Samson's  sale  of  indul- 
gences. To  him  Zwingli  was  indebted  for  copies  of  beatus 
several  of  Luther's  works.  One  who  had  gone  so  far  khenanus. 
might  have  been  expected  to  proceed  farther,  but  he  became  only 
less  impatient  than  Glareanus  and  Erasmus  with  the  radical  char- 
acter of  the  reforms  introduced,  and  was  one  of  those  who  shook 
off  the  dust  of  his  feet  against  Basel  in  1529. 

While  Erasmus  never  appeared  so  warm  a  friend  of  Zwingli  as 
some  other  Humanists,  yet  the  breach  between  these  two  men  did 
not  become  so  wide.     From  the  first  Zwingli  was  an 

°  ERASMUS. 

ardent  admirer  of  Erasmus,  and  Erasmus  seemed  to 
reciprocate  the  feeling,  at  least  in  some  measure.1  Their  friend- 
ship began  at  a  period  when  Zwingli  needed  just  the  stimulus 
Erasmus  could  give,2  though  as  a  reformer  Zwingli  rapidly  outgrew 
his  teacher.  To  Erasmus  the  reformer  owed  his  increased  devo- 
tion to  the  study  of  the  Scriptures,  more  vigorous  opposition  to 
the  existing  ecclesiastical  abuses,  and  a  clearer  conception  of  the 
exclusive  mediatorial  mission  of  Jesus  Christ ;  as  also  his  first  sug- 
gestion of  the  figurative  interpretation  of  the  words,  "  This  is  my 
body;  this  is  my  blood."3  When  Zwingli's  real  work  of  reforma- 

1  Erasmus  wrote  to  Zwingli  :  "  All  hail  1  say  I  to  the  Swiss  people,  whom  I 
have  always  admired,  whose  intellectual  and  moral  qualities  yourself,  and  men 
such  as  yourself,  are  training."  On  this  influence  of  Erasmus  upon  Zwingli 
comp.  Stahelin,  Huldreich  Zwingli,  i,  76  ff . 

2  It  was  in  1514,  in  Basel,  whither  Zwingli  had  gone  on  a  visit.  In  1523 
Zwingli  wrote  :  "I  read,  eight  or  nine  years  ago,  a  very  comfortable  poem  of 
Erasmus,  in  which  Jesus  complains,  in  very  beautiful  words,  that  one  does  not 
seek  all  good  from  him,  who  is  the  source  of  all  good,  the  Saviour,  the  Com- 
forter, the  Guardian  of  the  soul.  Thereon  I  reflected,  why  do  we  seek  help 
of  the  creature  ? " — Christoffel,  p.  18. 

3  See  Schaff,  vi,  617,  n.  2. 

18 


242  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

tion  began,  however,  Erasmus  acted  rather  as  a  check  upon  him 
than  as  an  impetus  to  greater  endeavor.1 

The  Humanists  believed  that  there  were  great  abuses  in  the  Ko' 
man  Catholic  Church,  and  they  pointed  them  out  and  ridiculed 
them  unsparingly.  They  were  even  more  vigorous  in  this  respect 
than  the  reformers.  But  they  refused  to  trouble  themselves  about 
it.  They  were  content  simply  to  denounce  the  abuses,  whereas  the 
reformers  wanted  to  correct  them.  By  his  satirical  diatribes  Eras- 
mus stimulated  the  zeal  of  Zwingli,  who  was  a  reformer  as  well  as 
a  Humanist.  But  when  Zwingli  undertook  to  correct  them,  Eras- 
mus, together  with  the  Humanists  in  general,  drew  back.  They 
did  not  want  their  own  complacency  disturbed,  nor  their  time  and 
thought  occupied  with  action  of  a  practical  kind.  Where  any 
moral  question  was  involved  they  believed  in  correcting  the  wrong  ; 
but  with  ecclesiastical  concerns  they  refused  to  meddle,  and  they 
did  not  want  others  to  meddle.  Erasmus  said  to  Zwingli,  "Fight 
bravely,  but  fight  prudently."  But  there  are  times  when  prudence 
is  not  to  be  taken  into  consideration,  and  Zwingli  had  fallen  upoD 
such  times. 

Perhaps  Zwingli's  intimate  relations  with  the  Humanists  pro- 
duced in  him  that  milder  type  of  action  which  distinguished  him 
from  Luther.  Zwingli  respected  Erasmus  to  the  last,  even  after 
their  differences  of  opinion  had  become  distinctly  defined. 

More  important  than  Erasmus  as  a  practical  assistant  was  Oswald 
Myconius,  whom  Zwingli  met  for  the  first  time  while  on  a  visit  to 
Basel  during  his  residence  in  Glarus,  and  who  after- 
ward became  Zwingli's  biographer.  It  was  through 
"this  friend  that  the  reformer  was  called  to  Zurich.  He  it  was  who 
refuted  the  objections  of  those  enemies  of  Zwingli  who  dwelt  upon 
the  immorality  of  his  life  and  who  accused  him  of  heresy.  He  did 
not  wholly  agree  with  Zwingli  in  everything.  On  the  subject  of 
the  eucharist  he  differed  from  both  Zwingli  and  Luther.     He  sub- 

1  Lezius  says  :  "  Erasmus  was  not  Impelled  to  the  personal  defense  of  that 
which  he  recognized  as  true  and  right.  He  could  indeed  criticise  with  great 
acumen  ;  but  if  there  was  danger  that  he  should  be  driven  to  action  it  was 
easy  for  him  to  follow  his  own  selfish  inclinations  and  his  better  judgment,  or 
even  to  deny  his  opinions.  He  lacked  the  strength  of  will  and  the  courage  of 
conviction  necessary  to  a  strong  character." — Zur  Characteristic  des  religiosen 
Standpunktes  des  Erasmus,  p.  49.  Stichartin  his  biography  of  Erasmus  (1870) 
takes  even  a  more  unfavorable  view  of  this  representative  Humanist.  Mauren- 
brecher,  on  the  other  hand,  in  his  Geschichte  der  katholischen  Reformation, 
regards  him  as  a  man  of  strong  character.  Drummond  places  him  above  both 
Luther  and  Zwingli  as  to  his  ethical  life. 


EARLY   FRIENDS   OF   ZWINGLI.  243 

sequently  became  the  author  of  the  first  Basel  Confession  of  Faith, 
in  twelve  articles. 

To  Leo  Juda,  however,  more  than  to  any  other  of  his  early  friends, 
Zwingli  was  indebted  for  substantial  help.  Their  acquaintance  be- 
gan at  Basel,  where  both  studied  at  the  same  time 

■O  '  j  "p/")    TTTT)A 

under  Wyttenbach.  He  became  Zwingli's  successor  at 
Einsiedeln  in  1519.  Their  friendship  ripened  until  their  relation- 
ship was  so  intimate  that  it  could  be  compared  to  that  between 
Luther  and  Melanchthon.  Indeed,  in  other  respects  the  parallel 
holds  good,  for  Juda  was  ripe  in  scholarship  and  prudent  in  advice, 
although  in  scholarship  he  was  as  much  inferior  to  Melanchthon 
as  Zwingli  was  inferior  to  Luther  in  the  vigor  of  his  reformatory 
work.  At  the  second  Zurich  disputation  he  ably  assisted  Zwingli, 
and  was  his  colleague  at  St.  Peter's  in  Zurich.  The  Swiss  transla- 
tion of  the  Bible  was  largely  due  to  his  labors.  He  was  very  poor, 
but  also  very  benevolent,  giving  largely  out  of  his  meager  salary  to 
relieve  the  necessities  of  others. 

Henry  Bullinger  also  deserves  mention  here,  although  so  much 
younger  than  Zwingli,  whose  successor  he  became  at  the  great  min- 
ster in  Zurich — as  some  have  supposed,  by  Zwingli's  HENKY  BU]> 
advice.  In  disposition  he  was  greatly  in  contrast  with  LINGER- 
Zwingli,  the  latter  being  decided,  fiery,  incisive,  witty,  and  terse ; 
the  former  quiet,  gentle,  thorough,  and  copious.  But  the  very 
contrast  enabled  him  to  carry  on  to  better  advantage  the  work  of 
reformation,  which  Zwingli's  early  death  left  incomplete.1 

1  Such  is  the  language  of  Pestalozzi,  the  German  of  which  follows  :  "  Zwingli 
tind  Bullinger  !  welche  Verschiedenheit  1  Zwinglis  rasches,  feuriges  Tempera- 
ment, Bullingers  Ruhe  und  Gelassenheit ;  Zwinglis  schneidender,  stechender 
Witz,  Bullingers  einlassliehe  Griindlichkeit ;  daher  auch  Zwinglis  Kiirze,  Bul- 
lingers Ausf  uhrlichkeit  in  den  Meisten  seiner  Arbeiten.  Wie  geeignet  zur  ge- 
genseitigen  Erganzung  !  "  See  his  Bullinger,  p.  25.  Comp.  also  Schaff,  vii, 
205-214. 


244  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

BEGINNINGS   OF   THE   EUCHARISTIC   CONTROVERSY. 

Some  idea  of  the  nature  of  the  changes  in  practice  wrought  by 
the  reformers  has  already  been  given.  Images,  and  even  organs 
and  songs,  had  been  banished  from  the  churches  and  public  wor- 
ship. At  Zurich  the  iconoclast,  Klaus  Hottinger,  who  with  others 
had  overthrown  the  wooden  image  in  Stadelhofen,  had  been  visited 
with  banishment. 

The  work  of  purifying  the  churches  of  "idols  "was  taken  in 
hand  by  the  authorities.  Bullinger  says,  "  Within  thirteen  days 
iconoclastic  a^  *he  churches  in  the  city  were  cleared.  Costly 
results.  works  of  painting  and  sculpture,  especially  a  beautiful 
table  in  the  Water  Church,  were  destroyed.  The  superstitious  la- 
mented, but  the  true  believers  rejoiced  in  it  as  a  great  and  joyous 
worship  of  God."  In  the  place  of  altars,  candles,  crucifixes,  relics, 
pictures,  and  frescoes,  the  town  architect,  together  with  a  number 
of  artisans,  under  the  supervision  of  a  deputation  of  twelve  coun- 
cilors and  three  ministers,  left  bare  whitewashed  walls.  The  van- 
dalism was  only  less  marked  than  that  practiced  by  self-appointed 
agents,  but  it  had  the  appearance  of  respectability  on  account  of  the 
legal  authority  under  which  it  proceeded.  We  must  not,  however, 
judge  too  severely  the  extremes  to  which  they  went.  The  disease 
was  deep  seated  and  demanded  a  radical  cure. 

The  abolition  of  the  mass  and  the  substitution  therefor  of  simple 
services  commemorative  of  the  dying  love  of  Christ,  together  with 
the  reformation  of  the  rites  of  baptism  and  confirmation,  have  been 
described.  The  emptying  of  the  nunneries  and  the  granting  of  the 
right  of  marriage  to  the  clergy  produced  such  results  as  to  elicit 
the  witticism  of  Erasmus,  that  however  much  of  tragedy  might  re- 
side in  the  Eeformation  apparently,  it  always  turned  into  a  comedy 
at  last,  since  it  uniformly  ended  with  a  wedding.1  Zwingli  had 
married  in  1522,  but  secretly,  and  his  act  was  not  made  public 
until  1524.  But  while  the  satire  which  Erasmus  had  so  long  di- 
rected against  the  Roman  Catholic  abuses  was  now  pointed  at  the 
Reformation,  these  marriages  were  honorably  contracted,  and  re- 
sulted in  the  purification  of  the  clergy  and  the  establishment  of  a 

1  Comp.  Drummond,  Erasmus,  ii,  319;  Schaff,  vi,  479,  n.  4. 


BEGINNINGS   OF   THE  EUCHARISTIC   CONTROVERSY.      245 

beautiful  and  simple  pastoral  home  life,  which  reacted  for  good  on 
the  entire  population. 

Into  the  details  of  church  government  and  the  relation  of  Church 
and  State  we  cannot  go.1  The  congregations  called  their  pastors, 
but  the  council  was  the  final  authority  for  both  municipal  and 
ecclesiastical  affairs.  They  represented  the  people,  who  from  the 
beginning  had  been  the  determining  factor  in  the  introduction  or 
rejection  of  reformatory  measures.  As  a  consequence  of  this  theo- 
cratic conception  of  the  relation  of  Church  and  State 
there  could  be  no  tolerance  of  dissent,  although  the       of  church 

.AND  STATE. 

Christlike  spirit  of  the  reformers  pervaded  to  some  ex- 
tent the  civil  authorities  and  reduced  the  severity  of  the  penalties, 
giving  a  milder  tone  to  the  treatment  of  the  dissenters  than  that 
which  characterized  Roman  Catholicism.  At  the  beginning  the 
magistracy,  not  knowing  what  to  do,  maintained  a  certain  appear- 
ance of  neutrality,  and  hence  the  tolerance  of  diverse  opinions. 
But  by  the  time  the  Reformation  in  Switzerland  had  reached  the 
zenith  of  its  influence  the  Church  had  been  subjected,  without 
recourse,  to  the  State. 

The  delineation  of  the  doctrinal  development  of  the  Swiss 
Reformation  must  be  postponed  until  the  comparison  can  be  made 
between  it  and  the  German  Reformation  ;  but  there  is  one  point 
of  doctrine  which  must  be  now  considered,  because  it  was  the 
point  at  which  the  Swiss  and  German  Reformations,  which  had 
hitherto  seemed  to  move  on  side  by  side,  met  and  clashed,  and  sep- 
arated forever.  The  reference  is  to  the  pitiable  and  deplorable 
eucharistic  controversy. 

Our  first  effort  will  be  to  trace  the  independent  development  of 
the  doctrine  of  the  eucharist  in  the  theology  of  Zwingli  and  of 
Luther  respectively,  and  then  to  describe  the  course  of  the  con- 
troversy and  its  results. 

Zwingli,  like  Luther,  early  came  to  reject  the  Roman  Catholic 
mass,  with  its  idolatrous  and  superstitious  concomitants,  and  to 
insist  upon  giving  the  cup,  as  well  as  the  bread,  to  the      zwingli's 
laity.     So  far  then  both  Reformations  agreed.     As  in      qfth™1 
so  many  of  his  other  ideas,  Zwingli  was  indebted  to      eucharist. 
Erasmus  for  his  conception  of  the  eucharist.2     To  both  it  was  a 

1  For  a  satisfactory  statement  see  Christoffel,  Zwingli,  pp.  151-166. 

2  "  Cinglius  mihi  confessns  est,  se  ex  Erasini  scriptis  primum  hansisse  opin- 
ionem  suam  de  ccena  Domini."  "  Zwingli  confessed  to  me  that  from  Erasmus 
he  first  derived  his  idea  of  the  Lord's  Supper." — Melanchthon,  Corpus  Refor- 
matorum,  iv,  970. 


246  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

memorial  of  the  death  of  Christ,  and  that  only  ;  but  it  was  from 
Cornelius  Honius,  a  Dutch  jurist,  that  Erasmus  originally  received 
the  idea  of  the  symbolic  interpretation  of  the  copulative  "is"  in 
the  words  of  institution. 

Zwingli  first  put  his  own  views  into  writing  in  a  letter  to  Wyt- 
tenbach  as  early  as  June  15,  1523,  but,  in  accordance  with  his  nat- 
ural secretiveness,  privately.  In  November,  1524,  incited  by  the 
dawning  controversy  of  Luther  with  Carlstadt,  he  again  secretly 
communicated  his  interpretation  to  Matthaeus  Alber,  a  Lutheran 
preacher  in  Reutlingen.1  In  this  letter  he  argued  from  John 
vi,  63,  that  the  words  of  institution  must  be  spiritually,  not  phys- 
ically understood,  thus  really  taking  sides  against  Luther  with  one 
of  Luther's  own  friends.  In  his  Commentary  on  the  True  and 
False  Religion,  published  in  March,  1525,  but  a  few  months  after 
his  letter  to  Alber,  he  openly  advocated  his  view  of  the  eucharist. 
This  is,  in  brief,  all  there  is  of  the  history  of  the  development  of 
Zwingli's  views.  He  elaborated  them,  and  was  willing,  for  the 
sake  of  peace,  to  modify  his  language,  but  he  never  changed 
them. 

Luther  states  his  opinion  on  the  eucharist,  together  with  the 
source  from  which  the  suggestion  came,  in  his  Babylonian  Cap- 
tivity as  early  as  1520.  He  says  that  while  reading  the  works  of 
Pierre  d'Ailly,2  cardinal  of  Cambray,  he  observed  that  that  scho- 
lastic argued  that  if  the  Church  had  not  determined  to  the  con- 
trary it  would  necessitate  fewer  miracles,  and  appear  more  probable 
to  suppose  that  the  real  bread  and  wine  were  upon  the  altar  in  the 
sacrament,  and  not  merely  their  accidents. 

From  this  Luther  afterward  produced  the  doctrine  that  instead 
of  the  transubstantiation  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  according 
luther's  t°  which  the  bread  and  wine  are  transformed  into  the 
consubstan-  substance  of  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  preserving 
tiation.  onjv  t^g  accidents  of  bread  and  wine,  the  bread  and 

wine  remained,  and  with  them  was  present  also  the  real  body  and 
blood  of  Christ.  The  difference  between  this  view  and  that  of  the 
Roman  Catholics  is  not  great.  It  turns  on  the  question  whether 
the  bread  and  wine  disappear,  leaving  in  their  place  the  body  and 

1  A  German  translation  of  this  letter  is  fonnd  in  Walch's  ed.  of  Luther's 
Works. 

2  D'Ailly's  discussion  of  the  subject  is  to  be  seen  in  his  Quaestiones  super 
libros  Sententiarum,  bk.  iv,  Ques.  vi  (1490).  For  the  exact  language  of  Luther 
see  his  Babylonian  Captivity  in  First  Principles  of  the  Reformation,  by  Wace 
and  Buchheim. 


BEGINNINGS   OF   THE   EUCHARISTIC    CONTROVERSY.     247 

Mood  of  Christ,  with  the  accidents  of  taste  and  aj)pearance  of  bread 
and  wine,  or  whether  the  bread  and  wine  remain  in  substance  as 
well  as  in  their  accidents.  Luther's  doctrine  is  technically  desig- 
nated as  consubstantiation. 

In  both  theories  it  is  held  that  the  communicant  literally  par- 
takes of  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ.  This  view  Luther  clearly 
taught  in  1523  in  his  work  on  The  Adoration  of  the  Sacrament, 
addressed  to  the  Waldenses  of  Bohemia,  in  which  he  combated 
both  their  figurative  theory  and  the  transubstantiation  of  Roman 
Catholicism.  Throughout  the  controversy  Luther  continued  to 
hold  this  view  unchanged,  though  he  supported  it  by  a  greater 
variety  of  arguments  and  with  increasing  strenuousness  as  time 
advanced. 

In  order  to  get  a  clear  understanding  of  the  controversy  it  will 
be  necessary  to  trace  the  agency  of  Carlstadt,  the  former  friend  of 
Luther,  but  since  the  Peasant  War  and  the  excitement  Caiu.stadt?s 
preceding  it  Luther's  bitter  foe.     In  1524  Carlstadt  thecontbo- 
published   his   peculiar  interpretation  of  the  words,   VERSi- 
"  This  is  my  body  ;  this  is  my  blood,"  making  the  words  prophetic 
as  used  by  our  Lord,  thereby  leaving  entirely  out  of  consideration 
the  question  of  the  presence  of  the  bread  and  wine,  and  placing  all 
the  stress  on  the  symbolism  of  the  words.1 

As  early  as  November,  1524,  Urban  Rhegius  replied,  and  about 
the  same  time  it  was  that  Zwingli  wrote  his  private  letter  to- 
Alber. 

As  Carlstadt  occasioned  the  opening  of  the  controversy,  so  Stras- 
burg  was  the  place  of  its  origin.  Among  the  reformers  who  resided 
there  in  1524  were  a  number  of  French  refugees,  as  Lambert  of 
Avignon  and  William  Farel.  These,  together  with  Bucer  and  Ca- 
pito,  were  much  impressed  with  the  modicum  of  truth  in  Carlstadt's 
views  ;  but  reverence  for  Luther  prompted  them  to  send  him  a  re- 
quest for  his  opinion  as  to  the  situation.  At  the  same  time  they 
appealed  to  Zwingli,  whose  answer  in  a  letter  of  December  16,  1524, 
arrived  much  earlier  than  Luther's,  because  of  his  close  proximity 
to  Strasburg.  Zwingli's  letter  completely  confirmed  the  Strasburg- 
ers  in  their  symbolic  view  of  the  words  of  institution.  Luther's 
letter  was  directed  rather  against  Carlstadt  than  against  his  opin- 
ions, and  was  followed  about  the  same  time,  December,  1524,  by 
his  work  entitled,  Against  the  Heavenly  Prophets,  in  which  he  re- 
jected the  right  of  reason  to  enter  into  the  decision   of  theological 

1  See  his  many  brief  writings  on  the  eucharist  in  Walch's  edition  of  Luther's 
Works. 


248  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

questions.1  At  this  early  stage  of  the  controversy,  in  which  as  yet 
Luther  and  Carlstadt  were  chiefly  concerned,  Luther  confessed 
that  he  had  often,  in  previous  years,  wished  to  adopt  the  symbolic 
interpretation,  but  had  been  restrained  by  the  words  themselves.'" 

Another  element  in  the  dispute  was  introduced  by  OEcolampa- 
dius,  who  in  September,  1525,  wrote  a  work  on  the  eucharist,  un- 
der the  title  of  The  True  Meaning  of  the  Word  of  our  Lord,  in 
which  he  took  essentially  the  view  of  Zwingli,  but  based  his  argu- 
ment on  an  appeal  to  the  testimony  of  the  Church  fathers  in  favor 
of  the  spiritual  rather  than  the  corporeal  presence. 

Bugenhagen,  a  Lutheran,  replied  to  Zwingli,  OEcolampadius,  and 
others  of  the  same  belief  in  a  book  entitled,  Against  the  New 
Errors  concerning  the  Sacrament.  To  this  Zwingli,  urged  by  his 
friends,  answered  in  person,  and  the  strife  was  fairly  on. 

1  In  the  last  sermon  of  Luther  preached  at  Wittenberg  (1546)  the  reformer 
thus  expresses  himself  with  regard  to  reason  :  ' '  Usury,  drunkenness,  adultery, 
murder,  and  manslaughter,  all,  even  the  worldling,  regard  as  sin.  But  reason, 
the  devil's  bride,  the  beautiful  strumpet,  comes,  and  it  is  believed  that  what  she 
says  the  Holy  Ghost  says.  Under  such  circumstances  who  can  help  us  ?  Nei- 
ther jurist,  physician,  king,  nor  emperor.  For  reason  is  the  devil's  chief  har- 
lot." "  Reason  should  be  drowned  in  baptism."  "  Cease,  thou  accursed  harlot! 
"Wilt  thou  be  mistress,  even  over  faith,  which  says  that  in  the  Lord's  Supper  is 
the  true  body  and  blood  of  Christ  ?  "    Comp.  Schaff,  vi,  31. 

4  In  his  letter  to  the  Strasburgers  he  says :  "I  confess  that  if  Carlstadt  or 
any  other  had  been  able  to  convince  me  five  years  ago  that  there  was  nothing  in 
the  sacrament  but  bread  and  wine,  he  would  have  done  me  a  great  service.  .  .  . 
But  I  am  held  fast  and  cannot  escape  ;  the  text  is  too  overpowering,  and  will 
not  consent  to  be  torn  from  its  sense  by  words." 


ZWINGLI  AND   LUTHER  IN   HEAT   OF   CONTROVERSY.    249 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

ZWINGLI  AND  LUTHER  IN  THE  HEAT  OF  CONTROVERSY. 

The  dispute  was  not  confined,  however,  to  the  principals  already 
named.  The  congregations  in  Zurich,  as  well  as  in  Strasburg,  and 
even  families,  were  divided.  Young  men  in  the  university  at  "Wit- 
tenberg were  so  impressed  with  the  importance  of  the  subject,  and 
so  fully  persuaded  of  Luther's  correctness,  that  they  wrote  to  their 
parents  accusing  them  of  error  and  deploring  their  heresy.  The 
air  was  thick  with  accusations  of  papistry  on  the  one  the  division 
side  and  equally  ugly  charges  of  heresy  and  hypocrisy  among  the 
on  the  other  ;  and  when  the  Suabians;  to  whom  CEco- 
lampadius  had  addressed  his  work,  replied  in  severe  language,1 
Zwingli  was  roused  to  bitter  indignation.  The  dangerous  conse- 
quences of  the  division  became  apparent,  but  all  attempts  at  resto- 
ration of  harmony  failed.  Nicholaus  Gerbel  had  kept  Luther 
informed  from  Strasburg  of  all  that  was  going  on  there,  but  had  not 
in  all  things  confined  himself  to  the  truth.  Luther's  misinformation 
but  poorly  prepared  him  for  overtures  of  peace,  and  instead  of  the 
earlier  kindliness  he  evinced  a  growing  impatience  which  augured 
ill  for  the  cause  of  harmony.  To  a  commission  sent  to  him  from 
Strasburg  he  replied,  "  Either  you  or  we  are  servants  of  Satan." 

The  rejoicing  of  the  Roman  Catholics  may  be  imagined.  They 
said  that  this  was  just  what  might  be  expected  among  the  heretics; 
but  Luther  saw  in  the  situation  the  evidence  that  the  Gospel  had 
really  come  into  the  world.  He  affirmed  that  as  long  as  the  pope 
could  control  men's  minds  there  would  be  unity  as  a  matter  of 
course,  but  when  the  "  strong  one"  was  cast  out  he  would,  as  the 
Scripture  represents,  make  much  disturbance,  and  try  to  prevent 
the  incoming  of  the  true  spirit  of  the  Gospel. 

Early  in  1526  Zwingli's  Plain  Instruction  concerning  the  Lord's 
Supper  appeared,  in  which  he,  of  course,  defended  his  own  views. 

1  Luther  wrote  the  preface  to  the  German  edition  of  the  Syngramma  Suevi- 
cum.  This  work  of  fourteen  Suabian  theologians,  under  the  leadership  of 
Brenz  (Brentius)  of  Hall,  took  the  position  that  by  the  very  words  of  institu- 
tion Christ  imparts  his  real  body  and  blood  to  the  bread  and  wine  ;  but  in  strange 
self-contradiction  denies  that  in  the  breaking  of  the  bread  the  body  of  Christ  ia 
broken.     This  really  places  the  authors  of  the  work  on  the  side  of  Zwingli. 


250  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

About  the  same  time  Luther's  sermon  on  the  "  Sacrament  of  the 

Body  and  Blood  of  Christ,  against  the  Fanatics/'  was  published. 

In  April,  1527,  he  published  a  work  entitled,  That 

THF  TYPES 

used  in  the    the  Words,  "This   is   my  body;  this  is  my  blood," 

CONTEST. 

Stand  Fast,  Contrary  to  the  Fanatics.  In  this  impor- 
tant polemical  work  he  began  with  a  review  of  the  factions  and  sects 
which  had  arisen  in  the  Church,  in  order  to  illustrate  the  variety 
of  Satan's  devices.  Satan  he  calls  "  the  master  of  a  thousand  arts." l 
He  answers  the  assertion  of  (Ecolampadius,  that  the  whole  question 
is  one  of  comparative  insignificance,  by  asking  why  then  they  make  so 
much  of  it,  and.  by  reminding  his  opponents  that  the  question  is 
important,  since  it  concerns  what  God  has  said.  How  Christ  is  in 
the  bread  matters  not ;  we  do  not  and  need  not  know,  but  we 
must  believe  God's  word.  Zwingli,  he  asserts,  was  prevented  from 
accepting  the  plain  words  of  Scripture  by  his  submission  to  the 
dictates  of  natural  reason.  The  ubiquity  of  Christ's  body  was 
defensible.  His  opponents  said  that  Christ  sat  at  the  right  hand 
of  God,  but  God's  right  hand  is  everywhere.  The  application  of 
the  words,  "the  flesh  profiteth  nothing,"  could  not  be  to  Christ's 
flesh.  If  it  be  asked  what  advantage  is  there  in  eating  Christ's 
flesh,  we  must  answer  that  God.  has  so  ordered  it,  and  therefore  the 
question  is  not  pertinent.  Such  was  the  general  course  of  the  argu- 
ment. It  was  well  interlarded  with  unmistakable  intimations  that 
as  the  devil  had  inspired  so  many  other  errors,  so  he  had  inspired 
these  concerning  the  sacrament.  With  strange  inconsistency  he 
refutes  the  figurative  interpretation  of  Zwingli  by  resorting  to  fig- 
urative interpretations  of  other  passages. 

Almost  simultaneously  with  the  appearance  of  this  work  of 
Luther,  Zwingli  published  his  Friendly  Exegesis,  in  answer  to 
Luther's  sermons  on  the  sacrament  on  April  1,  1527.  It  was  per- 
haps as  friendly  as  one  could  expect  under  the  circumstances, 
though  very  pointed,  self-conscious,  and  vigorous. a     This  Friendly 

Exegesis  he  sent,  with  an  unfortunate  letter,  to  Lu- 
friendly        ther,  in  which  he  classed  him  with  Eck,  Faber,  and 

Murner,  rebuked  him  for  his  part  in  the  Peasant  War, 
and  accused  him  of  having  written  to  Philip,  Landgrave  of  Hesse, 
that  Zwingli  and  his  followers  ought  to  be  opposed  with  the  sword. 
Luther's  book,  That  the  Words,  "  This  is  my  body ;  this  is  my 

1  "  Tausendkiinstler." 

8  It  is  interesting  to  note  the  differences  of  judgment  as  to  the  friendliness  of 
its  tone.  Comp.,  for  example,  Schaff,  vi,  623 ;  Kolde,  ii,  286  ;  and  Kostlin,  i, 
410,  411. 


ZWINGLI  AND  LUTHER  IN  HEAT  OF  CONTROVERSY.  251 

blood,"  Stand  Fast,  Contrary  to  the  Fanatics,  was  written  in  a  spirit 
so  bitter  that  he  should  not  have  been  surprised  at  the  comparative 
mildness  of  Zwingli.  Had  Zwingli's  letter  been  of  a  different  char- 
acter the  impression  made  by  his  Friendly  Exegesis  might  have  been 
more  favorable.  As  it  was,  it  took  the  dispute  out  of  the  realm  of 
pure  scholarship  and  introduced  the  personal  element. 

Zwingli  had  thus  answered  Luther's  sermon.  He  now  proceeded 
to  reply  to  his  book,  That  the  Words  of  Christ  Stand  Fast,  in  a 
work  of  similar  title,  namely,  That  the  Words  of  Christ,  "  This  is 
my  body  which  is  given  for  you,  "  have,  and  always  will  have,  their 
old  and  only  sense,  Contrary  to  the  Pope,  and  Martin  Luther  in  his 
latest  Book.  The  very  title  accused  Luther  of  holding  fast  to 
the  essentials  of  the  Roman  Catholic  doctrine.  The  work  was 
addressed  to  the  Elector  of  Saxony  in  June,  1527,  and  it  aimed  to 
answer  one  by  one  Luther's  arguments.  As  to  the  success  of  the 
undertaking,  opinions  continue  to  differ.  It  lacked  the  urbane  tone 
of  his  former  writings,  but  was  by  no  means  so  coarse  BITTERNESS 
and  brutal  as  Luther's.  Zwingli  was  content  to  point  intoCcontro- 
out  the  essential  identity  of  Luther's  view  with  that  of  vebsy. 
the  Roman  Catholics,  and  to  ridicule  the  Lutheran  party  as  Caper- 
naites,  flesh-eaters  and  blood-drinkers,  and  referred  to  the  bread  of 
the  Lutheran  communion  as  the  "  baked  god."  Luther  was  indig- 
nant, and  that  righteously,  at  such  epithets,  although  they  fell  far 
short  of  the  bitterness  against  which  Zwingli  protested  when  Luther 
called  him  and  his  party  "  fanatics,  devils,  murderers,  heretics,  and 
hypocrites."1  Luther  warned  his  adherents  against  the  doctrines 
of  Zwingli  and  (Ecolampadius  as  against  the  pest,  and  called  them 
blasphemers  against  the  word  and  doctrines  of  Christ.  Zwingli, 
with  his  unbounded  confidence  in  the  triumph  of  the  figurative  in- 
terpretation, wrote,  it  is  true,  in  a  supercilious  strain,  but  avoided 
abuse.  The  controversy  reminds  one  of  the  boastings  which  passed 
between  Goliath  and  David,  but  with  this  difference,  that  both 
believed  themselves  to  be  the  servants  of  the  true  God. 

It  was  not  in  the  nature  of  Luther  to  leave  this  work  unan- 
swered. He  had  been  suffering  from  a  bodily  ailment,  and  was  in 
no  humor  to  be  contradicted.  He  thought  he  had  seen  increas- 
ing evidence  of  the  variation  of  Zwingli's  christology,  as  well  as  of 
his  doctrine  of  the  sacrament,  from  his  own.     Zwingli  had  dis- 

1  Vilmar,  however,  thinks  that  the  deliberation  involved  in  the  epithets  which 
Zwingli  applied  to  Luther  and  his  adherents  renders  them  incomparably 
worse  than  the  worst  ever  used  by  Luther. — Luther,  Melanchthon,  and  Zwingli, 
p.  114. 


252  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

tinguished  sharply  between  the  human  and  the  divine  nature  of 
Christ.  Luther  held  to  one  divine-human  nature.  Dropping 
for  the  time  his  translation  of  the  Bible,  he  wrote 
luther  s  j^g  book  entitled,  Concerning  the  Lord's  Supper,  A 
confession.  Confession  of  Martin  Luther,1  March,  1528.  He 
claimed  not  to  write  for  the  purpose  of  convincing  Zwingli  and 
his  followers,  because  heretics  they  were,  and  heretics  they 
would  always  remain ;  but  he  wrote  to  strengthen  the  weak 
against  the  Zwinglian  doctrines.  As  for  Zwingli's  books,  they 
were  "The  hellish  poison  of  Satan,"  and  Zwingli  himself  had 
become  entirely  lost  to  Christ.  In  this  work,  with  which  he  pro- 
posed to  dismiss  the  subject  forever,  Luther  no  longer  despised  the 
scholastic  explanations  as  to  the  method  by  which  the  body  of 
Christ  was  introduced  into  the  sacrament.  His  doctrine  of  the 
ubiquity  of  Christ's  body  he  defended  against  the  accusation  of 
absurdity,  by  claiming  that  all  the  attributes  of  the  divine  and  hu- 
man nature  of  Christ  are  participated  in  by  the  whole  person  of 
Christ,  the  doctrine  known  later  as  the  communicatio  idiomatum.2 
The  body  of  Christ  is  locally  present  only  in  one  place,  repletively 
present  everywhere,  and  definitively  present  wherever  he  will,  thus 
making  Christ's  omnipresence  to  take  three  distinct  forms.3  Ac- 
cordingly the  body  of  Christ  was  present  in  the  sacrament  even  for 
the  unbeliever.  But  more  and  more  he  had  recourse  to  recondite 
and  unscriptural  ideas.  For  example,  he  thought  that  the  effect 
upon  the  Christian  of  partaking  of  Christ's  body  was  that  it  lent 
him  a  kind  of  immortality  and  made  the  resurrection  at  the 
last  day  possible. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  see  the  distinction  between  the  mode  of 
reasoning  employed  by  Luther  and  the  scholasticism  which  he  had 
so  often  condemned,  and,  unfortunately,  his  whole  confession  was 
marked  by  a  coarseness  and  brutality  shocking  even  to  people  of 
that  day.  The  writings  of  his  adversaries  are  compared  to  poi- 
sonous adders,  their  doctrines  are  lies  and  nonsense,  the  authors 
are  in  the  bonds  of  Satan  ;  they  are  heretics  who,  according  to  Tit. 
iii,  10,  must  be  rejected.  Zwingli's  christology,  Luther  asserted, 
really  denied  Christ's  redeeming  work  by  referring  his  sufferings  to 
his  human  nature. 

But  back  of  all  the  passion  involved  in  the  dispute  there  lay  the 

1  Sixteen  years  afterward  lie  published  a  ' '  small "  Confession,  after  which 
this  one  was  called  the  Great  or  Long  Confession.     Comp.  Schaff,  vi,  627. 

2  Comp.  Krauth,  The  Conservative  Reformation,  p.  477  ff. 

3  It  is  well  stated  in  Muller,  iii,  77. 


ZWINGLI  AND  LUTHER  IN  HEAT  OF  CONTROVERSY.  253 

difference  in  the  personal  endowment  and  development  of  the  two 
men.  Luther  felt  the  need  of  some  tangible  means  of  grace  by 
which  he  could  come  into  direct  communion  with  God.  This 
he  found  in  the  Lord's  Supper.  To  him  this  need  THE 
of  divine  communion  was  so  pressing  that  he  scarcely  eqi^t'ion'in 
thought  of  the  human  act  of  memorial.  Zwingli,  thestbife. 
whose  personality  and  providential  training  were  totally  diverse 
from  Luther's,  could  not  understand  the  need  of  his  antagonist, 
to  whom  the  opposing  view  seemed  to  rob  the  sacrament  of  all 
significance.  To  this  must  be  added  that  the  similarity  between 
Zwingli's  opinions  and  those  of  Carlstadt  rendered  Luther  sus- 
picious. Luther  came  to  make  membership  in  the  true  Church 
dependent  upon  the  acceptance  of  certain  doctrines,  thereby  ruling 
Zwingli  out  of  the  Church.  The  Swiss,  on  the  other  hand,  thought 
Luther's  doctrine  of  the  sacraments  to  be  only  a  variety  of  Roman 

Catholicism.1 

1  See  Moller,  iii,  78. 


254  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

THE   MARBURG   COLLOQUY  . 

The  dispute  had  become  so  heated  and  public  that  the  evangel- 
ical party  was  divided  into  two  well  defined  and  unfriendly  camps, 
only  less  fearing  and  hating  each  other  than  they  feared  and  hated 
the  common  foe.  The  division  gave  most  of  the  cities  of  the 
Suabian  Circle1  to  Zwingli,  but  with  a  Lutheran  party  everywhere 
active.  Zwinglianism  extended  from  Basel  along  the  entire  course 
of  the  Rhine  and  into  the  Netherlands,  and  even  into  East  Fries- 
land,  thus  dividing  Lutheran  Germany  on  the  questions  under  dis- 
cussion. 

Not  only  did  the  division  give  occasion  to  scandal  in  the  eyes  of 
the  Romanists,  but  it  absorbed  energies  which  were  needed  in 
spreading  the  Gospel,  while  it  lifted  to  undue  prominence  a  matter 
of  subordinate  import.  The  relations  between  the  emperor  and 
the  pope  were  becoming  more  friendly  every  day,  and  the  fear  in- 
creased lest  soon  the  power  of  the  emperor  would  be  hurled  against 
the  divided  Protestant  peoples.  This  fear  was  augmented  by  the 
decisions  of  the  diet  of  Spires  in  March,  1529,  which,  while  they 
did  not  directly  require  the  execution  of  the  edict 
the  name  of  the  diet  of  Worms,  so  long  delayed,  yet  proposed 
to  execute  it  within  the  Roman  Catholic  territories,  to 
prohibit  farther  reforms  in  the  territories  of  the  evangelical  party, 
to  give  freedom  of  worship  to  the  Roman  Catholics  everywhere, 
to  exterminate  the  Zwinglians  and  Anabaptists,  and  to  forbid 
the  withdrawal  of  submission,  the  confiscation  of  property,  or 
the  refusal  of  taxes  to  any  Roman  Catholic  spiritual  superior. 
The  inequality  of  these  decisions  and  their  influence  upon  the 
progress  of  the  Reformation  and  the  religious  liberties  of  the 
evangelicals  could  not  be  overlooked.  On  April  19  the  evan- 
gelical princes  entered  a  solemn  protest.  Among  these  princes 
there  were  only  John  of  Saxony  ;  Philip,  Landgrave  of  Hesse  ; 
George  of  Brandenburg ;  Ernst  of  Liineburg ;  and  Wolfgang 
of  Anhalt ;  while  fourteen  cities  through  their  representatives 
joined  in  the  protest.  Among  them  were  such  important  cities  as 
Strasburg,  Nuremberg,  Constance,  and  Ulm.  This  protest,  which 
1  See  Freeman's  Historical  Geography,  p.  218. 


THE  MARBURG  COLLOQUY.  255 

was  handed  in  on  Sunday,  April  25,  in  its  more  formal  shape,  gave 
the  name  of  Protestants  to  the  Lutheran  party.1  It  was  an  act 
which  had  the  same  significance  for  the  Reformation  as  the  Decla- 
ration of  Independence  for  the  American  Revolution.  Before  that 
time  the  Lutherans  had  claimed  to  be  a  part  of  the  Church  ;  now 
began  the  movement  which  ended  in  their  formal  recognition  as 
an  independent  ecclesiastical  organization. 

The  Protestants  saw  the  significance  of  the  act  and  of  the 
league  which  they  at  the  same  time  formed  for  self-defense. 
The  extreme  desirability,  not  to  say  necessity,  of  conference 
a  harmonization  of  the  divided  parties  of  the  Ref-  AGKEEDUPON- 
ormation  was  evident  to  all  not  wholly  blinded  by  passion. 
Luther  at  first  raised  objections/  and  the  Elector  John  was  in- 
clined to  side  with  him,  for  political  reasons,  but  the  Land- 
grave Philip,  who  was  greatly  inclined  toward  Zwingli's  views, 
pressed  so  energetically  for  an  attempt  at  harmony  that,  reluc- 
tantly, the  Wittenbergers  agreed  to  a  conference.  Philip  had 
cautiously  said  nothing  about  inviting  Zwingli  along  with 
CEcolampadius,  but  he,  together  with  other  representatives  of  the 
figurative  interpretation,  as  well  as  Luther,  Melanchthon,  and 
their  adherents,  was  invited  to  the  colloquy,  which  was  to  open 
on  Friday,  October  1. 

Great  was  the  joy  of  Zwingli  and  high  his  expectations  of  a 
union  between  himself  and  the  Lutheran  party.  His  reasons  for 
desiring  such  a  union  were  not  wholly  religious,  but  partly  politi- 
cal ;  for  he  aimed  at  a  great  Protestant  alliance  against  Roman 
Catholicism.  His  prayer  before  the  opening  of  the  colloquy  is  very 
touching,  including  earnest  petitions  that  the  passions  and  misun- 
derstandings of  the  past  might  be  allayed  and  removed.  During 
the  colloquy  he  conscientiously  strove  to  conduct  himself  in  the 
spirit  of  the  prayer. 

The  Wittenbergers  hesitated  to  accept  the  invitation  because  of 
the  low  opinions  they  entertained  of  the  Zwinglian  party.  They 
could  not  well  meet  on  equal  terms  those  whom  they  regarded  as 
heretics.  Besides,  Luther  and  Melanchthon  both  believed  that  a 
compromise  for  the  sake  of  political  advantage  would  be  essentially 

1  See  Moller,  iii,  88,  89  ;  Sehaff,  vi,  690,  691  ;  Ranke,  History  of  Germany 
in  the  Time  of  the  Reformation,  iii,  113.  The  substance  of  the  protest  and 
appeal  is  found  in  Gieseler,  iv,  130,  131. 

2  Luther,  in  a  letter  to  Elector  John,  May  22,  1529,  called  the  Zwinglians 
"audacious  enemies  of  God's  word,  who  fight  against  God  and  the  sacra- 
ments."— DeWette,  iii,  455.     Comp.  Sehaff,  vi,  693,  n.  1,  and  Moller,  iii,  90. 


25G  HISTORY   OF    THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

wicked.  God  was  able  to  care  for  his  truth  without  human  com- 
binations for  its  support.  Nevertheless,  under  the  command  of 
the  elector  they  departed  for  Marburg,  where,  in  the  Landgrave's 
castle,  the  colloquy  was  to  take  place.  It  was,  in  fact,  the  last  of 
the  tragical  scenes  of  Luther's  life,  which  from  that  time  on  began 
to  decline  in  power.1 

At  the  suggestion  of  the  Landgrave,  who  wished  to  avoid  too 

great  appearance  of  divergence  in  public,  Luther  met  (Ecolampa- 

dius,  and  Zwingli  Melanchthon,  in  private  conference 

PRTVATF 

conference  before  the  public  colloquy  began.  The  Lutherans 
had  long  suspected  that  Zwingli  and  his  followers 
were  not  sound  in  their  doctrines  concerning  Christ  and  sin. 
The  effect  of  the  private  conference  was  to  remove,  at  least  par- 
tially, this  suspicion.  For  his  part  Zwingli's  explanations  showed 
Melanchthon  how  greatly  he  had  misjudged  him,  and  in  accord- 
ance with  his  natural  disposition  he  agreed  to  the  Lutheran  forms 
of  expression  on  these  subjects. 

The  public  disputation  took  place  in  the  presence  of  all  the 
representatives  on  both  sides,  and  several  others  who  had  been 
especially  invited.2  Contrary  to  Zwingli's  wish,  the  colloquy  was 
conducted  in  German.  Nothing  new  was  elicited,3  but  there  were 
some  dramatic  scenes  worthy  of  notice.  Luther  was  first  to  speak. 
Declaring  that  he  would  never  yield,  he  wrote  on  the  table  in  large 
characters  the  words,  "Hoc  est  corpus  meum."  In  his  heat  he 
said  that  if  God  should  command  him  to  eat  crab  apples,  rotten 
apples,  or  dung,  he  could  not  doubt  that  it  would 
disputation    be   salutary,  and   he  should   obey.     The   great  man 

AT  MARBURG.  u  1  -,        -i    •  j       ■• 

could  not  understand  his  opponents,  and  when 
Zwingli  made  some  reference  to  the  breaking  of  Luther's  neck, 
he  took  it  literally,  and  threatened  to  "let  fly  at  Zwingli's  snout" 
(schnauze)  until  he  repented.  The  Landgrave  rebuked  him  for 
taking  such  easy  offense.  On  the  third  day  Feige,  the  Land- 
grave's chancellor,  tried  to  persuade  the  disputants  to  come  to  an 
understanding ;    but    Luther  said   this   would   be   possible  only 

1  See  an  interesting  comment  on  the  three  great  historical  appearances  of 
Luther  in  public,  in  Schaff,  vi,  635. 

2  Zwingli  had  just  returned  from  the  first  war  of  Cappel,  and  to  the  astonish- 
ment of  all  appeared  at  the  colloquy  rather  as  a  soldier  than  as  a  preacher  of 
the  Gospel  of  peace. — Vilmar,  p.  107,  n. 

3  See  the  substance  of  the  colloquy  in  Christoffel,  pp.  350-358,  and  in  Schaff, 
vi,  pp.  640-644.  The  account  in  Christoffel  is  preceded  by  a  summary  of  the 
private  conferences  between  Zwingli  and  Melanchthon,  and  Luther  and  GEco- 
lampadius. 


THE  MARBURG  COLLOQUY.  257 

on  condition  that  his  opponents  should  come  over  to  his  view. 
When  they  affirmed  the  impossibility  of  this  Luther  abandoned 
them  to  God's  judgment,  with  the  prayer  that  he  would  enlighten 
their  darkened  hearts.  Immediately,  however,  he  begged  pardon 
for  his  harshness,  whereupon  Zwingli,  with  tears,  entreated  Lu- 
ther's forgivenes,  and  declared  his  earnest  desire  for  harmony. 
But  Luther  had  again  fallen  back  into  his  accustomed  hardness, 
and  replied,  "  Your  spirit  is  different  from  ours,"  and  ended  by 
refusing  to  acknowledge  them  as  members  of  the  Christian 
Church,  or  as  brethren,  declining  Zwingli's  proffered  hand  of 
fellowship. 

The  English  sweat,  a  dangerous  contagion,  had  broken  out  in 
Marburg  and  was  spreading  rapidly.  The  representatives  were 
anxious  to  depart,  but  by  the  efforts  of  the  Landgrave  they  were 
detained  long  enough  for  Luther  to  write  a  confession,  which 
should,  if  possible,  stand  as  a  memorial  of  the  essential  harmony 
between  the  opposing  factions.  The  confession  contained  fifteen 
articles,  afterward  known  as  the  Marburg  Articles,  THEMARBirKG 
covering  the  essential  doctrines  of  the  evangelical  abticles. 
faith.1  The  Swiss  reformers,  for  the  sake  of  peace,  agreed  to  Lu- 
ther's terminology  in  fourteen  of  the  fifteen  articles,  although  had 
they  been  written  by  them  the  language  would  have  been  much 
modified.  In  the  fifteenth  article  they  agreed  that  the  sacrament 
should  be  administered  in  both  kinds  ;  that  the  eucharist  is  not  a 
sacrifice ;  that  the  Lord's  Supper  is  a  sacrament  of  the  true  body 
and  blood  of  Christ ;  and  that  the  spiritual  manducation  of  the 
body  of  Christ  is  a  necessity  to  the  Christian.  The  divergence 
concerning  the  corporeal  presence  remained,  but  it  was  agreed  that 

1  They  may  be  seen  in  Christoffel,  pp.  358-362.  We  give  the  fifteenth  article 
in  full  :  "  We  believe  and  hold,  all  of  us,  in  regard  to  the  Holy  Supper  of  our 
dear  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  that  it  ought  to  be  dispensed  in  both 
kinds,  according  to  the  institution  of  our  dear  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  That  the 
mass  is  no  work  by  which  one  can  acquire  or  obtain  for  another,  be  he  dead  or 
alive,  mercy  and  the  forgiveness  of  sins.  That  the  sacrament  of  the  altar  is  a 
sacrament  of  the  true  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  and  that  the  spiritual  partak- 
ing of  this  body  and  blood  is  a  matter  of  especial  need  to  every  Christian.  In 
the  same  manner  we  agree  in  regard  to  the  use  of  the  sacrament,  that  the  sac- 
rament, as  well  as  the  word  delivered  and  ordained  to  us  of  God,  moves  weak 
consciences,  through  the  Holy  Ghost,  to  faith  and  love.  And  although  we  can- 
not come  to  a  union  of  opinion  as  to  whether  the  real  body  and  the  real  blood 
of  Christ  are  bodily  present  in  the  bread  and  wine,  yet  each  party  ought  to 
manifest  Christian  love  toward  the  other,  in  so  far  as  conscience  permits  it, 
and  both  ought  earnestly  to  supplicate  the  Almighty  God  that  he  would  con- 
firm by  his  Spirit  the  true  understanding  of  his  word  in  us.  Amen." 
19  2 


258  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

each  party  should  exhibit  to  the  other  Christian  love.  To  this 
Luther  assented,  with  the  proviso  that  this  love  was  to  be  exhibited 
only  so  far  as  their  consciences  would  admit.  The  significance  of 
this  reservation  was  seen  later  in  the  fact  that  when  the  participants 
separated  the  Lutherans  would  only  give  the  Zwinglians  the  hand  of 
friendship,  and  that  coldly;  not  at  all  the  hand  of  brotherly  fellow- 
ship. Luther  subsequently,  in  1533,  defined  the  love  he  had 
toward  the  Swiss  as  that  which  maintains  peace  with  enemies  and 
prompts  us  to  pray  for  them. 

The  Swiss  laid  the  principal  blame  for  the  failure  to  come  to  a 
better  understanding  upon  Melanchthon.  Bucer,  a  little  later, 
declared  that  Melanchthon  was  prevented  by  a  desire  to  gain  the 
favor  of  Charles  V  and  his  brother  Ferdinand  for  Luther's  cause.1 
Both  parties  claimed  the  victory.  Luther  saw  in  Zwingli's  appeal 
for  brotherly  recognition  a  practical  yielding  of  the  points  at  issue. 
He  could  not  understand  how  brothers  could  differ.  The  Luther- 
ans seem  to  have  made  no  important  converts,  but  Zwingli  com- 
pletely won  Philip  to  his  doctrine  and  to  his  plan  for  a  Protestant 
alliance  of  the  Swiss  and  German  cities  and  territory  with  France, 
Denmark,  and  Venice,  against  the  pope  and  the  empire.3  He  also 
won  to  his  side  the  scholarly  Lambert  of  Avignon,  and  Ulrich  of 
Wiirtemberg,  then  an  exile  at  the  court  of  Philip. 

While  the  attempt  at  harmonization  was  a  disappointment  to 
Philip,  the  chief  promoter  of  the  colloquy,  it  did  in  some  measure 
bbsults  of  reveal  the  quantum  of  common  truth,  both  to  the  dis- 
colloquy.  putants  and  to  the  Roman  Catholic  world.  It  checked 
the  expectation  of  the  speedy  fall  of  Protestantism  as  a  result  of 
its  own  quarrels.  But,  more  than  all,  the  failure  gave  to  the 
world  two  distinct  types  of  Protestant  Christianity  instead  of  a  sin- 
gle one  based  upon  a  compromise.  However  much  we  may  admire 
Luther  we  must  rejoice  that  the  reformed  type,  which  by  this  con- 
troversy began  to  be  clearly  defined,  was  not  swallowed  up  by  the 
Lutherans. 

Lest  the  impression  be  made  that  Luther  would  do  nothing  for 
the  sake  of  harmony,  attention  must  be  called  to  the  fact  that  almost 

1  Schaff,  vi,  638,  n.  4.  Melanchthon 's  previous  concessions  both  to  CEcolam- 
padius  and  Zwingli,  together  with  his  refusal  to  participate  in  the  discussion 
at  Marburg,  indicate  that  he  was  not  zealously  interested  in  Luther's  view  of 
the  question.  Hence  his  refusal  to  show  a  brotherly  spirit  toward  the  Swiss 
must  have  been  founded  on  fear  of  the  attendant  consequences.  In  later  life 
he  often  advocated  silence  for  the  sake  of  peace. 

2  The  proposed  alliance  with  France  and  Venice  failed.  See  Gieseler,  iv,  161, 
n.  31. 


THE  MARBURG  COLLOQUY.  259 

immediately  after  the  colloquy  had  ended  he  rewrote  the  Marburg 
Articles,  giving  them  a  much  more  decidedly  Lutheran  tinge. 
This  was  done  because  his  purpose  was  in  this  case  not  to  show 
how  much  he  had  in  common  with  Zwingli  against  Kome,  but  to 
define  his  doctrines  as  against  the  Zwinglians.  From  this  fact  we 
must  judge  that  in  writing  the  original  Marburg  Articles  he  soft- 
ened his  expressions  as  much  as  seemed  to  him  consistent  with  the 
truth. 

The  real  controversy  rested  here  until  1544,  when,  incited  by  a 
variety  of  reasons,  and  less  able  than  ever,  on  account  of  sickness, 
weakness,  and  age,  to  control  himself,  Luther  wrote 

TTT  THICK'S 

his  Short  Confession  on  the  Holy  Sacrament.  Even  khokt 
from  the  standpoint  of  that  day  the  book  appeared 
atrocious.  Zwingli  and  GEcolampadius  were  dead,  and  could  not 
defend  themselves,  yet  he  described  them  in  terms  of  condemnation 
which  knew  no  bounds.  Their  hearts,  he  said,  were  possessed  by 
the  devil,  permeated  by  the  devil,  and  overpowered  by  the  devil ; 
and  their  lying  mouths  and  hearts  were  full  of  blasphemy.1  He 
doubted  whether  Zwingli  was  saved.2  In  1546,  in  a  letter  to  Pastor 
Probst,  of  Bremen,  he  says,  "Blessed  is  the  man  that  walketh  not 
in  the  counsel  of  the  Sacramentarians,  nor  standeth  in  the  way  of 
the  Zwinglians,  nor  sitteth  in  the  seat  of  the  Zurichers."  In  view 
of  these  utterances  it  is  hard  to  believe  that  he  said  just  prior  to 
his  decease,  as  was  reported,  that  the  matter  of  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per had  been  overdone,  and  that  he  requested  Melanchthon  to  do 
what  he  could  after  Luther's  death  to  undo  the  mischief.  Had 
he  ever  made  such  a  request  of  Melanchthon  we  should  have  heard 
of  it  from  Melanchthon  himself,  both  by  word  and  deed  ;  for  Me- 
lanchthon gradually  departed  more  and  more,  even  during  Luther's 
lifetime,  from  the  Lutheran  understanding  of  the  Lord's  Supper, 
and  approached,  though  he  never  adopted,  that  of  the  Zwinglians. 
He  had  every  motive,  therefore,  to  call  in  the  support  of  Luther 

1  "  Em  eingeteufelt,  durchteufelt,  iiberteufelt,  lasterlich  Herz  und  Liigen- 
maul."  Luther  had  defended,  though  not  advocated,  the  adoration  of  the  host. 
In  1542  this  custom  was  finally  abolished  in  Wittenberg.  This  fact  gave  rise 
to  the  rumor  that  Luther's  views  had  undergone  a  change.  Schwenkfeld  he 
called  Stenkef eld  (Stinkfield),  and  "  a  condemned,  lying  mouth  of  a  beast." 
He  says  that  as  he  is  about  to  go  to  the  grave  he  wishes  to  leave  the  testimony 
that  he  has  avoided  the  Zurichers  and  their  sympathizers,  and  condemned  them 
with  all  earnestness,  according  to  Tit.  iii,  10. 

2  In  1532,  in  a  letter  to  Duke  Albert  of  Prussia,  he  had  admitted  that  in  his 
mercy  God  might  have  saved  Zwingli,  but  he  emphatically  denied  him  the 
martyr's  crown. 


360  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

for  his  position,  had  the  reported  words  of  Luther  ever  been  uttered 
in  his  presence.1 

For  the  present  the  farther  course  of  the  controversy  must  re- 
main untouched  while  we  follow  the  progress  of  the  German  Swiss 
Eeformation  to  the  death  of  Zwingli. 

1  Schaff  reluctantly  discredits  the  story — vi,  659.  Stahelin,  in  a  long  and  able 
note,  defends  its  genuineness.  In  view  of  all  the  facts  he  thinks  that  to  deny 
is  to  make  either  Melanchthon  or  Hardenberg  a  liar. — Johannes  Calvin,  first 
half,  pp.  228,  229.  But  there  may  have  been,  as  Kostlin  suggests,  some 
misunderstanding,  ii,  627.     The  reasons  we  have  given  seem  conclusive.   » 


'\ 


SWISS  REFORMATION  TO  THE   DEATH  OF  ZWINGLI.     261 


CHAPTEE  XXV. 

THE  SWISS  REFORMATION  TO  THE  DEATH  OF  ZWINGLI. 

Political  necessities  secured  for  Zwingli,  and  for  the  Swiss  Refor- 
mation during  its  early  years,  freedom  from  papal  interference. 
Zwingli  had  been  one  of  the  most  earnest  of  those  who  favored 
the  hiring  of  the  troops  to  the  pope  rather  than  to  the  French.  His 
services  in  this  respect  had  won  for  him  the  papal  regard,  and  it 
was  only  after  he  was  well  along  with  his  reformatory  work  that 
the  pope  turned  against  him.  Besides  the  papal  pension  which  he 
drew  from  1515  to  1520,  he  was  offered  in  August,  1518,  by  the 
papal  nuncio,  Pucci,  the  papal  chaplaincy  and  a  pension  of  one 
hundred  guilders,  double  the  amount  he  had  been  receiving,  and  a 
canonry  in  Basel  or  Coire.1  The  consideration  for  all  this  was  to 
be  that  Zwingli  should  to  the  utmost  promote  the  papal  cause. 
The  conditions  were  such  as  would  have  hindered  Zwingli  in  the 
freedom  of  his  preaching,  and  he  declined  all  these  ZWINGLI>S  m. 
nattering  and  pecuniarily  needful  honors  and  emolu-  dependence. 
ments.  His  independence  is  here  distinctly  displayed,  for  he  was 
glad  to  retain  the  pension  of  fifty  guilders  which  was  bestowed 
without  condition.  The  rejection  of  these  offers  of  ecclesiastical 
preferment  was  soon  followed  by  opposition  to  the  hiring  of  the 
troops  even  to  the  pope,2  as  he  had  formerly  opposed  their  employ- 
ment in  the  interest  of  the  French.  He  also  gave  up,  in  1520,  the 
papal  pension,  and  about  the  same  time  began  to  dispute  the  right 
of  the  Church  to  collect  tithes.  All  these  things  he  really  did  as  a 
patriot.3  It  is  characteristic,  however,  that  the  Roman  Catholics 
defended  the  mercenary  warfare  which  Zwingli  condemned  as  un- 
christian and  dangerous  to  the  morals  and  the  religious  and  civil 
liberties  of  the  Swiss. 

1  The  letter  of  the  papal  nuncio  making  these  offers  is  dated  August  24, 1518  ; 
the  appointment  is  dated  September  1, 1518. 

2  Others  than  himself  had  already  seen  the  evils  of  mercenary  warfare.  Ex- 
pression had  been  given  to  the  thought  at  the  diet  of  Lucerne  as  early  as  1495. 
See  Gieseler,  iv,  76,  n.  6.  Anshelm  said  that  the  influence  of  these  foreign 
wars  had  been  to  introduce  at  home  extravagance,  luxury,  and  a  general  moral 
deterioration. — Berner  Chronik,  1521,  vi,  91. 

3  He  said  :  "  Next  to  my  concern  for  the  word  of  God,  the  interests  of  the 
confederacy  lie  nearest  my  heart."     See  Christoffel,  p.  42. 


262  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Although  his  agitation  against  these  things  secured  him  the  ill- 
will  of  many  of  the  clergy  and  laity,  he  still  held  to  his  opposition. 
Indeed,  the  papacy  dealt  very  differently  with  Zwingli  than  with  Lu- 
ther.    When  the  former  denounced  Samson's  sale  of  indulgences  the 
pope  favored  his  cause  and  withdrew  Samson  from  Zu- 

TTTF"  POPE'S 

regard  for  rich.  This  was  not  because  the  pontiff  had  altered  his 
mind,  or  because  he  any  the  less  needed  the  funds  which 
he  would  thereby  have  received,  but  because  of  his  experience  with 
Luther,  and  because  both  the  bishop  of  Constance  and  the  council  of 
Zurich  favored  Zwingli,  and  the  pope  did  not  wish  to  injure  his  cause 
in  Switzerland.  To  this  must  be  added  that  Zwingli  held  relatively 
a  much  higher  place  in  Switzerland  than  that  occupied  by  Luther 
in  Germany,  and  thus  was  more  necessary  to  the  pope.  Even  the 
excitement  caused  by  his  opposition  to  fasts,  and  the  assertion,  main- 
tained in  a  printed  work,  that  the  authority  of  the  Scripture  was 
higher  than  that  of  the  Church,  did  not  wholly  destroy  the  papal 
expectations  concerning  him  ;  for  in  January,  1523,  six  days  prior 
to  the  first  Zurich  disputation,  the  situation  not  being  accurately 
known  at  Eome,  Adrian  VI  wrote  Zwingli  a  letter,  calling  him  his 
"  beloved  son,"  praising  his  merits  and  services,  and  offering  him  all 
manner  of  benefits  if  he  could  confine  himself  within  proper  limits. ' 
The  case  was  different,  however,  from  what  it  would  have  been  had 
the  pope  not  foreseen  the  danger  of  losing  Zurich  to  his  cause. 
Adrian  wrote,  not  only  to  Zwingli,  but  also  sent  his  legate,  Ennius, 
to  Zurich,  with  a  letter  to  the  city,  in  which  he  praised  its  services 
to  the  papal  chair  and  strove  to  bind  its  people  to  himself. 

Not  only  was  the  progress  of  the  Eeformation  in  Switzerland 
affected  favorably  by  the  desire  of  the  pope  to  retain  the  good  will 
of  Zurich,  but  also  by  the  action  of  the  Zurich  council. 
political  The  utmost  point  to  which  the  Elector  Frederick  the 
Wise  went  in  the  cause  of  Luther,  especially  in  his 
earlier  years,  was  to  protect  him  from  violence.  His  relations  to 
the  emperor  were  such  that  he  could  not  well  do  more  ;  but  Swit- 
zerland was,  in  effect,  free  from  the  emperor,  and  Zurich  as  one  of 
the  confederate  cantons  had  its  own  rights  independent  of  the 
others.  Zwingli's  influence  over  the  magistracy  was  such  as  to  give 
him  the  practical  dictation  of  religious  affairs.  This  was  not  en- 
tirely owing  to  their  accessibility  to  the  Gospel  truth,  but  in  part  at 
least  on  account  of  the  patriotic  spirit  which  prompted  Zwingli  in 

1  Zink,  the  papal  chaplain  at  Einsiedeln,  was  present  when  Pucci,  the  legate, 
had  his  conversation  with  Zwingli,  and  he  told  Myconius  that  Pncci  offered 
Zwingli  "  everything,  even  to  the  papal  throne." — Schaff,  vii,  33,  n.  4. 


SWISS  REFORMATION   TO   THE   DEATH   OF   ZWINGLI.     263 

his  opposition  to  the  Church,  a  motive  which  could  not  be  over- 
looked by  the  council.  Had  the  council  not  interfered  in  the  in- 
terest of  the  Reformation  in  Zurich,  it  would  doubtless  have  been 
different  in  its  historical  development. 

The  diet  of  the  Swiss  cantons,  however,  composed  of  the  nobil- 
ity, and  not  representative  of  the  people,  opposed  the  Eeformation. 
On  January  1,  1524,  the  diet  of  Lucerne  decided  to  thebaden 
maintain  the  Roman  Catholic  faith  as  against  the  Ref-  DISi>UTATI°N- 
ormation,  and  sent  an  embassy  to  Zurich  with  complaints  and  warn- 
ings. Through  the  efforts  of  Eck  the  Roman  Catholic  party  de- 
manded a  disputation,  which  was  held  at  Baden  in  Aargau,  in  May, 
1526.  The  conditions  of  the  disputation  were  such  as  might  have 
been  expected  from  the  Roman  Catholic  side.  The  appeal  was  not 
confined,  as  at  Zurich,  to  the  Bible,  and  the  reformers  were  there- 
fore deprived  of  their  advantage.  The  principal  disputants  on  the 
Roman  Catholic  side  were  Faber,  Eck,  and  Thomas  Murner.1  On 
the  side  of  the  Reformation  they  were  OScolampadius  and  Haller. 
Zwingli  was  not  present,  partly  because  the  conditions  of  the  dispu- 
tation were  disagreeable  to  him  and  partly  because  of  the  opposition 
of  the  council  of  Zurich  to  his  attendance,  they  fearing  that  his  life 

1  Murner  aided  the  Roman  Catholic  side  by  his  satirical  poetry,  especially  in 
his  Vom  grossen  Lutherischen  Narren. 

He  had,  however,  previously  satirized  the  follies  of  the  Church  in  Die  Nar- 
renbeschworung  (1512).  A  specimen  from  that  work  is  here  given  (edition 
Pannier,  Leipzig,  1884) : 

"  Herr  Christus  ging  am  Bettelstabe 

Und  hatt'  nicht,  zeitlich  Gut  und  Habe, 

Wie  hohe  Geistlichkeit  jetzt  hat, 

Und  hatt'  auch  weder  Land  noch  Stadt. 

Das  anders  ward  :  die  Geistlichkeit 

Jetzund  gelemet  hat  den  Streit 

Um  iipfig  Gut  und  zeitlich  Geld 

Wodurch  fast  alles  nun  zerfallt. 

Wird  ein  Pralet  jetzund  gemacht, 

So  hat  er  grosse  Sorg'  und  Acht, 

Der  Kirchen  Nahrung  recht  zu  plundern 

Und  seinen  Vettern,  seinen  Kindern 

Vom  Kirchengute  zu  verschaffen 

Und  selbst  auch  Beute  zu  erraff  en. " 
At  Baden  he  called  the  Zwinglians  "tyrants,  liars,  adulterers,  church  rob- 
bers, fit  only  for  the  gallows." — Schaff,  vii,  101.  See  also  Gotzinger,  Zwei 
Kalender  vom  Jahre,  1527,  Schaffhausen,  1865.  It  was  the  rough  usage  the 
three  men  gave  Zwingli  in  his  absence  that  so  angered  him.  But  it  was  all  the 
more  insulting  therefore  for  Zwingli  to  compare  Luther  to  Murner  and  others, 
as  he  did  in  his  letter  accompanying  the  Friendly  Exegesis. 


264  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

would  be  endangered.1  The  result  could  be  easily  foreseen.  By 
twenty-two  votes  the  victory  was  declared  to  belong  to  Eck,  while 
only  ten  gave  it  to  CEcolampadius.  As  the  disputation  had  been 
arranged  by  the  Swiss  diet  the  decision  reached  seemed  binding 
upon  the  confederate  cantons.  Zwingli  was  excommunicated  and 
Zurich  was  required  to  silence  him,  while  every  effort  was  to  be 
made  henceforth  to  suppress  the  reforms  which  were  being  so 
rapidly  introduced.  The  prospects  of  the  Eeformation  seemed 
suddenly  blighted.  But  the  truth  cannot  be  determined  by  the 
number  of  votes,  and  many  there  were  who  saw  that  right  was  on 
the  side  of  the  reformers,  although  the  noise  and  display  were  on 
the  side  of  the  Koman  Catholics.2  The  victory,  therefore,  was  not 
of  long  duration,  and  soon  Berne,  Basel,  Glarus,  St.  Gallen,  and 
several  other  cities  and  cantons  of  Switzerland  declared  for  the 
Reformation. 

The  five  forest  cantons,  Uri,  Schwyz,  Unterwalden,  Lucerne,  and 
Zug,  situated  about  the  lake  of  Lucerne,  steadily  maintained  their 
loyalty  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  The  cantons  of  Solothurn 
and  Freiburg  and  the  allied  territory  of  "Wallis  joined  their 
the  forest  fortunes  with  the  forest  cantons,  which  had  constituted 
cantons.  a  league  in  1527-1528,  and  in  1529  had  formed  an 
alliance  with  Ferdinand,  Duke  of  Austria,  who  was  anxious  for  the 
political  dismemberment  of  Switzerland.     These  warlike  prepara- 

1  Moller  assigns  the  former — iii,  73,  Sehaff  the  latter  reason — vii,  99.  Both 
were  really  combined.     Comp.  Gieseler,  iv,  156,  n.  6. 

2  Sehaff  quotes  from  the  Eck's  and  Faber's  Badenfahrt  of  Nicolaus  Manuel, 
the  Protestant  painter-poet,  a  verse  in  English  translation  descriptive  of  the 
style  of  argumentation  employed  by  Eck  : 

"  Eck  stamps  with  his  feet,  and  claps  with  his  hands, 

He  raves,  he  swears,  he  scolds  ; 
'  I  do,'  cries  he,  '  what  the  pope  commands, 
And  teach  whatever  he  holds.'  " 
And  from  Bullinger  two  verses  of  a  witty  poem,  in  which  Eck  and  CEcolam- 
padius are  contrasted  as  disputants  : 

' '  Also  fing  an  die  Disputaz  : 
Hans  Eck  empfing  da  manchen  Kratz, 
Das  that  ihn  libel  Schmerzen, 
Denn  alles,  was  er  f  iirherbracht, 
That  ihm  Hans  Husschyn  (CEcolampadius)  kiirzen. 

"  Herr  Doctor  Husschyn  hochgelehrt 
Hat  sich  gen  Ecken  taffer  gwert, 
Oft  gnommen  Schwert  und  Stangen. 
Eck  floh  dann  zu  dem  rom'schen  Stuhl 
Und  auch  all  sin  anhangen  " — vii,  100,  101. 


SWISS  REFORMATION  TO   THE   DEATH   OF   ZWINGLI.     265 

tions  were  promptly  met  by  a  league  of  the  reformed  cantons.  The 
bitterness,  jealousy,  and  hate  of  the  two  parties  grew  rapidly.  In 
May,  1529,  Jacob  Kaiser,  a  Zurich  preacher,  was  caught  in  Schwyz 
and  burned  at  the  stake.  Thenceforth  Zwingli's  voice  was  for  war. 
He  defended  his  warlike  sentiments  against  those  who  favored  the 
maintenance  of  peace  by  declaring  that  the  peace  which  they  sought 
was  warfare  and  the  warfare  which  he  sought  would  lead  to  peace. 
He  had  before  distinguished  between  mercenary  warfare,  which  he 
had  condemned,  and  war  for  the  defense  of  truth  and  freedom, 
which  he  had  always  maintained  to  be  right. 

After  some  delay  Zurich  sent  four  thousand  armed  men  into  the 
field.  Berne  furnished  five  thousand  troops,  but  with  the  proviso 
that  they  were  to  act  only  on  the  defensive,  Berne  being  opposed 
to  the  civil  war  which  was  apparently  about  to  break  out.  Miihl- 
hausen  also  supplied  a  force  of  troops.  The  army  was  FIRST  WAR 
stationed  partly  at  Cappel,  a  town  about  six  miles  from  AT  CAPPEL- 
Zug,  and  lying  therefore  in  the  territory  of  Eoman  Catholic  can- 
tons and  partly  on  the  borders  of  the  enemy's  territory.  The  re- 
formers, therefore,  had  actually  invaded  the  Roman  Catholic  terri- 
tories with  an  armed  force.  Zwingli  himself,  contrary  to  the  wish 
of  the  magistracy,  put  on  his  armor,  mounted  his  horse,  and  went 
with  the  Zurich  troops  to  the  field.  But  he  did  not  go  as  a  leader 
of  the  forces,  nor  even  as  a  private  soldier,  but  as  chaplain.  As 
chaplain,  however,  he  not  only  ministered  to  the  spiritual  necessi- 
ties of  the  troops,  but  acted  the  part  of  a  patriot,  stirring  their  en- 
thusiasm and  arousing  their  fears  lest  they  should  lose  their  liberties 
at  the  hands  of  the  enemy. 

The  two  armies  were  actually  face  to  face  with  each  other,  al- 
though each  hesitated  to  strike  the  first  blow.  Had  it  not  been  for 
the  interposition  of  Landammann  iEbli,  of  Glarus,  where  the  Roman 
Catholics  and  the  Protestants  lived  together  in  peace,  blood  would 
probably  have  been  shed.  iEbli  pleaded  so  earnestly  FIRST  PEACE 
that  at  least  a  short  space  of  time  might  be  given  in  AT  cAPPEL- 
which  efforts  at  peace  might  be  made,  that  Zwingli  reluctantly  gave 
way.  He  did  so,  however,  with  the  remark  to  ^Ebli  that  he  would 
be  held  responsible  for  the  future  consequences,  which  he  believed 
would  be  the  loss  of  their  personal  and  religious  liberties  in  the  near 
future.  Zwingli  finally  consented  to  peace  upon  conditions  which 
were  subsequently  in  part  fulfilled.  The  treaty  actually  adopted 
between  the  two  parties  consisted  of  eighteen  articles.  They  pro- 
vided among  other  things  that  the  Roman  Catholic  and  reformed 
faiths  should  be  mutually  tolerated ;  that,  according  to  Zwingli's 


2G6  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

demand,  the  Koman  Catholics  should  pay  the  expenses  of  the  war ; 
and  that  the  widow  of  Jacob  Kaiser,  the  first  martyr  of  the  Swiss 
Reformation,  should  receive  a  pecuniary  compensation.  The  treaty 
of  the  five  forest  cantons  with  Austria  was  at  the  same  time  abro- 
gated, and  the  paper  upon  which  it  had  been  written  cut  to  pieces 
by  iEbli  in  the  presence  of  the  army  of  Zurich.  Thus  the  first 
war  of  Cappel  ended  without  the  shedding  of  blood.  It  is  impossi- 
ble to  determine  what  would  have  been  the  result  had  Zwingli's  ad- 
vice been  followed  and  had  a  war  actually  broken  out  at  that  time. ' 
The  first  peace  of  Cappel  was  effected  in  June,  1529.  Zwingli's 
labors  and  trials  during  the  two  years  of  life  which  yet  remained  to 

1  While  the  peace  negotiations  were  in  progress  Zwingli  wrote  the  poem 
which  we  give  below  from  Cochran's  translation  of  Christoffel,  where  the 
original  may  be  found.  Schaff  gives  a  translation  so  different  as  to  be  almost 
unrecognizable  as  the  same  poem — vii,  173.  Cochran  much  better  preserves 
the  spirit  and  meter  of  the  original : 

"  Lord,  raise  the  car 

From  out  the  ditch  of  war, 

Or  black  as  night 

Will  be  our  plight. 

Our  evils  flow 

From  those  that  sow 

Base  treachery ; 

Who  thee  despise, 

And  'gainst  thee  rise 

Insolently. 

"  Lord,  shake  off  those 

That  are  thy  foes  ; 

But  thine  own  sheep 

Guide  thou  from  off  the  steep 

To  pastures  wide  ; 

Within  thy  fold  may  they  abide 

Who  thy  laws  keep. 

11  Ordain  that  wrath 

No  longer  burn; 

That  we  to  truth's  old  path 

Again  return. 

These  armies  then  shall  raise 

United  praise, 

And  ever  sing 

To  thee,  Eternal  King." 

R.  Stahelin  compares  the  poetry,  and  especially  the  hymns  of  Zwingli,  with 
those  of  Luther,  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  former. — Huldreich  Zwingli,  p. 
164.  The  above  poem  has  been  injudiciously  compared  with  Luther's  "Ein' 
feste  Burg."     The  two  poems  have  almost  nothing  in  common. 

8 


SWISS  REFORMATION   TO   THE   DEATH  OF   ZWINGLI.     267 

him  were  multifarious  and  burdensome.  Many  of  his  most  valu- 
able writings  were  produced  in  this  period.1  But  he  had  constantly 
to  contend  against  the  indifference  of  the  people,  both  zwingli's 
of  Zurich  and  Berne,  to  the  dangers  with  threatened  LA8T  YEAKS- 
the  welfare  of  the  Reformation.  In  Zurich  many  were  opposed  to 
him  because  of  his  political  activity.  His  fault  was  that  he  was  a 
patriot  as  well  as  a  theologian,  and  that  he  had  the  vision  of  a  states- 
man. Wearied  and  discouraged  by  the  opposition  to  his  political 
plans,  he  appeared  before  the  great  council  of  the  city  and  resigned 
his  ministry,  leaving  the  hall  in  which  the  council  met  with  tears.2 
The  council  refused  its  consent  to  the  separation  and  encouraged 
him  to  believe  that  hereafter  they  would  cooperate  with  him  more 
perfectly.  As  a  result  he  was  constrained  to  withdraw  his  resigna- 
tion, and  he  once  more  began  his  work. 

While  there  was  nominal  peace  between  the  Roman  Catholic  and 
Protestant  factions  the  bitterness  really  had  increased.  Both  sides 
were  stubborn  and  aggressive.  Neither  party  lived  up  to  the 
agreement  of  mutual  toleration.3  The  Roman  Catholic  cantons 
were  burning  under  the  conditions  imposed  upon  them  by  the 
treaty  of  1529.  They  sent  an  embassy  to  the  diet  of  Augsburg, 
who  were  received  with  tokens  of  great  favor,  while  the  confession 
sent  by  Zwingli  was  never  even  so  much  as  presented 

FRICTIONS 

to  that  body.     Luther  and  the  Roman  Catholics  alike     again 

,  -,  -j.il.Ci-  *  J  J  INCREASING. 

turned  against  the  fewiss  reformers  and  made  common 
cause  against  them.  Zwingli  saw  no  way  out  except  in  war.  Berne, 
however,  opposed  his  measures,  and  instead  of  war  proposed  to  cut 
off  the  supplies  from  the  forest  cantons  until  they  should  allow  free 
access  of  the  Gospel  to  all  the  bailiwicks,  or  common  lordships. 
Zwingli  opposed  this  as  more  cruel  than  war  and  as  entirely  out  of 
harmony  with  the  true  spirit  of  Christ.     Indeed,  more  cruel  than 

1  His  two  confessions  of  faith,  the  one  sent  to  the  diet  of  Augsburg  in  1530 
and  his  confession  addressed  to  Francis  I  of  France,  together  with  his  work  on 
Divine  Providence  and  his  commentaries  on  Isaiah  and  Jeremiah,  fall  in  this 
period.  The  confession  sent  to  Charles  V  at  Augsburg  was  never  laid  before  the 
diet.  The  one  sent  to  Francis  I  contained  the  expressions  concerning  the  pos- 
sible salvation  of  sincere  brethren  which  so  shocked  Luther.  The  substance 
of  this  confession  may  be  found  in  Schaff's  Creeds  of  Christendom,  i,  368  f . 
Both  are  given  in  the  German  in  the  second  part  of  Christoffel's  H.  Zwingli, 
Leben  und  ausgewahlte  Schriften,  pp.  237-298.  That  work  will  afford  its 
readers  a  sufficiently  full  idea  of  Zwingli's  faith  and  practice  in  reference  to 
the  Church  and  education.  2  See  his  language  quoted  in  Schaff,  vii,  181. 

3  Bluntschli  thinks  Zurich  was  less  true  than  the  five  forest  cantons. — Schaff, 
vii,  180. 


288  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

war  it  was,  for  it  involved  in  the  suffering  not  only  men,  but  inno- 
cent women  and  children.  Zwingli  foresaw  the  desperation  which 
this  act  would  arouse  in  the  five  forest  cantons,  but  he  was  power- 
less to  alter  the  conclusion.  The  influence  of  Berne  was  stronger 
with  the  council  of  Zurich  than  his  own. 

The  excitement  became  so  intense  that  all  manner  of  visions  and 
apparitions  were  witnessed.  Even  Zwingli  saw  a  warning  specter, 
robed  in  white,  departing  into  the  water  as  he  emerged  from  the 
council  chamber.  About  the  same  time  Halley's  comet  became 
visible,  and  was  interpreted  by  Zwingli  and  others  as  an  omen  for 
ill.  Among  the  public  in  general  it  increased  the  apprehension  of 
danger.  Blood  was  seen  to  spurt  from  the  very  earth  itself,  but  so 
far  from  frightening  the  beholders  into  efforts  at  peace  the  effect 
was  to  drive  them,  as  by  a  mad  fatality,  into  war.  The  five  forest 
cantons,  although  censurable  for  resisting  the  conditions  of  the 
peace  of  1529,  were  not  to  blame  for  endeavoring  by  force  of  arms 
to  protect  their  families  from  starvation. 

While  Zurich  was  divided  in  its  opinions  the  inhabitants  of  the 
forest  cantons  unexpectedly  appeared  with  an  army  of  eight  thou- 
sand men  on  the  borders  of  the  territories  of  Zurich, 
by  forest       near  Cappel.     The  Zurichers  were  unprepared.     The 

CANTONS. 

entire  force  which  they  could  summon  was  but  fifteen 
hundred  men.  These  were  commanded  by  experienced  leaders, 
but  one  of  them,  at  least,  was  suspected  of  treachery  in  the  interest 
of  the  enemy.  Full  of  forebodings,  but  determined  to  share  the 
fate  of  his  countrymen,  Zwingli  went  forth  to  battle.  But  person- 
ally he  lifted  no  weapon  against  the  enemy,  although  he  remained 
in  the  thick  of  the  fight.  While  kneeling  over  a  wounded  soldier, 
to  whom  he  was  administering  Christian  consolation,  he  was  felled 
by  a  stone  hurled  from  the  hand  of  one  of  the  enemy.  As  he  rose 
he  was  pierced  with  a  lance.  While  bleeding  he  uttered  his  last 
death  of  recorded  words.  They  were:  "What  matters  this 
zwingli.  evii  p  They  may  kill  the  body  ;  the  soul  they  can- 
not kill."  He  was  seen  by  several  persons  as  he  lay  in  agony 
upon  his  face,  or  with  eyes  upturned  to  heaven,  with  his  hands 
folded  in  prayer  across  his  breast.  It  remained  for  Captain 
Vockinger  to  thrust  him  through  with  a  sword  after  he  had  twice 
refused,  by  movement  of  his  head,  to  call  upon  the  saints  and  con- 
fess to  a  priest,  and  thus  take  the  life  of  the  "obstinate  heretic/" 

1  Doubtless  the  "  honest  old  Christian,"  as  Solat  calls  Vockinger,  thought  he 
had  treated  Zwingli  with  great  consideration  in  twice  offering  him  opportunity 
to  repent.     As  he  applied  the  sword  he  exclaimed,  "  Die,  obstinate  heretic." 


SWISS  REFORMATION  TO  THE   DEATH   OF   ZWINGLI.     269 

His  body  was  afterward  put  to  the  indignity  of  being  quartered 
and  burned,  while  his  ashes  were  scattered,  with  those  of  swine,  upon 
the  air.  ' 

The  war  continued  but  a  short  time  after  the  battle  of  Cappel. 
The  Zurichers  were  disunited  ;  the  Bernese  had  advocated  and  car- 
ried through  half  measures  more  cruel  than  war ;  while  the  five 
cantons  opposed  to  them  had  everything  at  stake.  As  a  result  the 
reformed  cantons  were  obliged  to  submit  to  a  dishonorable  peace, 
inimical  to  the  welfare  of  the  Gospel  and  the  progress  of  the  Ref- 
ormation. 

We  leave  the  Eeformation  in  Switzerland  in  this  state  of  chaos 
to  indulge  in  a  few  reflections  relative  to  the  life  and  character  of 
Zwingli.  He  was  a  man  of  remarkable  clearness  of  character 
thought,  free  from  the  influence  of  vague  emotions,  of  zwingli. 
with  a  tendency  to  observe  the  practical  outcome  of  everything  he 
undertook.  His  interests  were  wider  than  the  Church,  or,  rather, 
his  conception  of  Christianity  included  the  entire  range  of  human 
relationships.  His  religion  made  him  a  patriot.  More  peaceful  than 
Luther  in  private  as  well  as  in  public  life,  he  yet  favored  war  as  the 
only  solution  of  the  political  situation.  As  a  reformer  he  claimed 
independence  of  Luther.  He  was  led  to  make  this  claim  partly  in 
self-defense  against  those  who  wished  to  effect  his  ruin  by  placing 
him  in  the  same  category  with  the  German  reformer,  and  partly  by 
the  instinctive  sense  of  self-respect  so  prominent  in  his  life.  Lu- 
ther always  assumed  that  Zwingli  was  his  follower  and  imitator,  and 
hence  resented  any  departure  from  his  doctrines  and  example.  But 
while  we  must  admit  the  powerful  influence  which  Luther  exerted 
upon  Zwingli,  the  latter  was  never  conscious  of  it.  His  claim  to 
having  preached  the  pure  Gospel  as  early  as  1516  cannot  be  main- 
tained. That  it  appeared  so  to  him  arose  from  the  fact  that  he 
never  could  point  to  any  time  when  his  eyes  were  suddenly  opened  ; 
and  the  progress  toward  the  truth  which  he  had  undoubtedly  made 
at  that  early  day  appeared  as  a  complete  emancipation  from  Rome 
under  the  reflected  light  of  the  later  years.  In  fact,  he  had  the 
Gospel  truth  in  his  possession  at  that  time,  though  only  in  the 
germ.  It  needed  but  to  be  developed  and  to  displace  the  error 
with  which  it  was  mixed  to  make  him  all  that  he  afterward  be- 

1  Schaff  mentions  the  "uncertain  and  improbable  tradition"  preserved  in 
Myconius's  Life  of  Zwingli,  according  to  which  the  heart  of  the  reformer  was 
saved  from  burning  as  by  a  miracle  (mirabile  dictu),  taken  to  Zurich,  and  then 
thrown  into  the  river  to  prevent  idolatry.  It  would  require  an  immense 
amount  of  credulity  to  believe  that  there  is  any  truth  whatever  in  the  story. 


270  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

came.  His  judgment  may  have  been  at  fault  in  reference  to  the 
trying  questions  which  agitated  Switzerland  in  his  latest  years, 
but  it  must  be  confessed  that  all  went  well  so  long  as  the  reformed 
cantons  followed  his  advice.  Perhaps  he  will  never  rank  so  high 
in  the  estimation  of  mankind  as  Luther,  but  while  he  lacked  the 
strength  he  also  lacked  the  faults  of  his  greater  contemporary. 
The  encomium  of  the  poet  that 

"  The  fittest  place  for  man  to  die 
Is  where  he  dies  for  man," 

will  be  reflected  backward  upon  the  fame  of  Zwingli  to  the  end  of 
time. 


THE   REFORMATION  IN   FRENCH   SWITZERLAND.         271 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

THE  REFORMATION  IN  FRENCH  SWITZERLAND. 

The  Reformation  in  French  Switzerland  is  a  part  of  the  French 
Reformation.  Not  only  was  it  carried  on  among  French-speaking 
peoples,  but  it  found  its  chief  propagators  among  the  Protestants 
of  France,  and  in  turn  it  gave  form  and  direction  to  the  movement 
in  the  mother  country.  France  gave  Calvin,  and  Cal- 
vin Geneva,  to  the  Protestant  world.  Had  the  Refor-  fkench  kef- 
mation  in  France  utterly  failed  to  establish  itself,  its 
contributions  to  the  cause  in  Switzerland,  Germany,  and  England 
would  place  us  under  immeasurable  and  enduring  obligations  to  Le- 
fevre,  Briconnet,  and  their  colaborers.  When  the  star  of  the  Zwing- 
lian  Reformation  set,  another  was  about  to  rise  which  should  mount 
higher,  shine  with  brighter  radiance,  and  shed  its  rays  more  widely 
over  the  earth.  What  was  lost  by  the  death  of  Zwingli  was  more 
than  compensated  by  the  advent  of  Calvin.  The  later  movement 
in  the  French  cantons  was  destined  to  outstrip  the  earlier  among 
the  German.  Even  the  name  which  such  vast  numbers  of  French 
Protestants  have  been  proud  to  bear  sprang  from  Switzerland. ' 

Of  the  three  principal  reformers  in  French  Switzerland,  two, 
Guillaume  or  William  Farel  and  John  Calvin,  were  natives  of 
France  ;  while  the  third,  Peter  Viret,  though  born  at  Orbe,  in  the 
Pays  de  Vaud,  received  his  theological  education  in  Paris,  but  before 
he  left  that  city  had  been  converted  to  Protestantism.  So  it  may 
be  truthfully  said  that  French  Switzerland  was  evangelized  by 
French  Protestants. 

Too  little  attention  has  been  given  to  the  labors  and  merits  of 
Viret.     Upon  his  return  to  Paris  from  Switzerland  he  was  induced 
by  Farel  to  begin  his  work  in  Orbe.     He  was  but 
twenty  years  of  age  when  he  entered  upon  his  labors 
(1531),  but  in  a  short  time  his  eloquence  and  learning  enabled 
him  to  win  his  parents  and  about  two  hundred  others  to  his  side. 

1  The  word  Eidgenossen  (literally,  sworn  comrades),  applied  to  the  Swiss  con- 
federates, was  corrupted  into  Eignots  and  then  into  Huguenots.  Its  original 
significance  was  purely  political,  but  when  the  French  Eidgenossen  (Huguenots) 
came  to  be  preponderantly  Protestant  the  word  was  extended  to  include  their 
coreligionists  in  France.     The  epithet  Huguenot  displaced  that  of  Lutheran. 


272  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

The  canton  of  Berne  ordered  a  disputation  for  October,  1536,  in 
Lausanne,  which  lay  within  its  territory.  The  theses  under  dis- 
cussion were  prepared  by  Viret,  and  he  was  one  of  their  principal 
defenders. '  The  Protestant  party  prevailed,  and  Lausanne  became 
legally  connected  with  the  Eeformation,  November  1,  1536.  Viret 
was  teacher  and  principal  pastor  until  1559,  when  he  was  deposed 
by  the  Berne  council  for  too  great  strictness  in  discipline  and  on 
account  of  his  predestinarian  opinions.2  But  the  work  he  accom- 
plished there,  both  for  the  city  and  for  the  cause  at  large,  was  of 
first  importance.  At  the  age  of  forty-eight,  upon  leaving  Lausanne, 
he  received  an  appointment  as  teacher  in  Geneva,  whence  he  made 
successful  evangelistic  tours  into  every  portion  of  France,  serving 
the  French  Protestants  in  a  variety  of  ways.  He  died  (1571)  at 
Orthez  in  Beam,  France,  where  he  had  been  engaged  as  a  teacher 
in  the  academy  under  the  patronage  of  Jeanne  d'Albret.3  Beza 
was  his  assistant  in  the  academy  at  Lausanne  from  1549  to  1558, 
but  would  not  brook  the  opposition  of  the  Berne  council  to  his  Cal- 
vinistic  views,  and  therefore  went  to  Geneva  one  year  earlier  than 
Viret,  where  he  became  the  successor  of  Calvin  at  the  latter's  death. 
The  attachment  of  the  Bernese  for  the  Zwinglian,  or  their  detesta- 
tion of  the  Calvinistic  doctrine,  must  have  been  powerful  indeed 
that  it  should  have  been  allowed  to  deprive  them  of  two  such  men. 
Farel  was  the  real  pioneer  of  the  Eeformation  in  French  Swit- 
zerland. His  life  is  like  a  long  romance,  though  filled  with  great 
william  intensity  of  earnestness.     He  was  with  Lefevre  and 

Bric,onnet  at  Meaux,  already  a  master  of  arts,  and  a 
man  of  thirty-two  years  of  age.4  His  disposition  was  intrepid,  his 
purpose  determined,  but  he  lacked  self-control.  His  fiery  impulses 
prompted  him  to  acts  of  iconoclasm  which  brought  him  into  dis- 
repute and  failed  to  benefit  the  cause.5     Originally  an  ardent  Ro- 

1  See,  for  an  extended  account  of  this  disputation,  Kuchat's  Histoire  de  la 
Ref.  de  la  Suisse,  iv,  181-364. 

2  The  canton  of  Berne  could  not  tolerate  the  Calvinism  of  Viret  and  lent  but 
reluctant  aid  to  Geneva  in  its  struggle  for  reform. 

3  The  daughter  of  Margaret  of  Angouleme  and  Henri  d'Albret,  titular  king 
of  Navarre. 

4  He  was  born  in  Gap,  a  town  of  Dauphiny  in  southeast  France,  in  1489. 

5  He  was  surnamed  the  Elijah  of  the  French  Reformation  and  the  scourge  of 
the  priests. — Schaff ,  vii,  237.  When  accused  of  troubling  the  Church  he  replied 
like  Elijah  to  Ahab,  "It  is  thou,  and  not  I,  who  disturbed  Israel."  Godet 
compares  Farel  and  Calvin  by  saying  that  the  former  was  born  for  conquest  and 
the  latter  for  conservation  and  discipline.  Lefevre  had  said  to  him  as  early  as 
1512  that  God  would  renew  the  world  and  that  Farel  would  live  to  see  it. — His- 
toire litter,  de  la  Suisse  francaise,  p.  51. 


THE   REFORMATION   IN  FRENCH   SWITZERLAND.         273 

manist,  more  popish  than  the  pope  himself,  blindly  zealous  for 
the  faith  of  his  fathers/  he  became  equally  earnest  but  more  intel- 
ligent in  his  devotion  to  Protestantism.  When  his  untempered 
zeal  made  his  longer  stay  in  Meaux  impossible  he  returned  to  his 
native  Gap,  but  was  soon  driven  away. 

We  find  him  next  in  Basel,  where,  in  February,  1524,  he  was  in- 
strumental in  converting  the  learned  Franciscan  monk,  Pellican. 
Erasmus  was  then  in  Basel,  but  his  prudence  appeared  like  coward- 
ice to  Farel,  who  did  not  hesitate  to  charge  that  grave  defect  upon 
the  distinguished  scholar.  As  a  result  the  council  banished  the 
impertinent  Frenchman  from  the  city.  A  year  spent  in  Strasburg 
and  Montbeliard  was  marked  by  the  same  tumultuous  opposition 
which  greeted  him  everywhere.  He  lacked  the  power  of  concilia- 
tion. He  accomplished  everything  either  by  force  of  FAEEL,S 
superior  learning  or  of  stronger  will.  Sometimes  in-  labors. 
deed  his  violence  was  his  only  hope  of  success,  as  when  his  threatened 
curse  of  God  overcame  the  timidity  of  Calvin,  who  was  thus  held 
in  Geneva.  Eestless  in  his  activity,  he  now  appears  in  Aigle, 
which  was  in  the  subject  territory  of  Berne.  Here,  under  the 
assumed  name  of  Guillaume  Ursinus,  he  performed  the  duties  of  a 
schoolmaster  until  1528,  when,  upon  the  formal  reception  of  the 
Eeformation  by  Berne,  that  city  commissioned  him  as  a  sort  of 
evangelist  within  its  territories.  His  incessant  labors  were  con- 
ducted in  private  houses  and  in  the  open  air,  in  places  of  public 
resort  and  in  private,  but  everywhere  they  were  attended  by  con- 
fusion and  excitement ;  although  in  Neuchatel,  where  he  was 
destined  to  spend  his  last  years  in  the  comparatively  peacef ul  pur- 
suit of  pastoral  duties,  he  met  with  eminent  success. 

After  the  introduction  of  the  Eeformation  into  Xeuchatel  his 
labors  there  were  interrupted  for  a  term  of  years,  during  which  he 
brought  Geneva  over  to  Protestantism.2  But  in  1538  he  became 
the  principal  pastor  in  Neuchtitel.  During  the  twenty-seven  years 
of  his  pastorate  he  not  only  labored  amid  much  oppo-  FAREL  AT 
sition  to  introduce  the  severe  discipline  of  Calvin,  but,  neuch1tel- 
true  to  his  native  restlessness  of  disposition,  he  made  frequent  and 
rapid  journeys  into  Alsace  and  Lorraine,  visiting  their  cities  and 
converting  Eomanists,  confirming  the  faith  of  the  Protestants  and 
comforting  the  numerous  refugees  of  his  own  country.  Four  years 
prior  to  his  death,  when  he  was  seventy-two  years  of  age,  he  re- 

1  He  even  began  to  write  the  lives  of  the  saints,  so  devoted  was  he  to  them. 
*  His  achievements  in  Geneva  will  be  farther  treated  as  introductory  to  the 
work  of  Calvin  in  that  city. 

20  2 


274  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

turned  by  invitation  of  his  countrymen  to  Gap,  where  the  four 
brothers  whom  he  had  led  to  Protestantism  after  his  flight  from 
Meaux  had  become  a  strong  congregation.  In  defiance  of  royal 
orders  he  preached  to  the  many  Protestants  of  the  town.     • 

Farel's  friendship  for  Calvin  was  touching,  and  he  followed  him 
speedily  to  the  grave.  He  died  September  13,  1565,  at  the  age  of 
seventy-six,  surrounded  by  his  friends  and  the  witnesses  of  his  he- 
farel  and  r°ic  an<^  self-sacrificing  toils.  He  was  a  strange  mix- 
calvin.  £ure  0f  aggressiveness  and  self -distrust.     His  course 

was  not  the  result  of  self-assertion,  but  of  adherence  to  convic- 
tions of  duty.  He  knew  his  limitations  and  well  judged  what 
to  dare  and  what  to  avoid.  Though  positive  in  his  own  faith 
he  was  gentle  in  his  deportment  toward  those  Protestants  with 
whom  he  could  not  agree.  His  terrific  blows  were  all  aimed  at 
those  who  hindered  the  progress  of  the  Reformation.  That  he 
should  have  induced  Calvin  to  remain  and  subsequently  return  to 
Geneva  would  have  been  merit  sufficient  for  the  labors  of  a  lifetime. 

The  brightest  chapter  in  the  history  of  the  French  Swiss  Eef- 
ormation  is  the  life  and  labors  of  John  Calvin  in  Geneva.  The  city 
had  achieved  its  independence  of  Duke  Charles  of  Savoy  by  the 
aid  of  Charles's  nephew,  Francis  I,  but  a  short  time  prior  to  the 
advent  of  Farel  in  1532.  Farel  was  accompanied  by  Matthew 
Saunier, '  and  the  two  evangelists  were  visited  on  the  day  following 
their  arrival  by  a  body  of  prominent  citizens,  to  whom 
farel  in  they  explained  the  Protestant  doctrines.  It  was  held 
out  to  them  as  an  inducement  to  the  acceptance  of 
these  new  ideas  that  they  would  thereby  the  more  effectually  estab- 
lish their  new-found  liberties.  The  presence  of  these  two  men  in 
the  city  so  alarmed  the  authorities  that  the  council  ordered  them 
to  depart.  With  much  difficulty  and  with  many  bruises  they  es- 
caped the  mob  of  priests  and  their  followers  and  found  their  way 
to  a  place  of  safety.  In  January,  1534,  however,  Farel  held  a  dis- 
putation with  Guy  Furbity,  a  doctor  of  the  Sorbonne.  The  vic- 
tory was  not  very  decided,  but  something  at  least  had  been  gained 
for  Protestantism.  Berne  took  up  Farel's  cause  and  protected  him 
and  his  companions,  Viret  and  Froment,3  while  they  preached  the 

1  Saunier  had  defended  Jacques  Pauvan,  who  for  his  heresies  was  hurned 
at  the  stake  in  1526. 

2  Froment  was  a  disciple  of  and  companion  in  labors  and  persecutions  with 
Farel.  His  career  was  downward,  although  he  seems  to  have  repented  in  later 
life,  and  was  finally  received  back  into  Geneva,  whence  he  had  been  banished 
for  adultery  in  1562.     He  was  earnest  but  unstable. 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   FRENCH    SWITZERLAND.         275 

truth  in  Geneva.  So  effectual  was  their  ministry  that  in  August, 
1535,  the  Reformation  was  legally  introduced  by  order  of  the  Coun- 
cil of  Two  Hundred.  The  usual  restrictions  as  to  papal  usages  fol- 
lowed, but  also  certain  disciplinary  measures  of  an  unusual  char- 
acter. These  fell  far  short,  however,  of  the  severity  afterward 
insisted  upon  by  Calvin.  As  yet  the  type  was  that  of  Zurich. 
Geneva  was  soon  to  take  the  lead  and  to  mark  out  a  path  for 
itself. 


276  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


LITERATURE  :  JOHN  CALVIN". 

I.    WORKS. 

Opera  quae  supersunt  omnia.  Ed.  by  Baum,  Cunitz  and  Reuss.  Brans., 
1863  ff.  The  55th  vol.  of  this  best  ed.  of  his  works  was  issued  in  1896.  Transl. 
of  his  works  by  "  Calvin  Translation  Society."  52  vols.  Edinb.,  1842-53.  Cal- 
vin's Letters.  Ed.  by  Jules  Bonnet.  2  vols.  Paris,  1854.  Transl.  by  Constable 
and  Gilchrist,  4  vols,  Phila.,  1855. 

II.    BIOGRAPHY. 

1.  Beza,    Th.     Histoire  de  la  vie  et  la  mort  de  J.  Calvin.     Gen.,  1564.     Enl. 

ed.,  1565;  new  ed.,  Paris,  1864;  Latin  ed.,  1575;  English,  Phila., 
1836. 

2.  Bolsec,  Theron.    Histoire  de  la  vie  de  Jean  Calvin.     Paris,  1575.     New  ed., 

Gen.,  1835  ;  Lyon,  1875  ;  in  Latin,  Col.,  1580.  Bolsec  was  expelled  from 
Geneva  for  his  doctrinal  differences  from  Calvin,  and  in  this  book  he 
avenges  his  wrongs.  The  anonymous  reply  to  it,  Antiboleecus,  appeared 
at  Cleves  in  1622,  and  another  by  C.  Drelincourt,  La  defense  de  Calvin> 
at  Gen.  in  1667. 

3.  Desmay,  Jacques.    Remarques  sur  la  vie  de  J.  Calvin  heresiarque  tirees  des 

registres  de  Noyon.     Rouen,  1657.     Roman  Catholic. 

4.  Waterman,  Elijah.     Memoirs  of  Calvin.     Hartfd.,  1813. 

5.  Henry,  Paul.  Das  Leben  Johann  Calvins  des  grossen  Reformators.    3  vols. 

Hamb.,  1835-44.  Abd.,  1  vol.,  Hamb.,  1846  ;  transl.  into  Dutch,  2  vols., 
Rott.,  1847;  into  English,  2  vols.,  Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1854.  Full  of  val- 
uable material. 

6.  Gaberel,  J.    Calvin  a  Geneve.     Gen.,  1836. 

7.  Audin,  J.  M.  V.     Histoire  de  la  vie,  des  ouvrages,  et  des  doctrines  de  Cal- 

vin. 2  vols.  Paris,  1843.  5th  ed.,  1851.  Transl.  in  German  and  Eng- 
lish.    Roman   Catholic.     As  unfavorable  as  Henry  is  favorable. 

8.  Herzog,  J.  J.     Johannes  Calvin,  eine  biographische  Skizze.     Basel,  1843. 

9.  Smyth,  T.      Calvin  and  his  Enemies.     Phil.,  1843.    New  ed.,  1887.    An 

apology  for  Calvin. 

10.  Dyer,  T.  H.     Life  of  Calvin.     Lond.,  1849.    Impartial. 

11.  Bonnet,  L.     Etudes  sur  Calvin.     Paris,  1854. 

12.  Konig,  Th.     Calvin.     3  vols.     Leipz.,  1861. 

13.  Bungener,  Felix.    Calvin,  sa  vie,  son  ceuvre,  et    ses  ecrits.     Paris,  1862. 

German  transl.,  Leipz.,  1854  ;  English,  Edinb.,  1863. 

14.  Goguel,  G.     Le  Reformateur  de  la  France  et  de  Geneve  :  Jean  Calvin. 

Toulouse,  1863. 

15.  Stahelin,  E.     Johannes  Calvin  ;  Leben  und  ausgewahlte  Schrif ten.     2  vols. 

Elberf .,  1863.     Best  to  that  date. 

16.  Guizot,  Francis.     St.  Louis  and  Calvin.     Lond.,  1868. 


LITERATURE  :   JOHN   CALVIN.  277 

17.  Blackburn,  W.  M.    College  Days  of  Calvin.     Phila.,  n.  d. 

18.  Kampschulte,  F.  W.     Jon.  Calvin,  seine  Kirche  und  sein  Staat  in  Genf. 

Leipz.,  1869.  Extends  only  to  1546  ;  an  impartial  and  able  work.  The 
author  died  an  Old  Catholic  in  1871. 

19.  Bcegner,  A.     Sur  la  jeunesse  et  la  conversion  de  Calvin.     1873. 

20.  Lobstein,  P.     Die  Ethik  Calvins  in  ihr.  Grundziigen.     Strasb. ,  1877. 

21.  McCrie,  Thomas.     The  Early  Years  of  John  Calvin,  1509-1536.     Edinb., 

1880. 

22.  Candlish,  J.  S.     Calvin.     Lond.,  1882. 

23.  Fontana,  B.     Documenti  circa  il  soggiorno  di  Calvino  a  Ferrara.     Rome, 

1885. 

24.  Cornelius,   C.  A.     Die  Verbannung    Calvins  auf    Genf.,  1538.     Munch., 

1886. 

25.  Lefranc,  A.     La  jeunesse  de  Calvin.     Paris,  1888.     Brings  out  many  new 

facts. 

26.  Zahn,  A.     Studien  iiber  Johannes  Calvin.     Giitersl. ,  1894.     A  study  of  the 

Lives  of  Calvin.  See  Presb.  and  Ref.  Rev.,  v,  719  ;  Th.  Lit-blatt., 
March  22,  1895.  Die  beiden  letzten  Lebensejahre  von  John  Calvin. 
Leipz.,  1895.  New  and  enl.  ed.,  Stuttg.,  1898.  See  Presb.  and  Ref.  Rev., 
vii,  739,  ix,  937. 

27.  Borgeaud,  C.    Calvin,  fondateur  de  l'academie  de  Geneve.     Paris,  1898. 
The  above  is  a  selection  only.     Other  lives  and  monographs,  by  J.  D.  Van 

derPlaats,  Amst.,1863;  J.  C.  Schellenberg,  Mannh.,  1864;  O.  F.  Fritsche, 
Ziir.,  1864;  C.  A.  Wilkins,  Wien,  1864;  W.  M.  Blackburn,  Calvin's  Love  of 
Christian  Union,  in  Am.  Presb.  Rev.,  1868,223  ff.  ;  Calvin  at  Geneva,  in  West. 
Rev.,  July,  1858,  art.  i;  J.  Floy,  Calvin,  in  Meth.  Quar.  Rev.,  Oct.,  1850, 
571  ff . ;  Calvin's  Order  of  Baptism,  in  Mercersburg  Rev. ,  April,  1859  (vol.  xi)  ; 
Grindall  Reynolds  [Unit.],  Calvin,  in  Chr.  Exam.,  July,  1860,  repr.  in  Collec- 
tion of  Hist,  and  other  Papers,  Concord,  Mass.,  1896,  327-364 ;  J.  C.  Hadden, 
Calvin's  Inn.  on  Church  Music,  in  Theol.  Monthly,  Lond.,  1890,  iv,  381  ff.  ; 
Mark  Pattison,  Calvin  at  Geneva,  in  Essays,  2  vols.,  Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1889; 
v.  Ranke,  Calvin's  Bigotry,  in  Civil  Wars  of  France,  i,  216-218  ;  P.  Schaff, 
Friendship  of  Calvin  and  Melanchthon,  in  Papers  of  the  Am.  Soc.  of  Ch. 
Hist.,  iv  (1892),  143-163  ;  W.  Dinning,  Calvin,  in  Prim.  Meth.  Quar.,  Oct., 
1890;  T.  H.  Hinchman  and  T.  Bell,  J.  Calvin— his  Errors,  N.  Y.,  1891  ;  P. 
Schaff,  Calvin  at  Home,  in  Ref.  Quar.  Rev.,  April,  1892  (xxxix,  163  ff.) ;  Max 
Scheibe,  Calvin's  Predestinations-lehre,  Halle,  1897  ;  see  O.  Ritschl,  in  Th. 
Litz.,  1898,  No.  14  ;  P.  Lobstein,  Die  Ethik  Calvins,  Strasb.,  1877,  tr.  by  F. 
H.  Foster,  in  Bib.  Sacra,  Jan.,  1880,  1-48  ;  Carl  Nagy,  Die  Theologie  Calvins, 
Gross  Enyed,  1894,  a  fine  treatment  ;  see  Th.  Lit-blatt.,  May  24,  1895  ;  C.  A. 
Cornelius,  Die  ersten  Jahre  der  Kirche  Calvins,  1541-46,  Miinchen,  1896  ;  P. 
Biesterveld,  Calvins  als  Bedienaar  des  Woords,  Kampen,  1897 — an  admirable 
discussion  of  Calvin  as  a  preacher  ;  J.  Vielles,  Calvin  et  la  Predestination,  in 
Rev.  de  Theol.  et  des  Questions  religieuses,  March,  1897  ;  E.  Chorsy,  La  Theo- 
cratie  a  Geneve  au  temps  de  Calvin,  Geneve,  1897  ;  A.  Lang,  Die  Bekehrung 
Johannes  Calvins,  Leipz.,  1897  ;  see  A.  H.  Newman  in  Amer.  Journal  of  Theol., 
April,  1898,  p.  432  ;  H.  Krummacher,  Calvins  Beziehungen  Deutschland, 
Halle,  1898 ;  C.  W.  Shields,  Reformer  of  Geneva,  an  Hist.  Drama,  N.  Y.  and 
Lond.,  1898 — a  poem  founded  on  careful  study. 


278  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

III.    SERVETUS    AND    CALVIN. 

1.  Allwoerden,  Hendrik  van.    Historie  van  Michael  Servetus  den  Spanjart. 

Rott.,  1729. 

2.  Mosheim,  J.  L.     Neue  Nachrichten  von  Michel  Serveto.     Helmst.,  1750. 

3.  Wright,  Thomas.     An  apology  for  Michael  Servetns.     Wisbec,  1806. 

4.  Trechsel.     Servet  und  seine  Vorganger.     Heidelb.,  1839. 

5.  Rilliet,  A.     Relation  dn   proces  criminel   intente  a  Geneve  en  1553  contre 

Mich.  Servet.     Gen.,  1845. 

6.  Tweedie,  W.  K.     Calvin  and  Servetus.     Lond.,  1846. 

7.  Drumrnond,  W.  H.     Life  of  Mich.  Servetus.     Lond.,  1848. 

8.  Brunnemann,  K.     Michel   Servetus,  Darst.  d.  Criminal  processes.     Berl., 

1865. 

9.  Tollin,   H.     Luther  und    Servet,   Berl.,    1875;   Das  Lehrsystem  Michael 

Servet,  3  vols.,  Giitersl.,  1876-79  ;  Ph.  Melanchthon  und  M.  Servet, 
Berl.,  1876;  Charakterbild  Servets,  Berl.,  1876;  Servet  und  d.  ober- 
landischen  Reformatoren,  Berl.,  1880.  See  Mod.  Rev.,  ii,  426  ;  Presb.  R., 
i,  383.  Tollin  was  an  enthusiastic  explorer  of  every  part  of  Servetus's 
history,  and  his  monographs  are  as  interesting  as  they  are  important. 

10.  Piinjer,  G.  C.  B.     De  Michaelis  Serveti  doctrina  commentatio  dogmatico- 

historica.     Jena,  1876. 

11.  Willis,  R.     Servetus  and  Calvin.     Lond.,  1877. 

12.  Dardier,  C.     Michael  Servet  d'apres  ses  plus  recents  biographes.     Nogent- 

le-Rotrou,  1879. 

13.  Bloch,  J.  V.     Michael  Servet.     Schonb.,  1879. 

14.  Linde.     Michael  Servet,  een  Brandhofper  der  Gereformeerde  Inquisitii. 

Gron.,  1891. 
See  M.  Mauris  in  Pop.  Science  Mon.,  Nov.,  1877;  Martyrdom  of  Servetus 
in  Unit.  Rev.,  Jan.,  1883;  J.  H.  Allen,  Servetus,  in  New  World,  Dec,  1892 
(i,  639  ff.) ;  C.  W.  Shields,  Trial  of  Servetus,  in  Presb.  andRef.  Rev.,  July,  1893  ; 
J.  W.  Richard,  The  True  Story  of  Servetus,  in  Chr.  Lit.  Mag.,  i,  23  ;  S.  C. 
Mitchell,  A  Stricture  on  Schaff' s  Account  of  Servetus,  in  Am.  Journal  of  The- 
ology, i,  450  ff.  (April,  1897).  A  transl.  of  the  Restitutio  into  German,  ed. 
by  B.  Spiers,  appeared  at  Wiesbaden  in  1896.  See  G.  Kawerau,  in  Th.  Litz. , 
1896,  No.  5. 


JOHN   CALVIN  TO   HIS  SETTLEMENT   IN   GENEVA.       279 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 

JOHN    CALVIN    TO    HIS    SETTLEMENT    IN    GENEVA. 

The  leadership  of  Geneva  was  to  be  brought  about  by  John  Calvin, 
than  whom  perhaps  no  great  leader  of  the  Church  has  elicited  more 
profound  esteem,  not  to  say  affection,  nor  deeper  abhorrence.  Per- 
haps it  should  be  a  function  of  history  in  the  present  age  to  mitigate 
the  severity  of  the  judgments  which  have  until  recently  been  enter- 
tained concerning  him  and  his  history,  by  placing  him  in  our 
thought  in  juxtaposition  with  his  own  times.  Had  he  breathed 
the  atmosphere  of  a  gentler  era  he  would  not  himself  have  been 
so  severe.  And  it  is  only  when  he  is  viewed  in  certain  aspects  that 
he  appears  really  stern  and  relentless.  Although  he  lived  so  little  in 
the  realm  of  sentiment,  his  correspondence  reveals  him  as  an  affec- 
tionate husband  and  a  tender  and  sympathetic  friend.  Yet,  after 
all  allowance  is  made,  it  must  be  confessed  that  there  was  in  his 
fiber  a  hardness  which,  while  it  fitted  him  for  his  work,  will  ever 
prevent  the  world  from  paying  him  the  homage  bestowed  upon 
many  inferior  souls.  With  all  his  love  of  learning  he  was  little 
affected  by  the  spirit  of  Humanism,  which  almost  universally  pre- 
vailed among  the  scholars  of  his  time.1  His  nature  was  composed 
of  such  stern  elements  that  it  could  not  easily  be  softened  by  sur- 
rounding influences. 

But  it  will  be  better  to  let  his  life  speak  for  him.  Born  in 
Picardy,  in  the  town  of  Noyon,  July  10,  1509,  he  was  twenty 
years  younger  than  Farel,  who  prepared  his  way  at  Geneva.  Of 
his  earlier  life  we  have  but  meager  records  in  his  own  writings. 
"We  know  that  his  father  was  a  man  who  commanded  the  respect  of 
all  classes,  and  who  by  his  character  and  ability  was  able  to  secure 
from  the  Church  revenues  sufficient  to  maintain  the  boy  in  school.2 

1  To  this  statement  his  first  book,  A  Commentary  on  Seneca's  De  Clementia, 
is  no  exception.  It  is  characteristic  that  he  should  have  made  his  only  Human- 
istic effort  along  the  line  of  the  Stoic  morality. 

2  The  influence  of  the  father,  Gerard  Calvin,  or  Cauvin,  was  such  that  when 
Jean  was  but  twelve  years  old  he  secured  for  him  the  chaplaincy  of  the  Chapelle 
de  la  Gesine  in  connection  with  the  cathedral,  with  a  part  of  its  revenues,  and 
at  the  age  of  eighteen  the  cure  of  St.  Martin  de  Marteville.  Such  disregard 
of  canon  law  was  not  uncommon  at  that  time.  For  numerous  examples  see 
Schaff,  vii,  301. 


280  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Destined  by  his  father  for  the  priesthood,  he  was  sent  to  Paris, 
where,  in  the  College  de  la  Marche,  he  studied  Latin,  and  sub- 
calvin's  sequently  philosophy  and  theology  in  the  College  de 

early  life.  Montague.  His  morals  at  this  time,  as  through  all 
his  life,  were  severe.  Addicted  to  the  duties  of  religion,  he  was 
studious  to  make  the  most  of  his  opportunities,  and  there  is  no 
reason  to  believe  the  evil  reports  of  the  cowardly  Bolsec,  which 
were  not  published  until  Calvin  had  been  thirteen  years  in  his 
grave.1  From  Paris  he  went  to  Orleans,  where  he  studied  law 
under  the  future  president  of  parliament,  Pierre  de  l'Etoile,  his 
father  having  changed  his  purpose  concerning  the  youth  because 
of  his  suspected  qualifications  for  legal  pursuits  and  the  better 
earthly  prospects  which  would  thus  be  opened  to  him.3  So  pro- 
ficient was  he  here  that  he  was  sometimes  called  upon  to  lecture  in 
the  absence  of  the  professor,  and  was  offered  the  doctor's  degree 
without  the  usual  charge.3  This  proffer  he  declined,  however, 
and  proceeded  to  Bourges,  where  he  pursued  his  legal  studies  under 
the  Milanese,  Andrea  Alciati,  the  most  celebrated  lecturer  on  law, 
if  not  the  most  distinguished  jurist  of  his  day. 

In  the  providence  of  God  this  eager  pursuit  of  the  law  was  to 
place  him  in  a  situation  in  which  his  mind  would  be  drawn  in  a  new 
direction.  Turned  away  from  the  priesthood  by  his  father  through 
considerations  of  temporal  welfare,  Melchior  Wolmar  (or  Volmar), 
professor  of  Greek  and  Hebrew  at  Bourges,  was  to  lead  him  back 
again  to  a  true  priesthood.  For  while  this  German  Protestant  and 
calvin's  former  pupil  of   Lefevre  probably  did  nothing  more 

fromGlaw  than  to  turn  his  attention  to  the  study  of  the  Greek 
to  theology.  j^ew  Testament,  this  it  undoubtedly  was  which  both 
opened  Calvin's  eyes  to  the  errors  of  Romanism  and  prepared  him 
for  the  doctrinal  and  practical  labors  of  later  years.  Subsequently 
to  the  death  of  his  father,  whom  he  attended  in  his  last  illness, 
he  resumed  his  interrupted  studies,  but  this  time  in  Paris,  where, 

1  Bolsec's  quarrel  against  Calvin  arose  on  account  of  a  difference  on  points 
in  theology.  He  was  a  "  pestilent  fellow  "  whom  neither  the  Genevese  nor  the 
French  would  tolerate.  He  reported  that,  for  the  crime  of  sodomy,  Calvin  had 
been  branded  with  the  fleur-de-lis,  this  milder  punishment  being  substituted 
for  the  proper  one  of  burning,  at  the  suggestion  of  the  bishop  of  Noyon.  There 
is  absolutely  no  ground  for  giving  credit  to  the  slander.  See  a  long  note  on 
the  subject  in  Schaff ,  vii,  302,  303. 

2  See  the  Preface  to  his  Commentary  on  the  Psalms. 

3  He  was  so  well  versed  in  legal  lore  even  at  this  early  date  that  he  was  con- 
sulted about  the  divorce  of  Henry  Vd  of  England.  His  opinion  was  favora- 
ble to  Henry.— Burnet;  Hist,  of  the  Ref.  Church  of  England,  bk.  ii,  pt.  1. 


JOHN   CALVIN  TO   HIS   SETTLEMENT  IN   GENEVA.        281 

in  1532,  he  published  his  Commentary  on  the  De  Clementia  of 
Seneca.  Even  this  book  exhibited  no  trace  of  a  change  in  his  relig- 
ious convictions,  and  it  is  highly  improbable  that  it  was  intended 
as  an  apology  for  the  Protestants  or  as  a  plea  for  the  royal  clemency 
in  their  behalf. 

Just  when  Calvin's  conversion  took  place  we  do  not  know.  He 
attributes  it  to  the  providence  of  God,  and  says  that  his  obstinate 
devotion  to  the  superstitions  of  popery  rendered  his  extrication  from 
that  profound  and  miry  abyss  difficult,  and  that  therefore  God 
suddenly  converted  and  thus  subdued  his  intractable  mind.  The 
most  that  he  credits  this  change  with  doing  for  him  was  the  im- 
partation  of  ''some  taste  and  knowledge  of  true  godliness."  But 
he  says  that  this  imflamed  him  with  such  a  desire  to  make  progress 
therein  that  in  its  interest  he  was  led  to  pursue  his  other  studies 
with  less  ardor. '  Whether  this  was  at  Bourges,  under  the  influence 
of  Wolmar,  or  at  Paris,  where  he  must  have  heard  the  reformed 
preachers,  it  is  impossible  to  discover.  Certain  it  is  that  before 
November,  1533,  he  had  made  such  advances  in  his  CALVIN>S  AT_ 
new  ideas  that  he  could  write  the  bitter  attack  of  Rector    TACK  0N  THE 

SORBONNE. 

Cop  against  the  doctors  of  the  Sorbonne  and  the  theol- 
ogy which  they  held.  The  delivery  of  this  address  and  the  discov- 
ery that  it  was  composed  by  Calvin  produced  very  great  excitement 
and  led  to  the  adoption  of  severe  measures  against  the  Protestants. 
The  address  maintained  the  doctrine  of  the  forgiveness  of  sin  and 
the  gift  of  eternal  life  as  having  their  source  alone  in  God's  grace, 
and  not  as  a  result  of  the  merit  of  good  works.  The  theologians  of 
the  Sorbonne  were  attacked  as  ignorant  sophists  who  taught  noth- 
ing of  faith,  the  love  of  God,  the  remission  of  sins,  grace,  or  justi- 
fication, which  they  did  not  at  the  same  time  undermine  by  their 
sophistries.  Cop  fled  to  Basel  and  Calvin  to  Angouleme,  where  he  was 
protected  for  a  time  by  Louis  du  Tillot,  the  canon  of  the  cathedral. 
Tillot  had  collected  a  large  library,  which  Calvin  was  permitted  to 
use.  Here  he  taught  Greek  to  his  protector  and  mingled  on  honor- 
able terms  with  the  literary  men  of  the  place.  Perhaps,  also,  he 
here  began  his  Institutes,  which  work  was  to  lift  him  to  sudden 
fame,  and  certainly  he  wrote  the  Preface  to  the  first  edition  of  the 
French  translation  of  the  Bible  by  his  cousin,  Robert  Olivetan.  In 
May,  1534,  being  completely  converted  from  the  errors  of  Roman- 
ism, he  resigned  his  ecclesiastical  benefices,  thus  formally  cutting 
himself  off  from  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  It  is  a  striking  co- 
incidence that  in  the  same  year  Ignatius  Loyola  founded  the  order 
1  See  his  Preface  to  the  Commentary  on  the  Psalms. 


282  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

of  Jesuits.  These  two  men,  who  had  studied  at  the  same  time  in 
the  college  of  theology  in  Paris,  were  now  at  once  taking  divergent 
ways.  The  movements  headed  respectively  by  them,  though  differ- 
ent in  aim  and  method,  vary  but  little  in  spirit,  both  inculcating 
the  most  rigid  adherence  to  convictions  of  duty.  The  difference  in 
aim,  however,  has  made  one  a  blessing  and  the  other  a  curse  to  every 
community  in  which  the  products  of  their  genius  have  appeared. 

The  causes  which  led  Calvin  at  length  to  forsake  his  native  land 
have  been  misunderstood.  He  did  not  flee  to  Switzerland  for  safety, 
but  for  leisure.1  The  desire  to  continue  his  studies  was  stronger 
than  the  purpose  to  aid  in  bringing  about  a  reform.  Indeed,  it  is 
possible  that  had  he  been  left  to  himself  he  would  never  have  as- 
sumed the  role  of  a  reformer.  Notwithstanding  his  extensive  ac- 
quirements, he  was  timid  and  self-distrustful.  His  ideal  was  lofty 
and,  it  is  to  be  feared,  unsuited  to  a  world  of  reality.  But  in  away 
little  suspected  by  himself  God  was  leading  him  to  the  field  of  his 
highest  usefulness.  He  was  to  do  more  than  employ  his  pen  in  at- 
tacks upon  Rome  and  in  defense  of  the  Reformation. 

Departing  from  France,  which  he  was  to  visit  but  once  again, 
he  found  his  way,  in  company  with  his  friend,  pupil,  and  patron, 
du  Tillot,  through  Metz  to  Strasburg,  and  thence  to  Basel  late  in 
1534,  where,  under  Simon  Grynseus,  he  studied  Hebrew.  Here  in 
1536  he  published  to  the  world  the  first  edition  of  his 
edition  or  famous  Institutes  in  Latin.3  This  work,  which  gave 
its  author  at  the  age  of  twenty-six  a  position  second  to 
none  in  the  Protestant  theological  world,  was  intended  as  an  apol- 
ogy for  Protestantism.  The  original  purpose  of  Calvin  had  been 
to  provide  for  his  countrymen  a  suitable  form  of  instruction  in 
true  religion.  The  baseless  scandals  of  the  enemies  of  Protestant- 
ism having  intensified  the  fires  of  French  persecution,  he  thought 
it  best  to  address  his  book  to  Francis  I,  in  the  hope  that  that  sover- 
eign, seeing  the  real  nature  of  the  reformed  doctrine,  might  be  in- 
duced to  protect  its  innocent  and  loyal  adherents.  Should  he  con- 
tinue to  listen  to  the  malevolent  whispers  of  their  enemies,  however, 
and  refuse  the  accused  an  opportunity  to  speak  for  themselves,  the 

1  Preface  to  Commentary  on  the  Psalms. 

2  The  work  was  not  so  early  published  in  its  final  form,  but  was  much  elabo- 
rated and  strengthened  through  a  series  of  years.  Yet,  in  its  original  form,  it 
was  a  marvelous  work.  The  Preface  to  the  Institutes  has  been  classed,  together 
with  the  Preface  of  de  Thou  to  his  History  of  France  and  of  Casaubon  to  his 
Polybius,  as  one  of  this  trio  of  greatest  prefaces  known  to  literary  annals. 
Schaff  gives  lengthy  extracts  in  English— vii,  332-334.     On  pp.  336-343  he 

gives  extracts  from  the  body  of  the  work, 
t 


JOHN   CALVIN  TO   HIS   SETTLEMENT   IN   GENEVA.        283 

terrible  ordeals  to  which  they  were  put  might  continue  for  a  time, 
but  the  Lord  would  assuredly  stretch  forth  his  hand  for  their  deliv- 
erance and  for  the  punishment  of  their  persecutors.1 

The  savage  and  unreflecting  fury  of  Francis  could  not  be  mod- 
ified by  so  calm  and  dignified  an  appeal  for  justice.  But  while 
the  Institutes  failed  in  their  secondary  object,  they  accomplished 
the  primary  purpose  of  their  author.  They  were  read  not  only  in 
France,  but  throughout  all  Europe.  A  French  edition,  FRENCH 
published  soon  after,  opened  the  ideas  of  the  book  to     S?™SSL2J 

■*•  ■*•  INSTITUTE!}. 

the  common  people,  for  whom  they  were  originally  in- 
tended. By  this  and  by  his  writings  in  general  he  contributed  to 
the  formation  of  the  French  language  almost  as  much  as  Luther's 
writing  influenced  the  German.2  However  men  may  differ  from 
his  tenets  concerning  predestination  and  election,  there  is  no  one 
competent  to  judge  who  would  deny  the  scholarly  strength  and 
philosophic  ability  displayed  in  -this  theological  masterpiece  of 
the  French  Eeformation.  It  gave  its  author  the  title  of  "  The 
Aquinas  "  of  the  Reformed  Church,  which,  coming  as  it  does 
from  the  Romanists  themselves,  is  intended  to  signify  the  great- 
ness of  the  work  and  the  intellectual  power  and  spiritual  insight 
of  Calvin. 

The  motives  which  led  Calvin  to  leave  Basel  and  visit  Italy  we  can 
only  conjecture.  That  his  sojourn  was  at  the  court  of  Renee, 
Duchess  of  Ferrara,3  would  indicate  that  he  must  have  calvin  in 
gone  at  her  invitation.  She  was  accustomed  to  gather  "aly. 
about  her  the  most  cultivated  men  of  the  age,  and  she  may  have 
heard  of  Calvin  through  Margaret  of  Angouleme.  However  this 
may  be,  he  gained  an  ascendency  over  her  mind,  already  so  favor- 

1  So  ran  the  plea  in  the  famous  Preface,  ending  with  a  note  of  defiance. 

3  For  testimonies  on  this  point  see  Stahelin,  Johannes  Calvin,  ii,  363  f . 
Stahelin  quotes  Sayous,  Etudes  litteraires  sur  les  ecrivains  francais  de  la  Re- 
formation, Paris,  1854 ;  F.  Bungener,  Calvin,  sa  vie,  ses  ceuvres,  et  ses  ecrits, 
and  the  Roman  Catholic  literary  historians,  Lacroix  and  Nisard. 

3  Renee,  or  Renata,  was  the  daughter  of  Louis  XII  of  France,  and  a  godly 
and  brilliant  woman.  Some  have  supposed,  though  without  any  proof,  that 
his  Institutes  had  given  him  such  fame  as  to  cause  him  to  be  invited.  Beza 
indicates  as  Calvin's  motive  the  desire  to  see  Italy  and  to  become  acquainted 
with  Renee.  A  useful  book  on  Renee  is  Strack's  work,  trnaslated  by  Catherine 
E.  Hurst  under  the  title  of  Renata  of  Este  :  a  Chapter  from  the  History  of 
the  Reformation  in  France  and  Italy,  Cincinnati,  1873.  According  to  an 
article  in  the  Bulletin  de  la  societe  pour  1'  histoire  du  protestantisme  francais, 
1860,  p.  168,  Calvin  made  a  deep  impression  by  his  preaching,  both  on  the 
French  and  the  Italians  at  Renee's  court.  He  seems  also  to  have  attracted  the 
favorable  attention  of  Titian. — Stahelin,  ii,  6,  7. 


284  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

able  to  the  Keformation,  which  led  her  to  adopt  him  as  her  future 
spiritual  guide,  an  office  which  he  filled  with  conscientious  zeal 
and  effectiveness. 

We  pass  by  Calvin's  traditional  visit  to  the  valley  of  Aosta. 
Certain  it  is  that  he  was  compelled  to  flee  from  Italy.  Arrived 
again  at  Basel,  he  left  du  Tillot  and  made  a  last  visit  to  France, 
where  he  settled  his  financial  affairs,  and,  taking  his  brother 
Antoine  and  his  sister  Marie  with  him,  bade  a  final  farewell 
last  visit  t°  his  native  land,  intending  to  settle  in  a  foreign 
to  France,  country,  and  there  pursue  his  chosen  life  as  a 
student  of  the  things  of  God,  in  the  hope  of  furthering  the 
cause  of  reform  at  home.  The  little  party  directed  their  journey 
toward  Basel,  but  the  war  between  Charles  V  and  Francis  I 
closed  up  the  direct  route  and  made  a  detour  by  way  of  the  terri- 
tories of  the  Duke  of  Savoy  and  the  Swiss  confederate  cantons 
necessary.  Thus,  contrary  to  his  purpose,  Calvin  was  brought 
to  Geneva. 

By  what  a  devious  path  was  God  leading  him  to  his  sublime  mis- 
sion !  Du  Tillot  had  left  Basel  and  was  spending  a  year  in  Geneva. 
He  chanced  to  see  Charles  d'Espeville,  as  Calvin  now  called  him- 
self,1 and  recognized  in  him  the  author  of  the  Institutes  and  his 
old-time  friend.  Hastening  to  Farel,  he  told  him  of  the  presence 
of  the  great  theologian  in  Geneva.  Calvin's  purpose  to 
tial  meeting  remain  in  the  city  but  one  night  was  thereby  altered. 
Farel  knew  that  another  than  himself  could  better 
establish  the  work  which  he  had  begun.  Long  and  earnestly  had 
he  prayed  God  to  raise  up  a  suitable  instrument.  He  now  believed 
that  his  prayer  had  been  answered.  Laying  before  Calvin  the  dif- 
ficulties which  he  could  not  himself  surmount,  and  endeavoring  to 
make  him  see  the  hand  of  God  in  the  call,  Farel  expected  a  favor- 
able answer  at  once.  But  Calvin  could  not  so  quickly  yield  his 
cherished  plans.  He  felt  that  he  lacked  alike  the  age,  the  experi- 
ence, and  the  tastes  demanded  for  the  practical  work  of  a  reformer. 
His  must  be,  he  thought,  the  more  modest  task  of  aiding  the  cause 
with  his  pen.  Had  we  no  other  evidence,  the  result  of  Farel's 
course  would  demonstrate  the  presence  of  something  far  higher 
than  self-will  in  the  violence  of  the  mighty  iconoclast.  Something 
more  awful  than  the  mere  manifestation  of  a  human  purpose  must 
have  been  evident  in  the  curse  which  Farel  now  called  down  upon 
Calvin  if  he  preferred  his  own  way  to  the  clearly  designated  prov- 
idential path.     Somehow  Farel  made  the  impression  upon  Calvin 

1  At  various  times  Calvin  traveled  under  this  and  other  assumed  names. 


JOHN   CALVIN  TO   HIS   SETTLEMENT   IN    GENEVA.        285 

that  he  was  the  mouthpiece  of  heaven,  the  hand  of  God,  which  he 
dared  not  resist.1 

One  to  whom  God  was  less  real  or  who  failed  to  recognize  the 
awful  consequence  of  disobedience  to  divine  command  would  have 
entered  upon  so  important  a  work  under  such  conditions  with 
certainty  of  failure.  But  the  strong-willed  Calvin  was  just  the 
man  to  feel  the  force  of  the  Almighty  will  and  to  acquiesce  in  it. 
His  duty  was  clear,  whatever  his  own  judgment  of  his  fitness 
might  be.  His  inclinations  must  yield  to  the  sense  of  divine  obli- 
gation, for  duty  was  supreme.  The  entire  Genevan  period  of  his 
life  can  be  best  understood  when  considered  as  the  product  of  an 
unfaltering  loyalty  to  the  sovereign  will  of  God  rather  than  as 
a  congenial  task.  He  submitted  to  God's  stern  will,  and  the 
Genevese  must  submit  to  him  as  the  agent  of  God.  However  it 
might  crucify  the  flesh,  the  commandments  of  the  Lord  must  be 
observed,  whether  by  John  Calvin  or  the  inhabitants  of  Geneva. 

1  See  a  letter  of  Farel  to  a  friend  under  date  of  June  6,  1564,  in  Farel's  Du 
vray  usage  de  la  croix,  Geneva,  1865,  pp.  314  ff. 


286  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


CHAPTER   XXVIII. 

THE  REFORMATION  IN  GENEVA  TO  THE  EXPULSION  OF  CALVIN 

AND  FAREL. 

Having  yielded,  Calvin  entered  upon  his  work,  not,  indeed,  with 
zest,  but  with  a  firm  conscientiousness  which,  though  it  lent  a 
certain  hardness  of  outline,  yet  supplied  a  superhuman  energy  for 
his  efforts.  With  all  possible  haste  he  made  his  expected  visit  to 
Basel,  and  in  a  very  short  time  was  at  work  in  Geneva.  His  first 
seven  chief  duties  were  those  of  the  teacher  of  theology,  to  which 
workers.  were  soon  added  those  of  the  pastor  and  preacher.  In 
a  short  time  there  were  in  Geneva,  besides  Farel  and  Calvin,  Cou- 
rault,  who  replaced  Viret  upon  the  transfer  of  the  latter  to  Lausanne 
in  1536  ;  Saunier  and  Cordier,  who  were  active  in  the  work  of  teach- 
ing; and  Calvin's  brother  Antoine,  and  his  cousin  Olivetan,  all 
engaged  in  propagating  the  doctrines  of  the  Reformation. 

The  thoroughness  and  variety  of  Calvin's  studies  now  began  to 
prove  themselves.  But  his  growth  in  the  admiration  and  affec- 
tion of  Geneva  was  not  to  proceed  without  trial  and  interruption. 
Among  the  first  to  cause  him  trouble  was  one  Pierre  Caroli,  who 
had  outwitted  Beda,  the  syndic  of  the  Sorbonne,  and  who  subse- 
quently in  Geneva  gave  his  adherence  to  the  Reformation.  He 
had  married  in  Neuchatel  and  spent  some  time  in  Basel,  after 
which  he  was  called  as  assistant  to  Viret  at  Lausanne.  But  his 
trouble  was  a  Jeal°us>  turbulent,  and  ungrateful  nature,  and 
with  caroli.  he  soon  fell  into  difficulty  with  Viret,  whom  he  hesi- 
tated to  obey.  Taking  advantage  of  Viret's  absence  in  Geneva,  he 
began  to  teach  publicly  the  necessity  of  prayers  for  the  dead.  Cal- 
vin and  Viret  hastened  to  Lausanne  to  quiet  him,  lest  the  unity  of 
the  Reformed  Church  might  be  disturbed.  He  was  obliged  to  yield 
the  point  at  issue,  although  through  Calvin's  intercession  he  was 
saved  all  unnecessary  humiliation.  Burning  under  the  sense  of  de- 
feat, however,  he  rose  up  in  the  assembly  and  declared  that  there 
was  upon  his  conscience  something  which  he  could  no  longer  sup- 
press. Calvin,  Farel,  and  Viret  were,  in  short,  unbelievers  in  the 
Trinity,  and  in  reality  Arians.  This  he  asserted  on  the  ground 
that  the  words  "person"  and  "trinity"  were  not  used  in  the 
Genevan  catechism. 


THE  REFORMATION  IN   GENEVA.  287 

Calvin  was  greatly  distressed,  not  for  himself  but  for  the  sake  of 
the  cause,  which  was  already  suffering  from  the  accusation  of  its 
enemies  that  the  reformers  were  divided  in  their  opinions.  Be- 
sides, while  aware  of  his  own  orthodoxy,  he  was  too  little  known  to 
the  Swiss  not  to  need  a  good  record  in  this  as  in  other  particulars. 
The  very  success  of  his  work  depended  upon  his  reputation.  A 
synod  at  Lausanne  gave  the  accused  an  opportunity  to  demon- 
strate their  orthodoxy,  but  not  until  the  anger  of  Calvin  had  been 
stirred  by  the  obstinate  and  relentless  conduct  of  Caroli.  The 
great  reformer's  defense  was  couched  in  the  bitterest  terms,  but  it 
also  contained  arguments  which  fairly  annihilated  his  opponent. 
The  synod  justified  the  reformers  and  declared  Caroli  a  base  slan- 
derer, unworthy  of  the  ministerial  office.  Caroli  appealed  to  the 
general  synod,  which  was  then  in  session  at  Berne.  But  here  the 
victory  over  him  was  still  more  complete,  and  Caroli  was  banished 
from  the  domain.  He  returned  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, 
was  absolved  from  his  marriage  vows,  and  spent  his  last  years  in 
opposing  the  Reformation. 

While  the  victory  before  the  general  synod  had  been  so  decisive, 
the  suspicions  of  the  more  thoughtless  masses  were  not  allayed, 
and  the  feeling,  especially  in  Berne,  was  such  as  to      „„  „„ 

a'         r  J  '  ^  OTHER  DIF- 

prepare  the  way  for  continued  opposition  or  indiffer-      ficulties 

r       r  J  .  1  OVERCOME. 

ence  to  Calvin  and  Geneva  from  that  time  forward. 
Similar  difficulties  confronted  the  reformers  in  the  presence  of  the 
Anabaptists,  who  after  much  care  and  anxiety  were  overcome  and 
expelled  from  the  city.  More  pleasing  was  the  disputation  with 
Romanists  at  Lausanne,  which  ended  in  winning  that  city  for  the 
Reformation.  Here,  as  in  all  his  disputations,  Calvin's  learning 
stood  him  in  good  stead.2  Not  in  vain  had  he  labored  with  such 
diligence  in  the  various  fields  of  philosophy,  theology,  and  law. 

These  events,  however,  were  only  incidental  to  the  principal 
work  of  the  Reformation.  Geneva  was  morally  debased  and  Calvin 
was  not  content  with  the  mere  preaching  of  the  truth.  The  theo- 
cratic conception  of  the  relation  of  Church  and  State  held  him 
enchained.  He  prevailed  upon  the  council  to  make  6Worn  sub- 
scription to  the  formulated  utterances  of  the  reformers  a  test  of 
citizenship.     Whoever  would  not  take  the  oath  was  denied  his 

1  Comp.  Stahelin,  i,  132-139. 

2  At  the  Lausanne  disputation  he  kept  silence  during  the  first  five  days. 
But  when  the  other  Protestant  debaters  were  unable  to  discuss  the  questions  in 
dispute  from  the  authority  of  the  fathers,  Calvin,  by  the  aid  of  his  prodigious 
memory,  was  able  to  save  the  day. 


288  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

civil  rights.     Whoever  opposed  these  doctrines  was  to  be  subjected 

to  ecclesiastical  and.  secular  penalties.      The  Lord's  Supper  was 

thenceforth  to  be  celebrated  every  month  alternately 

7VTOT?  \T 

reform  in  each  of  the  three  principal  churches.     The  ministry 

were  to  have  the  right  to  refuse  the  communion  to  the 
unworthy,  and  to  the  congregation  was  granted  the  power  of  excom- 
munication. A  committee  of  pious  and  capable  men  were  to  watch 
over  the  communicants,  rebuke  those  who  went  astray,  and  finally, 
if  repentance  did  not  ensue,  to  exclude  them  from  the  table  of  the 
Lord.  Spiritual  songs  were  to  be  introduced  as  a  means  of  lifting 
the  soul  to  God,  and  a  choir  of  children  trained  to  take  the  lead 
until  the  melodies  had  been  learned  by  the  people.  Eeligious  in- 
struction of  children  was  made  obligatory,  and  parents  who  refused 
to  conform  to  this  order  were  stricken  from  the  roll  of  citizens. 
Marriage  was  regulated  according  to  the  word  of  God,  and  not  ac- 
cording to  Eoman  Catholic  ecclesiastical  law.  The  Lord's  Day  was 
to  be  kept  holy.  Theatricals  were  forbidden,  and  improper  songs 
were  no  longer  indulged  in  public  places. 

The  execution  of  these  measures  knew  no  distinctions  of  age, 
sex,  social  standing,  or  official  dignity,  and  but  little  between  de- 
grees of  offensiveness.  Some  persons  who  had  instituted  a  mas- 
querade were  compelled  to  plead  for  pardon  in  the  presence  of  the 
whole  congregation  assembled  in  St.  Peter's  Church.  A  dress- 
maker who  had  decked  out  a  young  woman  in  an  immodest  gar- 
ment, the  mother  and  two  friends  who  assisted  her  to  don  the 
objectionable  clothing,  and  then  went  out  with  her,  were  all 
obliged  to  spend  two  days  in  jail  as  a  punishment.  An  adulterer 
was  led,  with  his  sinful  accomplice,  back  and  forth  through  the 
streets,  and  then  expelled  from  the  city. 

If  these  regulations  and  punishments  appear  childish,  it  must 
be  remembered  that  they  fell  in  an  age  and  a  city  in  which  men 
practiced  sin  with  all  the  lack  of  self-control  characteristic  of  chil- 
dren. Geneva  licensed  prostitution,  and  had  a  legally  constituted 
queen  of  the  brothel  as  the  official  head  of  the  institution.  The 
public  dances  generally  ended  in  the  most  shameless  excesses.  The 
light-minded,  frivolous  character  of  the  populace  demanded  severe 
restraint,1  and  while  Calvin  did  not  regard  all  the  amusements  for- 
bidden as  in  themselves  harmful,  yet  because  they  were  so  sure  to 

1  An  illustration  of  the  condition  of  affairs  in  Geneva  may  be  found  in  the 
fact,  mentioned  by  Stahelin,  that  certain  prominent  citizens  professed  their 
willingness  to  swear  subscription  to  the  Confession  and  Catechism,  as  required, 
but  not  to  the  Ten  Commandments,  which  were  too  difficult  to  observe. 


THE   REFORMATION  IN   GENEVA.  289 

be  abused  he  would  forbid  them  altogether.  At  first  it  appeared 
as  though  this  stern  enactment  would  meet  with  little  opposition, 
but  the  time  would  soon  come  when  new  and  worse  trials  than  any 
they  had  yet  endured  were  to  confront  the  reformers.  The  joy  of 
success  was  granted  but  for  a  little  time. 

Many  of  the  inhabitants  had  recalled  their  oath,  still  others  had 
not  sworn,  and  all  of  both  classes  were  defiant.  The  elections  of  the 
early  spring  of  1538  resulted  in  the  choice  of  syndics  opposed  to 
the  regulations  of  Calvin  and  Farel.  Berne,  desirous  of  uniformity, 
and  instigated  by  Kunz,  chief  pastor  and  a  strong  Lutheran,  ap- 
pealed to  Geneva  to  do  away  with  some  of  the  peculiarities  which 
had  been  introduced  and  to  conform  to  Bernese  customs.  A  synod 
at  Lausanne  dealt  with  the  new  difficulties.  The  Genevan  reform- 
ers were  willing  to  submit  themselves  to  a  general  synod  which 
was  to  meet  at  Zurich  in  May,  but  the  enemies  of  the  preachers 
in  Geneva  had  stirred  up  such  an  excitement  that  no  serious  at- 
tempt could  be  made  to  administer  discipline.  The  streets  re- 
sounded again  with  obscene  songs,  and  where  order  and  decency 
had  been,  confusion  and  wickedness  now  prevailed.  The  civil 
authorities  ordered  the  preachers  to  administer  the  sacrament 
with  unleavened  wafers,  as  at  Berne.  They,  in  turn,  insisted  upon 
employing  only  ordinary  bread.  Thus  the  sacred  Easter  period 
approached.  The  council  sent  word  to  Calvin  and. Farel  that  oth- 
ers than  themselves  would  be  employed  on  Easter  to  administer  the 
sacrament.  But  these  were  not  the  men  to  be  intim- 
idated, and,  surrounded  by  their  friends,  they  appeared  of  calvin 
in  the  pulpit  on  Easter  Day.  The  sacrament  they 
refused  to  administer  in  any  form  because  of  the  moral  condition  of 
the  city  ;  it  would  be  a  sacrilege  of  which  they  would  not  be  guilty. 
Instead,  they  charged  upon  their  enemies  the  responsibility  for  the 
evident  deterioration  of  the  city's  morals.  Although  swords  were 
drawn  against  them  and  angi'y  countenances  were  on  every  side, 
they  concluded  their  discourses,  Calvin  in  St.  Peter's,  Farel  at  St. 
Gervais's,  and  reached  their  homes  in  safety.  Early  next  morning 
a  meeting  of  the  council  was  held  in  which  the  refractory  preach- 
ers were  deposed  and  ordered  to  leave  the  city  within  three  days. 
21 


290  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


CHAPTEK  XXIX. 

CALVIN    IN    STRASBURG. 

The  first  sensations  of  the  banished  ministers  were  those  of  relief. 
Especially  to  Calvin  the  burdens  were  almost  intolerable.  The  iron 
had  entered  his  soul.  For  every  sin  committed  by  one  of  his  parish- 
ioners he  had  felt  himself  in  a  measure  responsible.  He  trembled 
inwardly  whenever,  in  after  years,  he  thought  of  Geneva.  But  he 
also  saw  that  his  own  feelings  were  not  alone  to  be  consulted.  Not 
only  was  Geneva  in  danger  of  being  lost  to  the  Reformation  through 
its  recapture  by  the  ever-watchful  Rome,  but  with  it  the  best 
means  of  influencing  the  work  in  France  and  Italy.  God  had 
called  him  to  the  work  ;  he  would  not  allow  man  to  depose  him 
from  it.  He  would  apply  to  Berne,  which  had  been  measurably 
to  blame  for  the  disruption,  in  the  hope  of  securing  through 
that  city  a  peaceful  adjustment. 

The  order  for  their  expulsion  had  been  issued  on  April  23,  and  so 
prompt  were  Calvin  and  Farel  that  by  the  27th  the  council  of  Berne 
had  sent  an  earnest  letter  of  remonstrance  to  Geneva,  which,  how- 
ever, was  without  avail.  Defeated  here,  they  turned  to  the  general 
synod  at  Zurich,  now  in  session,  and  to  which  they  had  originally 
designed  to  refer  the  questions  in  dispute.  This  synod  favored  their 
cause,  and  deputed  Berne  to  secure  if  possible  the  restoration  of  the 
preachers  under  the  express  condition  that  they  were  to  have  greater 
calvin  in  power  than  ever  if  they  returned.  Berne  sincerely 
basel.  strove  to  bring  about  a  reconciliation  and  the  introduc- 

tion into  Geneva  of  suitable  reforms.  But  the  ill  will  of  Kunz  ren- 
dered all  endeavors  vain.  He  made  it  appear  to  the  Genevese  that  the 
reformers  despised  their  council  and  considered  the  Genevan  church 
their  own  possession  over  which  they  had  the  right  to  exercise  des- 
potic authority.1  Farel  was  called  to  Neuchatel  July,  1538,  where 
he  spent  the  remainder  of  his  life,  and  Calvin  went  to  Basel,  where 
Grynasus  received  and  cared  for  him. 

Here  Calvin  spent  about  three  months  of  quiet  and  confident 
waiting  for  the  discovery  of  God's  will.  It  had  now  become  plain  to 
him  that  his  original  opinion  of  himself  was  correct,  and  that  he  was 

1  See  Calvin's  letter  to  Bullinger,  given  in  Henry's  Biography  of  Calvin,  Ap- 
pendix, 9. 


CALVIN   IN    STRASBURG.  291 

incapable  of  the  work  which  he  had  undertaken  at  Farel's  earnest 
wish."  This  judgment  was  probably  not  erroneous.  Time  and 
occasion  for  growth  and  development  were  to  be  granted  him  in  the 
providence  of  God.  But  subsequent  events  also  proved  that  Farel 
had  made  no  mistake.  The  Genevese  must  be  led  to  appreciate 
in  his  absence  the  agent  of  God  whom  they  had  despised  when 
present. 

When  Bucer  learned  that  Calvin  was  no  longer  employed  at  Ge- 
neva he  at  once  endeavored  to  secure  his  assistance  in  the  work  at 
Strasburg.  But  Calvin's  experience  in  Geneva  had  made  him  more 
reluctant  than  ever  to  undertake  a  new  ecclesiastical  responsibility. 
Long  and  persistently  did  Bucer  strive  with  him,  but  he  as  persist- 
ently refused.  At  length  Bucer  compared  him  to  Jonah,  and  warned 
him  of  the  punishment  which  would  follow  his  sin.2  Once  more 
he  yielded  to  the  call  of  God,  contrary  to  his  own  inclinations ; 
and  with  the  same  suddenness  which  had  characterized 

CALVIN 

his  settlement  in  Geneva  he  departed  for  Strasburg.      goes  to 
His  first  sermon  was  preached  to  the  little  congrega- 
tion of  French  refugees   in  Strasburg,  on  the  second  Sunday  in 
September,  1538.    His  sojourn  of  three  years  was  filled  with  arduous 
duties,  performed  with  most  commendable  fidelity.    His  first  duties 
were  those  of  pastor  of  the  French  church,  numbering  about  three 
hundred  souls.     To  these  were  added,  later,  academic  lectures  on  the 
Gospel  of  John  and  on  Komans.3     All  these  functions  he  performed 
with  eminent  diligence  and    success,  busying  himself  meanwhile 
with  the  perfecting  of  his  Institutes  and  with  other  literary  labors. 
But  his  sojourn  in  Strasburg  had  a  far  broader  significance  than 
this.  Here  he  tasted  of  the  Eeformation  as  a  world-wide  movement. 
Strasburg  lay  at  the  point  where  all  the  streams  of  intellectual  in- 
fluence springing  from  the  Eeformation  converged  and  mingled. 
The  Protestants  of  this  imperial  city  were  neither  Lutherans  nor 

1  Letter  to  du  Tillot,  in  Bonnet,  i,  47. 

2  Calvin  describes  his  situation  in  the  Preface  to  the  Psalms. 

3  Calvin  is  to  be  credited  with  having  introduced  the  grammatical-historical 
method  of  exegesis  into  theology,  particularly  in  its  relation  to  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. He  found  no  sure  support  for  the  Trinity  in  Isa.  vi,  3,  nor  for  the 
deity  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  Psa.  xxxiii,  6,  and  Isa.  xi,  4,  nor  for  a  prophecy 
of  Christ  in  Gen.  iii,  15.  See  other  examples  in  Stiihelin,  i,  189  f.  Richard 
Simon,  the  father  of  Old  Testament  criticism,  and  a  Roman  Catholic,  denied 
Calvin  any  knowledge  of  Hebrew.  Stiihelin  characterizes  this  judgment  as 
laughable,  and  quotes  Meyer  as  to  his  minute  knowledge  of  that  language — pp. 
188,  189,  n.  But  his  Old  Testament  commentaries  were  published  at  a  later 
period  of  life. 


292  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Zwinglians  in  reference  to  the  Lord's  Supper ;  rather  from  them 
proceeded  the  efforts  at  reunion.  Calvin  had  followed  the  contro- 
versy between  Luther  and  Zwingli  ;  now  he  was  to  participate  in 
it.  To  his  mind  it  was  not  the  truth  but  the  error  in  their  views 
which  had  divided  the  two  great  reformers.  Zwingli  held  too  exclu- 
sively to  the  memorial  character  of  the  sacrament,  while  Luther 
made  too  much  of  the  literality  of  the  words  of  insti- 

CALVIN'S  .  . 

work  in  tution.     Calvm  maintained,  contrary  to  Zwmgli,  that 

STKASBURG.  .  .  J  t 

Christ  was  present  m  the  supper,  but,  contrary  to  Lu- 
ther, only  in  a  spiritual  way.  All  this  he  had  in  fact  developed  in- 
dependently in  his  Institutes.  He  was  now  prepared  to  mediate 
between  the  two  parties.1  For  this  purpose  he  wrote  his  work  on 
the  Supper  of  the  Lord.  The  result  was  that  the  Swiss  and  some 
of  the  Lutherans  accepted  his  interpretation,  while  other  Lutherans 
rejected  it,  thus  giving  the  Eeformation  in  Germany  a  divided 
opinion  and  separate  communions,  which  continued  until,  in  1817, 
the  union  was  effected  under  Frederick  William  III. 

A  variety  of  duties  and  occupations  pressed  upon  him.  Among 
them  was  his  mission  as  one  of  the  representatives  of  Strasburg  at 
the  diet  of  Frankfort  (1539).  Here  he  met  Melanchthon,  whom 
he  had  previously  known  only  by  reputation  and  through  corre- 
spondence. The  friendship  which  was  thus  begun  was  continued, 
in  spite  of  certain  differences  of  doctrinal  ojoinion,  through  life.  He 
also  represented  Strasburg  in  the  congresses  of  Hagenau,  Worms, 
and  Eegensburg,  where,  as  he  had  anticipated,  nothing  of  a  practi- 
cal character  was  accomplished.2  In  his  contact  with  the  Anabap- 
tists in  Strasburg  he  was  successful  in  winning  many  of  them  back 
to  the  sobriety  of  the  Eeformation.  Caroli,  however,  wearying 
again  of  the  Eoman  Church,  had  returned  to  Switzerland  and  was 
forgiven  by  FareL  But,  as  other  Protestants  in  Neuchatel  declined 
to  receive  him,  he  came  to  Strasburg,  where  he  gave  Calvin  no  end 
of  trouble,  even  raising  doubts  among  his  best  friends  there  as  to 
his  trinitarian  orthodoxy.3     It  was  during  his  sojourn  in  Strasburg, 

1  Stahelin  well  says  :  "His  doctrine  of  the  Lord's  Supper  did  not  spring  from 
the  wish  to  mediate  between  the  Lutherans  and  the  Zwinglians,  but  his  posi- 
tion as  mediator  arose  from  the  nature  of  his  doctrine  of  the  Lord's  Supper  " 
— i,  212. 

*  It  was  while  here  that  Melanchthon,  observing  his  remarkable  learning  and 
theological  ability,  called  him  by  way  of  eminence  "  the  theologian,"  a  title 
which  was  universally  conceded  to  be  appropriate. 

3  Calvin  himself  acknowledged  that  he  and  Farel  had  made  a  mistake  in  re- 
fusing to  sign  the  Athanasian  creed  at  Berne,  as  Caroli  had  demanded. — Stahe- 
lin,  i,  257. 


CALVIN  IN   STRASBURG.  293 

also,  that  he  married  Idelette  de  Bure,  widow  of  Johannes  Storder, 
one  of  the  converted  leaders  of  the  Anabaptists. ' 

Among  the  inhabitants  of  Geneva  there  were  many  who  favored 
his  ideas  and  obstinately  persisted  in  the  purpose  to  separate  them- 
selves from  the  body  of  the  Church.  This  Calvin 
opposed  with  every  argument  he  could  command  ;  but  friends  in 
the  frivolous,  skeptical,  ignorant  and  inefficient  char- 
acter of  the  preachers  who  had  taken  the  places  left  vacant  by 
Calvin  and  Farel  made  the  task  of  holding  these  earnest  souls  in 
the  Church  difficult.  They  could  not  bring  themselves  to  take 
the  communion  from  the  hands  of  such  men.  The  indiscrimi- 
nate distribution  of  the  elements  to  the  most  ungodly  of  the  pop- 
ulace shocked  every  sense  of  propriety.  So  much,  however,  did 
Calvin  fear  a  division  of  the  Church  that  he  put  forth  every 
effort,  and  with  final  success,  to  hold  his  adherents  in  restraint. 
Indeed,  the  magnanimity  of  his  disposition  was  never  more  mani- 
fest than  in  his  dealings  with  the  city  which  had  so  ungenerously 
thrust  him  out. 

The  condition  of  affairs  in  Geneva  went  from  bad  to  worse. 
During  the  first  year  the  magistracy  maintained  a  semblance  of 
purpose  to  enforce  order,  but  the  penalties  were  graded  according 
to  the  locality  of  the  offenders.  For  dancing  and  other  amusements 
those  who  dwelt  in  the  city  were  merely  rebuked,  while  the  vil- 
lagers were  severely  condemned  and  punished.2  In  the  next  year 
punishments  were  inflicted  only  for  crimes.  Those  who  had  been 
fined  demanded  reimbursement.  The  populace  claimed  release  from 
the  oath  of  confession.  This  was  not  formally  granted,  but  the 
silence  of  the  council  had  given  consent,  and  none  except  those 
who  wished  to  do  so  made  any  pretense  of  further  regard  for  the 
oath.3  There  was  no  unanimity  nor  earnestness  in  the  faith  of  the 
councilors.  Immorality  grew  apace.  The  church  edifices  were 
neglected.  The  Lord's  Supper,  observed  according  to  Bernese  rites, 
came  to  be  despised,  and  the  school  which  Calvin  had  founded 
passed  out  of  existence.4  Matters  had  assumed  essentially  the 
aspect  which  they  wore  prior  to  the  advent  of  Calvin,  whose  hand, 
though  of  iron,  was  needed  to  hold  the  impetuous  and  unrestrained 
Genevese  in  check. 

The  situation  was  as  favorable  as  possible  for  the  Roman  party, 

1  Calvin's  married  life  was  happy,  but  neither  in  Calvin  nor  in  Zwingli  was 
there  any  such  evidence  of  romantic  affection  as  in  the  case  of  Luther. 

2  Gaberel,  Histoire  de  Feglise  de  Geneve,  i,  302. 

3  Stahelin,  i,  291.  4  Gaberel,  i,  299  ;  Stiihelin,  i,  291. 


294  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

and  roused  the  hope  that  the  city  might  be  regained  for  the  faith. 
A  conference  of  archbishops,  bishops,  and  cardinals 
kome  to  be-  met  in  Lyons  to  consult  as  to  the  best  method  to  pur- 
sue. James  Sadolet,  bishop  of  Carpentras  in  Dau- 
phiny,  was  intrusted  with  the  task  of  bringing  about  the  desired 
result.  His  moderation  toward  the  reformers  would  commend 
him  to  the  Protestants,  and  he  was  well  fitted  for  the  task. 
Of  mild  disposition,  he  was  polished  in  manners  and  persuasive 
in  speech.  He  addressed  a  lengthy  communication  to  the  city 
in  which  he  but  mildly  censured  the  people  for  their  apostasy 
from  Eome,  and  laid  the  principal  blame  upon  the  hated  and 
banished  reformers.  In  the  most  plausible  language  he  pre- 
sented the  claims  of  the  Eoman  Catholic  as  the  true  Church  of 
Jesus  Christ,  and  dexterously  insinuated  the  wickedness  of  separa- 
tion from  the  papal  fold.  The  danger  was  great  that  this  epistle 
would  accomplish  its  design.  The  council,  to  whom  it  was  directed, 
publicly  expressed  its  gratitude  for  Sadolet's  interest  in  the  welfare 
of  the  city. 

The  Eeformation  had  its  friends  in  Geneva,  however,  who  were 
not  to  be  blinded  by  polite  words.  A  copy  of  the  document  was 
sent  by  a  special  messenger  to  Calvin  with  an  earnest  request  that 
he  answer  it.  At  first  he  was  disinclined  to  comply,  but,  notwith- 
standing the  humiliation  to  which  the  Genevese  had  subjected  him, 
and  the  revulsion  which  came  over  him  whenever  he  looked  back 
on  his  residence  among  them,  he  could  not  see  them  return  to  the 
Eoman  Church  without  an  effort  on  his  part  to  prevent  it.  In  the 
short  space  of  six  days  he  wrote  a  reply  which  so  completely  over- 
threw the  arguments  of  the  wily  cardinal  that  the  entire  attempt 
was  given  up  as  hopeless.  It  was  a  remarkable  recognition  of  their 
dependence  upon  their  banished  pastor  that  the  council  had  Calvin's 
answer  published  in  Latin  and  French  at  the  public  expense.1 

The  events  which  led  to  Calvin's  recall  are  soon  told.  It  was  ob- 
served that  those  who  had  been  the  leaders  in  the  purpose  to  banish 
the  preachers  were  also  those  who  were  most  active  politically  in 
the  attempt  to  subjugate  Geneva  to  the  authority  of  Berne.  Their 
popular  measures  to  this  end  were  well-nigh  complete,  when 
calvin°sFOR  in  June,  1540,  the  populace,  unwilling  to  yield  their 
return.  civic  independence,  raised  such   a  storm   as   resulted 

in  the  arrest  or  flight  of  the  leaders,  and  thus  brought  their 
machinations  to  an  end.     The  pastors  of   the  city  proposed  that 

1  Gaberel,  i,  312.  See  lengthy  extracts  from  Calvin's  Responsio,  in  English, 
in  Schaff,  vii,  403-412. 


CALVIN  IN   STRASBURG.  295 

the  conditions  existing  four  years  before  should  be  restored. 
The  people  indeed,  seeing  the  danger  which  they  had  just  es- 
caped, felt  the  necessity  of  carrying  out  the  proposition,  but 
naturally  realized  that  they  had  erred  in  driving  away  those  who 
had  been  instrumental  in  bringing  their  city  to  that  high  place 
which  was  now  only  a  memory.  They  were  determined  that  the 
preachers  who  now  served  them  should  not  enjoy  what  they  had 
hitherto  aided  to  destroy.  Eegret,  accompanied  by  genuine  re- 
pentance for  their  injustice  to  Calvin  and  Farel,  grew  deeper  and 
spread  wider  from  day  to  day,  and  with  the  change  of  sentiment 
came  a  demand  for  their  recall. 

When  Calvin  heard  of  this  movement  he  wrote  to  Farel  exhort- 
ing him  to  do  his  utmost  to  prevent  its  consummation.  He  would 
rather  die  than  be  nailed  again  to  that  cross.  He  questioned  the 
genuineness  of  their  repentance,  or  at  least  the  steadfastness  of 
their  purpose.  He  was  willing  to  labor  for  their  welfare  when 
absent,  and  was  not  without  a  certain  feeling  of  affection  for  his 
former  charge,  but  from  the  thought  of  assuming  his  former  rela- 
tionship to  them  his  whole  being  recoiled.  When  the  magistracy 
actually  deputed  one  of  the  most  honorable  of  the  calvin's 
citizens  to  secure  the  return  of  Calvin,  they  little  return  toD 
dreamed  that  another  year  would  elapse  before  he  GENEVA- 
would  be  with  them  again.  Calvin  at  first  made  the  excuse  that 
he  was  just  starting  on  his  mission  to  Worms,  and  that  it  would 
be  impossible  for  him  to  consider  their  call  until  after  his  duties 
there  had  been  performed.  But  the  Genevese  were  as  earnest  for 
his  recall  as  they  had  been  determined  upon  his  expulsion.  He 
demanded  that  Farel  also  should  be  invited,  but  the  people  of 
Neuchatel  would  not  give  him  up,  and  Farel  felt  no  obligation  to 
leave  them  for  the  sake  of  the  Genevese.  The  council  interested 
in  their  behalf  the  cities  of  Zurich  and  Basel,  and  tried  to  secure 
the  cooperation  of  Strasburg.  But  the  latter  city  felt  that  Cal- 
vin could  not  be  spared  as  yet.  The  situation  was  so  important, 
not  only  for  themselves,  but  for  the  Eeformation  in  various  coun- 
tries, that  a  man  of  Calvin's  eminent  talents  was  much  needed. 

Farel  repeatedly  strove  to  secure  Calvin's  consent  to  a  return. 
At  length  a  deputation  from  Geneva  followed  Calvin  to  Eegensburg, 
whither  he  had  gone  in  the  hope  of  aiding  a  reunion  between  the 
Eoman  Catholic  and  the  Protestant  Churches.  So  earnest  were 
they  in  their  plea  that  Calvin  relented,  and  finally  accepted  the 
call  to  return.  Some  months,  however,  elapsed  before  his  final  de- 
parture from  Strasburg,  and  it  was  not  until  about  the  middle  of 


296  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

September,  1541,  that  he  again  took  up  the  work  which,  three 
years  before,  he  had  most  unwillingly  laid  down.  The  Strasburg- 
ers  had  written  a  letter  to  Geneva  in  which  they  expressed  the  ex- 
pectation that  Calvin's  absence  would  be  of  only  brief  duration. 
But  the  Genevese  retorted  in  emphatic  language,  giving  the 
Strasburgers  to  understand  that  they  had  no  intention  of  again 
letting  go  their  hold  upon  the  only  man  whose  hand  was  firm 
enough  to  control  the  affairs  of  the  infant  Church. 


TRIALS  AND  FINAL  TRIUMPH  OF  CALVIN  IN  GENEVA.    297 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

TRIALS    AND   FINAL   TRIUMPH   OF   CALVIN   IN    GENEVA. 

Upon  the  resumption  of  his  duties  Calvin  lost  no  time  in  in- 
troducing his  peculiar  ideas  into  the  Church.  By  November 
20,  only  two  months  after  his  return,  his  "Ecclesiastical  Ordi- 
nances," somewhat  modified  by  the  council,  had  been  put  in  force. 
Church  and  State  were  theoretically  distinct.  It  was  the  office  of 
the  Church  to  furnish  pastors,  doctors  or  teachers,  and  elders,  who 
were  expected  to  watch  over  the  morals  of  the  Church,  and  dea- 
cons, who  were  to  care  for  the  poor.  Purity  in  doctrine,  in  the 
administration  of  the  sacraments,  and  in  church  discipline,  with 
special  emphasis  upon  the  last,  were  demanded.  Only  one  faith 
was  to  be  tolerated  in  Geneva,  from  which  it  was  a  criminal  act  to 
apostatize.  The  secular  authorities  were  to  punish  heresy  and 
compel  uniformity  of  faith.  This  led  to  many  hardships,  and  re- 
sulted in  fastening  upon  the  name  of  Calvin  a  blemish  so  deep  as 
to  deserve  more  extended  notice.  It  was  occasioned  by  the  burning 
of  Michael  Servetus  at  the  stake  on  October  27,  1553. 

This  stubborn  and  aggressive  antitrinitarian  was  born  at  Tudela 
or  at  Villanova,  either  in  the  year  1509  or  1511.  His  michael 
own  utterances  leave  us  in  doubt  as  to  these  data.  In  servetus. 
1530  he  formed  a  friendship  with  CEcolampadius,  who  tried  to 
correct  his  antitrinitarian  views.  In  1531  he  published  in  Stras- 
burg,  while  a  guest  of  Capito,  his  book  entitled  Trinitarian  Errors, 
on  which  account  the  Strasburgers  and  the  Swiss  denied  him  their 
farther  fellowship.  In  order  to  escape  the  odium  which  his  writ- 
ings had  brought  upon  him  from  both  Romanists  and  Protestants 
he  forsook  Germany  and  traveled  under  an  assumed  name.  He 
studied  medicine  in  Paris,  and  practiced  his  art  for  a  time  in  Char- 
lieu  and  afterward  in  Vienna. 

Both  in  France  and  Austria  he  busied  himself  with  literary 
pursuits,  and  in  Vienna  published  his  Christianismi  Restitutio — in 
reality  only  a  version  of  his  earlier  work.  In  1545  and  1546  he  and 
Calvin  had  some  correspondence  concerning  the  thoughts  which 
were  to  enter  into  this  book,  and  Calvin  then  declared  that  if  Ser- 
vetus should  come  to  Geneva  and  fall  under  his  authority  his  life 
would  not  be  safe.     He  had  renounced  all  affiliation  with  Servetus. 


298  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

The  date  of  the  publication  was  1553.  Calvin  denounced  Ser- 
vetus  to  the  Roman  inquisitor  at  Lyons,  but  the  heretic  denied 
the  authorship  of  the  book  and  his  identity  with  Servetus.  His 
name,  he  said,  was  Villanovus.  Calvin  sent  forward  the  letters  of 
1545-1546,  and  certain  comments  which  Servetus  had  written  upon 
a  copy  of  the  Institutes,  sent  to  him  by  Calvin  and  returned  by 
Servetus.  His  arrest  followed,  and  by  pretending  to  have  merely 
played  the  part  of  Servetus  with  Calvin  he  undertook  to  escape 
identity  with  the  author  of  the  Errors  and  the  Restitution. 

Condemned,  however,  to  death,  he  escaped  from  prison,  and 
after  many  vicissitudes  landed  in  Geneva.  Calvin  had  him  ar- 
rested, and  was  never  contented  until  Servetus  had  been  executed. 
Indeed,  he  made  it  a  condition  of  remaining  in  Geneva  that  Ser- 
vetus should  be  put  to  death,  although  he  wanted  him  beheaded, 
not  burned.1 

This  direful  event,  whose  heartrending  scenes  we  cannot  here 
reproduce,2  and  which  has  marred  the  history  of  Protestantism 
almost  as  much  as  it  blackened  the  memory  of  Calvin  himself, 
burning  of  needs  some  further  elucidation.  True  it  is  that  the 
various  churches  in  Switzerland  agreed  to  the  decree 
of  execution,  and  even  the  gentle  Melanchthon  justified  the  act  as 
right  and  necessary.  But  while  this  cannot  be  denied,  it  must  also 
be  kept  in  mind  that  the  thought  of  greater  toleration  was  not 
unknown  to  the  people  of  that  day.  Particularly  were  the  Italian 
Protestant  refugees  horrified  at  the  death  penalty  as  a  Protestant 
punishment  for  heresy. 

The  Italians  were  themselves,  however,  generally  heretics.  Calvin 
had  been  compelled  to  fight  almost  continuously  against  one  or 
another  form  of  heresy,  indifference  to  which  would  not  only  have 
brought  Protestantism  into  greater  disrepute  than  ever  with  Rome, 
but  would  have  been  contrary  to  every  existing  sense  of  Christian 
duty.  Besides,  the  freedom  which  Protestantism  had  proclaimed 
was  being  exercised  in  such  a  variety  of  ways  as  to  withdraw  at- 
tention from  the  practical  concerns  of  religion,  and,  by  dividing 

1  Notwithstanding  the  fact  is  well  established,  Beard  still  lays  the  blame 
for  the  burning  of  Servetus  on  Calvin.  He  says,  "  He  (Calvin)  wanted  to  give 
the  world  at  large,  and  the  papacy  in  especial,  an  assurance  of  the  fact  that 
such  heresy  as  that  of  Servetus  was  no  more  tolerable  in  Geneva  than  in  Rome, 
and  bade  men  read  his  witness  in  the  smoke  that  went  up  to  heaven  from  the 
fagots  of  Champnel." — The  Reformation  in  Relation  to  Modern  Thought  and 
Knowledge,  p.  254. 

2  For  the  full  and  horrible  details  see  Schaff,  vii,  757-786;  Stahelin,  i, 
422-457  ;  and  Henry,  Life  of  Calvin. 


TRIALS  AND  FINAL  TRIUMPH  OF  CALVIN  IN  GENEVA.    299 

sentiment,  prevented  the  spread  of  the  real  benefits  of  the  Kefor- 
mation.  In  actual  life  it  is  not  uncommon  that  the  principles  of 
right  have  to  be  limited  in  application  until  their  employment  can 
be  intrusted  to  a  generation  capable  of  appreciating  them.  The 
long  ages  of  compulsory  faith  had  accustomed  men's  minds  to  in- 
tellectual slavery  until  it  appeared  righteous,  and  had  rendered 
the  Protestants,  just  out  of  bondage  to  Borne,  unfit  to  make  proper 
use  of  their  freedom.  It  was  the  Eomanism  remaining  in  Protes- 
tantism which  produced  all  the  Protestant  persecutions.1  Under 
such  conditions,  had  there  been  perfect  tolerance,  it  is  likely  that, 
with  every  man's  hand  against  his  neighbor  in  matters  of  belief, 
Protestantism  would  soon  have  destroyed  itself.  Protestant  lib- 
erty is  only  safe  among  a  people  whom  Protestant  principles  have 
molded. 

Nothing  can  justify  the  burning  of  Servetus,  nor  even  Calvin's 
aggressive  attitude  toward  him  ;  but  the  conditions  just  mentioned 
help  us  to  understand  the  spirit  and  motive  of  Protestant  persecu- 
tions. Besides,  Calvin  told  Servetus  that  he  never  had  been  actu- 
ated by  motives  of  personal  feeling  toward  him,  and  reminded  him 
that  he  had  at  one  time  risked  his  life  to  convince  calvin's 
him  of  his  errors.3  There  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  ecutionEof 
that  Calvin  was  impelled  wholly  by  the  feeling  of  SERVETUS- 
loyalty  to  the  truth ;  for  Servetus  was  not  merely  a  believer  in 
these  antitrinitarian  views,  but  an  active  propagator  of  them. 
In  his  zeal  he  had  been  most  abusive  toward  Calvin  and  his 
doctrines.  He  had  made  common  cause  with  the  Libertines, 
the  party  in  Geneva  who  strenuously  opposed  the  strict  disci- 
pline which  Calvin  advocated  for  the  city,  and  thus  gave  his 
case  a  political  turn  which  it  was  impossible  to  disentangle  from 
its  religious  aspects.  Hence  the  secular  authorities,  who  were 
at  first  little  inclined  to  proceed  with  violence  against  him, 
gradually  came  to  discover  his  dangerous  character,  and  in  the 
same  measure  grew  to  dislike  him.  The  efforts  of  Calvin  and 
Farel  combined  were  not  sufficient  to  persuade  them  to  modify 
the  harsh  sentence  of  burning.     Indeed,  it  is  probable  that  had 

1  To  say,  as  Kabe  does,  that  the  parity  of  religious  confessions  was  not  an 
inner  consequence  of  the  Reformation,  and  that  parity  and  the  Reformation 
have  no  inner  connection,  is  utterly  erroneous.  See  his  Ueber  Paritat,  Frei- 
burg i.  B.,  1895,  pp.  7,  9. 

2  Just  prior  to  Calvin's  final  departure  from  France  he  and  Servetus  had 
arranged  a  disputation  to  take  place  at  Paris.  Calvin  appeared,  but  Servetus 
did  not. 


300  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Servetus  been  left  unmolested,  as  a  strict  interpretation  of  relig- 
ious tolerance  would  have  required,  Calvin's  work  in  Geneva  would 
have  been  once  more  and  forever  destroyed.  It  was  a  life  and 
death  struggle  between  Calvinism  and  Servetism.  Servetus  went 
so  far  as  to  propose  the  death  of  Calvin  in  case  the  Libertine 
party  should  gain  the  ascendency.  Nevertheless,  it  remains  a 
fact  that  Calvin  had  threatened  Servetus  with  death  if  he  came 
to  Geneva,  and  that  he  defended  the  execution  of  heretics  in 
after  life.  Romanism  had  not  been  eradicated  from  John  Cal- 
vin. The  traditions  of  centuries  can  only  be  completely  overcome 
by  time. 

Much  historical  prominence  has  been  given  this  event  because 
it  illustrates  the  strictness  of  Calvinistic  principles  on  the  doc- 
trinal side.     Equally  severe  were  the  principles  which  controlled 
the  government  and  discipline  of  the  Church.     This 

THE  CONSIS-  °  t  -     ,i  •  n        -,  -, 

toby  in  was   the  work  of  the  consistory,  or   court  ot  elders. 

It  was  composed  of  the  six  ministers  of  the  city  and 
twelve  members  of  the  council,  but  in  spite  of  its  preponder- 
ating lay  element  it  was  a  mere  instrument  in  Calvin's  hands.  It 
proposed  to  govern  in  civil,  domestic,  and  social  life.  It  could 
censure,  correct,  impose  penance,  require  the  offender  to  kneel 
and  beg  pardon  of  the  congregation,  or  excommunicate.  The 
secular  authorities  recognized  the  Church  and  its  order  of  dis- 
cipline, and  added  farther  penalties  than  those  which  the  court 
of  elders  could  inflict.  God's  word  was  to  govern  not  only 
Church,  but  State.  The  secular  power  was  the  servant  of  the 
Church.  All  manner  of  amusements  which  could  result  in  harm 
were  abolished.  Theaters,  card  playing,  and  dancing  were  forbid- 
den. While  these  might  appear  to  the  pleasure-loving  populace 
as  hard  regulations,  they  resulted  in  the  development  of  a  city 
whose  reputation  for  virtue  and  prosperity  went  everywhere. 
Calvin's  legal  studies  had  doubtless  enabled  him  to  form  such 
wise  and  minute  legal  enactments  as  were  necessary  to  this 
end,1  and  his  conception  of  religion  as  regulative  of  the  whole  life 
has  gone  forth  to  bless  all  nations  where  his  doctrines  have  been 
preached. 

But  this  triumph  was  not  achieved  without  severe  struggles 
against  many  foes.  The  difficulty  with  Servetus  had  been  preceded 
by  bitter  disputes  with  other  opposers  of  Calvin's  theology.    Among 

1  Henry  gives  a  number  of  documents  showing  the  minuteness  of  the  regu- 
lations provided  by  Calvin — ii,  67 ;  Appendix,  3.  Compare,  for  a  briefer 
account  of  the  same,  Stahelin,  i,  348. 


TRIALS  AND  FINAL  TRIUMPH  OF  CALVIN  IN  GENEVA.    301 

the  first  and  most  important  was  the  controversy  with  Castellio,  the 
talented  instructor  of  Geneva.  Like  so  many  others  who  saw  the 
influence  to  which  the  ministry  raised  its  members,  he 

i  n      -i    •  i       •  i  tt-  •     i-  DISPUTE 

desired  to  be  enrolled  m  their  number,     ms  variations       with 

i-iit/.  •  /i         o        •      j  t  CASTELLIO. 

from  the  accepted  belief  concerning  the  scriptures  and 
the  doctrines  of  salvation  were  of  such  a  character  that  Calvin 
opposed  his  reception  into  the  ministerial  ranks.  Although  the 
great  reformer  had  manifested  the  greatest  regard  for  Castellio,  in 
spite  of  his  heresy,  and  had  done  all  he  could  to  secure  him  a  situ- 
ation elsewhere  when  voluntarily  he  left  Geneva  in  order  to  escape 
Calvin's  "tyranny,"  yet  upon  his  return  to  Geneva  Castellio 
accused  Calvin  of  an  outrageous  violation  of  ministerial  and 
Christian  honor.  That  Castellio  was  the  blameworthy  party  in  the 
controversy  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  he  made  himself  as 
obnoxious  everywhere  as  he  had  been  at  Geneva.1 

A  more  serious  difficulty  was  that  with  Jacob  Gruet.  This  bitter 
enemy  of  Calvin  was  prompted  chiefly  by  the  spirit  of  the  Liber- 
tine party  in  the  desire  for  freedom  to  sin  as  he  pleased.  In  an 
anonymous  letter  to  Calvin  he  threatened  him  with  death  if  he 
and  his  colleagues  proceeded  any  farther.  The  discovery  of  the 
authorship  of  this  letter  was  accompanied  by  the  reve-  THE  GRUET 
lation  of  a  plot,  in  which  Gruet  was  a  leader,  to  yield  episode. 
the  civil  freedom  of  the  city  in  order  to  rid  themselves  of  the  hate- 
ful rule  of  the  preachers.  Besides  this,  Gruet  was  found  guilty 
of  blasphemy  against  the  Scripture,  the  Virgin  Mary,  the  holy  per- 
sonages of  both  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  and  even  the  Ee- 
deemer  himself.  Under  torture  he  confessed  enough  to  convince 
his  opponents  that  death  was  the  only  proper  penalty.3  This  was 
executed  on  June  26,  1547,  by  means  of  the  sword. 

Of  a  similar  nature,  though  with  a  less  tragic  ending,  was  the 
controversy  with  Trolliet,  a  young  Genevese  who  had  lived  the  life 
of  a  hermit  in  Burgundy,  but  who  had  returned  and 
become  a  Protestant.     He,  too,  had  desired  to  become        attacks 
a  preacher,  and  had  been  recommended  by  the  council 
for  the  first  vacancy  that  might  occur.     Calvin  opposed  this  suc- 

1  Moller  seems  to  sympathize  with  Castellio,  as,  indeed,  in  his  whole  treat- 
ment of  Calvin  he  appears  not  to  remember  the  reformer's  great  patience  in 
the  midst  of  severe  trials — iii,  166.  On  the  other  hand,  Stahelin  is  too  much 
disposed  to  justify  the  conduct  of  his  hero. 

2  Political  as  well  as  religious  considerations  prompted  his  execution — a  fact 
sometimes  overlooked.  Nor  were  the  religious  causes  those  which  arose  from 
his  heresy,  but  from  his  blasphemy. 


302  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

cessfully,  and  thereby  gained  the  ill-will  of  Trolliet.1  Favorable 
circumstances  enabled  Trolliet  to  get  possession  of  certain  letters  of 
Calvin  in  which  he  had  spoken  of  the  depravity  of  the  people  and 
the  hypocrisy  of  the  council  of  Geneva.  By  publishing  these  he 
nearly  brought  ruin  to  Calvin  (1548).  Farel  and  Viret  interposed 
in  his  behalf,  pointed  out  that  it  was  Calvin's  manner  to  say  what 
he  thought,  that  he  had  spoken  in  a  similar  way  of  Luther  and 
Melanchthon,  that  Trolliet  had  dealt  very  dishonorably  with  Cal- 
vin's correspondence,  and  that  if  they  wished  the  services  of  Calvin 
they  would  have  to  take  him  as  he  was. 

This  ended,  for  a  time,  the  danger  from  this  source.  But  in 
1552,  when  Calvin  had  just  ended  a  dispute  with  Bolsec  concern- 
ing the  doctrine  of  predestination,  Trolliet  appeared  once  more 
with  the  accusation  that  his  doctrine  made  God  the  author  of  sin, 
and  indeed  that  God  compelled  men  to  sin.  The  council,  to  whom 
the  accusation  was  addressed,  was  composed  chiefly  of  Libertine 
enemies  of  Calvin.  Nothing  that  the  reformer  could  say  was  suffi- 
cient to  satisfy  them,  but  now  the  populace  rose  up  in  his  defense 
and  saved  him  from  the  council,  their  representatives.  Meantime 
jerome  he  had  been  openly  attacked  in  the  church  by  Jerome 

Bolsec,  but,  unknown  to  his  accuser,  Calvin  was 
present  and  heard  all  that  was  said.  Rising  in  the  congregation, 
he  refuted  Bolsec  in  such  a  manner  as  to  astonish  even  those  who 
knew  him  best.  Bolsec  was  arrested  and  driven  from  the  city.  He 
wandered  about  restlessly  for  some  years,  and  then  returned  to  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  after  which  he  wrote  his  celebrated  but 
slanderous  Life  of  Calvin. 

More  bitter  were  Calvin's  struggles  with  the  council,  the  popu- 
lace, and  especially  with  the  party  of  Libertines,  in  carrying  out 
his  ideas  of  Church  discipline.  At  first  the  people,  glad  of  his  re- 
turn, had  adapted  themselves  willingly  to  his  wishes,  and  excel- 
lent results  had  followed  in  individual  cases.  The  other  ministers 
continued  £ave  n™  no  assistance,  but  really  worked  against  him. 
struggles.  jjjs  strong  will,  his  steadfast  perseverance  in  the  exe- 
cution of  his  purposes,  and  his  triumphs  over  opposition,  led  those 

1  It  may  excite  surprise  that  Calvin  should  have  been  so  strenuous  against 
the  reception  of  unsuitable  persons  into  the  ministry  when  he  tolerated  the 
wholly  unworthy  men  who  had  taken  the  places  left  vacant  by  the  banishment 
of  himself  and  Farel.  He  was  tolerant  of  them  out  of  a  desire  to  be  magnani- 
mous. But  when  new  preachers  were  chosen  he  wished  them  to  be  helpers, 
not,  as  the  others,  hinderers  of  his  work.  The  spirit  displayed  by  those  whom 
he  opposed  is  the  best  evidence  of  the  correctness  of  his  judgment. 


TRIALS  AND  FINAL  TRIUMPH  OF  CALVIN  IN  GENEVA.    303 

who,  in  the  ministry  and  laity,  wished  for  power,  to  regard  him  as 
a  dangerous  tyrant.  Attendance  upon  the  services  of  the  sanctuary 
was  compulsory;  no  trifling  with  sacred  things  was  permitted.  The 
consistory  was  impartial,  dealing  with  high  and  low  alike.  Mar- 
riage regulations  entered  into  the  minutest  details.  Such  matters 
as  clothing  and  wedding  presents  were  regulated  by  law.  All  who 
were  capable  were  required  to  labor  for  a  support,  and  begging  was 
forbidden. 

The  Libertines,  a  religious  sect  which  held  to  the  doctrine  of  ab- 
solute freedom  as  to  conduct,  denying  the  personality  of  God,  the 
reality  of  the  Christian  history  and  of  sin,  were  the  chief  insti- 
gators of  opposition  to  these  strict  regulations.  Calvin  was  not  op- 
posed to  all  forms  of  amusements,  but  he  saw  the  tendency  to 
abuse  such  as  were  permitted,  and  hence  discouraged  them.  Dan- 
cing had  been  indulged  in  by  some  of  the  principal  families,  and 
Calvin  insisted  that  the  laws  concerning  penance  must  be  executed 
in  their  case.  The  manner  in  which  the  Gruet  affair  ended  gave 
the  Libertines  the  consciousness  of  having  gained  the  victory,1  and 
as  a  consequence  crime  and  immorality  grew  apace.  The  power 
fell  into  the  hands  of  Calvin's  enemies. 

Even  the  consistory,  the  one  remaining  source  of  safety  for  the 
Calvinistic  Reformation  in  Geneva,  came  within  a  little  of  being 
overthrown.  The  Libertines,  not  content  with  meeting  Calvin 
with  argument  and  allowing  the  people  to  decide  between  him  and 
them,  employed  the  language  of  ridicule,  contempt,  and  denuncia- 
tion, to  destroy  his  influence  with  the  populace.  They  were  strug- 
gling for  the  right  to  indulge  their  passions  ;  he  was 
striving  to  lift  the  city  to  the  condition  of  true  adher-         final 

VICTORY 

ence  to  the  Gospel  in  its  theoretical  and  practical 
aspects.  They  did  not  hesitate  to  conspire  against  civil  liberty, 
nor  to  employ  the  most  detestable  agents  for  their  purposes.  Calvin 
was  almost  wearied  out  with  the  struggle.  He  had  returned  to 
Geneva  for  the  city's  good.  He  more  and  more  felt  that  he  was 
likely  to  fail  after  all  his  endeavors.  But  at  length  his  pains 
were  rewarded  by  the  complete  overthrow  of  his  enemies  in  1554. 
For  ten  years  he  was  to  have  peace  and  the  joy  of  seeing  his  plans 
executed  for  the  benefit  of  the  city,  the  Reformation,  and  the  world. 

1  It  was  the  first  death  sentence  which  had  been  executed  under  Calvin's  re- 
gime, and  his  enemies  strove  to  make  it  appear  that  Gruet  suffered  as  a  martyr 
to  religious  freedom.  Hence,  while  Gruet  was  out  of  the  way,  a  reaction  had 
set  in  against  Calvin,  which  undid  the  beneficial  effects  the  execution  was 
expected  to  produce. 


304  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

The  relation  of  Geneva  and  Calvin  to  the  Reformation  in  other 
countries  is  a  picturesque  panorama  of  world-wide  fame.  Geneva 
came  to  exercise  a  controlling  influence  upon  all  Switzerland. 
Calvin  was  successful  in  establishing  higher  educational  institu- 
tions, including  a  preachers'  seminary,  in  which  many  young  men 
were  educated  for  the  French  ministry.  His  labors  on  behalf  of  the 
French  Reformation  and  his  care  of  the  refugees  and  consolation 
of  the  French  martyrs  are  among  the  brightest  pages  of  reformatory 
history.  In  Italy,  Poland,  Germany,  the  Netherlands,  England, 
Scotland,  and  the  American  colonies  taking  shape  in  New  England 
his  influence  was  powerful,  and  measurably  directive.  Geneva 
received  an  impulse  for  good  which  has  been  manifest  from  that  day 
to  this.  Farel  was  right,  God  had  called  John  Calvin  to  the  work 
of  a  reformer  in  Geneva ; '  yes,  and  beyond  seas  and  centuries. 

1  Calvin  was  a  poet  of  no  mean  order,  although  he  left  but  few  poems.  The 
following  stanzas  from  one  of  his  hymns  furnish  a  fair  specimen  : 

I    GREET   THEE. 

"I  greet  Thee,  who  my  sure  Redeemer  art, 
My  only  trust,  and  Saviour  of  my  heart ! 
Who  so  much  toil  and  woe 
And  pain  didst  undergo, 
For  my  poor,  worthless  sake  ; 
And  pray  thee,  from  our  hearts, 
All  idle  griefs  and  smarts, 
And  foolish  cares  to  take. 

"  Thou  art  the  King  of  mercy  and  of  grace, 
Reigning  omnipotent  in  every  place  ; 
So  come,  0  King  !  and  deign 
Within  our  hearts  to  reign, 
And  our  whole  being  sway  ; 
Shine  in  us  by  thy  light, 
And  lead  us  to  the  height 
Of  thy  pure,  heavenly  day. 

"  Thou  art  the  Life  by  which  alone  we  live, 
And  all  our  substance  and  our  strength  receive  : 
Comfort  us  by  thy  faith 
Against  the  pains  of  death ; 
Sustain  us  by  thy  power  ; 
Let  not  our  fears  prevail, 
Nor  our  hearts  faint  or  fail, 
When  comes  the  trying  hour." 


LITERATURE  :   THE   FRENCH   REFORMATION.  305 


LITERATURE :  THE  FRENCH  REFORMATION. 

I.    GENERAL. 

1.  Beza,  Th.     Histoire   ecclesiastique  des  eglises  reformees  au  royaume  de 

France.  3  vols.  Antwerp,  1580.  Ed.  M.  Marzial,  3  vols.  Lille,  1842. 
Ed.  Soc.  des  livres  religieux,  2  vols.  Toulouse,  1882.  Ed.  G.  Baum,  E. 
Cunitz,  and  R.  Reuss,  3  vols.  Paris,  1883-89.  This  last  ed.,  with  copious 
notes  and  introductions,  is  the  best.  Soldan  and  other  scholars  have  de- 
nied the  authorship  of  Beza,  but  Reuss,  after  a  careful  reexamination  of 
the  question,  has  vindicated  the  traditional  opinion,  with  the  modification 
that  Beza  had  helpers.  The  work  is  an  invaluable  source,  as  it  is  largely 
composed  of  extracts  from  the  Histoire  des  martyrs,  by  Crespin  ;  the  His- 
toire de  l'etat  de  France,  attributed  to  Regnier  de  la  Planche,  and  from 
other  contemporaneous  sources.  See  H.  M.  Baird,  in  Presb.  and  Ref . 
Rev.,  i,  322-323. 

2.  Quick,  John.     Synodicon  in  Gallia  Reformata  ;  or,  The  Acts,  Decisions  and 

Decrees,  and  Canons  of  the  Seven  Last  National  Synods  of  the  Reformed 
Churches  in  France.     2  vols.     Lond.,  1692.     Begins  with  1559. 

3.  Smedley,  Edward.     History  of  the  Reformed  Religion  in  France,     3  vols 

Lond.,  1834. 

4.  Scherer,  E.     De  l'etat  actuel  de  l'eglise  reformee  en  France.     Paris,  1844 

5.  Browning,  W.  S.     A  History  of  the  Huguenots.     3  vols.     Lond.,  1845. 

6.  Haag,  Eugene  et  Emile.     La  France  protestante.     8  vols.     Paris,  1847-60 

7.  Bulletin  de   la  societe   de   l'histoire  du  protestantisme  francais.     Paris 

1853-65. 

8.  Felice,  G.  de.     Hist,  des  protestants  de  France.     1850.     New  ed.,  Toulon 
1896.     Transl.,  2  vols.,  Lond.,  1853. 

9.  Weiss,  C.     History  of  the  French  Protestant  Refugees,  from  the  Revoca 

tion  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  to  Our  Day.     2  vols.     N.  Y.,  1854. 

10.  Soldan,  W.  G.     Geschichte  des  Protestantismus  in  Frankreich  bis  zum 

Tode  Karls  IX.     2  vols.     Leipz.,  1855. 

11.  Hanna,  Wm.     Wycliffe  and  the  Huguenots.     Edinb.,  1860.     Wars  of  the 

Huguenots.     Edinb.,  1871. 

12.  Herminjard,  A.  L.     Correspondance  des  re"formateurs  dans  les  pays  de 

langue  francaise,  recueillie  et  publie  avec  d'autres  lettres  relatives  a  la 
Reforme  et  des  notes  historiques  et  biographiques.  Geneve,  Lyon,  and 
Paris.  8  vols.,  1866-93.  After  Beza's  history  this  is  the  most  important 
work  for  the  history  of  French  Protestantism.  By  his  conscientious, 
painstaking  and  accurate  scholarship  the  learned  editor  has  placed  stu- 
dents under  a  vast  debt.  See  H.  M.  Baird  in  Presb.  Rev.,  iv  (1883),  861, 
and  Presb.  and  Ref.  Rev.,  v,  330. 

13.  Lee,  Mrs.  H.  F.     The  Huguenots  in  France  and  America.     2  vols.     Bost., 

1852. 

14.  Martyn,  W.  C.     A  History  of  the  Huguenots.     N.  Y.,  1866. 

22  » 


306  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

15.  Anquez,  L.     De  l'etat  civil  des  reformes  de  France.     Paris,  1868. 

16.  Smiles,  Samuel.     The  Huguenots :  their  Settlements,   Churches,   and  In- 

stitutes in  England  and  Ireland  ;  with  an  Appendix  relative  to  the  Hugue- 
nots in  America.  Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1868.  The  Huguenots  in  France 
after  the  Eevocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes.     Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1874. 

17.  -Delmas,  Louis.     The  Huguenots  of  La  Rochelle.     Transl.,  N.  Y.,  1880. 

18.  Agnew,  D.  C.     Protestant  Exiles  from  France  in  the  Reign  of  Louis  XIV  ; 

or,  The  Huguenot  Refugees  and  their  Descendants  in  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland.     3  vols.     Lond.,  1871. 

19.  Arnaud,  E.     Sur  les  controversies  religieuses  en  Dauphine  pendant  la  pe- 

riode  de  l'edit  de  Nantes.     Grenob.,  1872. 

20.  Jervis,  W.  H.     A  History  of  the  Church  of  France  from  the  Concordat  of 

Bologna,  A.  D.  1516,  to  the  Revolution.     2  vols.     Lond.,  1872. 

21.  Goguel,  G.     Histoire  et  statistique  des  eglises  reformees  ou  protestantes 

du  depart  de  la  Charente,  1534-1836.     Cognac,  1876. 

22.  Baird,  H.  M.     History  of  the  Rise  of  the  Huguenots  in  France.     2  vols. 

N.  Y.,1879.  The  Huguenots  and  Henry  of  Navarre.  2  vols.  N.  Y., 
1886.  The  Huguenots  and  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes.  2  vols. 
N.  Y.,  1896.  All  written  with  ample  scholarship,  impartial  spirit,  and 
fine  historical  judgment.     See  Th.  Litz.,  1896,  No.  10. 

23.  Jouve,  E.     De  la  constitution  de  l'eglise  reformee  de  France  au  16"  et  au 

17"  siecle.     Paris,  1879. 

24.  Poole,  R.  L.     The  Huguenots  of  the  Dispersion,  at  the  Recall  of  the  Edict. 

Lond.,  1880. 

25.  Masson,  Gustav.    The  Huguenots  :  a  Sketch  of  their  History.    Lond.,  1881. 

26.  Gaulliear,  Ernest.     Histoire  de  la  Reformation  a.  Bordeaux  et  dans  le  res- 

sort  du  parlement  de  Guyenne.  Paris  and  Bordeaux,  1884.  See  H.  M. 
Baird  in  Presb.  Rev.,  1884,  729. 

27.  Felice,  Paul  de  (son  of  the  historian,  No.  8  above).     Mer  (Loir-et-cher)  Son 

e*glise  reformee  :  etablissement,  vie  interieure,  decadence,  restauration. 
Paris,  1885.  See  H.  M.  Baird  in  Presb.  Rev.,  1886,  180.  Les  protestants 
d' Autrefois :  vie  interieure  des  eglises,  mceurs  et  usages.  Paris,  1896. 
See  W.  G.  Blaikie  in  Crit.  Rev.,  vii,  303. 
.  28.  Heath,  Richard.  The  Reformation  in  France,  from  the  Dawn  of  Reform  to 
the  Incorporation  of  the  Reformed  Churches  into  the  State.  2  vols. 
Lond.,  1886-88.     The  best  of  the  brief  histories  in  English. 

29.  Weiss,  N.     La  chambre   ardente  :  etude  sur  la  liberte  de  conscience  en 

France  sous  Francois  I  et  Henri  II,  1540-1550.     Paris,  1889. 

30.  Bower,  H.  M.     The  Fourteen  of  Meaux  :  an  Account  of  the  Earliest  Re- 

formed Church  within  France  proper,  organized  by  Estienne  Mangin  and 
Pierre  le  Clerc.     Lond.,  1895. 

31.  Armstrong,  E.     The  French  Wars  of  Religion  in  their  Political  Aspect. 

Lond.,  1892. 

32.  Blair,  Edward  T.     Henry  of  Navarre  and  the  Religious  Wars.     Phila.,  1895. 

See  The  Nation,  March  7,  1895,  p.  190. 

33.  Lupton,  F.  M.     Archbishop  Wake  and  the  Projects  of  Union  between  Gal- 

lican  and  Anglican  Churches.     Lond.,  1896. 

34.  Rodocanachi,  E.     Renee  de  France  :  une  protectrice  de  la  Reforme  en  Italie 

et  en  France.     Paris,  1896. 


LITERATURE  :  THE   FRENCH   REFORMATION.  80? 

35.  Farmer,  J.  E.     Essays  on  French  History.     N.  Y.  and  Lond.,  1897.     The 

first  essay  is  a  long  and  able  account,  written  from  the  sources,  of  the 
rise  of  the  Reformation.     See  Am.  Hist.  Rev.,  iii,  385. 

36.  MacDowall,  H.  C.     Henry,  Duke  of  Guise,  and  Other  Portraits.     Lond. 

and  N.  Y.,  1898.  Fresh  and  scholarly  studies,  by  an  attractive  writer,  of 
Guise,  Agrippa  d'Aubigne  and  Catherine  of  Navarre.  See  The  Dial,  Sept. 
1,  1898,  p.  130 ;  The  Nation,  Oct.  13,  1898,  p.  283. 

37.  Leroy,   P.  A.     Le   protestantisme   a  Jargeau   de  1601   a  1685.     Orleans, 

1898. 

38.  Gay,  J.     Pierre  Astier,  le  dernier  pasteur  vivraise  en  de  Desert.    Montau- 

ban,  1898. 

39.  Gouvello,  H.     Le  venerable  Michel  le  Noblentz,  1577-1652.     Paris,  1898 
See  also  Religious  Wars  of  France,   in  Quar.  Rev.,  April,  1869  (vol.  126); 

Henry  IV  of  France,  in  the  same,  Oct.,  1879  (vol.  148) ;  E.  Doumergue,  Paris 
protestant  au  XVIe  siecle,  1509-72,  in  Bull,  de  la  soc.  de  l'hist.  des  prot.  franc., 
vol.  i,  1896  ;  H.  M.  Baird,  Chambre  Ardente  in  French  Protestantism,  in  Presb. 
and  Ref.  Rev.,  ii,  400  ff. ;  the  same,  The  Camisards,  in  Papers  of  Am.  Soc.  of  Ch. 
Hist.,  ii,  13  ff.  ;  Chas.  Tyler,  The  Camisards,  Lond.,  1893  (465  pp.) ;  The  Cami- 
sards, in  Quar.  Rev.,  Oct.,  1880  (vol.  150)  ;  M.  Whitcomb,  The  Reformation  in 
France,  in  Univ.  of  Penn.'s  Sources  of  History,  iii,  No.  3  (1896) ;  Hist,  of 
French  Protestantism,  in  The  London  Quar.  Rev.,  iv,  448  ff.  ;  H.  M.  Baird, 
French  Synod  of  the  Desert,  in  the  Presb.  Rev.,  Jan.,  1888,  ix,  1  ff. 

II.    COLIGNY. 

1.  Sevres,  Jean  de.     Gasparis  Colinii   Castellonii    Magni   quondam  Amirlii 

vita.     S.  L,  1575. 

2.  Sandras  de  Courtilz.     La  vie  de  Gaspard  de  Coligny.     Amst.,  1686. 

3.  Hotmann,  Fr.     La  vie  de  Gaspard  de  Coligni.     1575.     New  ed.,  Dresd., 

1783.     Transl.,  1576. 

4.  Meylan.     Vie  de  Gaspard  de  Coligny.     Paris,  1862. 

5.  Blackburn,  W.  M.     Admiral  Coligny  and  the  Rise  of  the  Huguenots.     2 

vols.     Phila.,  1869. 

6.  Tessier.     LArniral  Coligny.     Paris,  1872. 

7.  Delaborde,   Jules.     Gaspard    de    Coligny,    Amiral    de    France.      3   vols. 

Paris,  1879-82.  A  monumental  work.  The  Count  Delaborde  has  also 
published  an  admirable  biography  of  the  son,  Francois  de  Chastillon, 
Comte  de  Coligny.  Paris,  1886.  See  H.  M.  Baird,  in  Presb.  Rev.,  1886, 
553. 

8.  Besant,  Walter.     Coligny.     Lond.,  1882.     New  ed.,  1894. 

9.  Bersier,   Eugene.     Coligny   avant   les   guerres  de   religion.     Paris,    1884. 

Transl.,  Lond.,  1884. 
See  also  Quar.  Rev.,  July,  1888,  art.  i  ;  Church  Quar.  Rev.,  xxxi,  361  ff. 

in.    ST.    BARTHOLOMEW'S   DAT. 

1.  Wachler,  L.    Die  Pariser  Bluthochzeit.     Leipz.,  1826. 

2.  Soldan,  H.     Frankreich  und  die  Bartholomausnacht.     Leipz.,  1854. 

3.  White,  Henry.     The  Massacre  of  Saint  Bartholomew.     N.  Y.,  1868. 

4.  Wuttke,  Herman.    Zur  Vorgeschichte der  Bartholomausnacht.  Leipz.,  1879. 

5.  Bordier.     Le  Saint  Barthelemy  et  la  critique  moderne.     Gen.,  1879. 


308  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

6    Baumgarten,   Herman.     Vorgeschichte   der  Bartholomausnacht.     Strasb., 
1882.     See  Presb.  Rev.,  iii,  619. 

7.  Schott,  T.      Die  Bartholomausnacht.     Barm.,  1888.     3  Aufl.,  1891. 

8.  Lindner,  A.     Die  Bluthochzeit  od.  die  Bartholomausnacbt.     Leipz.,  1890. 
See  Nortb  Brit.  Rev.,  June,  1863;  West.  Rev.,  April,  1868;  Fisher,  Discus- 
sions in  Hist. ,  1  ff . 

IV.    EDICT  OP   NANTES. 

1.  Benoit,    Elias.     Histoire  de  l'edit  de  Nantes.     5  vols.     Delft,    1693-95. 

Transl.,  2  vols.,  Lond.,  1694. 

2.  Lievre,  A.     Du  role  que  le  elerge  cath.  de  France  a  joue  dans  la  revocation 

de  l'edit  de  Nantes.     Strasb.,  1853. 

3.  Gaberel,  J.     Les  Suisses  romands  et  les  ref  ugies  de  l'edit  de  Nantes.    Paris, 

1860. 

4.  Schott,  Th.     Die  Aufhebung  d.  Ediktes  von  Nantes,  1685.     Halle,  1885. 

Schott  well  says  that  all  Catholic  France  had  a  share  in  the  guilt  of  the 
revocation  :  "  Not  the  momentary  freak  of  a  despot  caused  it ;  much  less 
was  it  the  result  of  a  plot  between  Pere  La  Chaise  and  Madame  Maintenon. 
It  was  the  outcome  of  a  State-Church  system,  which  began  with  fettering 
the  liberties  of  the  Huguenots,  and  ended  with  their  extinction."  Paux 
(below)  shows  the  part  the  priesthood  had  in  it. 

5.  Edits,  declarations,  et  arrets,  cone,  la  relig.  P.  reformee,  1662-1751,  prec. 

de  l'edit  de  Nantes.     Paris,  1885. 

6.  Sander,  F.     Die  Hugenotten  und  die  Edikt  von  Nantes.     Bresl.,  1885. 

7.  Bersier,  Eugene.     La  revocation  :  discours  prononce  le  22  Oct.,  1885,  suivi 

de  notes  relatives  aux  jugements  des  contemporains  sur  l'edit  de  revoca- 
tion.    Paris,  1886. 

8.  Schaff,  P.     History  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes.     N.  Y.,  1890. 

9.  Douen,  O.     La  revocation  de  l'edit  de  Nantes  a  Paris.     Vols,  i-iii.    Paris, 

1894.  From  inedited  documents.  See  Th.  Litz.,  1896,  No.  10. 
See  F.  Paux,  Revocation  de  l'edit  de  Nantes,  in  Revue  historique,  1885,  N. 
ii ;  and  his  Les  plaintes  des  protestants  cruellement  opprimez  dans  le  royaume 
de  France ;  new  ed. ,  with  commentary,  in  Collection  des  classiques  du  prot- 
estantisme  francais.  Conde  and  Revocation  of  Edict  of  Nantes,  in  The 
Nation,  N.  Y,  Feb.  20,  1896,  155  ff. 


BEGINNINGS   OF   THE   REFORMATION  IN   FRANCE.       309 


CHAPTER   XXXI. 

BEGINNINGS    OF    THE    REFORMATION    IN    FRANCE. 

The  lack  of  a  great  personality  who  for  a  long  term  of  years 
should  stand  as  a  representative  of  the  Reformation  in  France 
marks  one  of  the  striking  differences  between  the  movement  in 
that  country  and  the  jDarallel  movements  in  Germany  and  Switzer- 
land. The  Reformation  in  France  was  an  exotic  upon  which  the 
warm  sun  shone  for  a  time,  but  which  could  not  prosper  under  the 
succeeding  heats  of  persecution.  For  several  decades  the  French 
Protestants  drew  their  chief  inspiration  from  Germany  and  Switzer- 
land, not  from  their  native  soil.  The  names  of  Lef evre,  Briyonnet, 
and  Farel  are  not  sufficient  to  prove  an  exception  to  THe  dearth 
the  general  need  of  masterful  leadership.  For  the  first  OF  LEADERS- 
and  second  did  not  remain  true  long  enough  to  give  the  cause  its 
needful  guidance,  while  Farel  early  fled  to  Switzerland,  where  he 
swelled  and  also  mingled  with  the  stream  of  reformatory  activity. 
The  political  situation  of  the  kingdom  differed  from  that  of  both 
Germany  and  Switzerland,  so  as  to  afford  the  Reformation  a  less 
favorable  field  for  operation.  It  was  difficult  to  influence  a  suffi- 
cient number  of  the  members  of  Parliament  to  warrant  the  expec- 
tation of  protection  from  that  source.  The  king  indeed  claimed 
absolute  authority,  and  for  a  time  it  appeared  as  though  he  might 
assume  essentially  the  same  attitude  toward  the  Reformation  in 
France  which  Frederick  the  Wise  occupied  in  Saxony.  Had  he 
done  so  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  flow  of  reformatory  prog- 
ress would  have  been  both  accelerated  and  broadened.  Consider- 
ing the  circumstances,  therefore,  the  successes  of  the  Reformation 
in  France  are  almost  more  astonishing  than  in  Germany  and  Swit- 
zerland ;  while  in  romantic  and  pathetic  interest  the  French  far 
surpasses  either  the  Swiss  or  the  German  movement. 

Jacques  Lef  evre  of  Etaples,1  a  village  of  Picardy,  has  the  high 
honor    of    having    introduced     the    Reformation    to 

T  "F FF  VR.T* 

French  soil.     Born  about  1450,  he  was  nearly  seventy 

years  of  age  when  Luther  began  his  reformatory  work;  yet  whether 

it  be  regarded  as  an  inevitable  result  of  historical  development  or 

1  Better  known  as  Faber  Stapulensis,  the  Latin  of  his  own  name  and  of  his 
native  place. 


310  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

as  a  special  divine  providence,  his  earlier  birth  did  not  enable  him 
to  anticipate  the  famous  galaxy  which  almost  simultaneously  in 
many  lands  heralded  the  reintroduction  of  the  long-exiled  Gospel 
of  Christ.  But  while  he  did  not  long  precede  Luther  in  the  discov- 
ery, he  nevertheless  published  the  doctrine  of  the  insufficiency  of 
works  and  the  necessity  of  justification  by  faith  five  years  earlier 
than  the  great  German. 

His  Humanistic  studies,  pursued  under  many  disadvantages  of 
defective  early  training,  had  led  him,  like  Erasmus,  Reuchlin, 
and  a  host  of  others,  to  the  study  of  the  divine  word.  In  1508  he 
published  a  commentary  on  the  Psalms,  and  in  1512  a  commentary 
on  the  epistles  of  Paul.  It  was  in  the  latter  work  that  he  clearly 
enunciated  the  doctrine  of  justification.  But,  as  in  Luther'6  case, 
his  doctrine  did  not  at  first  open  his  eyes  to  its  logical  consequences, 
and  he  had  no  idea  of  a  breach  with  the  Church,  to  which  step, 
indeed,  he  never  advanced.  His  views  were  not  so  much  the 
symptom  of  a  recoil  from  the  flagrant  abuses  as  an  evidence  of 
the  independence  and  originality  of  his  mind.  Luther's  doctrines 
were  first  published  for  the  purpose  of  destruction;  Lefevre's  for 
the  more  positive  and  constructive  end  of  developing  truth.  As  a 
consequence  Lefevre  neither  saw  the  antagonism  between  his  faith 
and  his  practices  nor  called  down  upon  himself  the  indignation  of 
the  ecclesiastical  authorities.  His  doctrine  of  justification,  pro- 
claimed to  the  world  in  1512,  did  not  hinder  him  from  worshiping 
pictures  and  images  as  late  as  1514  ;  while  in  1516  Luther  thought 
him  deficient  in  clear  apprehension  of  spiritual  truth. :  Saint  wor- 
ship and  prayers  for  the  dead  he  continued  until  1519.  In  1526 
an  anonymous  writer  declared  that  "  the  greater  part  of  Meaux 
was  infected  with  the  false  doctrines  of  Luther,"  and  made  the 
priest  and  scholar,  Lefevre,  responsible  because  he  had,  as  vicar 
general  of  the  diocese,  removed  the  pictures  and  images  from  the 
churches,  forbidden  the  use  of  holy  water,  and  rejected  the  doc- 
trine of  purgatory.8  This  was  a  distant  remove  from  his  original 
excessive  loyalty  to  all  these  superstitions,  and  must  be  attributed, 
in  a  large  measure,  to  the  influence  of  the  Reformation  in  Germany, 
with  the  progress  of  which  his  information  kept  pace. 

1  Baird,  History  of  the  Rise  of  the  Huguenots  of  France,  i,  75.  Luther  so 
expressed  himself  in  a  letter  to  Spalatin  under  date  of  October  19,  1516. 

*  Journal  d'un  bourgeois  de  Paris,  p.  277.  See  also  Baird,  i,  75.  Lefevre, 
originally  professor  at  the  University  of  Paris,  had  removed  to  Meaux  in  1516, 
at  the  invitation  of  the  newly  appointed  Bishop  Briconnet.  His  appointment 
to  the  office  of  vicar  general  did  not  follow  until  seven  years  later.  See  Her- 
minjard,  Correspondance  des  Reformateurs,  i,  71,  157. 


BEGINNINGS   OF   THE   REFORMATION  IN  FRANCE.        311 

It  is  a  striking  fact  that  while  Lef  evre's  doctrine  of  justification, 
including  the  rejection  of  the  efficacy  of  works,  aroused 

.    ,  .  .    ,  ...  LEFEVRE'S 

no  special  antagonism,  he  met  with  opposition  as  soon  view  of  the 
as  his  biblical  studies  led  him  to  deny  any  of  the  less 
essential  tenets  of  the  Roman  Catholic  faith.  The  Church  generally 
accepted  the  identity  of  Mary,  the  sister  of  Lazarus,  Mary  Magda- 
lene, and  "  the  woman  that  was  a  sinner,"  and  had  proclaimed  this 
belief  by  its  arrangement  of  the  gospel  lessons.  In  the  course  of 
Lef  evre's  investigations  he  reached  a  more  rational  conclusion,  and 
published  a  work  supporting  the  view  that  these  three  were  not 
identical  with  one  another.  The  excitement,  though  local,  was  in- 
tense. Three  years  later  the  Sorbonne  declared  the  interpretation 
of  Lefevre  to  be  heretical,  and  it  would  have  gone  hard  with  him 
had  the  king  not  interfered  in  his  behalf.  But  the  destructive 
work,  which  was  so  necessary  a  part  of  the  Reformation  in  every 
land,  had  now  begun.  He  had  already  opened  the  way  for  the 
"renovation  of  the  world,"  which,  as  by  a  prophetic  instinct,  he 
had  long  and  frequently  foretold.1 

But  he  was  about  to  perform  a  task  of  far  wider  consequence 
than  any  in  which  he  had  hitherto  engaged.  His  doctrines  had 
been  drawn  from  the  Bible,  and  he  determined  to  give  that  divine 
book  to  the  French  people  in  their  native  tongue.  It  is  character- 
istic of  the  Reformation  that  it  emphasized  the  authority  of  God's 
word  as  against  ecclesiastical  tradition,  and  that  one  of  the  chief 
agencies  for  the  spread  of  ideas  destructive  of  Roman  Catholi- 
cism was  the  Bible  in  the  vernacular  in  the  hands  of 
the  people.  Lef  evre's  New  Testament  appeared  in  newtesta- 
1523  and  his  Old  Testament  in  1528.  Before  the  latter 
year  he  had  left  Meaux,  but  he  was  permitted  to  remain  there 
long  enough  to  witness  the  joy  with  which  the  common  people 
read  the  New  Testament  in  their  own  language  and  heard  it  read 
in  the  churches.  Lefevre  himself  described  the  effects  in  a  letter 
to  Farel  under  date  of  July  6,  1524,  a  little  more  than  a  year  after 
the  publication  of  the  gospels.2  He  is  authority  also  for  the  state- 
ment that  all  through  his  diocese  the  epistles  and  gospels  were 
read  in  the  services,  both  on  feast  days  and  Sundays,  and  that  the 
reading  was  accompanied  with  exhortations  at  the  discretion  of  the 
priests.     All  this  was  done  by  the  favor  of  Bishop  Briconnet,  and 

1  See  the  confirmation  in  Baird,  i,  71.     Such  prophecies  were  not  uncommon 
in  that  period.     See  Berger,  Kulturaufgaben  der  Reformation,  pp.  52,  53. 

2  The  gospels   appeared  in  June,  the  remainder  of  the  New  Testament  in  the 
autumn  of  1523. 


312  HISTORY   OF    THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

was  defended  "by  the  king  in  spite  of  the  antagonistic  efforts  of  the 
Parliament.  He  was  soon  to  be  forced  from  the  scene  of  his  re- 
formatory labors  and  to  become  an  exile  in  a  foreign  land. 

But  the  history  of  the  Reformation  in  Meaux,  and  indeed  the 
history  of  Lefevre,  cannot  be  written  without  notice 
of  Briconnet,  the  bishop  of  the  diocese.  He  had  been 
Lef eyre's  pupil  as  he  was  now  his  friend.  He  had  enjoyed  a  series 
of  ecclesiastical  dignities,  prior  to  his  elevation  to  this  important 
see  in  March,  1516.  Among  these  were  two  diplomatic  visits  to 
Rome,  where,  like  Luther,  he  saw  the  need  of  reform.  In  the 
exercise  of  his  episcopal  authority  he  undertook  the  work  of  ref- 
ormation in  his  own  diocese.  Although  later  he  tamely  submitted 
to  the  dictation  of  his  official  superiors,  he  now  gave  every  evidence 
of  his  sympathy  with  the  Reformation,  both  as  to  its  doctrines  and 
its  practices.  He  gathered  about  him  a  brilliant  company  of  re- 
formers, including  Lefevre,  Farel,  Gerard  Roussel,  and  Martial 
Mazurier,  whom  he  employed  as  preachers  in  preference  to  those 
who  adhered  to  the  old  faith.  He  had  forbidden  the  Franciscan 
monks  to  preach  in  his  diocese,  and  the  successes  of  the  Evangeli- 
cals aroused  the  jealousy  and  the  animosity  of  the  Dominicans. 
It  was  under  his  protection  that  Lefevre  began  his  translation  of 
the  Bible,  and  to  his  generosity  many  of  the  poor  of  the  diocese 
were  indebted  for  free  copies  of  the  New  Testament.  It  was  he 
who  introduced  the  amazing  novelty  of  the  reading  of  the  Scripture 
iu  the  churches  in  a  language  which  the  people  could  understand. 
He  listened  with  obedience  to  the  letters  and  advice  of  the  German 
and  Swiss  reformers,  and  was  consciously  responsible  for  the  prog- 
ress of  the  new  ideas  in  his  diocese  during  a  term  of  eight  or  nine 
years. 

But  there  came  a  time  when  he  could  no  longer  stem  the  tide  of 
opposition  which  rolled  violently  against  him.  He  now  turned  upon 
those  whom  he  had  formerly  protected  and  was  transformed  from 
a  champion  of  the  Reformation  into  an  advocate  of  the  old  doc- 
trines and  practices.  He  was  the  first  of  a  considerable  list  of  the 
brilliant  coterie  at  Meaux  who  either  retracted  their  doctrines  or  so 
modified  their  activities  as  to  avoid  the  inevitable  clash  with  the 
civil  authorities.1  One  after  another  of  the  reformers  forsook  the 
diocese.  Farel,  then  Lefevre  and  Roussel,  fled.  Farel  remained 
true,  but  his  labors  were  chiefly  confined  to  Switzerland,  whence  he 

1  Mazurier  may  have  preceded  him.  It  is  said  that  this  most  vociferous  of 
the  evangelical  preachers  of  Meaux  was  the  first  to  recede,  and  that  he  was 
largely  instrumental  in  overcoming  the  scruples  of  Briconnet.     See  Baird,  i,  82. 


BEGINNINGS  OF   THE   REFORMATION  IN  FRANCE.        313 

profoundly  influenced  the  work  in  France.  But  Lefevre  and 
Roussel,  the  scholar  and  the  eloquent  preacher,  gradually  tem- 
pered their  zeal  until  there  was  nothing  left  except  check  of 
a  memory,  or  at  least  a  private  maintenance  of  what  reform. 
they  had  once  eloquently  proclaimed.  Both  of  them  came  to  think 
it  unnecessary  to  antagonize  the  existing  order  too  vigorously.  Re- 
ligion was  a  subjective  state  which  they  could  enjoy  in  spite  of  the 
recognized  abuses  of  the  Church.  The  selfishness  of  their  conduct, 
not  to  say  its  pusillanimity,  was  in  startling  contrast  with  their 
former  desire  to  have  all  enjoy  the  truth  which  they  possessed. 
Lefevre  is  said  to  have  reproached  himself  bitterly  in  his  old  age 
for  his  failure  to  stand  courageously  for  the  truth  he  had  preached 
to  others,  and  for  which  they  had  suffered.1  The  lack  of  deter- 
mination on  the  part  of  so  many  of  the  earliest  French  reformers 
is  one  of  the  most  painful  features  in  the  history  of  the  movement. 
We  can  contemplate  with  melancholy  pleasure  the  heroism  of  those 
who  suffered  death  for  their  faith,  but  the  cowardice  of  those  who 
had  not  courage  even  to  apostatize,  yet  who  endeavored  to  main- 
tain in  their  hearts  the  truth  of  God  which  they  denied  by  their 
public  profession,  can  produce  no  sentiment  more  mild  than  sad- 
ness. 

But  if  Bri^onnet  forsook  the  cause,  he  had  at  least  favored  it  for 
a  sufficient  length  of  time  to  give  it  a  place  in  the  hearts  of  those 
more  constant  than  himself.2  Particularly  did  the  laboring  classes 
of  Meaux  maintain  their  loyalty  to  the  new  faith.  They  found  in 
it  a  solace  of  which  the  rich  and  great  did  not  so  much  feel  the 
need.  Through  his  agency  also  the  Gospel  found  its  way  into  the 
heart  of  at  least  one  of  the  royal  family.  It  was  he  who  had  led 
Margaret  of  Angouleme,  the  talented  sister  of  Francis  I,  to  the 
Bible  as  the  original  and  only  source  of  true  spiritual  wisdom  and 
nourishment.  She  remained  a  firm  friend  of  the  reformers  to  the 
day  of  her  death,  and  exercised  an  immeasurable  influence  for 
good  in  the  propagation  of  the  truth.  And  while  both  in  the 
king's  palace  and  the  hut  of  the  laborer  the  Gospel  found  a  wel- 
come place,  there  were  also  many  of  the  more  favored  of  the 
middle  classes,  and  even  of  the  nobility,  who  had  accepted  the 
Reformation. 

The  theologians  of  the  Sorbonne  had  condemned  the  writings 

1  It  must  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  Lefevre  ever  again  became  an  ad- 
herent of  the  papal  party,  as  they  had  hoped.     See  Herminjard,  ii,  386. 

8  He  had  once  exhorted  them  that  if  he  should  ever  change  his  faith,  they  at 

least  should  remain  steadfast. 

t 


314  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

of  Martin  Luther  on  April  15,  1521,  three  days  before  he  stood 
for  their  defense  at  the  diet  of  Worms.     In  November  of  the  same 

year  they  had  condemned  Lefevre's  view  of  the  rela* 
of  the  tion  of  the  three  Marys.     These  facts  are  sufficient 

to  show  the  spirit  which  prevailed  there.  The  Parlia* 
ment,  in  matters  of  religion,  was  their  subservient  instrument. 
Francis  I  had  no  decided  religious  convictions,  but  he  desired  to 
stand  as  the  representative  of  the  new  learning,  whose  adherents 
supported,  in  varying  degrees,  the  reformed  ideas.  His  sister 
Margaret,  by  conviction  a  follower  of  the  reformed  faith,  employed 
all  her  influence  with  him  in  the  interest  of  the  Keformation. 

As  long,  therefore,  as  political  considerations  made  it  seem  to 
him  possible,  he  did  not  interfere  with  the  reformers,  but  rather 
protected  them.  But  when  Francis,  expecting  to  be  absent  from 
queen  the  country  for  some  time,  placed  his  mother,  Louise 

louiseTof  of  Savoy,1  on  the  throne  as  regent,  the  sorrows  of  the 
savoy.  Protestants  began.     She  appears  at  one  time  to  have 

favored  the  much-hated  Lutheran  doctrines.  Almost  immediately 
upon  her  ascent  to  the  throne  she  began  to  inquire  of  the  Sorbonne 
as  to  the  best  means  of  purifying  the  kingdom  from  the  taint  of 
Lutheranism.  They  advised  the  strict  and  thorough  enforcement 
of  every  enactment  against  the  heretics;  the  surrender  of  the  Lu- 
theran books  to  bishops  in  their  several  dioceses;  the  prohibition 
of  support,  in  any  form,  by  anyone,  of  the  abominable  doctrines. 
Those  who  claimed  that  they  were  unjustly  accused  must  prove 
their  innocence  by  the  active  defense  of  the  old  order. 

It  was  time,  indeed,  that  energetic  measures  should  be  taken 
if  the  heresy  was  to  be  stamped  out ;  for  in  every  portion  of  the 
country  the  writings  of  Luther  were  being  read  with  approval,  and 
converts  among  all  classes  were  being  rapidly  gained.  The  Fran- 
ciscan monk,  Francis  of  Avignon,  whom  we  saw  figuring  in  the 

introduction  of  the  Eeformation  into  Hesse  and  else- 
reform  where,  was  one  of  the  acquisitions  of  this  period.    He 

had  laid  aside  his  cowl  and  married,  defending  him- 
self publicly  in  writing,  in  1523.  In  Paris  and  Lyons  the  cause 
was  espoused  by  Margaret;5  in  Cambray  by  Pierre  Caroli,  a  lecturer 

1  The  queen  mother,  Margaret,  and  the  king  constituted  what  Louise  fondly 
called  their  "  Trinity."  Compare  Francis  I  and  his  Times,  by  Clarisse  Coiquet. 
English  by  Fanny  Twemlow,  p.  140. 

2  The  case  of  Leclerc  (see  below)  revealed  the  fact  that  in  Paris  and  vicinity 
the  converts  were  numerous.  See  Bulletin  de  la  soc.  de  l'hist.  du  prot.  fran- 
cais,  iii,  23. 


BEGINNINGS   OF   THE   REFORMATION  IN  FRANCE.        315 

in  the  college  and  the  rival  in  learning  of  Beda,  syndic  of  the  Sor- 
bonne.  The  case  of  Louis  de  Berquin,  a  nobleman  of  Artois,  had 
given  much  anxiety  both  to  the  theologians  and  the  Parliament, 
and  on  the  immediate  borders  of  the  French  territory  and  amoug 
French-speaking  peoples  the  Eeformation  was  advancing  with 
rapid  strides. 

Nevertheless,  there  is  no  evidence  that  the  queen  regent  had, 
except  by  inquiry,  diverged  from  the  moderate  course  hitherto 
pursued  by  her  son.  But  upon  the  arrival  of  the  news  that  Fran- 
cis had  been  captured  at  Pa  via,  in  February,  1525,  influenced 
partly  by  the  superstitious  fear  that  the  disasters  of  Francis  were 
attributable  to  the  divine  vengeance  for  the  royal  toleration  af- 
forded the  heretical  doctrines,  but  more  probably  stirred  by  the 
desire  to  secure  the  aid  of  the  pope  in  effecting  her  son's  release, 
she  assumed  at  once  an  attitude  of  hostility  which  induced  a  period 
of  frightful  suffering  for  the  helpless  adherents  of  the  true  faith. 


316  HISTORY   OF    THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


CHAPTER   XXXII. 

THE  FRENCH  REFORMATION  TO  THE  YEAR  OF  THE  PLACARDS. 

The  plan  which  the  advisers  of  Louise  suggested  to  Parliament 
included  the  entire  removal  of  trials  for  heresy  from  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  ecclesiastical  authorities,  who  seemed  to  be  powerless 
to  prevent  the  spread  of  the  strange  doctrines.  A  commission  ap- 
pointed by  the  Parliament,  consisting  of  two  of  its  own  members 
and  two  doctors  of  the  Sorbonne,  was  to  have  sole  charge  of  pro- 
ceedings against  heretics.  This  indeed  took  the  cases  out  of  the 
hands  of  the  French  papal  inquisitor,  but  it  established  a  national 
inquisition  in  its  stead.  The  commission  was  empowered  to  pro- 
ceed in  secret  against  the  Lutherans,  "by  personal  summons,  by 
bodily  arrest,  by  seizure  of  goods,  and  by  other  penalties  ; "  and, 
in  order  that  there  might  be  no  delay  which  could  mollify  the  dire- 
ful fate  of  the  convicts,  the  decisions  of  the  commission  were  to 
be  equally  binding  with  those  of  the  supreme  court,  and  to  be 
executed  without  appeal.  The  bishop  of  Paris  had  voluntarily 
surrendered  his  jurisdiction  in  heresy  cases  to  the  Parliament, 
which  body  now  ordered  all  the  more  important  bishops  to  do  the 
same.  The  one  thing  yet  needful  was  the  sanction  of  the  pope, 
who,  although  he  destroyed  the  immediate  power  of  his  own  clergy, 
did  not  reject  the  provisions  of  the  regent  and  Par- 

THE    COMMIS-  ' T  ,     .,  ° 

sion  of  liament.     In  a  letter  to  the  Parliament  he  urged  the 

commissioners  to  all  possible  zeal,  in  view  of  both  the 
rapid  spread  and  the  fatal  character  of  the  new  madness.  Accom- 
panying the  letter  was  a  bull  addressed  to  the  commissioners 
themselves,  in  which  the  pope  formally  transferred  his  own  rights 
and  those  of  the  clergy  to  them.1  They  might  search  out,  try 
"without  noise,"  execute,  and  consign  to  eternal  damnation  per- 
sons of  almost  any  and  every  grade  of  dignity  in  Church  or  State, 
and  they  might  confer  upon  any  faithful  Roman  Catholic  who 
chose  to  exercise  it  the  right  to  seize  and  hold  for  himself  the 
lands  and  property  of  the  heretics,  and  to  reduce  them  to  per- 
petual slavery. 

It  was  not  strange  that  Parliament  should  take  charge  of  eccle- 

1  From  the  decisions  of  the  commission  there  was  no  appeal,  even  to  the 
apostolic  see. 


FRENCH  REFORMATION  TO  YEAR  OF  THE  PLACARDS.  317 

siastical  affairs,  but  it  may  excite  some  astonishment  that  the  pope 
so  readily  acceded  to  their  plans.  In  truth,  he  gained  more  than 
he  lost;  for  the  dangers  arising  from  the  spread  of  A  papal 

Lutheranism  were  greater  than  those  from  the  en- 
croachments of  the  Parliament,  which  reflected,  not  on  the  pope, 
but  on  the  French  clergy.  And  in  his  bull  he  had  conferred 
powers  upon  the  commission  which  the  Parliament  did  not  origi- 
nally contemplate,  but  which  they  virtually  accorded  him  the  right 
to  confer  by  placing  his  bull  upon  record.  Thus  the  pope  had 
captured  the  commission,  and  thenceforth  it  was  under  even 
greater  responsibility  to  him  than  to  the  Parliament.  Further- 
more, he  had  assumed  the  authority  to  dispose  of  the  property  of 
French  citizens  at  will.  What  France  had  hitherto  so  jealously 
guarded  was  now  granted  in  another  form  without  protest. ' 

One  of  the  very  first  to  be  cited  before  the  new  commission  was 
Bri9onnet,  whose  defection  we  have  already  described.  Lefevre 
and  Koussel  had  been  driven  out  of  France  by  the  fear  of  the  com- 
mission, which  indeed  was  to  prove,  as  the  pope  expected,  his  right 
arm  of  power  in  the  kingdom.  Those  of  the  reformers  who  did 
not  take  refuge  in  flight  were  subjected  to  many  annoying  sus- 
picions, and  restrictions  of  religious  liberty.  It  is  probable  that 
the  trial  of  Briconnet  and  the  establishment  of  the  ENERGETIC 
commission  were  hastened  by  the  rash  act  of  Jean    ^2"£^ 

J  OF  THE 

Leclerc,  a  wool-carder  of  Meaux,  who  tore  down  a  bull  commission. 
of  Clement  VII  which  had  been  attached  to  the  cathedral  doors. 
The  bull  was  as  innocent  as  possible,  and  had  for  its  end  the  peace 
of  Christendom.  Yet  Leclerc  could  not  tolerate,  but  secretly  re- 
moved it,  adding  the  farther  indignity  of  posting  an  attack  upon 
the  pope  in  its  place.  Upon  his  conviction  he  was  sentenced  by 
Parliament  to  be  whipped  on  three  successive  days  in  Paris,  and  as 
often  in  Meaux,  branded  on  the  forehead  with  the  words  "  fleur- 
de-lis,"  and  then  banished  from  the  kingdom.2  But  if  such  acts 
as  Leclerc's  awakened  the  hostility  which  led  to  the  appointment 
of  the  commission,  that  body  failed  not  to  perform  its  functions 
with  corresponding  energy.  Jacques  Pauvan,  of  Boulogne,  Pi- 
cardy,  a  pupil  and  assistant  of  Lefevre  in  Meaux,  was  burned  at 
the  stake  early   in  1526,  and  the  unknown  "Hermit  of  Livry" 

1  The  French  had  declined  to  allow  a  papal  inquisitor  to  arrest  or  detain  a 
French  citizen  without  consent  of  secular  authority. 

•  He  was  afterward  (July  22,  1525)  frightfully  tortured,  mutilated,  and  then 
burned,  at  Metz,  for  an  even  more  rash  act  of  sacrilege.  His  seeming  irrever- 
ence -was  reverence  for  the  true  God.     For  full  details  see  Baird,  i,  87-89. 


318  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

met  a  like  fate,  though  with  less  ceremony,  because  of  his  obscu- 
rity, about  the  same  time. 

The  first  real  crisis,  however,  did  not  arrive  until,  by  the  treaty 

of  Madrid  and  the  subsequent  negotiations,  Francis  I  was  set  at 

liberty,  and  once  more  took  up  the  reins  of  government  in  1526. 

Previous  to  this  time  he  had  rather  favored  than  ob- 

FRANPIS  I 

and  structed  the  Reformation.     The  Sorbonne  had  brought 

several  complaints  against  him,  showing  that  those 
theologians  recognized  the  favorable  attitude  of  the  king  toward 
Lutheranism.  Even  after  his  release  he  recalled  and  protected 
Lefevre  and  Roussel,  who  had  been  driven  into  exile  under  the 
regency  of  Louise.1 

A  good  illustration  of  the  change  in  his  policy  may  be  found  in 
the  comparison  of  his  treatment  of  Louis  de  Berquin,  the  intrepid 
and  persistent  champion  of  the  Protestant  cause,  with  his  later  con- 
duct. When  this  nobleman,  who  had  originally  been  a  devout 
Eoman  Catholic,  began  to  show  his  unequivocal  indorsement  of 
the  new  ideas,  he  was  arrested,  in  1523,  tried,  and  thrown  into 
prison.  By  the  command  of  the  king  he  was  released  in  spite  of 
the  opposition  of  Parliament.  Being  arrested  once  more,  he  was 
condemned  as  a  relapsed  heretic,  but,  through  Margaret's  influ- 
ence, Francis,  with  great  determination  and  after  considerable 
effort,  set  him  free,  and  warned  the  Parliament  not  to  interfere 
with  scholars  such  as  Berquin.  All  this  occurred  before  Francis 
had  returned  from  his  imprisonment  at  Madrid,  or  soon  after. 

Whether  he  would  have  saved  his  favorite  a  third  time  we  do  not 
know,3  but  his  own  changed  conduct  and  language  it  was  which 
emboldened  Berquin's  enemies  once  more  to  arrest  and 
chancxEs  finally  to   execute  the    incorrigible  heresiarch.      In 

December,  1527,  Francis  had  assured  the  assembly 
of  notables  that  he  was  determined  not  to  endure  heresy  in  his 
kingdom,  but  to  wholly  extirpate  it.  To  the  archbishop  of  Lyons 
he  wrote  in  1528  that  he  had  always  abominated  the  accursed  sect 
of  Lutherans,  and  that  he  would  employ  all  possible  means  for  its 

1  Lefevre  he  appointed  tutor  to  three  of  his  children,  who  thus  received  the 
seed  of  reformatory  ideas.  He  was  subsequently  royal  librarian  at  Blois,  and 
finally  died  at  Neroe,  in  Gascony,  whither  he  had  gone  at  the  invitation  of 
Margaret,  that  he  might  be  free  from  the  annoyances  of  his  enemies.  Roussel 
died  as  bishop  of  Oleron,  though  he  remained  subjectively  true  to  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Reformation. 

2  Upon  his  third  conviction  Berquin  appealed  to  the  king.  But  his  execu- 
tion was  hastened  lest  Francis  might  be  induced  again  to  interfere  in  his  be- 
half.    His  execution,  attended  by  many  horrors,  occurred  in  April,  1529. 


FRENCH  REFORMATION  TO  YEAR  OF  THE  PLACARDS.  319 

destruction,  which  object  lay  very  near  his  heart.  And  he  took  a 
conspicuous  part  in  the  expiatory  processions  and  ceremonies  in 
atonement  for  the  atrocities  committed  upon  the  images  of  the 
Virgin  Mary  and  other  saints.  The  king,  indeed,  continued  to 
protect  Margaret,  who  as  late  as  1532  still  succeeded  in  having  the 
Gospel  preached,  even  in  Paris,  by  her  favorite  evangelical  minis- 
ters. When  she  was  subjected  to  various  annoyances  and  insults 
on  account  of  her  faith,  Francis  indignantly  proceeded  against  the 
perpetrators  of  these  outrages.  But  his  protection  did  not  extend 
beyond  his  royal  sister,  and  when  the  canton  of  Berne  endeavored 
to  secure  his  clemency  in  the  interest  of  the  exiled  Farel's  accused 
family,  he  replied  in  language  which  practically  told  the  council 
not  to  meddle  with  his  affairs,  and  which  assured  them  that  he 
had  no  idea  of  tolerating  heresy  in  his  realms  ; '  while  a  little  later 
in  the  same  year  he  took  the  lead  in  efforts  to  stir  up  both  the 
Parliament  and  the  clergy  to  greater  energy  in  the  extirpation  of 
what  he  was  pleased  to  call  "that  accursed  Lutheran  sect."2 
These  acts  he  performed  that,  as  he  told  the  council  of  Berne,  he 
might  preserve  his  character  as  "  the  very  Christian  king." 

This  mild  severity,  which  was  bolder  in  words  than  in  deeds, 
can  only  be  explained  by  the  king's  political  necessities.  The 
change  from  his  early  policy  occurred  upon  his  return  from  Madrid 
in  1526,  when  he  needed  the  support  of  the  Roman  Catholic  party. 
It  had  pleased  his  majesty,  as  well  as  his  counselors,  to  repudiate  the 
solemn  treaty  of  Madrid,  and  Francis,  absolved  by  the  pope  from 
his  oath,  once  more  took  up  arms  against  the  emperor,  his  allies 
being  Clement  VII  and  the  city  of  Venice,  under  the  title  of  "  The 
Holy  League  of  Cognac."  Money  was  needed,  and  the  clergy 
were  willing  to  supply  their  share  if  only  the  king 
would  pledge  himself  to  unite  with  them  against  the  motives  op 
Lutherans.  To  their  most  vigorous  measures  he  as- 
sented, and  to  retain  the  support  of  the  Church  he  was  obliged  to 
maintain  at  least  an  outward  semblance  of  determined  purpose. 

But  selfishness  had  eaten  out  his  very  heart,  and  he  did  nothing 
from  conviction.  As  a  consequence  there  was  as  yet  no  energy  in 
his  restrictive  measures,  and  when  the  time  did  arrive  in  which  he 
proceeded  with  vigor  there  was  no  evidence  of  unfaltering  resolu- 
tion, but  rather  of  the  irrational  severity  becoming  to  a  madman. 

1  Herminjard,  Correspondance,  iii,  95  f.  The  chancellor  of  the  canton  in- 
dorsed on  the  letter  the  words,  "  Rude  lettre  du  roi." — Baird,  i,  156,  n.  2. 

2  Bulletin  de  la  soc.  de  l'hist.  du  prot.  francais,  i,  437  ;  Herminjard,  Cor- 
respondance, iii,  114-116. 


520  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

On  the  one  hand  he  was  ready  to  aid  the  Protestants  of  Germany 
in  the  overthrow  of  Charles  V,  and  on  the  other  he  concluded  a 
marriage  contract  between  his  son  Henry,  duke  of  Orleans,  and 
the  pope's  niece,  in  the  hope  of  securing  thereby  the  pontiff's 
friendship.  When,  however,  his  holiness  proposed  a  crusade 
against  the  adherents  of  Luther  and  Zwingli,  in  which  Francis, 
the  Eoman  Catholic  princes  of  Germany,  and  the  emperor  should 
combine  their  armies  under  the  blessing  of  the  pope,  Francis  re- 
fused.1 The  king  desired  the  friendship  of  both  the  pope  and  the 
Protestant  Germans  against  Charles,  but  he  could  not  consent  to 
submit  himself  to  his  imperial  enemy  even  to  root  out  heresy. 

These  considerations  plainly  exhibit  the  fundamental  disregard 
of  Francis  for  questions  of  religion.  But  he  could  be  excited  and 
aroused  by  personal  appeal  or  insult,  and  such  was  the  result 
within  a  brief  time  after  the  events  just  mentioned.  During  the 
year  1534  a  novel  method  of  religious  disputation  was  resorted  to 
by  both  the  Eoman  Catholic  and  the  Protestant  party.  Placards 
defending  the  views  of  their  authors  and  denouncing  those  of 
their  opponents  were  posted  almost  nightly  upon  the  walls  along 
the  thoroughfares  of  Paris.  They  naturally  attracted  the  atten- 
tion and  awakened  the  interest  of  the  more  ignorant  populace. 

This  had  gone  on  until  the  masses  of  the  city  were  thoroughly 
aroused,  when,  on  the  morning  of  October  18,  a  lengthy  Protes- 
tant diatribe  against  the  mass  was  found  posted  in 

PLACAKD  °  x 

against  every  portion  oi  the  city.     It  was  composed  of  the 

most  impassioned  utterances  in  condemnation  of  the 
blasphemous  character  of  the  most  central  and  sacred  ceremonies 
of  Roman  Catholicism,  and  employed  every  expression  adapted  to 
manifest  the  ill-will  of  the  author  toward  the  pope,  cardinals, 
monks,  bishops,  and  priests,  who  were  denounced  as  "false 
prophets,  deceivers,  apostates,  wolves,  false  shepherds,  idolaters, 
liars,  execrable  blasphemers,  murderers  of  souls,  renouncers  of 
Jesus  Christ,  of  his  death  and  passion,  false  witnesses,  traitors, 
thieves,  and  robbers  of  the  honor  of  God,  and  more  detestable 
than  devils."  Not  content  with  this  vituperative  language,  the 
placard  in  heated  terms  and  with  biting  sarcasm  produced  solid 
arguments  against  the  mass,  demonstrating  its  unscriptural,  blas- 
phemous, and  absurd  character. 

The  indescribable  excitement  and  fury  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
populace  scarcely  exceeded  that  of  Francis  himself  when  he  dis- 
covered that  a  copy  of  the  placard  had  been  placed  upon  the  door 

1  Baird,  i,  149,  150. 


FRENCH  REFORMATION  TO  YEAR  OF  THE  PLACARDS.  321 

of  the  royal  bedchamber  the  very  same  night.  The  impertinence 
of  the  offender  was  attributed  to  the  Lutherans  as  a  body.  The 
miscreants  who  had  mutilated  the  images  of  the  Holy  Virgin,  and 
displayed  their  disapprobation  of  the  worship  of  saints  and  of  the 
glittering  ceremonies  of  the  Church,  had  now  been  bold  enough 
to  bring  their  spleen  to  bear  upon  his  majesty  directly.  He  would 
have  his  revenge. 

Well  would  it  have  been  had  the  reformers  in  France  had  some 
strong  spirit  like  Luther,  who  by  his  personal  influence  could  have 
checked  these  excesses,  and  thus  have  demonstrated,  as  Luther 
did  in  Germany,  that  such  conduct  was  not  a  part  of  the  reformed 
program.  But  the  Eeformation  had  been  deserted  or  forsaken  by 
its  more  intelligent  leaders,  and  the  masses,  left  to  themselves  and 
ever  incapable  of  moderation,  manifested  their  zeal  in  a  manner 
which  showed  how  little  of  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel  they  sought  to 
possess  had  penetrated  their  hearts. 

But  if  the  rashness  of  the  inconsiderate  friends  of  reform  is  to  be 
deplored  as  imprudent,  it  was  not  left  unavenged  by  the  king  and 
his  emissaries.     Impelled  by  a  sense  of  personal  injury, 
and  by  the  fear  that  if  so  flagrant  an  insult  to  the        stung  to 

ANPFR 

Church  were  left  unpunished  the  pope  would  forsake 
him,  Francis  refused  to  listen  either  to  the  entreaties  or  to  the  ar- 
guments of  Margaret,  who,  though  mistakenly,  suspected  that  the 
Eoman  Catholics  had  themselves  been  guilty  of  posting  the  placard 
for  the  sole  purpose  of  arousing  the  anger  of  the  king.1  Professed 
Lutherans  who  had  been  arrested  affirmed  the  purpose  of  the  re- 
formers to  assassinate  the  Eoman  Catholic  populace  of  Paris  while 
at  their  devotions.  One  of  the  former  Lutherans  who  knew  the 
names  and  residences  of  many  of  the  sect  revealed  them  to  the  au- 
thorities in  order  to  save  himself.  Those  who  had  been  guilty  of 
attaching  the  placards,  and  those  who  were  found  with  copies  of 
the  document  in  their  possession,  were  burned. 

Francis  was  so  furious,  even  after  the  lapse  of  three  months,  that 
he  then  declared  that  if  his  own  children  were  to  become  contami- 
nated he  would  have  them  immolated.2  Only  a  few  months  earlier 
he  had  issued  the  famous  edict  prohibiting  printing  in  France. 
This  rash  procedure  he  was  indeed  compelled  to  recall,  but  the 
spirit  manifested  was  effective  in  adding  intensity  to  the  persecu- 

1  Such  had  been  the  Roman  Catholic  policy  in  at  least  one  instance,  recorded 
by  Baird,  i,  169,  n. 

2  Voltaire  vainly  tried  to  cast  doubt  upon  this  utterance,  whichhe  pronounces 
abominable. 

23  * 


322  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

tions.  Not  content  with  the  burning  of  many  victims  at  the  stake, 
the  estrapade  was  brought  into  requisition.  This  was  an  instru- 
brutai,  per-  ment  by  means  of  which  the  victim  was  suspended 
secutions.       oyer  f.jie  gre  an(j  iowereci  upon  it  until  well  roasted, 

when  by  the  same  instrument  he  was  lifted  above  the  flames  and 
then  after  a  time  again  lowered,  the  action  being  repeated  as  often 
as  possible  prior  to  the  death  of  the  culprit,  thus  prolonging  the 
agonies  of  the  horrible  doom  and  more  perfectly  appeasing  the 
brutal  instincts  of  the  Eomanists.  From  October,  1534,  to  July, 
1535,  these  barbarous  atrocities  were  practiced  in  the  name  of  the 
religion  of  the  meek  and  lowly  Nazarene.  The  number  of  the 
victims  it  is  impossible  to  tell.  Many  they  were,  but  many  also 
escaped  by  flight.  Although  we  must  ascribe  their  rashness  to 
ignorance  of  the  true  spirit  of  the  Gospel,  we  can  but  admire  the 
fortitude  with  which  those  who  had  been  convicted  suffered  for 
what  they  believed  to  be  right. 

In  July,  Francis  was  induced  to  abate  his  animosity  so  much  as 
to  issue  the  so-called  Declaration  of  Coucy,1  in  which  he  slander- 
ously reported  that  the  executed  adherents  of  Protestantism  had 
abjured  their  errors  and  died  good  Christians  and  Eoman  Catho- 
lics. He  evidently  wished  to  make  his  peace  with  the  more  civil- 
ized sentiment  of  the  world  by  this  statement,  and  at  the  same  time 
declaration  to  mollify  the  harshness  of  his  boast  in  the  same  docu- 
of  coucy.  ment  that  by  the  divine  clemency,  and  his  own  dili- 
gence in  punishing  the  heretics,  the  errors  had  now  ceased  to  be 
taught.  In  view  of  the  success  of  his  efforts  he  invited  all  fugitives 
to  return  and  abjure  their  errors  within  six  months,  in  which  case 
they  were  assured  of  the  royal  pardon.  But  the  Zwinglians  and  all 
those  who  denied  the  bodily  presence  in  the  mass  were  excluded 
from  this  offer  of  mercy.  At  the  same  time  all  persons  were  for- 
bidden under  severe  penalty  to  promulgate  in  any  way  doctrines 
contrary  to  the  Eoman  Catholic  faith. 

The  royal  hypocrite  in  his  passion  had  endangered  his  prospects 
with  the  German  Protestants.  They  had  heard  of  his  deeds,  and 
were  not  pleased  with  the  reports.  It  was  necessary  to  explain  to 
them  that  he  had  proceeded,  not  against  their  Lutheranism,  but 
against  their  lawlessness — this  notwithstanding  he  had  often  spoken 
in  the  bitterest  terms  of  the  Lutherans  as  a  body.  When  his  efforts 
to  effect  a  doctrinal  union  with  the  Germans  failed,  he  at  once  re- 

1  Some  have  attributed  his  edict  to  the  influence  of  Pope  Paul  IH,  who  was 
reported  to  have  opposed  the  severity  of  Francis  ;  others,  with  more  probability, 
to  the  amnesty  granted  by  Charles  V  to  the  Flemish  heretics. 


FRENCH  REFORMATION  TO  YEAR  OF  THE  PLACARDS.  323 

sumed  his  unfeeling  treatment  of  the  heretics,  who  had  not  all  fled 
and  who  had  not  yet  all  been  burned.1  He  cared  not  for  the  Prot- 
estants in  Germany  nor  for  those  in  his  own  land,  but  had  he  been 
able  to  effect  a  doctrinal  union  he  might  have  become  a  Protestant 
for  political  purposes  as  long  as  that  policy  would  have  served  his 
objects  against  Charles  V. 

1  Through  his  privy  councilor,  du  Bellay,  he  undertook  to  bring  about  a  com- 
promise of  doctrine  with  Bucer  in  Strasburg  (1533).  In  1535  he  even  went  so 
far  as  to  invite  Bucer  and  Melanchthon  to  Paris  to  treat  with  the  theologians 
of  the  Sorbonne.  Melanchthon,  who  was  at  this  time  clutching  at  every  hope 
of  doctrinal  union,  was  anxious  to  go,  and  Luther  favored  it  for  Melanchthon's 
sake.  But  John  Frederick  had  political  reasons  for  declining  to  allow  Melanch- 
thon to  respond. 


324  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

PROTESTANTISM    IN  FRANCE    TO  THE   PEACE   OF  WESTPHALIA. 

Feom  the  year  of  the  placards  onward  for  nearly  a  century  the 
history  of  Protestantism  in  France  is  one  of  blood.  The  persecu- 
tions in  which  Francis  I  avenged  the  aggressions  of  the  reformed 
party  were  followed  in  1545  by  frightful  cruelties  visited  upon  the 
Waldenses.  Upon  the  accession  of  Henry  II,  in  1547,  personal  and 
political  feuds  began  to  mark  the  relations  between  Protestantism 
and  Romanism,  and  led  to  a  series  of  religious  civil  wars,  during 
which  the  Protestants  suffered  untold  horrors,  but  which  resulted 
in  the  edict  of  Nantes  and  other  later  provisions  for  the  religious 
freedom  of  the  Reformed  Church. 

Henry's  queen,  Catherine  de'Medici,  a  niece  of  Pope  Clement  VII, 
was  influential  during  the  reign  of  her  husband,  and  especially  of 
Catherine  ner  son>  Charles  IX.  The  constable,  Montmorency, 
de'medici.  wag  jjenry's  prime  minister  and  commander  in  chief. 
Both  Catherine  and  Montmorency  were  bitter  enemies  of  the 
Protestants.  They  were  powerfully  supported  by  the  Guises,  of 
whom  Charles  was  archbishop  of  Rheims,  and  Francis  count  of 
Aumale.  This  was  a  strong  political  combination  in  favor  of  Ro- 
manism. But  on  the  other  side  there  were  Margaret  of  Angouleme, 
until  her  death  in  1549,  and  her  talented  daughter,  Jeanne  d'Al- 
bret,  together  with  her  husband,  Prince  Anton  of  Bourbon,  king 
of  Navarre,  and  his  brother,  Duke  Louis  of  Conde.  They  had  the 
constant  and  powerful  support  of  Admiral  Coligny,  one  of  the 
noblest  of  the  Huguenots,  and  his  brother,  Francis  de  Coligny. 
The  Guises  and  the  Bourbons  represented  therefore,  respectively, 
the  Roman  Catholic  and  the  Reformed  faith. 

It  is  characteristic  of  the  French  Reformation  that  while  the  new 
faith  was  hated,  and  its  adherents  maligned,  by  the  common  people, 
it  was  favored  by  an  ever-increasing  number  of  the  nobility.  The 
lack  of  a  popular  leader  on  the  one  side,  and  the  attitude  of  Mar- 
garet on  the  other,  doubtless  account  for  this  peculiarity.  For  a 
time  Henry's  political  relations  with  the  German  Protestants  gave 
the  French  Reformation  an  opportunity  for  growth.  But  after  the 
treaty  of  Passau,  in  1555,  by  which  Henry  and  the  pope  became 
better  friends,  the  Guises  led  in  a  persecution  of  the  rapidly  grow- 


PROTESTANTISM  IN   FRANCE.  325 

ing  and  consolidating  Reformed  Church.  Henry  died  in  1559,  be- 
fore he  could  carry  out  his  plan  to  join  Philip  II  of  Spain  in  a 
crusade  against  Geneva.  The  brief  reign  of  Francis  II  (part  of 
1560),  who  was  a  minor,  was  controlled  by  the  Guises,  and  char- 
acterized by  the  burning  of  heretics.  The  conspiracy  of  Amboise, 
under  the  lead  of  the  prince  of  Conde,  and  in  which  Protestants 
and  Roman  Catholics  joined  .to  rid  the  land  of  the  Guises,  ended 
unfavorably  for  the  Protestants.1 

Upon  the  accession  of  Charles  IX,  in  1560,  his  mother,  Catherine 
de'Medici,  became    queen  regent.     She  took  at  first 

.  ,  -,,  m       n  •  i»     a         i       •  CHARLES  IX. 

a  middle  course.  To  the  conspirators  of  Amboise  was 
granted  amnesty,  and  Anton  of  Navarre,  an  outspoken  Protestant, 
was  made  lieutenant  general.  The  colloquy  of  Poissy,  arranged 
by  Catherine  and  participated  in  by  Beza  and  Peter  Martyr,  led 
to  nothing  but  the  increased  self-consciousness  of  the  Huguenot 
party,  and  a  special  royal  council,  under  the  leadership  of  the 
chancellor,  1'Hopital,  granted  them  a  restricted  religious  freedom, 
gratifying  in  the  main  the  Protestants'  wishes.  Francis,  duke  of 
Guise,  declared  that  he  would  resist  that  measure  by  the  sword,  and 
in  March,  1562,  engaged  in  the  massacre  of  the  Huguenot  congre- 
gation at  Vassy,  thus  occasioning  the  first  of  the  long  series  of  re- 
ligious and  civil  wars.  In  the  first  of  them  Francis  of  Guise  paid 
the  penalty  of  his  rashness  with  his  life. 

Not  alone  did  these  wars  seem  to  guarantee  the  rights  of  the 
Protestants.  Coligny  became  a  favorite  with  the  king,  and  was 
influential  enough  to  displace  the  queen  mother  and  Henry  of  An- 
jou.  One  of  Coligny's  plans  was  to  reconcile  the  different  parties 
by  the  marriage  of  Henry  of  Navarre,  son  of  Anton  and  of  Jeanne 
d'Albret,  with  Margaret  of  Valois,  the  king's  sister.  The  wedding 
took  place  on  the  18th  of  August,  1572,  and  was  attended  by  vast 
numbers  of  the  Huguenot  nobility  from  various  por-  admiral 

tions  of  France.     Instigated  by  jealousy  of  Coligny's  cougn\. 

influence,  Catherine  and  Henry  of  Anjou  employed  an  emissary  to 
attempt  the  life  of  the  admiral.  He  was  wounded,  but  not  killed. 
The  king  suspected  the  Guises,  together  with  his  mother  and 
brother,  as  the  projectors  of  the  deed.  At  first  very  angry,  he 
finally  allowed  himself  to  be  persuaded  by  them  that  Coligny  had  on 
hand  plans  for  the  overthrow  of  his  majesty's  government,  and  that 
the  Huguenots  were  preparing  for  such  a  conflict  all  over  France. 

1  Gieseler  gives  a  brief  but  clear,  though  not  always  trustworthy,  account 
of  the  French  Reformation,  with  valuable  copies  of  original  documents — iv, 
294-308. 


326  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

They  suggested  that  it  would  be  sufficient  to  have  Coligny  mur- 
dered. 

Charles,  weary  of  religious  wars,  and  accepting  without  investi- 
gation the  statements  of  his  mother  and  brother,  declared  that 
Coligny  should  not  die  alone.  While  the  wedding  festivities  were 
still  in  progress,  on  the  night  of  St.  Bartholomew,1  the  fearful  mas- 
sacre began  with  the  murder  of  Coligny.  The  king,  his  mother,  and 
brother  watched  the  scene.  The  Guises,  under  pretense  of  obedi- 
ence to  the  king's  command,  and  as  though  contrary 
st.  barthol-  to  their  own  wish,  led  the  assault.  In  every  quarter 
of  Paris  the  blood  of  Protestants  flowed  in  streams. 
The  number  of  killed  in  the  city  alone  has  been  variously  estimated 
at  from  one  thousand  to  ten  thousand.  From  the  capital  the  mas- 
sacre spread  to  the  provinces.  The  news  of  the  king's  wish  that  the 
Huguenots  should  be  exterminated  traveled  faster  than  his  orders 
to  stop  the  massacre.  The  Protestants  were  without  their  accus- 
tomed leader ;  he  was  the  first  victim  of  the  bloody  tumult,  and 
they  had  no  time  to  rally  for  defense.  The  entire  number  of  the 
victims  is  reckoned  at  from  ten  thousand  to  one  hundred  thousand. 
With  just  what  degree  of  premeditation  this  frightful  affair  was 
planned  and  conducted  it  is  impossible  to  determine.  Varying  re- 
ports were  authorized  by  the  government  according  as  was  thought 
best.  At  Rome  and  in  Spain  it  was  represented  as  premeditated. 
To  the  Germans  the  blame  was  laid  at  the  door  of  the  Guises.  To 
the  Parliament  it  was  declared  to  be  necessary  in  self-defense. 
Eomanism  had  so  utterly  failed  to  inculcate  the  virtue  of  veracity 
that  it  is  impossible  to  distinguish  the  true  from  the  false  in  the 
whole  affair.  This,  however,  is  sure,  that  the  Huguenots  had 
not  planned  any  such  scheme  as  Catherine  and  Henry  professed  to 
reveal  to  the  king. 

The  pope,  Gregory  XIII,  indeed,  was  innocent  beforehand  of 
the  massacre,  but  when  he  heard  of  it  he  congratulated  the  king, 
illuminated  Eome,  instituted  processions  in  honor  of  the  event, 
caused  Te  Dennis  to  be  sung,  and  in  every  possible 
congratu-  way  expressed  his  joy  at  what  had  occurred.  The  at- 
tempt to  make  the  affair  purely  political  under  such 
circumstances  is  impossible.  The  principal  cause  of  the  massacre 
was  religious  hate  and  intolerance,  and  the  pope  gave  the  sanction 
of  the  Church  to  the  awful  crime. 

1  See  a  fall  description  of  the  massacre,  and  all  the  events  leading  up  to  and 
following  it,  in  Soldan,  ii,  429-480,  and  Baird,  History  of  the  Rise  of  the  Hugue- 
nots in  France,  ii,  426-569. 


PROTESTANTISM  IN   FRANCE.  327 

Charles  had  professed  to  hope  that  by  such  a  massacre  he  might 
save  himself  from  farther  religious  wars,  but  it  rather  embittered 
those  which  were  to  follow  under  his  own  rule  and  under  that  of 
Henry  III.  The  Huguenots  became,  strictly  speaking,  a  political 
as  well  as  a  religious  party,  and  while  the  first  religious  war  after 
St.  Bartholomew  (the  fourth  of  the  entire  series)  ended  unfavor- 
ably for  the  Huguenots,  owing  to  their  enfeebled  condition,  others 
which  followed  compelled  for  them  increasingly  better  conditions. 

In  1589  Henry  of  Navarre  ascended  the  throne  as  Henry  IV. 
His  sympathies  were  with  the  Protestants,  but  he  could  edict  of 
not  do  as  he  would,  and  was  compelled  to  become  nom-  nantes. 
inally  a  Komanist.  But  in  1598  he  succeeded  in  securing  the  Ref- 
ormation  by  the  issue  of  the  edict  of  Nantes.  According  to  this 
famous  document  the  Roman  Catholic  was  the  ruling  religion  of  the 
State,  and  its  festivals  were  to  be  observed  by  all,  but  the  Reformed 
Church  was  no  longer  to  be  persecuted.  In  and  around  Paris  for  a 
distance  of  five  miles,  in  Rheims,  Toulouse,  Dijon,  Lyons,  and  in 
the  army  no  reformed  public  religious  services  were  to  be  held. 
But  an  exception  was  to  be  made  in  those  departments  of  the  army 
in  which  adherents  of  the  reformed  faith  were  in  command.  The 
church  tithes  and  the  marriage  laws  were  binding  upon  all.  But  to 
the  reformed  were  granted  access  to  all  civil  offices,  while  special 
parliamentary  commissions,  one  half  of  whom  were  in  every  case 
to  be  Protestants,  were  provided.  Public  services  were  permitted 
wherever  they  had  been  in  existence  prior  to  1597,  and  buildings 
were  allowed  for  the  purpose,  while  those  which  had  been  forcibly 
taken  from  them  were  to  be  restored.  The  children  of  reformed 
parents  might  not  be  compelled  to  accept  Roman  Catholic  training. 
During  eight  years  their  fortresses  and  cities  of  refuge  were  granted 
to  them.  The  Romanists,  on  the  other  hand,  were  permitted  to 
restore  religious  services  to  two  hundred  and  fifty  cities  and  two 
thousand  villages.1 

From  this  point  forward  for  many  years  the  Reformed  Church, 
regarded  as  a  "  State  within  a  State,"  was  able  to  secure  its  rights 
and  to  grow  with  great  rapidity.  There  were  those  who  returned 
to  Rome,  and  the  Jesuits,  driven  away,  were  permitted  to  return. 
Louis  XIII,  in  1620,  forcibly  reintroduced  the  Roman  Church  into 
Beam,  the  most  reformed  of  the  French  reformed  districts. 
Richelieu  strove  to  destroy  the  city  of  La  Rochelle,  the  last  re- 
maining city  of  Protestant  refuge,  which  was  captured  in  1628. 
The  new  edict  of  Nismes  was  issued  in  1629,  according  to  which 
1  See  the  excellent  summary  of  the  edict  in  Moller,  iii,  299,  300. 


328  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

the  political  significance  of  the  Huguenots  was  broken,  but  which 
confirmed  every  religious  and  civil  right  accorded  by  the  edict  of 
Nantes.  The  next  stage  of  French  Protestant  history  lies  beyond 
the  Reformation. 

The  internal  development  of  the  French  Church  was  mostly  con- 
influence  trolled  by  Calvin,  whose  frequent  messengers  and  let- 
of  calvin.       £erg^  an(j  wnose  infiuenCe  upon  the  French  refugees 

and  students  for  the  ministry  in  Geneva,  made  his  personal  pres- 
ence in  France  almost  unnecessary.  He  kept  himself  informed  of 
all  that  was  in  progress  in  his  native  land,  and  exerted  an  extraor- 
dinary influence  for  the  welfare  of  the  struggling  Reformed  Church 
and  its  martyrs.  One  of  the  characteristics  of  his  influence  on  the 
French  Protestants  was  his  insistence  upon  an  open  and  decided 
form  of  confession.  He  firmly  opposed  participation  in  the  super- 
stitious ceremonies  of  Roman  Catholicism,  and  had  no  patience 
with  those  who  held  in  secret  to  the  reformed  faith  (the  so-called 
Nicodemites).  He  strenuously  opposed  a  resort  to  arms  on  the 
part  of  the  French  Protestants.1 

The  first  efforts  at  a  regular  organization  of  reformed  congrega- 
organiza-  tions,  with  public  places  of  worship,  were  made  in 
reformed  Paris  in  1555.  The  royal  edict  of  1557,  which  com- 
manded the  secular  courts  to  punish  with  death  the 
public  or  private  exercise  of  any  but  the  Roman  religion,  resulted 
in  the  shedding  of  much  blood,  but  did  not  prevent  the  rapid 
spread  of  the  Gospel  and  of  the  new  Church.  In  1559  was  held  in 
St.  Germain  the  first  national  reformed  synod.  Here  were  adopted 
the  so-called  Gallican  Confession  and  a  Church  Discipline.  The 
spirit  of  Calvin  was  evident  in  both.3  The  principal  difference  be- 
tween the  provisions  of  the  Reformed  Churches  of  Geneva  and  of 
France  lay  in  the  different  relations  sustained  toward  them  by  the 
State,  in  Geneva— that  of  protection  and  assistance ;  in  France, 
that  of  opposition  and,  at  most,  tolerance.  But  there  was  the  same 
stringency  of  doctrine  and  practice  in  France  as  in  Geneva,  and 
the  same  system  of  disciplinary  power  (the  Consistory)  was  em- 
ployed in  both  Churches.  After  the  promulgation  of  the  edict  of 
Nantes  the  French  Church  was  able  to  complete  the  ecclesiastical 
structure.  Especially  from  that  period  dates  the  activity  in  the 
opening  of  reformed  educational  institutions,  as  at  Sedan,  Saumur, 
Montpellier,  Montauban,  Nismes,  and  Pau. 

1  See  Henry,  Life  of  Calvin,  vol.  iii,  Appendix  14,  p.  153  ff. 

2  For  an  extended  account  of  Calvin's  influence  on  the  Reformed  Church  in 
France,  see  Stahelin,  i,  505-636. 


LITERATURE:   REFORMATION  IN  THE  NETHERLANDS.    320 


LITERATURE :   THE   REFORMATION  IN  THE  NETHER- 
LANDS. 

I.    GENERAL   WORKS. 

1.  Brandt,  Gerard.     The  History  of  the  Reformation  in  and  ahout  the  Low 

Countries  :  from  the  Beginning  of  the  Eighth  Century  down  to  the 
famous  Synod  of  Dort,  inclusive.  4  vols.  Lond.,  1720.  Most  valuable 
for  its  account  of  the  struggle  between  Arminians  and  Calvinists. 

2.  Van  Kanipen.     Geschichte  der  Niederlande.     2  vols.     Leipz.,  1831-33. 

3.  Leo,  H.     Zwolf  Biicher  der  niederland.  Geschichte.     2  vols.     1832-35. 

4.  Gachard,     Pierre.     Correspondance    de     Guillaume-le-Taciturne,    Prince 

d'Orange,  publie  pour  la  premiere  fois.     6  vols.     Brux.,  1847-58. 

5.  Gachard,    Pierre.     Correspondance    de   Philippe   II   sur   les  affaires   des 

Pays-Bas.     4  vols.     Brux.,  1848-59! 

6.  Juste,  Th.     Hist,  de  la  Revol.  des  Pays-Bas  sous  Phil.  II.    2  vols.    1855. 

7.  Kokler,  A.     Die  niederl.  reformation  Kirche.     Erl.,  1856. 

8.  Prescott,  W.  H.     History  of  Philip  II.     3  vols.     Phila.,  1855.     New  ed., 

1882. 

9.  Motley,  J.  L.     Rise   of  the  Dutch   Republic.     3  vols.     N.  Y.,  1856.     Stu- 

dents' abd.  ed.  by  W.  E.  Griffis,  with  contin.  from  1584  to  1897.  N.  Y., 
1808.  History  of  the  United  Netherlands.  4  vols.  N.  Y.,  1861-68. 
Life  and  Death  of  John  of  Barneveld.  With  a  view  of  the  primary  causes 
and  movements  of  the  thirty  years'  war.     2  vols.     N.  Y.,  1873. 

10.  Martyn,  W.  C.     The  Dutch  Reformation  :  a  History  of  the  Struggle  in  the 

Netherlands  for  Civil  and  Religious  Liberty  in  the  Sixteenth  Century. 
N.  Y.,  1868. 

11.  Moll,  W.     Kerkeschiedenis  van  Nederland  voor  de  Hervorming.  Arnheim, 

1864-69.  Transl.  into  German,  with  additions.  Leipz.,  1895.  Able  and 
important.     See  O.  Zockler  in  Th.  Lit-blatt.,  Dec.  27,  1895. 

12.  Hansen,  M.  G.     The  Reformed  Church  in  the  Netherlands.     N.  Y.,  1884. 

See  Presb.  Rev.,  1884,  542. 

13.  Demarest,  David  D.     History  and  Characteristics  of  the  Protestant  Dutch 

Church.     4th  ed.     N.  Y.,  1889. 

14.  Hoop-Scheffer,  J.  G.  de.     Gesch.  der  Reformation  in  den  Niederlanden 

vom  ihren  Beginn  bis  zum  Jahre  1531.  Leipz.,  1886.  This  is  a  transl. 
from  the  Dutch  by  P.  Gerlach,  with  pref.  by  F.  Nippold.  A  convenient 
and  valuable  history. 

15.  Corpus  Documentorum  Inquisitionis  Haereticae  Pravitatis  Neerlandica.     5 

vols.  Gent,  1889-97.  This  great  work,  edited,  with  introductions,  sum- 
maries, and  notes  in  Dutch,  by  Dr.  Paul  Frederieq,  is  a  thesaurus  of  doc- 
uments in  the  original  tongues,  and  is  a  most  valuable  historical  source. 
See  Presb.  and  Ref.  Rev.,  1890,  321,  and  Th.  Litz.,  1898,  cc.  334  ff. 

16.  Blok,  P.  J.     Hist,  of  People  of  the  Netherlands.     Transl.  from  the  Dutch. 

3  vols.     N.  Y.  and  Lond.,  1898  ff.     Standard. 


330  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

II.    THE    BELGIC    CONFESSION. 

The  text  may  be  found  in  Sckaff ,  Creeds  of  Christendom,  vol.  iii,  pp.  383-436. 

1.  Grotius,  Hugo.     Annales  Hist,  de  rebus  Belgicis.     Amst.,  1658. 

2.  Holzwarth,  F.     Abfall  der  Niederlande.     3  vols.     Schaffh.,  1865-72.     See 

also  Brandt  and  Gachard  above. 

III.  JAMES    ARMINI0S. 

Works  and  Discussions.  Opera.  Leyden,  1629.  Transl.  by  James  and  W. 
Nichols.  3  vols.  Lond.,  1825-28  and  1875.  Am.  ed.  by  J.  Nichols  and  (3d 
vol.)  W.  R.  Bagnall.     Auburn  and  Buffalo,  1853. 

Biographical. 

1.  Brandt,    Caspar.     Historia   vitae  J.    Arminii.     Amst.,    1724.     Transl.    and 

prefixed  to  Nichols'  ed.  of  Works.     Lond. ,  1825.     Also  transl.  by  Guthrie. 
Nashville,  1857. 

2.  Warne,  Jonathan.     Trial  and  Condemnation  of  James  Arminius.     Lond., 

1742. 

3.  Bangs,  Nathan.     Life  of  James  Arminius.     N.  Y. ,  1843. 

4.  "Warren,  W.  F.     In  the  Footsteps  of  James  Arminius.     N.  Y. ,  1888. 

5.  Curtiss,  G.  L.     Arminianism  in  History.     Cine,  and  N.  Y.,  1894.     A  slight 

sketch. 
See  also  Wallace,  Anti-Trinitarian  Biography,  vol.  iii,  p.  558  ;  and  Whedon, 
Essays  and  Reviews,  vol.  i,  p.  50.     There  is  not  in  any  language  an  adequate 
historical  treatment  of  Arminius  or  of  Arminianism. 

IV.  SIMON   EPISCOPIUS. 

1.  Opera  Theologica.     2  vols.     Amst.,  1650-65.     2d  ed.,  Lond.,  1678. 

2.  N.N.     Het  leven  van  Simon  Episcopius.     Amst.,  1677. 

3.  Limborch,   Philip   a.     Het    levan   van   Simon    Episcopius.     Amst.,    1693. 

Transl.  into  Latin,  Amst.,  1701. 

4.  Konijnenburg,  J.     Laudatio  S.  Episcopii.     Amst.,  1791. 

5.  Calder,   Frederick.     Life   of   Simon  Episcopius.     Lond.  and   N.  Y.,  1837. 
See  also,  Brandt,  History  ;  Motley,  John  of  Barneveldt ;  and  Wallace,  Anti- 
Trinitarian  Biography,  vol.  iii,  p.  568. 

V.    SYNOD   OP  DORT. 

1.  The  Judgement  of  the  Synode  holden  at  Dort  concerning  the  Five  Articles. 

Lond.,  1619. 

2.  Scott,  Thomas.     The  Articles  of  the  Synod  of  Dort  translated  from  the 

Latin,  with  notes.     With  introductory  essay  by  Samuel  Miller.     Phila., 

1856.  Partisan. 
The  Acts  of  the  Synod  were  pub.  at  Dort,  1620,  and  from  the  Remonstrant 
side  at  Herderwyci,  1620.  See  John  Hale's  Letters  from  the  Synod  of  Dort,  in 
Golden  Remains,  Lond.,  1659  ;  Brandt,  History ;  Schaff,  Creeds,  i,  508  ff.,  iii, 
550  ff .  ;  A.  M.  Hopkins  (Calvinistic),  The  Synod  of  Dort,  in  Princeton  Review, 
1878,  322  ff. ;  Rogge,  Dordrecht,  Synode  zu,  in  Realencyklopadie  fur  prot.  Th. 
tmd  Kirch,  3  Auflg.,  1898,  iv,  798-802. 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   THE   NETHERLANDS.  331 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

THE  REFORMATION  IN  THE  NETHERLANDS. 

A  vakiett  of  causes  led  to  a  ready  acceptance  of  the  Gospel  in 
the  Burgundian  possessions  of  Charles  V.  The  country  was  rich 
and  flourishing,  the  cities  maintained  a  spirit  of  independence,  and 
Erasmus  had  aroused  antagonism  to  the  clergy  and  awakened  the 
desire  for  the  Bible  in  the  native  tongue.  Flanders,  Brabant,  and 
Antwerp,  as  well  as  Holland,  manifested  their  sympathy  with  the 
Eeformation.  Luther's  writings  were  early  translated  and  widely 
diffused  among  the  people.1  The  Augustinians  furnished  the  prin- 
cipal preachers  of  the  Gospel,  among  the  most  prominent  of  whom 
was  Jacobus  Spreng  (or  Propositus).  He  was  imprisoned  at  Brus- 
sels, where  he  made  a  forced  recantation,  after  which  he  again 
preached  the  reformed  doctrine  in  Bruges,  and  fled  to  Wittenberg, 
and  finally  became  pastor  in  Bremen.  There  was  also  Hein- 
rich  von  Ziitphen,  who  was  imprisoned,  but  delivered  by  an  uprising 
of  the  people,  after  which  he  fled,  but  finally  suffered  martyrdom. 

Charles  V  was  determined  to  suppress  heresy  in  these  his  hered- 
itary lands,  and  was  not  hindered,  as  in  Germany,  by  political  con- 
ditions. In  the  execution  of  his  purposes  he  was  ably  seconded  by  the 
representatives  of  the  scholastic  theology,  especially  in  the  person  of 
Professor  Jacob  Latomus,  of  the  Louvain  faculty,  and  by  the  Do- 
minicans, the  envious  opponents  and  rivals  of  the  Augustinians.  An 
edict  issued  on  May  8,  1521,  from  the  diet  of  Worms,  relative  to  the 
Reformation  in  the  Netherlands,  was  followed  by  another  in  April, 
1522.  These,  together  with  numerous  other  edicts2 
condemning  Protestants  and  Protestant  writings  and        and  pope 

UNITE  TO 

Bible  translations,  were  of  little  avail.     The  emperor        check 
appointed  his  privy  counselor,  Francis  van  der  Hulst, 
as  judge  in  all  heretical  cases,  and  some  most  arbitrary  acts  were 
performed  by  him. 3   The  pope  joined  with  the  efforts  of  the  emperor 

1  The  theological  faculty  of  Louvain,  which  condemned  the  writings  of  Luther 
in  February,  1520,  gave  as  a  reason  for  the  act  their  general  diffusion. 

2  The  substance  of  them  may  be  seen  in  Gieseler,  iv,  311,  n.  7. 

3  For  writing  a  preface  to  the  work  of  John  of  Goch  on  Christain  Freedom. 
Cornelius  Grapheus,  secretary  of  the  city  of  Antwerp,  was  imprisoned  at  Brus- 
sels, sentenced  to  recantation,  confiscation  of  property,  deposition,  and  banish- 
ment. 


332  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

by  setting  up  an  inquisitorial  council  for  the  Netherlands  in  1524 ; 
but  all  their  attempts  to  check  the  growth  of  the  truth  were  vain. 

It  was  not  long  until  a  number  of  able  native  advocates  of  the 
Keformation  were  raised  up,  while  the  authorities  in  the  cities  and 
provinces,  although  Roman  Catholic,  were  jealous  of  the  foreign 
interposition  of  the  pope,  and,  so  far  from  proceeding  violently  in 
the  execution  of  the  decrees,  even  favored  the  renovation  to  a 
certain  extent.  Bibles  were  printed  with  the  names  of  the  pub- 
lishers on  the  title-page,  and  in  1532  the  imperial  agents  were  for- 
bidden by  the  magistracy  in  Deventer  to  come  there  to  search  out 
Lutherans.  Nevertheless,  Jacob  Liesveld  was  accused  in  1545 
because  he  had  issued  a  Bible  with  a  comment  to  the  effect  that 
human  salvation  is  wrought  alone  through  Jesus  Christ.1  Mar- 
garet of  Savoy,  also,  Charles's  aunt,  was  not  disposed  to  be  as 
severe  as  the  emperor.  On  the  other  hand,  she  declared  to  the 
priors  of  the  monasteries  that  she  well  knew  the  common  people 
were  inclined  to  Protestantism,  because  of  the  indiscreet  sermons 
of  the  preachers ;  and  they  were  warned  not  to  allow  any  to  preach, 
henceforth,  except  those  who  were  thoughtful,  wise,  of  good  morals, 
and  capable  speakers,  while  she  told  them  to  desist  from  the  rela- 
tion of  improper  fables  in  their  public  addresses.2  She  was  fol- 
lowed in  1530  by  Charles's  sister,  Maria,  the  widow  of  the  king 
of  Hungary.  The  latter  was  so  favorable  to  the  Reformation  that 
the  pope  complained  of  her  to  the  emperor. 

All  these  things  gave  the  Reformation  an  opportunity  for  devel- 
maktyrsfor  opment,  in  spite  of  the  emperor  and  pope.  Many 
reform.  severe  struggles,  however,  were  endured  for  the  faith 

even  in  this  early  period.  In  July,  1523,  the  first  martyr  blood  of 
the  Reformation  was  shed  in  Brussels  by  the  burning  of  two  young 
Augustinians,  Heinrich  Voes  and  Johann  von  Essen  (or  Esch). 
Luther  wrote  to  the  Holland  Protestants  a  most  touching  and 
consolatory,  yet  inspiring  letter,  even  more  worthy  a  place  in  lit- 
erature than  his  hymn  composed  on  the  occasion,  beginning, 

"  Ein  neues  Lied  wir  heben  an." 3 
As  a  poem  its  merits  are  not  great.     It  is  a  recital  of  the  events 

1  "  De  saelicheit  der  menschen  alleen  kompt  door  Jesum  Christum." 

2  Brandt  gives  the  substance  of  the  document  sent  to  the  heads  of  the  cloisters, 
September  27,  1521,  in  which  it  is  declared  that  the  divisions  among  the  people 
have  arisen  from  the  indiscreet  sermons  of  the  preachers,  religious  and  other. 
— Historie  der  Reformatio  en  andere  Kerkelyke  Geschiedenissen,  i,  97.  Giese- 
ler,  iv,  311,  n.  8. 

3  The  line  may  be  translated,  "We  raise  once  more  the  voice  of  song." 


THE   REFORMATION   IN  THE   NETHERLANDS.  333 

connected  with  the  execution,  together  with  the  circumstances 
leading  to  it,  and  an  estimate  of  the  martyrs  and  the  results  of 
their  sufferings.  These  two  young  men  were  the  first  of  a  vast 
company  of  Protestants,  in  many  lands,  who  were  butchered  or 
burned  in  the  name  of  Christ  by  the  Holy  Catholic  Church. 

The  Keformation  in  the  Netherlands  in  the  early  period  suffered 
from  the  divisions  and  fanaticism  of  the  Protestants.     The  Zwing- 
lian  idea  of  the  Lord's  Supper  soon  began  to  displace  that 
of  Luther.    The  Anabaptists  carried  forward  the  propa-     protes- 

TANTS 

ganda  of  their  extreme  views,  leading  not  only  to  their 
forcible  suppression,  but  to  danger  for  the  social  order.  These  were 
paralleled  by  a  sect  whose  tenets  were  destructive  of  both  true  reli- 
gion and  morality,  the  sect  of  the  Free  Spirit. 1  Another  change  in 
the  faith  of  the  Protestants  was  more  salutary.  The  Lutheran  doc- 
trine had  suffered  from  its  contact  with  Zwinglianism,  which  almost 
wholly  disappeared  before  Calvinism.  English  refugees  during  the 
reign  of  Mary  (1553-1558)  aided  the  natural  inclination  of  the 
masses  toward  the  Calvinistic  doctrines,  and  in  1559  a  confession 
of  faith,  which  was  passed  around  to  be  criticised  and  revised  by 
various  theologians,  was  finally  approved  at  Geneva,  and  submitted 
(1572)  to  Philip  II,  in  the  hope  that  he  might  thereby  be  brought 
to  a  more  favorable  opinion  of  the  Protestants.  A  similar  effort 
by  Calvin  with  Francis  I  might  have  taught  them  the  futility  of  all 
such  attempts.  The  preface  of  the  confession  (the  Belgic)  gave 
the  number  of  Protestants  of  Calvinistic  faith  in  the  Netherlands 
as  one  hundred  thousand. 

With  the  advent  of  Philip  II  (1555)  a  more  energetic  effort  was 
to  be  made  to  destroy  the  Protestant  movement.     In 

,  ,     ,  ,        .  .        .  .    .  PHILIP   II. 

order  to  a  more  complete  ecclesiastical  supervision, 
fourteen  new  dioceses  were  created.  This  act  was  regarded  with 
great  disfavor  by  the  inhabitants.  When,  in  1559,  Philip  left 
the  Netherlands  never  to  return,  he  left  behind  him  as  his  vice 
regent  his  half  sister,  Margaret  of  Parma,  and  as  her  privy  coun- 
selor Anton  Granvella,  son  of  the  emperor's  chancellor.  He  was 
the  bishop  of  Arras,  and  now  became  archbishop  of  Mechlin,  and 
strove  to  carry  out  Philip's  ideas  relative  to  Church  and  State. 
His  presence  was  objectionable  to  the  nobles,  and  he  was  recalled 
in  1564.  During  his  administration  the  struggle  was  political 
rather  than  religious,  and  the  attempts  to  give  the  Netherlands 
civil  freedom  began  at  this  time. 

1  See  their  principles  stated  in  Gieseler,  iv,  312,  n.  11,  and  in  de  Wette,  iii, 
60,  where  Luther's  letter,  parts  of  which  are  quoted  by  Gieseler,  may  be  found. 


334  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Granvella  was  scarcely  out  of  the  country  when  the  Calvinists 

began  to  agitate  against  the  bishoprics.     Philip  would  not  yield, 

but  demanded  the  acceptance  of  the  results  of  the 

church  council  of  Trent,  which  had  -just  closed.     A  league  of 

ORCANIZFD 

nobles,1  formed  in  1566  in  the  house  of  Philip  of 
Marnix,  adopted  what  was  known  as  the  Compromise,  demanding 
the  removal  of  the  placards  against  heretics  and  the  calling  of  the 
States  General,  and  proposing  to  employ  violence  in  opposition  to 
the  Inquisition.  The  league  of  consistories  was  formed  simul- 
taneously, and  the  organization  of  the  Church  was  begun.  The 
refusal  of  Philip  to  grant  any  amelioration  of  existing  religious 
conditions  led  the  populace  to  deeds  of  disorder,  but  not  of  blood. 
The  wholesale  condemnation  of  the  papal  Church  and  its  idola- 
try had  indeed  awakened  the  feelings  to  which  these  disorders  gave 
expression,  but  aside  from  this  the  reformers  had  no  part  in  them. 
Nevertheless,  Margaret  held  them  responsible,  and  punished  them 
accordingly.  On  the  condition  that  the  Calvinists  should  be 
tolerated,  William  of  Orange  headed  a  movement  to  quiet  the 
disturbances. 

It  had  become  plain  that  Philip  would  not  remit  his  zeal  for  the 
Church,  nor  his  determination  to  maintain  the  Spanish  tyranny.  On 
December  1,  1566,  therefore,  the  league  of  nobles  formed  a  union 
with  the  league  of  consistories,  but  were  overcome  by  Margaret's 
the  duke  troops.  It  was  at  this  point  that  the  bloody  duke  of 
Alva  appeared  on  the  scene  (1567).  He  demanded 
the  destruction  of  heresy  and  the  restoration  of  absolute  Spanish 
rule,  even  at  the  cost  of  all  civil  rights.  To  support  his  purposes  he 
brought  with  him  a  Spanish  army.  He  arrested  Egmont,  whose 
fate  has  been  so  powerfully  described  by  Goethe,  and  established 
the  "council  of  blood,"  at  whose  order  thousands  fell,  and  which 
persecuted  heresy  as  high  treason. 

The  result  of  such  tyranny  was  to  cause  the  nation,  without  re- 
gard to  religion,  to  resist  him.  After  having  destroyed  eighteen 
thousand  lives  Alva  forsook  the  country,  1573,  without  having 
accomplished  his  object.  On  the  contrary,  by  the  treaty  of  Ghent 
(1576)  the  Walloon  districts  united  with  the  North  for  the  expul- 
sion of  the  Spaniards.  Gradually  Belgium  became  Eoman  Cath- 
olic, the  Protestants  having  fled  from  the  dreadful  persecutions 
of  Alexander  of  Parma  (1581-1585).     In  the  North,  however,  the 

1  They  afterward  proudly  bore  the  title  of  Beggars,  given  them  in  scorn  by  a 
counselor  of  the  regent.  They  were  destined  to  give  their  enemies  no  end  of 
trouble. 


THE   REFORMATION   IN  THE   NETHERLANDS.  335 

cause  of  Protestantism  was  destined  to  prevail,  though  with  un- 
told suffering  beforehand.  The  union  of  Utrecht,  formed  June  23, 
1579,  comprised  most  of  the  States  of  the  North.  It  THE  vmov 
declared  itself  free  from  the  rule  of  Philip,  and  chose  OF  utrecht. 
William  of  Orange  as  general  in  command.  He  had  recently 
followed  his  Protestant  education  and  left  the  Eomanists.  Had 
he  not  been  assassinated,  in  1584,  he  would  have  been  chosen  king. 
Under  his  son  Maurice  the  Netherlands  were  able  to  assert  their 
freedom  against  the  proud  Spaniards,  who  in  1609  were  compelled 
to  grant  a  truce  of  twelve  years.  With  the  peace  of  Westphalia 
the  country  was  definitely  and  finally  granted  its  independence. 

During  all  this  time  the  Keformed  Church  was  making  rapid 
strides.  Leyden  had  so  heroically  defended  itself  against  the 
Spaniards,  that  to  the  city  was  given  the  choice  between  the  posses- 
sion of  a  university  and  freedom  from  taxes  for  a  term  of  years. 
Wisely  she  chose  the  former.  Besides  this  university  others  were 
-established  at  Franeker  (1585),  Groningen  (1612),  Utrecht  (1636), 
and  Harderwyk  (1648).  The  power  of  Calvinism  may  be  seen 
from  the  fact  that,  though  its  adherents  were  in  the 

°  .  THE  POWER 

minority,  they  succeeded  in  depriving  the  Eomanists  of  calvln- 
of  their  civil  rights.  This  may  indeed  be  regarded 
as  reflecting  on  the  character  of  both  Calvinism  and  Holland  for 
religious  tolerance  ;  but  those  were  not  the  times  of  absolute  re- 
ligious equality  before  the  law,  and,  besides,  only  thus  could  the 
prevailing  party  maintain  itself  and  the  country  in  peace.  At 
first  the  Church  was  free  from  the  State,  but  it  was  finally 
brought  under  the  control  of  the  civil  power  by  the  aid  of  the 
Erastian  doctrine  that,  in  order  to  secure  dogmatic  tolerance,  the 
State  should  control  in  the  matter  of  confessions.  The  State 
Church  was  Presbyterian  in  organization. 

The  most  vigorous  opposition  which  Calvinism  met  was  that  of 
the  Arminians.1  The  Calvinists  had  already  divided  into  a  sub- 
lapsarian  and  a  supralapsarian  party  when,  in  1590, 
James  Arminius  was  called  upon  to  defend  the  doc- 
trines of  Calvin  and  Beza.  In  the  course  of  his  investigations 
with  this  end  in  view,  he  reached  the  conclusion  that  the  doctrine  of 
predestination  was  false.  Becoming  professor  in  Leyden  in  1603, 
he  was  soon  drawn  into  a  controversy  with  his  colleague,  Professor 
Francis  Gomarus.  The  parties  which  were  formed  around  these 
two  leaders  were  known  as  the  Arminians  and  Gomarists.     The 

1  The  details  belong  to  the  history  of  doctrine,  but  its  general  relation  to  the 
progress  of  the  Church  in  the  Netherlands  calls  for  mention  here. 


336  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

latter  insisted  upon  the  formulated  creed  of  Calvin,  and  upon  in- 
dependence of  the  State  from  the  Church.  The  Arminians,  on 
the  other  hand,  desired  to  have  no  binding  creed  in  human  lan- 
guage, insisting  upon  the  Bible  as  the  only  rule  of  faith,  and 
wished  to  see  the  Church  subjected  to  the  State. 

Upon  the  death  of  Arminius,  in  1609,  Simon  Episcopius  and 
John  Uytenbogaert  wrote  a  remonstrance '  to  Holland  and  West 
Friesland,  with  such  effect  that  these  States  took  up  their  cause 
and  strove  to  secure  them  toleration.  Barneveld  and  Grotius, 
who  had  succeeded  in  securing  the  twelve  years'  truce  with  Spain, 
thekemon-  together  with  the  Arminians,  who  supported  the 
States  in  this  matter,  were  alike  accused  of  treason 
and  of  accepting  bribes.  To  condemn  the  Remonstrants,  there- 
fore, the  synod  of  Dort  was  called,  and  invitations  were  sent  to 
the  Reformed  Churches  in  all  the  countries,  excepting  Anhalt. 
The  synod  was  held  in  1618  and  1619,  and  condemned  Barneveld 
and  Grotius,  the  former  of  whom  was  executed  in  May,  1619. 
It  also  gave  formal  sanction  to  Calvinism,  condemned  the  Remon- 
strant doctrines,  and  determined  upon  the  banishment  of  Remon- 
strants. Many  of  the  latter  fled,  while  those  who  remained  formed 
the  sect  of  Collegiants,  or  Rhynsburghers,  who  in  the  eighteenth 
century  were  absorbed  by  the  Mennonites. 

Under  Maurice's  successor,  Henry  Frederick,  those  who  had 
been  banished  were  allowed  to  return,  but  were  refused  the  right 
to  build  churches  until  1630.  They  now  emphasized  the  practical 
portions  of  the  Scriptures  as  against  the  doctrinal,  denied  the  doc- 
trine of  original  sin  as  ordinarily  stated,  and  made  objection  to  the 
speculative  features  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  thus  laying 
themselves  open  to  the  charge  of  Socinianism,  with  whose  adher- 
ents they  were  indeed  on  friendly  terms.  The  Arminian  doctrines 
spread  to  England  and  Germany,  and  even  into  France,  where 
they  were  favorably  regarded  by  certain  of  the  French  reformed 
synods  which  desired  to  effect  a  doctrinal  union,  omitting  many 
points,  among  them  predestination,  not  necessary  to  salvation.5 

1  The  remonstrance  contained  five  articles  teaching  the  conditionally  of 
predestination.  Faith  was  wrought  by  grace,  but  not  irresistibly,  while  grace 
might  be  forfeited. 

2  Moller  gives  a  good  account  of  the  Arminian  controversy,  and  of  the  synod 
of  Dort  with  its  canons— iii,  378-383.  In  Gieseler  may  be  seen  numerous  ex- 
tracts from  the  original  document — iv,  505-514. 

t 


LITERATURE:   THE   RENAISSANCE   IN   ITALY.  337 


LITERATURE:  THE  RENAISSANCE  IN  ITALY. 

1.  Voight.     Die  Wiederbelebung    klassischen    Alterthums.     1859.    2d  ed., 

1881. 

2.  Grimm,  H.     Life  of  Michael  Angelo.    Transl.     2  vols.     Lond.,  1865.     5th. 

ed.  of  original,  1879. 

3.  Pater,  W.     The  Renaissance  :  Studies  in  Art  and   Poetry.     Lond.,  1873. 

New  ed. ,  1888.  Written  in  a  bewitching  style,  and  in  a  truly  pagan  sym- 
pathy with  the  pagan  elements  of  the  period  under  review. 

4.  Reaumont,  A.  v.  Lorenzo  de  Medici.     Transl.     2  vols.     Lond.,  1876.     Im- 

partial, and  full  of  research.  The  older  history  of  William  Roscoe  (Lond., 
1795;  new  ed.,  1885)  is  one  of  the  celebrated  books  of  English  literature, 
but  is  a  eulogy  and  not  a  history,  and  is  written  with  fine  disregard  of 
accuracy ! 

5.  Wilson,  C.  Heath.     Life  and  Works  of  Michelangelo  Buonarotti.     Flor- 

ence, 1876.  Excellent  for  its  comments  on  art.  Used  the  Lettere  di 
Michelangelo,  first  pub.  in  Florence  in  1875,  edited  by  G.  Milanesi,  which 
were  first  employed  by  A.  Gotti,  Vita  di  Michelangelo,  Florence,  1875. 

6.  Villari,  P.     Machiavelli  and  his  Times.     Transl.  from  Ital.  by  his  wife.     4 

vols.  Lond.,  1878-81.  Macaulay's  brilliant  essay,  1827,  was  a  successful 
effort  to  give  a  just  and  large  view,  and  more  recent  studies  have  not  ma- 
terially affected  his  estimate.  The  latest  is  by  John  Morley,  Lond., 
1898.  The  best  edition  (in  original)  of  the  prince  is  by  L.  Arthur  Burd, 
with  Introd.  by  Lord  Acton,  Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1891. 

7.  Geiger,  L.     Renaissance  und  Humanismus.     Leipz.,  1881.     Admirable. 

8.  Scott,  Leader.     The  Renaissance  of  Art  in  Italy.     Lond.,  1883. 

9.  Springer,  Anton.     Raffael  und  Michelangelo.     2d  ed.     1883. 

10.  Lee,  Vernon.     Euphorion.     Lond.,  1884. 

11.  Muntz.     La  Renaissance  en  Italie  et  en  France  a  l'epoque  de  Charles  V1UL. 

1886. 

12.  Symonds,  J.  A.     The   Renaissance  in  Italy.     7  vols.     Lond.  and  N.  Y., 

1875-87.  Most  important  work  by  an  English  hand,  written  in  excellent 
style,  with  competent  knowledge,  though  with  too  few  references  to  the 
literature,  by  one  whose  mind  was  in  accord  with  the  semi-pagan  tend- 
encies of  the  movement.  The  abridged  ed.  has  been  pub.  in  one  vol. 
Lond.  andN.  Y.,  1898. 

13.  Burckhardt,  Jacob.      Civilization   of   the   Period  of   the   Renaissance   in 

Italy.  Transl.  Lond.,  1878.  New  ed.,  1890  and  1892.  The  best  one  vol. 
book  on  this  subject  in  any  language. 

14.  Browning,  Oscar.     Guelphs  and  Ghibellines.     Lond.,  1893.     Age  of  the 

Condotierri,  1409-15C0.     Lond.,  1895. 

15.  Comba,  Emilio.     I.  Nostri  Protestanti:  vol.  i,  Avanti?  la  Riforma.     Flor., 
1895.     See  N.  M.  Steffens  in  Presb.  and  Eef.  Rev.,  viii,  331-333. 

16.  Woodward,  H.  W.     Vittorio  da  Veltre  and   other  Humanist   Educators. 

Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1897.     See  The  Nation,  May  20,  1897,  p.  380. 
24 


338  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

17.  Rose,  G.  B.     Renaissance  Masters  :  Art  of  Raphael,  Michelangelo,  da  Vinci, 

Titian,  Correggio,  and  Botticelli.     N.  Y.  and  Lond.,  1898. 

18.  Field,  Lilian  F.     Introduction  to  Study  of  the  Renaissance.     N.  Y.,  1898. 

19.  Whitcomb,    M.      Source-Book  of    the  Italian  Renaissance.     Phil.,   1898. 

Transl.  of  pertinent  passages  from  a  wide  range  of  contemporary  litera- 
ture :  a  work  admirably  conceived. 
See  able  articles  in  the  Quar.  Rev.,  Jan.,  1878,  and  July,  1882  ;  Cont.  Rev., 
March,  1879  ;  Church  Quar.   Rev.,  Lond.,  x,  339  ff.,  xxv,  362  ff.  ;  Chr.  Lit., 
iv,  96  ff.,  and  Schaff  in  Ref.  Quar.  Rev.,  Oct.,  1891,  and  in  Papers  of  Am.  Soc. 
of  Ch.  Hist.,  iii,  3  ff. 

SAINT   PHILIP   NERI. 

1.  Faber,  F.  W.     The  Spirit  and  Genius  of  Saint  Philip  Neri.     Lond.,  1850. 

2.  Passardierre,  Jourdain  de  la.     L'Oratorie  de  St.  Ph.  de  Neri.     Paris,  1880. 

3.  Bowden,  C.  H..     Life  of  Blessed  John  Juvenal  Ancina,  Companion  of  St. 

Philip  Neri,  Bishop  of  Saluzzo.     N.  Y.,  1891. 

4.  Capecelatro,  Alfonso.     The  Life  of   St.  Philip   Neri,  Apostle  of  Rome. 

Transl.  by  Thos.  Alex.  Pope.     2  vols.     Lond.,  1882.     New  revised  ed., 
N.  Y.,  1894. 
.5.  D'Orves,,  Etienne.    S.  Philippe  de  Neri.     Paris,  1895. 


THE   RENAISSANCE   IN   ITALY.  339 


CHAPTER    XXXV. 

THE   RENAISSANCE    IN    ITALY. 

The  Renaissance,  or  Revival  of  Letters,  which  in  England  and 
Germany  was  made  subordinate  and  serviceable  to  a  deep  moral 
and  religious  earnestness,  was  in  Italy  predominantly  pagan.  Even 
those  Italian  scholars  who  retained  their  Christian  faith  led  a  kind 
of  dual  life,  widely  different  from  the  spiritual  unity  of  a  Me- 
lanchthon  or  Colet,  or  even  of  an  Erasmus.  The  latter  showed 
a  certain  want  of  spiritual  depth,  yet  his  classical  enthusiasm  was 
essentially  northern,  not  Italian  ;  practical,  not  volup- 

J  '  '    r.  r        PAGANISM    OF 

tuouslv  aesthetic.     With  the  northern  scholars  gener-  Italian  re- 

J  °  naissance. 

ally,  his  deepest  interest  was  for  the  reestabhshment 
of  scriptural  study  in  the  originals.     He  desired  to  see  Christian 
life  refashioned  after  these,  interpreted  according  to  their  natural 
sense,  not  turned  away  from  this  by  the  unbounded  allegorizings 
and  mystical  expositions  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

In  Italy  no  such  serious  and  practical  spirit  could  gain  predom- 
inance. The  whole  doctrinal  system,  and  the  whole  polity  of  the 
Church,  had  long  since  set  and  hardened  into  a  shape  which  was 
not,  indeed,  wholly  alien  to  the  ends  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  but 
which  seemed  to  be  chiefly  accommodated  to  the  maintenance  of 
Italian  domination.  Nowhere  could  the  thought  of  reconstitut- 
ing the  Church  after  earlier,  above  all,  after  spiritual  models,  be 
more  distasteful ;  for  what  guarantee  was  there  that  after  such  a 
refusion  Rome  and  Italy  would  still  be  at  the  head  ?  The  Scripture 
warrant  for  their  supremacy  was  certainly  not  ample.  Moreover, 
the  Italian  temper  has  been  described,  not  without  warrant,  as 
hard,  positive,  externalizing ;  in  other  words,  as  irreligious,  or  at 
the  least  unspiritual.  What  Heinrich  Heine  has  said  of  the  Latin 
language  may  be  said  of  the  whole  Latin  system,  that  Christianity 
has  tried  from  the  beginning  to  spiritualize  it,  and  has  finally  given 
up  the  attempt  in  despair.     The  Italian  distinctness 

r  r  r  INFLEXIBILI- 

and  perfection  of  form  and  balanced  temperateness  ty  of  roman 

1  .         „       n    .         .  t         •    t      •  m  CATHOLICISM. 

have  a  worthy  place  in  fashioning  the  fabric  of  truth, 
but    the    knell    of   their  crushing  supremacy  sounded   four  cen- 
turies ago.     European  history  has  since  been  largely  the  record 
of  its  struggles  to  avoid  signing  the  act  of    its  own  abdication. 


340  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Yet  if  even  the  grandeur  of  an  Aquinas  and  the  superhuman 
sublimity  of  a  Dante,  though  of  immortal  value  and  efficacy,  can 
no  longer  control  the  range  of  Christian  thought  and  life,  what 
hope  is  there  for  the  dregs  and  leavings  of  those  great  minds  ? 

The  great  revival  of  the  knowledge  of  ancient  times,  being  there- 
fore, in  Italy,  repelled  from  all  reforming  functions  in  belief  and 
life,  became  principally  aesthetic.  Classical  beauty  was  once  more 
passionately  worshiped,  and  as  the  worship  had  no  moral  rectifica- 
tion, the  living  God  and  the  redeeming  Christ  being  shut  up  under 
hierarchical  guards,  this  worship  of  beauty  passed  at  once  into  a 
worship  of  lust.  The  animal  instincts,  which  had  long  been  sub- 
jected, at  least  in  theory,  to  an  ascetic  extremity  of  discipline,  now 
burst  forth  into  an  exuberance  of  which  the  only  adequate  type  is 
the  bestial  voluptuousness  of  satyrs,  which,  indeed,  is  chosen  as 
the  fitting  expression  for  it  by  its  great  modern  admirer  and  advo- 
cate, the  novelist  Zola.  All  control  of  the  higher  nature  was  ab- 
solutely refused,  except  as  this  was  invoked  to  throw  a  transparent 
mantle  of  outer  seemliness  over  the  riotousness  of  mere  animalism. 
A  man  was  hardly  accounted  a  true  classical  scholar  unless  he  was 
believed  to  be  given  up  to  the  practice  of  unnatural  vice.  And,  as  of 
old,  we  have  here  ' '  lust  hard  by  hate. "  Murder  was  calmly  accepted 
dissolution  as  a  constituent  of  ordinary  life,  whether  by  the  dag- 
of  morality.  ger  or  ^y  ^e  more  refined  administration  of  secret 
drugs.  The  perfection  of  vengeance  was  to  be  able  to  poison  an 
enemy  in  the  consecrated  host.  As  to  public  morality,  as  we 
know,  there  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  been  even  the  pretense  of 
this.  Machiavelli's  Prince  rests  on  two  positions,  that  sovereign 
power  is  the  sovereign  good,  and  that  all  means  are  to  be  freely 
used  which  conduce  to  the  acquisition  of  this  without  endangering 
its  continuance. 

The  holy  see  at  first  looked  ambiguously  on  the  Eenaissance. 

The  paganism  of  this,  however,  proved  its  protection. 

of  the  re-       Paganism  is  not  the  mother  of  martyrs,  and  the  re- 

NAISSANCE. 

vived  imitative  paganism  of  the  Renaissance  least  of 
all.  Its  votaries,  indeed,  would  have  been  disconsolate  had  the 
Church  been  broken  up,  for  they  looked  upon  this  as  their  her- 
itage, whereby  Italy  was  still  to  bear  rule  over  the  nations.  The}7, 
therefore,  affected  a  profound  deference  toward  all  the  doctrines 
and  dignities  and  dignitaries  of  the  Church,  and  were  at  the 
summit  of  their  wishes  when  they  were  invested  with  the  purple 
of  the  monsignore,  or,  above  all,  with  the  cardinal's  scarlet.  The 
perfection  of  an  ecclesiastical  disciple  of  the  Eenaissance  appears 


THE   RENAISSANCE   IN  ITALY.  341 

in  the  famous  Cardinal  Bembo,  one  of  the  great  fathers  of  Italian 
literature.  He  was  an  enthusiastic  admirer  of  Melanchthon,  but 
could  not  forbear  lamenting  that  so  illustrious  a  scholar  should  be 
such  a  child  as  to  believe  in  the  life  to  come  ! 

At  first  the  papacy  patronized  only  the  sounder  parts  of  the 
Kenaissance,  as  we  see  in  Nicholas  V.  Even  he,  unspiritual 
however,  had  he  lived,  would  have  converted  Rome  cbnce  of 
into  a  magnificent  exemplification  of  "  the  pride  BOME- 
of  life."  The  Italian  Renaissance,  we  need  hardly  say,  affected 
not  so  much  the  ethereal  simplicity  of  Athenian  classicism  as  its 
heavier  and  more  pompous  Roman  reproduction.  Florence,  in- 
deed, allowing  for  the  greater  substantiality  of  the  Italian  genius, 
has  been  rightly  called  the  Athens  of  Italy  ;  but  Rome  was  ever 
Rome,  magnificently  ponderous,  sensuous,  oppressive  even  when 
good,  and  when  evil,  extravagantly  bestial. 

Nicholas  V  favored  the  Renaissance,  but  Pius  II,  iEneas 
Sylvius  Piccolomini,  embodied  it.  In  him  it  showed  rather  its 
Hellenic  than  Roman  form.  This  illustrious  adventurer  may  be 
not  ill  described  as  the  Themistocles  of  the  Church.  Genial,  of 
an  understanding  airy,  but  sound,  adequate  to  every  emergency, 
always  supremely  intent  on  his  own  advancement,  but  always  wait- 
ing for  it  in  cultivated  and  seemly  leisureliness,  he  rose  from  grade 
to  grade  by  a  sort  of  natural  necessity,  until  at  last  he  found  him- 
self, under  no  suspicion  of  unbecoming  intrigue,  at  the  head  of 
the  Church.  Grossly  immoral  until  past  the  middle  of  life,  and 
coarsely  boasting  of  his  immorality  in  his  letters  to  his  father,  he 
yet,  when  declining  passions  made  conversion  easier,  turned  with  a 
strange  mixture  of  sincerity  and  calculation  from  the  jeneas 

practice  of  vice  to  the  practice  of  devotion,  and,  hav- 
ing then  first  been  ordained  priest,  seems  to  have  kept  the  sacer- 
dotal character  unsullied.  At  first  strongly  supporting  the  reform- 
ing projects  of  the  council  of  Basel,  of  which  his  preeminent  liter- 
ary abilities  soon  made  him  the  secretary  (being  then  only  in  minor 
orders),  he  broke  with  the  council  when  he  saw  that  its  heedless 
precipitancy  would  ruin  its  cause,  and  by  a  series  of  becomingly 
managed  transitions  went  over  to  the  papal  side.  When  himself 
pope  he  solemnly  condemned  his  own  writings  in  defense  of  the 
council  to  be  publicly  burned. 

The  eulogy  of  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  that  for  every  stage 
of  his  life  iEneas  Sylvius  developed  the  requisite  qualities  to  com- 
pass it,  and  that  at  last  he  unfolded,  in  all  their  fullness,  the  virtues 
of  the  supreme  pastor,  takes  no  account  of  the  self-interested  char- 


342  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

acter  of  his  life,  and  of  his  sensual  boastings  of  his  own  sensuality. 
Yet  so  much  as  this  may  be  said,  that  he  had  a  sanity  of  spirit 
which  inclined  him  increasingly  to  good,  and  that  his  pontificate, 
closing  his  life,  is  the  best  part  of  it.  He  never  disclosed  any  spir- 
itual depth,  but  at  least  he  was  possessed  by  a  generous  enthusiasm 
for  the  rescue  of  Greek  Christianity  from  the  Ottoman  yoke.  Few 
scenes  in  history  are  more  touching  than  the  aged  pope  gazing  from 
the  heights  of  Ancona,  determined  to  embark  in  person  on  the  de- 
livering fleet,  straining  his  eyes  for  the  sight  of  the  Venetian 
squadron  that  never  came,  and  then  going  back  to  his  bed  to  die. 
Were  there  an  iEneas  Sylvius  in  Europe  now,  the  diabolical  mur- 
derousness  of  the  unspeakable  Turk  might  be  brought  to  a  speedy 
close. 

Paul  II  succeeded  in  crushing  the  Husites  of  Bohemia  by  involv- 
ing Hungary  in  a  crusade  against  them,  which  broke  their  forces  and 
gave  up  middle  Europe  to  Ottoman  ravages.     This  was  the  last 
exercise,  by  the  papacy  of  the  Eenaissance,  of  an  act  of  mediaeval 
power.     Thenceforth,  for  several  generations,  the  pa- 

PAUL  II.  r  '  fe  '  f 

pacy  sank  into  a  mere  secular,  unscrupulous  Italian 
principality,  a  mockery  on  its  spiritual  side  to  the  Italians,  and  a 
burden  to  the  northern  nations,  whose  stubborn  loyalty  to  the 
power  that  had  once  guided  their  education  out  of  heathen  barbar- 
ism was  fast  wearing  out. 

Sixtus  IV,  before  his  papacy  general  of  that  once  most  un- 
worldly of  orders,  the  Franciscan,  gave  himself  up,  after  elec- 
tion, to  unbounded  nepotism.  To  advance  his  brutal  and  immoral 
nephews  was  about  his  only  serious  thought.  To  this  end  he  did 
not  even  shrink,  in  the  conspiracy  against  the  Medici,  from  a  vir- 
tual complicity  with  murderers.     Care  for  the  puri- 

SIXTUS   IV. 

fication  of  the  Church,  at  center  or  borders,  was 
hardly  even  affected.  His  confirmation  of  the  Spanish  Inquisition 
cannot  well  be  laid  up  against  him,  for  he  held  back  until  there 
seemed  danger  of  a  schism,  and  even  then  initiated  a  long  series 
of  papal  interferences  in  Spain  which  rescued  innumerable  vic- 
tims. The  sensible  bull  confirming  English  peace  by  sanctioning 
the  Tudor  succession  must  also  count  in  his  favor. 

Innocent  VIII  first  raised  to  doctrinal  authority  the  horrible 

superstitions  concerning  witchcraft.     This  terrible  act 

INNOCENT 

vin.  marked  the  decline  of  Catholic  faith,  not  its  vigor. 

For  nearly  four  centuries  it  gave  up  to  torturing  death  hundreds 
of  thousands,  some  say  even  millions. 

Personally,  Innocent,  a  careful  father  of  many  children,  is  de- 


THE   RENAISSANCE   IN  ITALY.  343 

cent  when  compared  with   the  unutterable  infamy  of  the  next 
pontiff.     The   Spaniard,  Eoderick   Borgia,  Alexander  VI,  has  a 
name  which  causes  us  to  shudder  at  its  very  sound.      ALEXANDER 
Not  even  in  the  tenth  century,  during  the  Reign  of     VI- 
the  Harlots,  did  the  papacy  so  nearly  sink  to  the  infernal  center. 

Then  there  was  the  half -conscious  scandalousness  of  barbarous 
barons;  now  there  was  the  deliberate  self-dedication  to  evil  of  cul- 
tivated men.  Alexander  knew  perfectly  well  to  what  his  great 
functions  bound  him,  but  had  no  other  thought  than  of  using  them 
as  a  simple  instrument  for  procuring  to  himself  and  his  unlawful 
children  the  greatest  possible  fullness  and  continuance  of  secular 
dignity  and  sensual  delight.  Strip  away  all  the  exaggerations  of 
the  Borgian  crimes,  and  we  have  this  pontiff  left  in  hardly  re- 
lieved hideousness.  Even  the  fungous  growths  of  false  accusation 
can  hardly  be  called  slander,  for  they  sprang  up  inevitably  from 
the  horrible  corruption  of  this  man's  court  and  character.  He 
does  not,  indeed,  seem  to  have  been  guilty  of  incest.  His  daugh- 
ter Lucrezia,  dying  at  forty,  had  led  for  twenty  years  a  perfectly 
blameless  life,  which  reflects  upon  her  a  strong  presumption  of 
previous  innocence.  It  is  even  doubtful  whether  his  son,  the  duke 
of  Gandia,  was  murdered  by  his  brother  Caesar,  and  not  rather  by 
some  dishonored  husband.  Alexander  cannot  have  been  commonly 
given  to  poisoning  cardinals  for  their  wealth,  since  no  more  than 
an  average  number  died  in  his  time.  Yet  there  is  distinct  evidence 
of  his  poisoning  two  or  three  for  this  end,  which  he  doubtless 
esteemed  a  venial  trifle.  He  was  not  unkindly  or  revengeful,  but 
he  had  all  the  moral  callousness  of  utter  selfishness,  in  an  age  and 
country  in  which  morality  was  almost  dissolved.  His  voluptuous 
life,  though  moderated  by  age,  was  not  discontinued,  and  there  is 
no  reason  to  doubt  that  illegitimate  children  were  born  to  him  both 
as  cardinal  and  as  pope.  As  to  his  sons  and  their  retainers,  their 
unbridled  dissoluteness  turned  the  Vatican  into  a  sty. 

Against  this  abomination  of  desolation  in  the  holy  place  stood 
forth,  at  Florence,  the  stern,  august,  prophetic  figure  of  the  great 
Dominican,  Jerome   Savonarola.      Absolutely   ortho- 

•  -i    -i       ,.  i-ii-  SAVONAROLA. 

dox,  varying  not  a  hair  s  breadth  from  the  doctrine 
of  the  great  Aquinas,  an  unswerving,  faithful  son  of  the  Roman 
Church  both  as  to  teaching  and  discipline,  he  was  moved  to  his  un- 
sparing antagonism  against  Alexander  solely  by  motives  of  indignant 
righteousness.  Curiously  enough,  however,  the  pope,  who  rather 
admired  than  disliked  plain  speaking,  was  influenced  to  rid  him- 
self of  him  chiefly  by  the  friar's  obstinate  adherence  to  the  French, 


344  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

which  greatly  endangered  the  independence  of  Italy.  To  destroy 
him  it  was  needful  to  use  an  affected  sentence  of  heresy;  yet  so 
little  was  this  taken  in  earnest  that  Savonarola  was  not  even  re- 
quired to  accept  the  sentence.  Persisting  in  his  affirmations  of 
innocence,  he  and  his  two  companions  were  yet  solemnly  absolved 
by  the  papal  delegate  before  their  death,  and,  in  express  terms, 
dismissed  immediately  to  Paradise.  When  the  Dominicans,  the 
inquisitorial  order,  the  bulwark  of  orthodoxy,  began  to  extol  the 
f  rater  as  a  saint  and  martyr,  Alexander  remarked  that  he  had  noth- 
ing against  it.  Under  Julius  II,  who  hated  Alexander,  the  papal 
apartments  were  decorated  by  Raphael  with  portraits  of  Savonarola 
as  a  doctor  of  the  Church.  At  last,  in  1569,  Rome  solemnly  de- 
clared that  the  friar's  doctrine  was  free  from  all  taint  of  heresy, 
leaving  the  question  of  presumption  and  disobedience  undeter- 
mined. In  the  last  century,  Prosper  Lambertini,  afterward  Bene- 
dict XIV,  proposed  him  as  a  candidate  for  canoniza- 

HIS  PROPOSED  __.  ,      .  .  ,         «     .,       ..        T,     ,  -r,       , 

canoniza-  tion.  His  reputation  m  Catholic  Italy,  says  lather 
Curci,  is  daily  growing.  His  great  aim,  says  Cardinal 
Capecelatro,  the  present  archbishop  of  Capua,  was  to  drive  pagan- 
ism out  of  the  high  places  of  the  Church.1  Rome,  with  unerring 
instinct,  discerns  in  him  a  harbinger,  not  of  the  Reformation,  but 
rather  of  the  counter-reformation,  that  great  revival  of  Catholic 
Puritanism,  stern,  unrelenting,  and  pure.  His  ultimate  canoniza- 
tion may  not  be  probable,  but  it  is  by  no  means  impossible. 

Julius  II,  nephew  of  Sixtus  IV,  a  rough  soldier,  of  ignoble  race, 
absolutely  immoral,  and  bearing  the  fruits  of  immo- 
rality in  scandalous  and  disabling  diseases,  affected  a 
great  zeal  of  Italian  patriotism,  but  by  crushing  the  power  of 
Venice  on  the  mainland  he  virtually  laid  northern  Italy  under  a 
foreign  yoke  until  our  own  day.  Naples  was  already  Spanish. 
Between  the  two  Julius  consolidated  the  ecclesiastical  State,  re- 
ducing its  virtually  independent  vassals  to  direct  obedience.  In 
the  time  of  the  counter-reformation  this  independent  and  wealthy 
dominion  was  of  indispensable  advantage  to  the  papacy.  The 
main  reputation  of  Julius,  however,  rests  on  his  magnificent  en- 
couragement of  art.  Under  him  Bramante,  Michael  Angelo,  and 
Raphael  found  the  full  development  of  their  powers.  The  essence 
of  the  Renaissance  is  seen  in  St.  Peter's,  that  vastest,  most  mag- 
nificent, and  most  unspiritual  of  Christian  temples.  It  brings 
the  aspiring  pride  and  energy  of  Julius  II  ever  to  mind  ;  but, 
its  earlier  plan  having  been  forsaken,  it  is  hardly  a  memorial  of 
1  Life  of  St.  Philip  Neri.     By  Cardinal  Alfonso  Capecelatro,  vol.  i,  pp.  277  ff. 


THE   RENAISSANCE   IN  ITALY.  345 

Bramante  or  Buonarroti,  while  it  can  hardly  be  said  that  God  or 
Christ  has  any  part  in  it.  Founded  in  overweening,  nay,  in  de- 
moniacal pride,  carried  on  in  scandalous  venality,  its  completion, 
cost  Rome  half  her  spiritual  dominion.  The  impious  Julius,  for 
his  own  glory,  instead  of  renewing,  ruthlessly  destroyed  the  vener- 
able elder  basilica  which  for  a  thousand  years  had  been  the  focus 
of  devotion  to  western  Europe,  and  broke  in  pieces  or  thrust  into 
obscure  nooks  the  innumerable  memorials  of  ancient  piety  and 
greatness  with  which  it  had  been  crowded.  Even  his  worldly  car- 
dinals were  aghast,  but  the  profane  soldier  would  not  listen.  Had 
there  been  no  Tetzels  among  the  builders  of  the  second  fabric, 
the  ruin  of  the  ancient  basilica  might  well  of  itself  have  helped 
largely  to  ruin  the  moral  control  of  Eome  over  the  nations. 

Julius  was  followed  by  the  young  John  de'Medici,  cardinal  in 
perto  at  thirteen,  cardinal  inaugurate  at  seventeen,  and,  like  a  very 
much  greater  and  better  man,  Innocent  III,  pope  at  thirty-eight. 
He  took  the  name  of  Leo  X.  He  was  a  lover  of  scholarship  and 
art,  genial,  kindly,  magnificent,  astute,  but  in  no  way  great  in 
policy  ;  eager,  like  Alexander,  to  make  the  papacy  a  means  of  per- 
sonal gratification,  but  a  means  of  sensuous  rather  than  grossly 
sensual  enjoyment.  He  had  lived  like  other  young  Italian  princes 
of  that  time,  but  with  such  avoidance  of  scandal  that  he  even 
passed  for  a  man  of  good  morals,  buoni  costumi.  There  is  little 
doubt  that  the  incurable  ulcer,  for  which  he  had  to  be  treated, 
even  in  the  conclave,  was  the  result  of  earlier  excesses,  yet  he  is 
not  accused  of  excesses  when  pope.  No  accusation  lay  against  him 
of  murder  or  of  unnatural  vice.  He  executed  two  or  three  cardi- 
nals, but  on  undoubted  warrant  of  law.     In  brief,  as 

.  LEO   X. 

popes  then  went,  he  was  accounted  a  very  fair  speci- 
men. As  some  one  says,  to  his  many  eminent  qualities  he  needed 
only  to  have  added  a  little  knowledge  of  religion  and  virtue  to 
make  an  excellent  pope.  Cardinal  Capecelatro  remarks  that  the 
glory  of  his  reign  is  undeniable,  but  that  it  was  not  the  glory  of  the 
kingdom  of  God.1 

This  amiable  worldling  was  divinely  predestined  to  bring  to  a 
final  explosion  the  long-smoldering  discontent  of  Teutonic  Chris- 
tianity, and  to  drive  it,  in  much  its  greater  part,  to  take  action 
thenceforth  in  an  independent  form,  vaguer,  indeed,  and  dis- 
jointed, having  its  own  great  characteristic  shortcomings,  but  afford- 
ing to  the  Teutonic  peoples  unspeakable  relief.  Dislocated  as  it  is, 
it  even  now  includes  a  vastly  deeper  fellowship  and  mutual  kindli- 
1  Life  of  St.  Philip  Neri.     Transl.  by  T.  A.  Pope,  vol.  i,  p.  33. 


346  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

ness  between  its  various  parties  than  Roman  Catholicism,  and,  with 
some  grave  moral  lacunae,  controls  far  more  deeply  the  universal 
heart  and  life.  America  is  emphatically  the  daughter  of  Protes- 
tantism, and  the  weakness  of  conventionality  here  sets  forth  its 
faults  in  the  grossest  light ;  yet  Professor  Bryce  remarks  that,  as 
protestant-  comPare(l  with  the  so-called  ages  of  faith,  Christianity 
ism  has  moke  has  jn  America  quite  as  strong  a  hold  on  belief,  and  a 

KEAL  UNITY  ^  O  » 

than  ca-         vastly  deeper  control  over  practice.     Catholicism  has 

THOLICISM.  J  r  _  .  .  i       . 

among  us  its  subordinate  and  not  inconsiderable  func- 
tion, but  its  aspirations  for  more  provoke  a  smile,  and  will  cer- 
tainly never  be  gratified  so  long  as  it  continues  in  the  Italian  form. 
Leo  X  may  be  called,  in  a  certain  sense,  the  founder  of  Protestant- 
ism. The  bland  unconsciousness  of  his  venality  in  sending  forth 
his  Tetzels,  with  their  wallets 

"Bret-full  of  pardons  come  from  Rome  all  hote," 

gave  the  stroke  upon  the  ancient  forehead  of  the  Roman  Jupiter, 
releasing  the  clear-eyed,  purer  Pallas  of  the  North. 

With  the  great  explosion  of  the  Reformation,  the  easy,  joyous, 
sensuous  paganism  of  the  Renaissance  was  doomed. ' 

1  The  perfect  interpretation  of  the  Renaissance  is  found  in  Browning's  poem, 
The  Bishop  Orders  his  Tomh  in  Saint  Praxedes,  of  which  we  quote  a  part : 

' '  Swift  as  a  weaver's  shuttle  fleet  our  years ; 

Man  goeth  to  the  grave,  and  where  is  he  ? 

Did  I  say,  basalt  for  my  slab,  sons  ?    Black — 

'Twas  ever  antique — black  I  meant  I     How  else 

Shall  ye  contrast  my  frieze  to  come  beneath  ? 

The  bas-relief  in  bronze  ye  promised  me, 

Those  Pans  and  Nymphs  ye  wot  of,  and  perchance 

Some  tripod,  thyrsus,  with  a  vase  or  so, 

The  Saviour  at  his  sermon  on  the  mount, 

Saint  Praxed  in  a  glory,  and  one  Pan 

Ready  to  twitch  the  Nymph's  last  garment  off, 

And  Moses  with  the  tables  .  .  .  but  I  know 

Ye  mark  me  not !     What  do  they  whisper  thee, 

Child  of  my  bowels,  Anselm  ?    Ah,  ye  hope 

To  revel  down  my  villas  while  I  gasp 

Bricked  o'er  with  beggar's  mouldy  travertine 

Which  Gandolf  from  his  tomb-top  chuckles  at  1 " 


LITERATURE  :   REFORMATION  IN  ITALY  AND   SPAIN.     347 


LITERATURE:    THE    REFORMATION    IN    ITALY    AND 

SPAIN. 

IN    ITALY. 

1.  Gerdesius.     Specimen  Italiae  Ref.     Ludg.     Bat.,  1765. 

2.  Erdmann,  D.     Die  Reformation  und  ihre  Martyrer  im  Italien.     Berl.,  1855. 

3.  Sixt,  Christian  Heinrick.     Petrns  Paulus  Vergerius,  piipstlicher  Nuntius, 

katholischer  Bischof  und  Vorkiimpfer  des  Evangeliums.  Braunsch., 
1855. 

4.  McCrie,  Thomaa.     Progress  and  Suppression  of  the  Reformation  in  Italy  in 

the  Sixteenth  Century  ;  with  a  sketch  of  the  Reformation  in  the  Grisons. 
Edinb.,  1827.     2d  ed.  enl.,  1833.     Phila.,  1856. 

5.  Young.  M.     The  Life  and  Times  of  Aonio  Paleario ;  or  A  History  of  the 

Italian  Reformers  in  the  Sixteenth  Century.  Illustrated  by  Original 
Letters  and  unedited  documents.     2  vols.     Lond.,  1860. 

6.  Bonnet,  Jules.     Aonio  Paleario  :  etude  sur  la  Reforme  en  Italie.     Paris, 

1862. 

7.  Bonnet,  Jules.     Vie  de  Olympia  Morata.     Paris,  1865. 

8.  Benrath,  Karl.     Bernardino  Ochino  of  Siena ;  a  Contribution  toward  the 

History  of  the  Reformation.     Transl.     Lond.,  1876.     N.  Y.,  1877. 

9.  Duruy,  Victor.     Carlo  Carafa,  le  cardinal,  1519-1561.     Paris,  1882. 

10.  Symonds,  J.  A.     The  Renaissance  in  Italy  :  the  Catholic  Reaction.     2  vols. 

N.  Y.,  1887. 

11.  Hubert.     Vergerio's  publicistische  Mattigkeit.     Gotting.,  1893. 

12.  Comba,  Emilio.     I  Nostri  Protestant,   vol.   ii,    Durante  la  Riform  neli 

Veneto  e  nele  Istria.  Florence,  1897.  See  Th.  Litz,  1898,  No.  1.  The 
author  is  professor  in  the  Waldensian  College  in  Florence,  and  writes 
with  sympathy  and  full  knowledge. 


Mariana,  John  de.  Hist.  General  de  Espana.  Modern  ed.  18  vols.  Va- 
lencia, 1830-41.  2  vols.,  Madrid,  1854.  Eng.  Transl.,  1699.  First  twenty 
books  pub.  in  1592.  See  Adams,  Manual  of  Hist.  Literature,  3d  ed.,  p. 
435. 

Busching,  A.  F.  Comm.  de  vestigiis  Lutheranismi  in  Hispania.  Got- 
ting., 1755. 

Llorente,  J.  A.  Hist,  de  l'Inquisition  d'Espagne.  4  vols.  Paris,  1817-18. 
Abrid.  transl.,  Lond.,  1826  ;  Phila.,  1843.  The  author  had  been  secretary 
of  the  Inquisition,  and  was  in  possession  of  valuable  documents,  and  his 
History,  written  from  first-hand  knowledge  by  a  liberal  Catholic,  possesses 
unique  value.  Its  frankness,  however,  exposed  the  author  to  hardship 
and  persecution,  which  culminated,  on  the  publication  of  his  Portraits 
politiques  des  Papes  in  1822,  in  a  decree  of  exile  obtained  by  the  clerical 


348  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

party  of  France.  The  cruelties  attendant  on  the  expulsion  caused  his 
death  in  Madrid,  Feb.  5,  1823.  Roman  Catholic  critics  have  tried  to 
break  the  force  of  Llorente's  damaging  story,  but  the  most  that  Hefele 
has  been  able  to  do  in  his  searching  examination  is  to  discredit  the  author 
in  some  numerical  computations  and  unimportant  details.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  same  ground  has  been  gone  over  in  independent  ways  by  thor- 
oughly impartial  historians  like  Prescott,  Ticknor  and  Buckle,  with  the 
result  of  the  substantial  corroboration  of  Llorente. 

4.  McCrie,  Thomas.    History  of  the  Progress  and  Suppression  of  the  Refor- 

mation in  Spain  in  the  Sixteenth  Century.     Edinb.,  1829. 

5.  Reformistas  Antiguos  Espanoles.     20  vols.     Lond.  and  Madrid,  1848-63. 

6.  Ticknor,  George.     History  of  Spanish  Literature.     3  vols.     Bost.,  1849. 

7.  De  Castro,  Senor  Don  Adolfo.     The  Spanish  Protestants  and  their  Perse- 

cution by  Philip  II.     Transl.     Lond.,  1851. 

8.  McCoan,  J.  C.     Protestant  Endurance  under  Popish  Cruelty.     A  narrative 

of  the  Reformation  in  Spain.     Lond.,  1853. 

9.  Prescott,  W.  H.     History  of  the  Reign  of  Philip  II.     3  vols.     Bost.,  1855. 

New  ed.  by  J.  F.  Kirk.  Phila.  and  Lond.,  1890.  M.  A.  S.  Hume,  Philip 
II.     Lond.,  1897. 

10.  Charles,  E.     The  Martyrs  of  Spain  and  the  Liberators  of  Holland.     Lond., 

1861. 

11.  Peddie,  R.     Dawn  of  the  Second  Reformation  in  Spain.     Lond.,  1871. 

12.  Bcehmer,  E.     Bibliotheca  Wiffeniana  :  Spanish  Reformers  from  1520.     2 

vols.     Lond.,  1874-83. 

13.  Hofler,  C.  R.  von.    Don  Antonio  de  Acuna,  genannt  der  Luther  Spaniens. 

Wien,  1882.  Movement  too  political  to  justly  characterize  its  promoter  as 
the  Luther  of  Spain. 

14.  Betts,  J.  T.     Transl.  of  Works  of  Spanish  Reformers.     Lond.,  1869,  1882, 

1883. 

15.  Stoughton,  J.     The  Spanish  Reformers.     Lond.,  1883. 

16.  Wilkens,  C.  A.     Geschichte   des  spanischen   Protestantismus.     Giitersl., 

1888.  New  ed.,  1896.  Transl.  Lond.,  1897.  See  Am.  Jour,  of  Theol., 
Jan.,  1898,  p.  176.     Presb.  Rev.,  ix,  669  ;  Andover  Rev.,  xi,  658. 

17.  Lea,  Henry  Charles.  Chapters  from  the  Religious  History  of  Spain.  Phila., 

1890.  See  Presb.  and  Ref.  Rev.,  ii,  517.  Andover  Rev.,  xviii,  192. 
Studies  of  matters  for  which  space  could  not  be  found  in  the  author's 
great  Hist,  of  the  Inquisition.     3  vols.     N.  Y.,  1887. 

18.  Meyrick,  F.     The  Church  in  Spain.     Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1891. 

19.  Hume,  M.  A.  S.     History  of  Ferdinand  the  Catholic.     2  vols.     Lond.  and 

N.  Y,  1895. 
For  literature  from  1848  to  1886,  see  Ztft.  f.  Kirchengeschichte,  1887,  H.  2. 


THE   REFORMATION  IN  ITALY  AND    SPAIN.  349 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

THE  REFORMATION  IN   ITALY  AND   SPAIN. 

A  variety  of  conflicting  causes  worked  for  and  against  the 
Reformation  in  Italy.  On  the  one  side,  the  intellectual  breadth 
brought  about  by  the  Renaissance  had  loosened  the  hold  of  the 
Church  upon  many,  while,  on  the  other,  the  luxuriousness  of  life 
did  not  so  well  agree  with  the  religious  earnestness  of 

t^  •  -lie  t  <■    T-.  •  THE  ORATORY 

the  Reformation  as  with  the  formality  of  Romanism,  of  divine 
But  for  the  majority  the  selfish  considerations  of  pe- 
cuniary and  national  advantage  to  be  gained  by  the  supremacy, 
and  even  the  abuses,  of  the  Church  were  decisive.  Nevertheless, 
there  were  those  who,  with  their  profound  conceptions  of  life, 
could  not  content  themselves  with  the  hollowness  of  the  prevailing 
ecclesiastical  conditions.  They  formed  themselves  in  Rome  into  a 
society  within  the  Church,  known  as  the  Oratory  of  the  Divine  Love, 
whose  object  was  to  renovate  Church  life,  to  cultivate  the  spirit 
of  true  devotion,  and  to  develop  scriptural  and  evangelical  views, 
but  without  the  remotest  suspicion  of  opposition  to  the  Church. 

This  league  was  formed  in  1523,  but  even  as  early  as  1519  the 
writings  of  Luther  and  other  reformers  were  in  lively  demand  in 
Italy.  When  the  war,  which  ended  in  1527  with  the  sacking  of 
Rome  by  the  imperial  army,  left  vast  numbers  of  Germans  in  Italy, 
the  demand  for  reformed  writings  increased.  They 
were  published  partly  anonymously,  partly  under  reform 
pseudonyms,  that  they  might  be  read  without  moles- 
tation. Zwingli  was  transformed  into  Coricius  Cogelius,  or 
Abydenus  Corollus ;  Bucer  into  Aretius  Felinus.  Luther's  An 
den  christlichen  Adel  and  Melanchthon's  Loci  were  issued 
anonymously  in  Latin.  The  temporal  power  of  the  pope  and  the 
worldliness  of  the  Church  were  freely  criticised.  The  doctrine  of 
salvation  by  works  was  widely  denied,  especially  after  Augustine 
came  to  be  more  thoroughly  studied.  The  study  of  the  Bible, 
having  become  more  popular,  occasioned  the  Italian  translation  by 
Antonio  Bruciolo  (1530-1532),  which  in  turn  increased  the  public 
interest  in  the  Word.  Less  radical  than  the  German  reformers  in 
their  dissent,  they  were  also  influenced  by  the  fear  of  schism  from 
separating  from  the  Church. 


350  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Besides  Venice,  whose  political  sentiments  disinclined  the  city  to 
submit  too  slavishly  to  Eome,  there  was  Ferrara,  which,  under  the 
protection  of  Renata,  the  French  princess,  became  a  center  of  re- 
formed influence  and  a  refuge  for  the  Protestants.  The 
in  ferrara  number  and  high  standing  of  the  evangelicals  in  Italy 
might  have  given  the  Reformation  permanency  had  they 
not  been  bound  by  ties  of  personal  interest  to  the  Church.  Car- 
dinals Contarini,  Pole,  Fegosius,  and  Morone  all  favored  in  some 
manner  or  degree  the  reformed  doctrines.  It  will  be  remembered 
that  Contarini  and  Melanchthon  agreed  as  to  the  doctrine  of  justi- 
fication by  faith,  which  the  former  thought  would  be  accepted  at 
Rome.  In  Naples  these  reformed  ideas  were  chiefly  propagated 
by  a  circle  of  men  who  gathered  about  Juan  Valdes,  a  Spaniard  of 
high  literary  attainments  in  the  service  of  the  pope.  He  died  in 
1541,  but  not  until  he  had  brought  many  to  the  truth  who  were 
mighty  in  its  propagation.  From  this  company  of  Neapolitan  re- 
formers came  the  Beneficio  di  Christo,  which  was  issued  in  several 
Italian  editions,  and  in  English  and  French,  in  a  few  years. 

In  1536  Pope  Paul  III  appointed  a  commission  to  consult  as  to 
the  reforms  necessary,  and  which  might  be  agreed  to  in  case  a 
pope  general  council  should  be  convened,  as  the  Germans 

paul  in.  constantly  demanded.    The  commission  included  John 

Peter  Caraffa,  afterward  pope ;  Sadolet,  whose  attempt  to  win 
back  Geneva  to  Rome  Calvin  frustrated  ;  Contarini,  Pole,  Fegosius, 
and  others.  Their  bitter  denunciations  of  ecclesiastical  abuses 
and  their  plainness  in  pointing  out  the  sins  of  the  papacy  did  not 
offend  the  pontiff.  It  looked  as  though  the  Reformation  might  be 
possible  without  strife.     But  this  appearance  was  deceptive. 

The  causes  which  led  to  the  reaction  were  several.  In  the  first 
place,  the  Italian  reformers  were  decidedly  in  favor  of  the  Swiss  as 
distinguished  from  the  German  conception  of  the  sacraments,  thus 
making  themselves  offensive  to  strict  churchmen.  Then,  too, 
many  of  them  were  led  by  their  insistence  upon  a  rationalistic, 
the  re-  which  they  failed  to    distinguish   from  the  rational 

action.  form  of  faith,  to  reject  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity. 

Furthermore,  it  became  daily  more  plain  that  the  views  and  aspi- 
rations of  the  Italian  reformers  were  identical,  or  nearly  so,  with 
those  which  had  been  condemned  in  Germany  and  elsewhere,  and 
that  they  were  a  part  of  the  separatist  movement.  From  the  very 
midst  of  these  evangelicals,  therefore,  arose  the  persons  and  in- 
struments which  were  to  prevent  a  true  reform.  Discontented 
with  the  slow  and  limited  processes  of  the  societies  within  the 


THE   REFORMATION  IN  ITALY  AND   SPAIN.  351 

Church,  some  of  the  more  eager  spirits  formed  the  Order  of  Thea- 
tines,  who  pledged  themselves  to  absolute  poverty  and  took  for 
their  motto,  "  The  reform  of  the  Church  and  the  suppression  of 
heresy.'" 

"With  Caraffa  at  its  head  the  order  spread  rapidly  over  Italy,  and 
soon  opposed  with  success  all  attempts  to  mediate  between  Protes- 
tantism and  Rome.  At  Caraffa's  suggestion  Paul  issued,      caraffa 
July  21,  1542,  the  bull  which  established  the  Inquisi-     ordkr  of 
tion  in  Italy  according  to  the  Spanish  pattern.    Caraffa 
was  appointed  to  direct  the  work,  and  his  aim  was  to  crush  out 
heresy  in  high  places,  since  he  could  thus  more  easily  prevent  its 
spread  among  the  masses. 

The  result  of  the  first  persecutions  was  to  force  many  to  confess 
themselves  who  had  hitherto  not  outspokenly  favored  the  Protes- 
tant cause.  Among  them  were  Bernardino  Ochino  and  Peter 
Martyr  Vermigli,  Pierre  Paolo  Vergerio,  and  Galeazo  Caraccioli, 
all  of  whom  were  aggressive  and  able  leaders  in  whatever  they  un- 
dertook. Ochino  was  born  in  Siena.  He  was  first  a  Franciscan 
and  then  a  Capuchin,  of  which  order  he  became  vicar  general. 
Through  the  instrumentality  of  Valdes  he  had  been  led  to  the 
truth,  but,  like  all  those  Neapolitans,  held  his  doctrine  secretly. 
Compelled  to  take  his  flight,  he  went  to  Geneva,  reformers 
London,  Zurich,  and  through  northern  Germany.  SCATTERED- 
He  became  entangled  in  errors  arising  from  his  rationalistic  prin- 
ciples, and  could  find  at  last  no  place  of  refuge.  Peter  Martyr  fled 
to  Zurich,  Basel,  and  Strasburg,  and  became  a  useful  worker. 
Vergerio  had  been  brought  to  a  decided  stand  by  the  remorse  of 
conscience  experienced  by  Francis  Spiera,  who,  although  a  be- 
liever in  the  Protestant  doctrines,  had  recanted.  Having  reached 
his  decision,  Vergerio  was  soon  compelled  to  flee  to  the  Grisons, 
where  he  labored  in  the  interest  of  the  Reformation  until  1553. 
Caraccioli  fled  to  Geneva,  where  he  died  in  great  honor,  in  1586, 
the  head  of  the  Italian  congregation  of  the  city. 

Olympia  Morata,  the  highly  educated  friend  of  Renata,  was  com- 
pelled to  flee  to  Germany  with  her  husband,  as  also  Coelius  Secun- 
dus  Curio,  who  had  won  her  to  the  Gospel,  who  fled  to  Lausanne, 
where,  unfortunately,  like  many  other  Italians,  he  became  infected 
with  antitrinitarian  views.  Aonio  Paleario  died  as  a  heretic  in 
1575  ;  Pietro  Carnessechi  in  1567.  Popes  Paul  III,  Paul  IV,  and 
Pius  V  were  determined  and  cruel  persecutors  of  dissent  in  every 
form,  and  succeeded  in  completely  annihilating  the  reform  move- 
ment in  Italy. 


352  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

In  Spain,  as  everywhere  throughout  western  Europe,  the  way 
for  the  reformed  ideas  was  prepared  by  Humanism.  To  this 
must  be  added  the  mystical  doctrines  and  practices  which  were 
not  regarded  as  dangerous,  and  with  which  the  doctrines  of  the 
Eeformation  were  often  combined.  Many  individuals  were  also 
inclined  toward  any  movement  which  aimed  at  the  reduction  of 
the  power  by  which  the  Inquisition  was  chiefly  supported,  while 
those  who  followed  Charles  V  to  Germany,  and  stu- 
docteines  dents  in  lands  of  the  Eeformation,  were  influenced  by 
new  opinions  abroad.  The  Spanish  reading  public 
learned  the  Eeformation  doctrines  through  the  writings  of  Luther 
in  Latin,  and  in  Spanish  translations.  Those  Spaniards  who  from 
fear  of  the  Inquisition  were  residents  in  foreign  lands,  becoming 
infected  with  the  Lutheran  doctrines,  spread  them  in  their  native 
country  by  writings  secretly  introduced.  In  fact,  the  whole  re- 
form movement  in  Spain  was  largely  characterized  by  its  secret 
propagation  and  enjoyment.  To  all  this  must  be  added  the  em- 
peror's public  concerns,  which  prevented  him  from  giving  as 
much  attention  to  religious  affairs  as  he  might  otherwise  have 
granted.  The  Spanish  translations  of  the  New  Testament  by 
Francis  Enzinas,  in  1543,  and  by  Juan  Perez,  in  1556,  were  effects 
of  the  Eeformation,  although  they  reacted  mightily  as  new  causes 
in  its  diffusion. 

The  ignorant  masses  of  Spain  were  filled  with  horror  by  the  false 
accounts  of  the  reformed  doctrines  and  practices  imparted  by  the 
annual  decree  denouncing  the  Lutheran  heresy.  But  this  same 
decree  kept  the  matter  alive  before  the  public  mind,  and  gave  the 
more  educated,  both  among  the  clergy  and  laity,  in  which  circles 
the  Spanish  Eeformation  had  its  principal  adherents,  matter  for 
reflection,  to  the  detriment  of  the  Church.  Seville  and  Valladolid 
were  the  chief  centers  of  the  movement.  It  started  in  Seville  with 
Eoderigo  de  Valero,  a  layman,  who  by  street  preaching  concern- 
ing the  grace  of  God,  and  in  denunciation  of  the  ruin  of  the 
Church,  came  to  be  regarded  as  demented,  and  who  was,  there- 
fore, punished  only  by  confinement.  But  meantime  he  had  set 
one  of  the  principal  preachers  of  the  city  to  thinking.  This  was 
John  Egidius,  who,  after  he  had  experienced  conversion,  preached 
with  such  effect  as  to  win  the  cooperation  of  the  other  great  Sevil- 
lian  pastor,  Constantine  Ponce  de  la  Fuenta.  As  long  as  they 
did  not  openly  attack  the  Church,  their  biblical  Christianity 
caused  these  reformed  Christians  no  inconvenience,  but  the  slight- 
est variation  from  ecclesiastical  tradition  was  sure  to  bring  down 


THE   REFORMATION  IN  ITALY  AND   SPAIN.  853 

persecution.  In  Valladolid,  Augustine  Cazalla,  the  imperial  con- 
fessor, became  a  powerful  advocate  of  the  Eeformation.  Both  in 
Seville  and  Valladolid  the  new  ideas  found  their  way  into  the 
monasteries.  From  Beam,  the  home  of  Margaret  of  Angouleme, 
the  Eeformation  spread  into  Aragon. 

Very  early,  however,  persecutions  began.  Alfonso  de  Virves, 
court  chaplain  to  Charles  V  and  his  majesty's  favorite  preacher, 
was  imprisoned  in  1534,  but  rescued  by  the  emperor.  Enzinas, 
brother  of  him  whose  translation  of  the  New  Testament  was  writ- 
ten in  Melanchthon's  house  and  published  in  Antwerp  in  1543, 
was  burned  in  Eome  in  1546.  In  the  same  year  John  persecution 
Diaz  was  martyred,  by  the  connivance  of  his  own  msP  IN" 
brother,  at  Neuburg  on  the  Danube.  Egidius  of  Seville  was  im- 
prisoned in  1552,  and  Juan  Perez  and  Cassiodoro  de  Eeina  fled  to 
Switzerland.  In  1558  the  Dominican  Bartholomew  Carranza, 
archbishop  of  Toledo,  published  in  Antwerp  his  Catholic  cate- 
chism. He  had  been  a  zealous  persecutor  of  Protestantism  in 
England,  under  Mary,  but  he  was  none  the  less  a  believer  in  the 
evangelical  doctrines  so  far  as  they  seemed  to  him  consistent  with 
Eomanism.  He  had  been  friendly  with  some  of  the  Italian  re- 
formers, as  Flaminius  and  Morone.  He  was  on  friendly  terms 
with  several  of  his  former  pupils  who  had  become  open  and  zealous 
adherents  of  the  Eeformation.  The  slightest  hint  of  Lutheranism 
in  his  catechism  was  sufficient  therefore  to  arouse  the  cry  of  heresy 
against  him.  Philip  II  wished  to  have  him  judged  by  the  Spanish 
Inquisition.  The  council  of  Trent  declared  his  catechism  sound  ; 
but  even  this  did  not  satisfy  Philip's  agents.  At  length  Pius  V 
secured  the  removal  of  the  case  to  Eome,  where  after  seventeen 
years  Gregory  XIII  condemned  him  to  the  abjuration  of  sixteen 
heretical  utterances,  chiefly  relating  to  justification,  and  to  the 
usual  penance.  His  almost  immediate  death  saved  this  high  prel- 
ate of  Spain  from  further  humiliation. 

The  instrument  by  which  these  things  were  accomplished  was 
the  Inquisition.  It  had  not,  indeed,  been  introduced  into  Spain 
without  serious  opposition,  but  it  finally  succeeded  in  establishing 
itself  so  firmly  as  to  effect  the  commercial  ruin  of  the  THE  INQUI. 
realm, '  and  to  put  a  quietus  on  thought  and  spiritual-  bition. 
ity.     The  work  was  begun  in  earnest  under  Philip  II  in  1556,  and 

1  Lea,  History  of  the  Inquisition  in  Spain.  The  expulsion  of  the  Jews  and 
Moriscoes  deprived  the  State  of  its  most  enterprising  merchants.  In  seventy 
years  the  population  fell  off  four  million,  and  among  them  were  the  most  in- 
telligent and  energetic  of  Spain's  inhabitants. 

25  2 


354  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

he  was  sustained  by  Pius  IV.  Not  only  were  the  goods  of  heretics 
to  be  confiscated,  but  the  informant  was  to  receive  one  quarter  of 
their  value.  When  accusation  was  tantamount  to  conviction,  as 
was  practically  the  case  under  the  inquisitorial  system,  no  more 
effective  incentive  to  espionage  of  all  religious  utterances  than 
this  could  have  been  devised.  Besides,  the  priestly  absolution  was 
made  dependent  upon  the  giving  of  information  relative  to  the 
possession  of  forbidden  books  by  the  acquaintances  of  those  who 
came  to  confession.  It  was  a  crime  punishable  with  confiscation 
of  goods  and  death  to  read,  keep,  buy,  or  sell  the  books  contained 
in  the  Index,  all  concessions  concerning  which  had  been  recalled  in 
1559. '  The  general  inquisitor,  Fernando  Valdez,  at  the  sugges- 
tion of  Philip,  was  required  to  execute  by  burning  all  those  who  re- 
lapsed into  heresy,  and  also  those  whose  recantation  was  suspected 
of  being  secured  by  fear  rather  than  conviction.  Such  should  not 
be  allowed  to  live  lest  they  might  relapse.  The  more  merciful 
form  of  execution  by  the  sword  was  forbidden.  Public  festivals, 
in  which  heretics  were  burned,  became  frequent.  They  were 
called  autos-da-fe,  (acts  of  faith).  In  1559  and  1560  four  of  these 
horrors,  two  in  Seville  and  two  in  Valladolid,  practically  ended 
Protestantism  in  these  cities  and  in  Spain.  Many  saved  themselves 
by  flight.  Egidius,  whose  death  occurred  in  1556,  and  Fuenta,  to 
whom  no  mercy  was  shown  even  upon  his  profession  of  a  purpose 
to  enter  the  order  of  Jesuits,  and  who  died  in  prison  before  he 
could  be  burned  alive,  escaped  the  hands  of  the  inquisitors. 
Spain  was  now  solidly  Koman  Catholic.  She,  with  her  colonies  in 
America  and  the  Philippines,  was  destined  to  show  to  the  world 
the  power  of  Komanism,  in  contrast  with  Protestantism,  to  hold  a 
nation  in  the  spell  of  a  misleading  faith. 

1  In  Salamanca  the  poet  and  scholar  of  the  Spanish  Augustinians,  Professor 
Luis  de  Leon,  was  imprisoned  for  five  years  because  he  had  said  that  the  Vul- 
gate was  capable  of  improvement. 


LITERATURE  :   THE   REFORMATION  IN   SCANDINAVIA.    355 


LITERATUKE  :  THE  REFORMATION"  IN  SCANDINAVIA. 

I.    SWEDEN. 

1.  Anjou,   L.  A.     The  History   of  the    Reformation  in  Sweden.     From  the 

Swedish  by  H.  M.  Mason.     N.  Y.,  1859. 

2.  Weidling,    J.      Schwedische   Geschichte   im    Zeitalter   der    Reformation. 

Gotha,  1882. 

3.  Butler,  C.  M.      The  Reformation  in  Sweden  ;   its  Rise,  Progress  and  Tri- 

umph under  Charles  IX.     N.  Y.,  1883. 

II.  GUSTAVUS  ADOLPHUS  AND  GUSTAVUS  VASA. 

1.  Burgi,  P.  B.     Mars  sueco-german.  s.  rerum  a  Gustavo  Adolpho  suecise  rege 

gestarum  libri  3.     Colon.,  1641. 

2.  Harte,  W.   Leben  Gustav  Adolphs  d.  Grossen,  Konigs  von  Schweden  ubers. 

v.  G.  H.  Martini.     2  vols.     Leipz.,  1760-61. 

3.  Gfrorer,  A.  F.     Geschichte  Gustav  Adolf  und.  s.  Zeit.     Stuttg.,  1837. 

4.  Fryxell,  A.     Leben  und   Thaten   Gustavus   Wasa.     Leipz.,  1831.     Leben 

Gustav  Adolf s,  Konigs  von  Schweden.     Leipz.,  1842.     Standard. 

5.  Chapman,  Benjamin.     The  History  of  Gustavus  Adolphus.     Lond.,  1856. 

6.  Trench,  R.  C.     Gustavus  Adolphus  :   Social  Aspects  of  the  Thirty  Years' 

War.     Lond.,  1865.     2d  ed.,  1872. 

7.  Droysen,  Gustav.     Gustav  Adolph.     2  vols.     Leipz.,  1869-70. 

8.  Thiersch,  H.  W.  J.     Luther,  Gustav  Adolf  und  Maximilian  I  von  Bayern. 

Ntirdl.,  1869. 

9.  Abelous,  L.  D.     Gustavus  Adolphus,  the  Hero  of  the  Reformation.     N.  Y., 

1871. 

10.  Griffith,  L.  S.     The  Adventures  of  Gustavus  Wasa.     Lond.,  1880. 

11.  Alberg,  A.     Gustavus  Vasa  and  his  Times.     Lond.,  1882. 

12.  Bourne,  C.  E.     Life  of  Gustavus  Adolphus.     Lond.,  1883. 

13.  Stevens,  John  L.     The  History  of  Gustavus  Adolphus.     Lond.,  1885. 

14.  Rosenthal,  G.     Konig  Gustav  Adolf  v.  Schweden.     Barm.,  1887. 

15.  Watson,  P.  B.     The   Swedish    Revolution   under   Gustavus  Vasa.     Bost., 

1889.  Shows  careful  research,  evident  desire  to  do  full  justice  to  the 
subject,  and  is  written  with  great  lucidity  of  style.  The  same  author 
wrote  an  admirable  study  of  Marcus  Aurelius. 

16.  Fletcher,  C.  R.  L.     Gustavus  Adolphus  and  the  Struggles  of  Protestant- 

ism for  Existence.     N.  Y.,  1891. 

17.  Fey,  C.     Gustav  Adolph  im  Lichte  d.  Geschichte.     Leipz.,  1894.     Excel- 

lent. 

18.  Dodge,  Th.  A.     Gustavus  Adolphus.     Bost.,  1895.     With  237  charts.     A 

military  history. 
See  Amer.  Hist.  Rev.,  i,  331.     There  is  an  immense  literature  in  German. 
See  Hinrichs,  1894-95,  and  Hinrichs,  Register,  s.  v. 


356  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

m.    DENMARK  AND   NORWAY. 

1.  Miinter,   F.     Kirchengesehichte  von  Danemark  und   Norwegen.      3  vols. 

Leipz.,  1822-23. 

2.  Helvig,  Lo     Danske  Kirkeshistorie.     Copenh.,  1851. 

On  Tansen,  see  Lives  by  P.  R6u,  1757,  and  J.  S.  B.  Suhv,  1836. 

On  Norway,  see  also  P.  A.  Munch,  Det  Norske  Folk's  Historie,  Christiania, 
1852-63 ;  J.  E.  Sars,  Udsigt  over  det  Norske  Historie,  Christiania,  1873-77 ; 
Konrad  Manrer,  Die  Bekehrung  des  Norwegischen  Stammes  zum  Christen- 
thnme,  Munich,  1855 ;  H.  H.  Boyesen,  Hist,  of  Norway,  new  ed.  1890  (in  Story 
of  Nations  series). 

On  Scandinavia  in  general,  see  Miss  Botte,  Scandinavian  Hist.,  Lond.,  1875. 


THE   REFORMATION  IN   SCANDINAVIA.  357 


CHAPTEK   XXXVII. 

THE    REFORMATION    IN    SCANDINAVIA. 

The  history  of  the  introduction  of  the  Eeformation  into  Den- 
mark, Norway,  and  Sweden  is  a  romance  of  political  necessity. 
Christian  II  of  Denmark  was  the  acknowledged  ruler  also  of 
Norway,  and  in  1520  succeeded  in  conquering  Sweden,  which  had 
been  from  time  to  time  a  constituent  part  of  the  triple  kingdom 
since  the  days  of  Queen  Margaret,  in  1397.  Christian  immediately 
sought  for  Lutheran  preachers  in  the  hope  that  the  Eeformation 
might  assist  him  in  overcoming  the  power  of  the  bishops,  whose 
immense  wealth  he  wished  to  secure  for  the  benefit  of 
the  State,  instead  of  the  Church.  Luther  himself  was 
invited,  but  declined.  Carlstadt,  however,  went  to  Copenhagen 
for  a  short  time. 

But  Christian's  chief  care  was  to  protect  himself  and  his  king- 
dom from  the  power  of  Home,  to  which  he  forebade  appeal.  He 
abolished  the  temporal  power  of  the  episcopacy,  reformed  the  mon- 
asteries, and  granted  the  right  of  marriage  to  the  clergy.  He  was 
obliged,  however,  in  1522,  to  recede  from  some  of  these  positions 
in  order  to  secure  the  assistance  of  the  pope  in  holding  Sweden  in 
subjection.  An  uprising  of  the  Jutes  against  his  tyranny  led  to 
his  deposition  and  the  choosing  of  Frederick  of  Gottorp  as  king 
of  Denmark  and  Norway. 

Frederick  was  really  a  Protestant,  but  he  had  been  compelled 
to  promise  to  persecute  those  "  heretics  "  who  should 
venture  to   teach  or  to  preach,  in  public  or  private, 
"against  the  God  of  heaven  and  holy  Christian  faith,  the  Holy 
Father  or  the  Eoman  Church." '    Notwithstanding,  he  did  not  hin- 
der the  Eeformation  from  spreading  northward,  and  by  protecting 
the  movement  against  the  bishops  (diet  of  Odense,  1527)  he  secured 
it  legal  tolerance  until  the  convening  of  a  council.     In  this  he  was 
supported  by  the  nobility,  whose  interests  had  been  injured  by  the 
power  of  the  bishops.     The  marriage  of  priests  was       christian 
again  allowed,  and  every  bishop  was  to  receive  his       m- 
pallium  from  the  king  instead  of  from   Eome.     Christian   III, 
who  upon  the  death  of  Frederick,  in  1533,  was  chosen  king,  com- 

1  Munter,  iii,  145. 


358  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

pletely  broke  the  power  of  the  bishops,  confiscated  their  property, 
applied  it  to  governmental  and  educational  objects,  and  secularized 
the  convents.  The  Lutheran  Bugenhagen  was  called  to  Copen- 
hagen in  1537,  where  he  ordained  seven  bishops  and  established 
the  new  church  order.  He  also  crowned  the  king  and  queen  on 
August  11,  1537. x 

The  principal  ministerial  agent  of  the  Reformation  in  Denmark 
was  Hans  Tausen,  "the  Danish  Luther."  He  had  studied  in 
Wittenberg  after  1523.  Under  the  protection  of  Frederick  he 
labored  with  great  zeal  and  effect,  both  by  spreading  the  Scrip- 
tures in  the  mother  tongue  and  by  other  writings  scattered  among 
the  people,  as  well  as  by  preaching.  He  opposed  iconoclasm  in 
Denmark,  as  Luther  did  in  Germany. 

In  Norway  and  Iceland  the  Reformation  proceeded  under  the 
protection  of  Christian  III,  in  spite  of  Roman  Catholic  opposi- 
tion. The  people  of  Denmark  yielded  to  the  superior  might  of 
truth,  but  the  Norwegians  and  Icelanders  held  out  until  compelled 
to  accept  the  Reformation.  Lutheranism  thus  prevailed  in  these 
countries,  and  the  Augsburg  Confession  became  subsequently  the 
official  faith,  while  the  Formula  of  Concord  was  rejected. 

The  tyranny  of  Christian  II  caused  Sweden  to  revolt  under  the 
gustavus  leadership  of  Gustavus  Vasa,  who  in  1523  was  elected 
king  of  Sweden.  Needing  the  immense  wealth  of  the 
bishoprics  for  the  support  of  his  own  kingdom,  he  favored  the 
Reformation.  The  people,  though  opposed  to  the  arrogant  con- 
duct of  the  priests,  held  fast  to  the  Church.  Gustavus  was  ac- 
cused of  heresy  by  his  priestly  subjects,  but  without  avail.  Being 
opposed  in  his  plans  by  the  bishops  and  the  nobility,  he  threat- 
ened to  abdicate.  This  completely  humbled  his  opponents,  since 
they  feared  subjection  to  Frederick  of  Denmark  if  Gustavus  for- 
sook the  control  of  the  State.  They  granted  him  all  that  he  asked, 
and  the  Reformation  was  secured.  But  the  Church  was,  in  fact, 
under  the  authority  of  the  State,  and  Gustavus  carried  his  confis- 

1  These  episcopal  functions  were  quite  in  the  Lutheran  spirit.  Luther  him- 
self, although  there  were  several  Protestant  bishops  in  Prussia  whose  tactual 
succession  could  not  be  doubted,  ordained  Amsdorf  as  bishop  of  Naumburg 
June  20,  1542.  The  defense  of  this  act  by  Luther  is  characteristic.  He  says  : 
"  We  poor  heretics  have  committed  another  great  sin  against  tbe  hellish  and 
unchristian  Church  of  the  most  hellish  father,  the  pope,  in  ordaining  and  con- 
secrating a  bishop  of  Naumburg  without  anointing  oil,  as  also  without  butter, 
lard,  bacon,  grease  .  .  .  and  whatever  other  sanctity  belongs  thereto." — Walch, 
xvii,  122  ;  Schaff,  vi,  540.  See  also  Rietschel,  Luther  und  die  Ordination,  2d 
ed.,  Wittenberg,  1889. 


THE   REFORMATION   IN    SCANDINAVIA.  359 

cation  of  church  property  so  far  that  even  the  Protestants  arose  in 
opposition. 

Among  the  principal  preachers  who  carried  on  the  proclamation 
of  the  new  truth  were  Olaf  and  Lawrence  Petersen 
and  Lawrence  Andersen,  of  whom  the  first  was  made      bens  a.m. 
preacher  and  secretary  of  the  council  in  Stockholm  by 
the  king,  and  the  last,  the  chancellor.     Olaf  was  an  eloquent  and 
courageous  man  who  had  studied  under  Luther  to  1519,  when,  re- 
turning to  Stockholm,  he  freely  preached  the  Gospel,  even  before 
the  election  of  Gustavus.     Vasa,  after  his  elevation,  protected  the 
preachers  of  the    Reformation,   the  spread  of  Luther's  writings, 
and  the  translation  of  the  Bible  into  Swedish.     Olaf  scattered  tracts 
far  and  wide,  and  by  his  own  poems  and    translations   provided 
Sweden  with  the  beginnings  of  its  hymnology.     He  was  a  firm 
believer  in  Luther's  doctrine  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  he  worked 
out  a  Swedish  mass  similar  to  that  of  Luther  in  German. 

There  were  twelve  bishops,  of  whom  the  bishop  of  Upsala  was 
archbishop,  but  only  as  primus  inter  pares,  with  special  duties 
and  privileges,  and  with  no  authority  over  his  colleagues.  Law- 
rence Petersen  was  the  first  to  occupy  the  archbishopric.  The 
practical  reforms  were  not  radical  in  their  character,  and  the  ritual 
was  very  conservative.  For  some  reason  the  progress  of  the  Ref- 
ormation among  the  people  of  Sweden  was  slow.  It  was  doubt- 
less chiefly  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  clergy  were  left  to  them- 
selves to  decide  how  far  they  would  conform  to  the  new  faith,  thus 
introducing  a  conflict  between  the  elder  and  the  younger  clergy. 
Attempts  were  made  by  John  III  (1568-1592)  to  reinstate  Roman- 
ism, and  by  various  means  were  almost  successful.  The  Jesuits 
used  their  influence,  and  the  pope  encouraged  the  restoration. 
But  the  most  powerful  factor  was  Queen  Catherine.  After  her 
death  the  king  took  a  second  wife,  who  was  favorable  to  Protes- 
tantism, subsequent  to  which  the  persecution  of  Romanism  began. 
The  conduct  of  John  stirred  the  populace  against  the  papacy,  and 
when  his  son,  Sigismund,  was  about  to  succeed  him  he  council  of 
was  compelled  to  reestablish  Protestantism  as  a  con-  UPSALA- 
dition  of  receiving  the  crown.  The  council  at  Upsala  abolished 
the  ecclesiastical  regulations  of  John,  forbade  Romanism  its  rights 
in  Sweden,  and  made  the  Augsburg  Confession  the  official  symbol 
of  the  country.  All  attempts  to  secure  a  foothold  for  Calvinism 
failed.     The  Scandinavian  countries  were  unalterably  Lutheran. 


360  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


LITEKATUKE  :  REFORMATION  IN  POLAND. 

1.  Friese,  C.  G.  von.     Reformations  Geschichte  von  Polen  und  Lithauen.     3 

vols.     Bresl.,  1786. 

2.  Krasinski,  Valerian.     Historical  Sketch  of  the  Rise,  Progress,  and  Decline 

of  the  Reformation  in  Poland.     2  vols.     Lond.,  1838. 

3.  Lucaszewicz,  J.     Geschichte  der  Reformati on  K.  in  Lith.     2  vols.     Leipz., 

1841. 

4.  Fischer,  G.  W.  T.     Versuch  einer  Geschichte   der  Reformation  in  Polen. 

2  vols.     Gratz,  1855-56. 

5.  Theiner,  A.     Vetera  Documenta   Poloniae  et  Lithuania.      Vols,  ii  and  iii. 

Rome,  1861-63. 

6.  Dalton,   Henry.     Johannes  a  Lasco :    Beitrag   zur   Reformationgeschichte 

Polens,  Deutschlands  und  Englands.  Gotha,  1881.  Transl.  Lond.,  1886. 
Henschel,  A.,  Johannes  Laski,  d.  Reformator  d.  Polen,  Halle,  1890.  E. 
V.  Gerhart,  John  de  Lasky,  in  Mercersburg  Rev.,  July.  1857  (ix,  446  ff.). 
D.  D.  Demarest,  John  a  Lasco,  in  Presb.  Rev.,  Jan.,  1881,  art.  i.  L.  L. 
KropfF,  John  a  Lasco  and  Church  Preferments,  in  Engl.  Hist.  Rev.,  Jan., 
1896. 

IN   HUNGARY   AND    TRANSYLVANIA. 

1.  Paget,  J.     Hungary  and  Transylvania.     2  vols.     Lond.,  1839. 

2.  Krasinski,  Valerian.     Religious  History  of  the  Slavonic  Nations.     Edinb., 

1851. 

3.  History  of  the  Protestant  Church  in  Hungary,  from  the  Beginning  of  the 

Reformation  to  1850 ;  with  reference  also  to  Transylvania.  Transl.  by 
J.  Craig,  D.  D.     Lond.,  1854. 

4.  Sillem,  H.  C.  W.     Primus  Truber  d.  Reformator  Krains.     Erl.,  1861. 

5.  Linberger,  S.     Geschichte  des  Evangeliums  in  Ungarn  sammt  Siebenbiir- 

gen.    Budap.,  1880. 

6.  Brod,  Peter.    Historia  Hungarorum  Ecclesiastica,  edidit  L.  W.  E.  Rauwen- 

hoff.  Tom.  iii.  Lugduni  Batavorum,  1888-90.  This  great  work,  written 
in  the  eighteenth  century — its  author  died  in  1769 — lay  in  manuscript  in 
Leydeu,  whither  it  was  sent  in  1756,  for  122  years.  The  printing  of 
Protestant  books  was  prohibited  in  Hungary  in  1753.  Brod  was  a  Cal- 
vinist,  and  his  History  is  invaluable  for  its  full  details  on  many  interest- 
ing points.  He  also  wrote  Historia  Unitariorum  in  Transylvania,  Leyden, 
1776,  a  book  written  with  first-hand  knowledge,  but  unfortunately  now 
very  rare. 
See  the  Hungarian,  Francis  Balogh,  in  Presb.  and  Ref.  Rev.,  ii,  152  ff.,  and 
iii,  158  ff. 


REFORMATION   IN   POLAND   AND    HUNGARY.  361 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

THE  REFORMATION  IN  POLAND,    HUNGARY,    TRANSYLVANIA 
AND  AMONG  THE  SOUTHERN  SLAVS. 

The  way  had  been  prepared  for  toleration  in  Poland  by  the  re- 
ligious conditions  which  had  prevailed  prior  to  the  Reformation. 
Greek,  Catholic,  Jew,  and  Husite  had  long  lived  in  comparative 
peace  side  by  side.  Sigismund  I  (1506-1548)  was  a  loyal  Roman- 
ist, and  forbade  the  admission,  possession,  and  diffusion  of  Lu- 
ther's writings,  under  pain  of  death.  But  neither  his  efforts  nor 
the  condemnation  of  all  heresy  by  the  synod  of  Leczig  (1523) 
could  hold  the  extension  of  the  new  ideas  in  check. 

•     •  -it  -n  n  -t  l  REFORM 

The    cities  generally,  as  well  as  the  nobility,  made  ideas  in 

way  for  the  Gospel,  and  even  the  peasantry  clamored 
for  the  German  doctrines.  The  noble  youth  of  Poland  attended  the 
university  of  Wittenberg  and  brought  back  the  Protestant  views, 
while  the  bodily  transfer  of  Prussia  and  the  constant  intercourse 
between  Poland  and  German  cities  aided  in  the  spread  of  the  Ref- 
ormation. Sigismund  II,  influenced  by  personal  motives,  gave  the 
Reformation  free  course,  and  it  rapidly  found  its  way  among  the 
cities  and  nobles.  The  death  of  Sigismund  II,  in  1572,  and  the 
accession  of  Sigismund  III,  in  1587,  gave  the  Roman  Catholics, 
especially  through  the  influence  of  the  Jesuits  upon  the  king,  some 
new  advantage.  But  the  chief  hindrance  to  the  Reformation  in 
Poland  was  the  division  among  the  Protestants. 

The  Polish  nobility  were  chiefly  influenced  by  Calvin,  while  the 
masses  were  Lutheran.  Italian  refugees  won  some  of  the  nobles 
to  antitrinitarianism,  and  the  Bohemian  Brethren  were  strongly 
represented.  Thus  the  anti-Roman  camp  was  divided  into  four 
unfriendly  parties.  In  1555,  however,  a  meeting  of  the  evangeli- 
cals in  Kozminek  resulted  in  bringing  the  whole  assembly  to  adopt 
the  Church  Order  of  the  Bohemian  Brethren.  In  1565  the  re- 
formed party  freed  themselves  from  the  Unitarians, 

"  J  DIVISIONS 

and  in  1570  the  Bohemian  Brethren,  the  Lutheran,       ofprotes- 

TANTS. 

and  the  Reformed  were    united   in   a   confederative 
union  by   the  consensus  of  Sendomir.      This  was  followed  by  a 
brotherly  and  mutually  tolerant  recognition  of  their  common  ac- 
ceptance of  the  principal  doctrines   of  Christianity  ;  a  common 


362  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

formula  for  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  other  tokens  of  Christian  unity. 
In  1573  the  diet  at  Warsaw  decreed  religious  equality  to  Roman- 
ists and  Protestants,  but  gave  the  nobility  the  right  to  determine 
the  confession  to  which  their  peasants  should  adhere.  The  Jesuits 
saw  their  opportunity,  used  it  to  divide  still  farther  the  Prot- 
estant parties,  and  looked  on  with  pleasure  to  see  them  disputing 
among  themselves,  while  the  Romanists  united  to  win  back  many 
of  the  nobles  to  the  Church. 

Essentially  the  same  cause  worked  for  and  against  the  progress 
and  establishment  of  the  Reformation  in  Hungary  and  Transyl- 
vania. The  weakness  of  the  rulers,  or  their  conversion  to  Protes- 
tantism, furthered  the  interests  of  the  reformers.  Devay  espe- 
cially was  active  in  preaching,  writing,  and  translating  the 
Scriptures  in  Hungary,  thereby  spreading  the  Gospel.  But  the 
Lutherans  and  the  Reformed,  together  with  the  anti-trinitarians, 
divided  those  who  favored  reform,  and  thus  prepared  the  way  for 
the  Roman  Catholic  reaction.  This  was  brought  about,  particularly 
in  Hungary,  by  the  Jesuits.  In  1606  the  peace  of  Vienna  secured 
hungaky  protection  from  the  Emperor  Rudolf,  who  had  at- 
syTvania"  tempted  to  reintroduce  Romanism  into  Hungary.  But 
while  the  Protestants  could  withstand  princely  aggres- 
sion, their  divisions  incapacitated  them  for  coping  with  the  Jesu- 
its. Peter  Pazmany,  a  highly  educated  and  winning  personality 
and  a  Jesuit,  succeeded  in  securing  the  return  of  many  of  the  no- 
bility to  Rome,  and  with  them  vast  numbers  of  the  peasants.  The 
students,  who  had  formerly  gone  to  Heidelberg,  found  the  Nether- 
lands more  pleasing  in  aftertimes,  and  during  the  Thirty  Years5 
War  brought  back  many  new  ideas  concerning  church  govern- 
ment, the  administration  of  the  sacraments,  and  church  discipline. 
All  these  only  aided  in  introducing  a  still  more  diversified  opinion 
among  the  already  divided  Protestants,  and  thus  tended  to  weaken 
their  cause. 

The  history  of  the  Reformation  among  the  Southern  Slavs  is 
still  more  brief.  The  first  traces  are  seen  in  Laibach,  in  1530, 
where  the  Gospel  was  accepted  by  Khlobner,  secretary  of  state, 
who  gathered  about  him  a  little  company  of  evangelicals. 
Primus  Truber  and  Paul  Wiener  preached  the  Lutheran  doctrine 
until  1547,  when  both  were  banished.  Wiener  went  to  Transyl- 
vania and  became  the  first  superintendent.     Truber 

TEUBER.  ,  r 

went  to  Germany,  where  in  Rothenburg  and  Kempton 
he  was  employed  as  minister.  But  he  gave  much  of  his  energy 
to  the  production  of  evangelical  literature  for  his  native  coun- 


REFORMATION  IN  POLAND   AND   HUNGARY.  363 

try.  Gathering  about  him  such  assistance  as  he  could,  he  pro- 
duced a  catechism,  a  confession  of  faith,  a  series  of  sermons  on 
the  gospels  and  epistles  of  the  church  year,  church  hymns,  partly 
original,  partly  translated,  and  a  translation  of  the  New  Testament 
and  the  Psalms.  The  Eeformation  had  developed  so  rapidly  that 
in  1561  he  was  called  home,  where  he  organized  the  Protestant 
Church.  He  was  again  banished  in  1565,  but  the  Church  re- 
mained, and  continued  until,  in  1599,  the  Jesuitical  Ferdinand  de- 
stroyed its  power. 


364  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


LITERATURE:    THE  ENGLISH   REFORMATION". 

I.    SOURCES   AND   OLDER   HISTORIANS. 

State  Papers  of  the  Reign  of  Henry  Vin,  published  by  the  Record  Commis- 
sion, and  the  Calendar  of  the  State  Papers  of  the  same  reign  (Rolls  series),  edited 
by  Brewer,  are  indispensable.  E.  Cardwell,  Synodalia  :  a  Collection  of  Articles, 
Canons,  and  Proceedings  of  Convocation  from  1547  to  1717.  2  vols.  Oxf.,  1843. 
E.  Cardwell,  Documentary  Annals  of  the  Church  of  England :  Injunctions, 
Declarations,  Orders,  Articles  of  Inquiry,  from  1546  to  1716.  2  vols.  Oxf., 
1839.  Reformation  of  Eccl.  Laws,  as  attempted  in  reigns  of  Henry  Yin, 
Edward  VI,  and  Elizabeth.  New  ed.  by  E.  Cardwell.  Oxf.,  1850.  [1st  ed., 
1571.]  A  collection  (in  Latin)  of  Church  laws.  Formularies  of  Faith  put  forth  by 
Authority  during  Reign  of  Henry  Vlil.  Ed.  by  Charles  Lloyd.  Oxf.,  1825.  New 
ed.,  1856.  The  writings  of  the  reformers  appear  in  the  vast  collection  published 
by  the  Parker  Soc.  53  vols.,  with  index.  Camb.,  1841-54.  The  extensive 
works  of  John  Strype  have  been  a  quarry  for  all  subsequent  workers,  especially 
his  Ecclesiastical  Memorials,  3  vols.,  1721,  and  Memorials  of  Cranmer,  1694. 
Complete  works.  27  vols.  Oxf .,  1820-40.  Gilbert  Burnet,  Hist,  of  Reforma- 
tion of  Church  of  England.  Vol.  i,  1679  ;  vol.  ii,  1681 ;  vol.  iii,  1714.  Best  ed. 
by  Pocock.  7  vols.  Oxf. ,  1865.  Not  to  be  accepted  in  all  its  statements,  but 
still  a  work  of  great  value.  Records  of  the  Reformation  :  the  Divorce,  1527-33. 
Collected  and  arranged  by  Nicholas  Pocock.  2  vols.  Oxf.,  1870.  An  invalu- 
able collection  of  original  documents.  John  Foxe,  Acts  and  Monuments. 
Basel,  1554.  1st  complete  Eng.  ed.,  Lond.,  1563  ;  4th,  1583.  Besteds.,  8  vols., 
ed.  by  Cattley,  with  dissertation  by  Townsend,  Lond.,  1837-41;  and  by  Pratt 
and  Stoughton.,  8  vols.,  Lond.,  1877.  A  thesaurus  of  contemporary  literature 
of  immense  value,  even  if  the  historian,  like  all  the  writers  of  that  age  and 
later,  lacked  the  critical  spirit.  Martyrs  Omitted  by  Foxe  :  Records  of  Religious 
Persecutions  in  the  16th  and  17th  Centuries.  Lond.,  1870.  A  Roman  Catholic 
supplement  to  Foxe.  Nicholas  Sander,  Rise  and  Growth  of  the  Anglican 
Schism.  Pub.  1585.  With  continuation  by  Edward  Rishton,  transl.  by  David 
Lewis.  Lond. ,  1877.  See  Reunion  Mag. ,  i,  17  ff .  On  Sander,  see  Pollen  in  Eng. 
Hist.  Rev.,  Jan.,  1891.  Sander's  book  is  valuable  as  giving  the  contemporary 
judgment  of  an  able  and  wide-awake  Catholic.  A  much  more  important  Cath- 
olic book  is  Charles  Dodd's  anonymous  Church  History  of  England  from  1500 
to  1688,  the  first  vol.  of  which  was  published  ostensibly  in  Brussels  in  1737.  It 
has  been  edited,  with  notes  and  corrections  and  the  addition  "of  numerous  docu- 
ments, by  M.  A.  Tierney,  F.S.A.,  5  vols.,  Lond.,  1839-43.  The  author  was  a 
learned  and  large-minded  Catholic  divine  whose  real  name  was  Hugh  Tootel. 
His  book  brought  him  into  conflict  with  both  Jesuits  and  Anglicans.  Jeremy 
Collier,  An  Eccl.  Hist,  of  Great  Britain  to  1685.  Lond.,  1708-18.  New  ed. 
with  notes,  by  Francis  Barham.  9  vols.  Lond.,  1840-41.  Peter  Heylyn, 
Ecclesia  Restaurata :  the  Hist,  of  the  Reformation  of  the  Church  of  England 
from  Edward  VI  to  1566.     Lond.,  1661.     New  ed.  by  J.  C.  Robertson.     Camb., 


LITERATURE:   THE  ENGLISH   REFORMATION.  363 

1849,  As  Collier  was  a  Nonjuror,  so  Heylyn  was  an  intense  and  bitter  High 
Churchman,  and  his  book  is  written  from  that  standpoint.  Edward  Harpsfield 
(d.  1575),  Treatise  on  the  Pretended  Divorce  between  Henry  and  Catharine, 
printed  for  first  time  by  Camden  Soc,  1878,  edited  by  Pocock,  the  historical 
portion  being  edited  by  Acton  for  the  Philobiblion  Soc. ,  1877.  Chronicles  of 
Hall  (d.  1547),  new  ed.  by  Ellis,  1809.  Chronicles  of  Holinshed,  Stow,  and 
Wriotheseley. 

II.   MODERN   WORKS. 

1.  Soames,  Henry.     Hist,  of  the  Reformation  of   Ch.  of  England.     4  vols. 

Lond.,  1826-28. 

2.  Cobbett,  Wm,     Hist,  of  the  Prot.  Reformation  in  England  and  Ireland. 

Lond.,  1824.  Second  part  containing  list  of  abbeys,  priories,  hospitals, 
and  other  religious  foundations  confiscated.  Lond.,  1827.  This  is  the 
raciest  history  ever  written,  its  author  being  the  possessor  of  the  purest, 
most  direct  and  forceful  English  style  of  any  writer  of  this  century. 
Though  by  a  Protestant  it  is  violently  one-sided  and  extreme,  and  is  thus 
utterly  lacking  in  historical  value. .  But  it  tells  many  unpalatable  truths 
with  a  vigor  and  frankness  which  make  them  sting  like  a  whip.  It  is 
really  a  pamphlet  in  favor  of  Catholic  emancipation,  in  which  Cobbett 
was  deeply  interested,  and  also  a  protest  against  the  popular  worship  of 
the  English  reformers.  In  the  latter  relation  its  fierce  iconoclasm  was 
not  badly  timed.  It  has  been  translated  into  various  languages,  gone 
through  numerous  editions,  and  often  served  as  a  campaign  book  against 
Protestantism.  The  eminent  Catholic  scholar,  Dr.  F.  A.  Gasquet,  has  ed- 
ited it,  with  notes,  corrections,  and  preface.  Lond.,  1898.  The  most 
effective  answer  is,  perhaps,  A  Reply  to  Cobbett's  Hist.'  of  the  Protestant 
Reformation  in  England  and  Ireland,  by  Chas.  H.  Collette,  Lond.,  1869, 
though  it  is  too  much  of  a  plea  on  the  other  side,  and  needs  correction 
from  later  studies. 

3.  Carwithen,  J.  B.  S.     The  History  of  the  Church  of  England  to  1688.     3 

vols.     Oxf.,  1830-33.     2d  ed.,  2  vols.,  1849. 

4  Massingberd,  F.  C.  Hist,  of  English  Reformation.  Lond.,  1844.  3d  ed.,  1857. 

5.  Froude,  J.  A.  History  of  England  from  the  Fall  of  Wolsey  to  the  Defeat 
of  the  Spanish  Armada.  12  vols.  1856-69.  The  most  brilliant  historical 
work  ever  written,  but  uncritical  in  the  use  of  sources,  one-sided  in  its 
judgments,  and  impassioned  in  its  prejudices.  After  it  reaches  Elizabeth 
it  is  more  valuable,  though  the  picture  of  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  is  a  cari- 
cature. The  Divorce  of  Catharine  of  Aragon.  Lond.,  1891.  See  Mrs. 
Hope,  below.  With  Froude's  treatment  of  this  period  compare  that  of 
Mackintosh,  Brougham,  Macaulay,  Lord  Acton,  Green,  Lingard  (last 
edition),  Gardiner,  the  various  reviews  and  articles  on  Froude's  history, 
and  J.  S.  Brewer's  tutroductions  to  the  Calendar  of  Letters  and  Papers, 
Foreign  and  Domestic,  of  the  Reign  of  Henry  VEX,  4  vols.,  Lond., 
1862-72 ;  his  Reign  of  Henry  Vm  to  the  Death  of  Wolsey,  compiled  and 
edited,  from  the  Introductions  just  mentioned,  by  J.  Gairdner,  2  vols., 
Lond.,  1884;  and  his  English  Studies,  edited  by  Wace,  Lond.,  1880. 
Brewer  was  an  indefatigable  student  of  the  sources,  of  impartial  judg- 
ment and  fine  insight. 


366  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

6.  Joyce,  J.  W.     Acts  of  the  Church,  1531-1885  :  the  Church  of  England  her 

own  Reformer,  as  testified  by  the  Records  of  her  Convocations.  Lond., 
1866. 

7.  Blunt,  J.  H.     The  Reformation  of  the  Church  of  England  :  its  History, 

Principles,  and  Results.  1514-1662.  Vol.  i,  Lond.,  1868;  4th  ed.,  1878. 
Vol.  ii,  Lond.,  1882.  A  solid  and  learned  work  from  the  High  Church 
point  of  view. 

8.  Cazenove,  J.  G.     Some  Aspects  of  the  Reformation.     Lond.,  1869.     A  sane 

and  scholarly  discussion,  called  out  by  Littledale's  Innovations. 

9.  Burke,  S.  H.    Men  and  "Women  of  the  English  Reformation.   2  vols.  Lond. , 

1871.  Historical  Portraits  of  tbe  Tudor  Dynasty  and  the  Reformation 
Period.  4  vols.  Lond.,  1879-82.  Interesting  works  by  a  Roman  Catholic, 
representing  considerable  research. 

10.  Dixon,  R.  W.     Hist,  of  the  Church  of  England  from  the  Abolition  of  the 

Roman  Jurisdiction.  5  vols.:  i,  1878,  3d  ed.  rev.,  1895  ;  ii,  1880,  3d  ed. 
rev.,  1895  ;  iii,  1885,  2d  ed.  rev.,  1893  ;  iv,  1891 ;  v,  1899.  The  best  his- 
tory of  the  English  Reformation  :  fairly  impartial,  scholarly,  and  fresh  in 
its  research. 

11.  Lee,  F.   G.     Hist.  Sketches  of  the  Reformation.     Lond.,  1879.     A  book 

similar  to  S.  R.  Maitland's  Essays  on  the  Reformation  in  England,  Lond., 
1849;  new  ed.,  1899  ;  the  effort  being  to  dissipate  Protestant  prejudices 
by  bringing  forward  other  facts,  but  written  from  a  standpoint  equally 
one-sided.  The  Church  under  Queen  Elizabeth  2  vols.  Lond.,  1880 ; 
new  ed.,  1892.  Edward  VI  Supreme  Head.  Lond.,  1886.  Reginald 
Pole  Lond.,  1888.  Lee  is  an  Anglican  clergyman  of  the  extreme  Catho- 
lic type,  a  member  of  the  Society  for  Corporate  Reunion — a  society  which 
is  working  for  the  union  of  the  Roman  and  English  Churches  ;  his  works 
are  deeply  interesting  and  represent  much  research,  but  some  of  his 
conclusions  are  as  violent  departures  from  facts  as  are  Froude's.  He  is 
valuable  as  emphasizing  a  group  of  historical  realities  ignored  by  ordi- 
nary Protestant  authorities. 

12.  Geikie,  Cunningham.     The  English  Reformation.     Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1879. 

The  author  is  a  better  authority  on  the  Scripture.  See  also  J.  Williams, 
idem,  N.  Y.,  1881. 

13.  Lewis,  J.     The  Reformation  Settlement;  a  Summary  of  Acts  and  Docu- 

ments, 1509-1666.     Lond.,  1885. 

14.  Fitzgerald,  W.     Lects.  on  Eccl.  History,  ed.  by  W.   Fitzgerald  and  Jno. 

Quarry.  2  vols.  Lond.,  1885.  Able  and  thoughtful  lectures,  especially 
full  on  the  English  Reformation. 

15.  Perry,  G.  G.     The  English  Reformation  [Epochs  of  Church  History,  ed.  by 

Creighton].  Lond.  and  N.  Y. ,  1886.  A  History  of  the  English  Church  (stu- 
dents'series),  second  period,  1509-1717.  Lond.,  1887;  6th ed.,  1894.  High 
Church,  but  the  best  handy  treatment  ;  copious  notes  and  references. 

16.  Worsley,  Henry.     The  Dawn   of  the  English  Reformation.     Lond.,  1890. 

Admirable. 

17.  Beckett,  W.  H.     The  English  Reformation.     Lond.,  1890.     The  best  short 

history  giving  the  ordinary  Protestant  interpretation. 

18.  Child,  G.  W.     Church  and  State  under  the  Tudors.     Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1890. 

A  learned  and  fair-minded  presentation  of  an  interesting  aspect  of  history. 


LITERATURE:   THE  ENGLISH    REFORMATION.  D67 

19.  Hope,   Mrs.     The  First  Divorce  of  Henry   VIII.     Ed.,    with  notes   and 

introd.,  by  F.  A.  Gasquet.  Lond.,  1894.  Founded  on  a  careful  study  of 
the  sources. 

20.  Makower,  Felix.   Constitutional  History  and  Constitution  of  the  Church  of 

England.  Transl.  Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1895.  An  able  and  impartial  work, 
giving  copious  citations  from  the  sources  in  the  notes.  See  Church 
Quar.  Rev.,  April,  1896,  pp.  82-93  ;  Presb.  and  Ref.  Rev.,  vii,  731-732  ; 
Crit.  Rev.,  vi  :  115-121  (A.  Plummer)  ;  Th.  Litz.,  1896,  No.  12  (Katten 
busch). 

21.  Gee,  Henry ;  Hardy,  W.  T.      Documents   illustrative   of  English   Church 

History.     Lond.,  1896.     An  invaluable  collection. 

22.  Frere,  W.  H.     The  Marian  Reaction  in  its  Relation  to  the  English  Clergy  : 

a  Study  of  Episcopal  Registers.    Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1896. 

23.  Overton,  J.  H.     The  Church  in  England.  2  vols.     Lond.,  1897.    Chaps,  xii- 

xv.     [The  National  Churches,  ed.  by  Ditchfield.] 

24.  Powers,  G.  W.     England  and  the  Reformation.     Lond.,  1897.     Fine  gen- 

eral sketch. 

25.  Clark,    William.       The  Anglican  Reformation.      N.    Y.,  1897.     A  plain, 

straightforward  narrative,  without  notes,  from  High  Church  standpoint. 
[Ten  Epochs  of  Church  History,  edited  by  John  Fulton.] 

26.  Collins,  W.  E.     The   English  Reformation  and  its  Consequences.     Lond., 

1898.  Learned  and  interesting  High  Church  lectures,  with  notes  and 
documents. 

IU.    THE   ENGLISH   BIBLE. 

Histories  of  the  English  Bible.  By  C.  Anderson,  2  vols.,  Lond.,  1845  ;  N.  Y., 
abd.,  1  vol.,  1849.  Mrs.  H.  C.  Conant,  N.  Y.,  1856  ;  new  ed.  by  T.  J.  Conant, 
1881.  B.  F.  Westcott,  Lond.,  1868  ;  new  ed.,  1872.  John  Eadie,  2  vols., 
Lond.,  1876.     W.  F.  Moulton,  Lond.,  1878.     B.  Condit,  N.  Y.,  1882 ;  new  ed., 

1890.  J.  I.  Mombert,  N.  Y.,  1883 ;  2d  ed.,  1890.  T.  H.  Pattison,  Phil.,  1894. 
R.  Lovett  (the  printed  English  Bible,  1525-1885),  Lond.,  1894.  S.  G.  Ayres 
and  C.  F.  Sitterly,  N.  Y. ,  1898.  This  last  is  a  valuable  list  of  topics  and  of  ref- 
erences to  books. 

rv.  THE  BOOK  OF  COMMON  PRAYER. 

W.  Palmer,  Origines  Liturgicpe,  or  Antiquities  of  the  English  Ritual,  2  vols. , 
Lond.,  3d  ed.,  1832  ;  4th  ed.,  1845.  E.  Cardwell,  Hist,  of  Conferences  on  the 
Book  of  Common  Prayer  from  1558  to  1690,  Oxf.,  1840  ;  and  the  same  author's 
Two  Books  of  Common  Prayer  set  forth  in  Reign  of  Edward  VI,  compared  and 
edited,  3d  ed.,  Oxf.,  1852.  Peter  Hall,  Reliquae  Liturgicae  Anglicanse  :  Docu- 
ments connected  with  the  Liturgy  of  the  Church  of  England,  5  vols.,  Bath, 
1847  ;  and  the  same  author's  Fragmenta  Liturgica  :  Documents  Rlustrative  of 
the  Liturgy  of  the  Church  of  England,  7  vols.,  Bath,  1848.  F.  Procter,  Hist, 
of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  Lond.,  1855  ;  manyeds.;  latest  rev.  ed.,  1889: 
new  ed.,  1892.  T.  Lathbury,  History  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  Oxf., 
1858.  Lord  Selborne,  Notes  on  some  Passages  in  the  Liturgical  Hist,  of  the 
English  Church,  Lond.,  1878.  F.  A.  Gasquet,  Edward  VI  and  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer,  withapp.  of  unpublished  documents,  Lond.,  1890;   2d  ed., 

1891.  Histories  by  H.  M.  Luckock,  Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1882,  and  W.  R.  Hunt- 
ington, N.  Y.,  1893. 


368  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

V.    ARTICLES   OF   RELIGION. 

C.  Hardwick,  Hist,  of  the  Articles  of  Religion,  with  Documents,  1536-1615, 
Lond.,  1851 ;  3d  ed.  rev.  by  F.  Procter,  1876.  J.  H.  Blunt,  editor,  Doctrine  of  the 
Church  of  England  as  stated  in  Eccl.  Documents,  1536-1662,  Lond.,  1868.  E. 
H.  Browne,  Exposition  of  the  XXXIX  Articles,  Historical  and  Doctrinal, 
Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1870.  Jos.  Miller,  The  XXXIX  Articles  of  the  Church  of 
England,  an  Hist,  and  Speculative  Exposition,  4  vols.,  Lond.,  1878-85.  E.  T. 
Green,  The  XXXLX  Articles  and  the  Age  of  the  Reformation,  Lond.,  1896 
(contains  contemporary  and  illustrative  documents).  G.  F.  Maclear  and  W.  W. 
Williams,  In  trod,  to  the  Articles  of  the  Church  of  England,  Lond.  and  N.  Y., 
1896.  E.  C.  R.  Gibson,  The  XXXIX  Articles  of  the  Church  of  England,  2 
vols.,  Lond.,  1896-97.     See  Alfred  Plummer  in  Crit.  Rev.,  vii,  264-272. 

VI.    THOMAS   CRANMER. 

Lives  by  Strype  (memorials)  1694,  2  vols.,  Oxf.,  1840,  and  4  vols.,  Oxf., 
1847-54 ;  H.  J.  Todd,  2  vols.,  Lond.,  1831  ;  C.  W.  Le  Bas,  2  vols.,  Lond.  and 
N.  Y.,  1833;  A.  J.  Mason,  Lond.  and  Bost.,  1898  ;  in  J.  J.  Blunt,  Essays,  324  ff.; 
Quar.  Rev.,  cxxv,  212  ff.;  a  special  art.  on  his  liturgical  projects  in  Church 
Quar.  Rev.,  xxxi,  446  ff. 

VII.    HUGH  LATIMER. 

Lives  by  W.  Gilpin,  Lond.,  1755  ;  G.  L.  Duyckinck,  N.  Y.,  1861;  R.  Demaus, 
Lond.,  1869,  new  ed.,  1881  ;  J.  J.  Ellis,  Lond.,  1890  ;  and  in  Tulloch,  Leaders 
of  the  Reformation,  pp.  245  ff.  ;  Ryle,  Bishops  and  Clergy  of  Other  Days, 
pp.  65  ff . ;  and  Adams,  Great  English  Churchmen,  pp.  364  ff . 

vm.    WOLSEY. 

Lives  by  Cavendish,  Lond.,  1641,  repr.  in  Wordsworth,  Eccl.  Biography,  4th 
ed.,  1839,  anded.  by  Singer,  2  vols.,  Chiswick,  1825,  and  John  Holmes,  1852  ; 
R.  Fiddes,  1724;  John  Gait,  Lond.,  1812,  3d  ed.,  by  Hazlitt,  1846;  George 
Howard  (pseud,  of  F.  C.  Laird),  1824 :  Chas.  Martin,  Oxf.,  1862  ;  M.  Creighton, 
Lond.  andN.  Y.,  1888  ;  and  Lord  Acton,  in  Quar.  Rev.,  Jan.,  1877. 

IX.    SIR   THOMAS   MORE. 

Lives  by  Roper  (his  son-in-law),  Oxf.,  1716  (later  eds.,  Rudhardt,  Numb., 
1829,  new  ed.,  Augsb.,  1852  ;  Walter,  Lond.,  1840 ;  Sir  Jas.  Macintosh,  2d  ed., 
Lond.,  1844);  F.  Seebohm,  The  Oxford  Reformers,  2d  ed.,  Lond.,  1869; 
Baumstark,  Freib.,  1879  ;  Beger,  Th.  Morus  und  Plato,  Tub.,  1879 ;  T.  E. 
Bridgett,  Lond.,  1891  ;  [Miss  Manning],  The  Household  of  Sir  Thomas  More, 
new  ed.,  with  introd.  by  W.  H.  Hutton,  Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1895  ;  W.  H.  Hutton, 
Lond.  and  Bost.,  1896  ;  Religious  Writings  of  More,  in  Eng.  Hist.  Rev.,  Oct., 
1889 ;  Univ.  of  Pennsylvania  Sources,  i,  No.  1 ;  art.  Sir  Thomas  More,  in 
Quar.  Rev.,  Oct.,  1896. 

X.    JOHN   FISHER. 

Lives  by  T.  Bayley,  Lond.,  1655  ;  John  Lewis,  2  vols.,  1855  ;  T.  E.  Bridgett, 
Lond.,  1890  (see  Crit.  Rev.,  ii,  100;  Church  Quar.  Rev.,  xxix,  508);  Arthur 
Mason,  Colet,  Fisher,  and  More,  Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1895. 


THE   ENGLISH   REFORMATION— JOHN   COLET.  3G9 


II.    ON    THE    BRITISH    ISLES. 
CHAPTER  I. 

THE   ENGLISH   REFORMATION-JOHN  COLET. 

A  word  must  be  spoken  of  those  noble  Oxford  Humanists  who, 
standing  within  the  circle  of  Catholic  dogma,  yet  spoke  bravely 
for  reform  and  did  what  they  could  to  accomplish  it.  William 
Grocyn,  a  teacher  at  Oxford,  had  come  back  from  Florence  laden 
with  the  spoils  of  Greek  and  Latin  learning,  and  was  the  teacher 
of  both  Erasmus  and  More  in  Greek.  An  illustration  of  his  can- 
dor, and  of  that  type  of  mind  out  of  which  the  Reformation  grew,  is 
his  abandonment  of  his  former  opinion  of  the  authen-  THE  oxford 
ticity  of  the  pseudo-Dionysian  writings,  and  his  open  HUMANISTS- 
declaration  on  further  study  that  he  had  been  mistaken.  Thomas 
Linacre  also  learned  Greek  in  Italy  and  came  back  to  Oxford  im- 
bued with  the  spirit  of  the  Renaissance,  and  formed  one  of  that 
group  of  scholars  who  are  mentioned  with  high  praise  by  Erasmus. 
He  had  studied  medicine  in  Padua,  and  was  appointed  physician  to 
Henry  VIII.  He  was  the  means  of  organizing  the  Royal  College 
of  Physicians  in  London,  and  also  translated  into  Latin  from  the 
Greek  some  medical  works  of  Galen,  as  well  as  the  astronomical 
treatise  of  Proclus,  De  Spheera.  But  the  chief  influence  of  this 
learned  scholar  and  philosopher  was  in  being  the  teacher  in  Greek 
of  More,  Erasmus,  the  lamented  Prince  Arthur,  Queen  Mary,  and 
the  helper  of  Erasmus,  More,  Grocyn,  Colet,  William  Lilye,  Lati- 
mer, and  others,  in  bringing  in  the  new  learning,  and  rolling  back 
the  tide  of  medieval  obscurantism  from  England.1 

There  was  an  awakening  everywhere.  John  Richard  Green  has 
placed  the  whole  situation  before  us  in  a  few  forceful  and  eloquent 
words  :  "  The  world  was  passing  through  changes  more 

,.  ,  ..  .  GREEN  ON 

momentous  than  any  it  had  witnessed  since  the  vie-    the  kenais- 
tory  of  Christianity  and  the  fall  of  the  Roman  empire. 
Its  physical  bounds  were  suddenly  enlarged.     The  discoveries  of 
Copernicus  revealed  to  man  the  secret  of  the  universe.     The  daring 
of  the  Portuguese  mariners  doubled  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  and 

1  See  Noble  Johnson,  Life  of  Thomas  Linacre,  Lond. ,  1835,  and  the  Intro- 
duction by  Payne  to  facsimile  reproduction  of  Linacre's  Galen  de  Tempera- 
mentis.     Camb.,  1881. 
26 


370  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

anchored  their  merchant  fleets  in  the  harbors  of  India.  Colum- 
bus crossed  the  untraversed  ocean  to  add  a  New  World  to  the  Old. 
Sebastian  Cabot,  starting  from  the  port  of  Bristol,  threaded  his 
way  among  the  icebergs  of  Labrador.  This  sudden  contact  with 
new  ideas,  new  faiths,  new  races  of  men,  quickened  the  slumbering 
intelligence  of  Europe  into  a  strange  curiosity.  The  first  book  of 
voyages  that  told  of  the  western  world,  the  travels  of  Amerigo  Ves- 
pucci, were  in  the  time  of  More's  Utopia  '  in  everybody's  hands.' 
The  Utopia  itself  in  the  wide  range  of  sj)eculation  on  every  subject 
of  human  thought  and  action  tells  how  thoroughly  and  utterly  the 
narrowness  and  limitations  of  the  Middle  Ages  had  been  broken  up. 
The  capture  of  Constantinople  by  the  Turks,  and  the  flight  of  Greek 
scholars  to  Italy,  opened  anew  the  science  and  literature  of  the 
older  world  at  the  very  hour  when  the  intellectual  energy  of  the 
Middle  Ages  had  sunk  into  exhaustion.  Not  a  single  book  of  any 
real  value,  save  those  of  Sir  John  Fortescue  and  Philippe  de  Com- 
mines,  was  produced  north  of  the  Alps  during  the  fifteenth  century. 
In  England  literature  had  reached  its  lowest  ebb.  It  was  at  this 
moment  that  the  exiled  Greek  scholars  were  welcomed  in  Italy, 
and  that  Florence,  so  long  the  home  of  freedom  and  art,  became 
the  home  of  an  intellectual  revival.  The  poetry  of  Homer,  the 
drama  of  Sophocles,  the  philosophy  of  Aristotle  and  Plato,  woke 
again  to  life  beneath  the  shadow  of  the  mighty  dome  with  which 
Brunelleschi  had  crowned  the  city  of  the  Arno.  All  the  restless 
energy  which  Florence  had  so  long  thrown  into  the  cause  of  liberty 
she  flung,  now  that  her  liberty  was  reft  from  her,  into  the  cause  of 
letters.  The  galleys  of  her  merchants  brought  back  manuscripts 
from  the  East  as  the  most  precious  portion  of  their  freight.  In 
the  palaces  of  her  nobles  fragments  of  classic  sculpture  ranged 
themselves  beneath  the  frescoes  of  Ghirlandajo.  The  recovery  of  a 
treatise  of  Cicero  or  a  tract  of  Sallust  from  the  dust  of  a  monastic 
library  was  welcomed  by  the  groups  of  statesmen  and  artists  who 
gathered  in  the  Rucellai  gardens  with  a  thrill  of  enthusiasm. 
Crowds  of  foreign  scholars  soon  flocked  over  the  Alps  to  learn 
Greek,  the  key  of  the  new  knowledge,  among  the  Florentine 
teachers."1 

That  the  new  learning  was  not  in  England  what  it  was  too  much 

in  Italy — simply  a  revival  of  paganism — was  due  chiefly  to  Dean 

outline  of      Colet.    The  son  of  Sir  Henry  Colet,  a  wealthy  London 

E'  merchant   and  lord   mayor  of  the  city,  John  Colet 

was  a  graduate  of  Oxford,  ordained  a  clergyman,  traveled  on  the 

1  Short  History  of  the  EngJJ»h  People,  Lond.  ed.,  pp.  297,  298. 


THE   ENGLISH  REFORMATION— JOHN   COLET.  371 

Continent,  and  in  Italy  plunged  into  the  study  of  the  Scriptures, 
the  fathers,  Aquinas  and  other  schoolmen.  The  mystic  writings 
of  the  pseudo-Dionysius  the  Areopagite  claimed  his  attention,  and 
seemed  to  exercise  a  deep  influence  upon  him. '  His  study  of  these 
and  of  the  Greek  fathers  deepened  his  conviction  of  the  impor- 
tance of  truth,  life,  and  love  in  Christianity  as  distinct  from 
forms  and  ceremonies — a  conviction  which  was  born  in  his  heart 
by  his  Bible  reading.  His  stay  in  Italy,  say  from  1490  to  1495, 
brought  him  face  to  face  with  the  scandals  of  Alexander  VI  and 
with  the  reforming  zeal  of  Savonarola,  and  it  is  not  wonderful  that 
he  returned  to  England  with  the  determination  to  do  what  he 
could  to  reform  religion  there. 

In  1496  John  Colet  announced  a  course  of  free  lectures  on  the 
epistles  in  Oxford.  After  the  abortive  attempt  of  Wyclif  to  make 
the  Bible  a  power  in  university  instruction  the  Scriptures  were 
thrown  into  the  background,  and,  though  they  still  retained  a  nom- 
inal place,  the  Sentences  were  the  main  themes  on  which  lectures 
were  based.  "In  the  universities,"  says  Tyndale,  who  as  a  youth 
was  in  Oxford  while  Colet  was  lecturing,  "they  have  ordained  that 
no  man  shall  look  in  the  Scripture  until  he  be  nozelled  in  heathen 
learning  eight  or  nine  years,  and  armed  with  false  principles  with 
which  he  is  to  be  shut  out  of  the  understanding  of  the  Scripture. 
.  .  .  And  when  he  taketh  his  first  degree  he  is  sworn  that  he  shall 
hold  none  opinion  condemned  by  the  Church.  .  .  .  And  then  when 
they  be  admitted  to  study  divinity,  because  the  Scripture  is  locked 
up  with  such  false  expositions  and  with  false  principles  of  natural 
philosophy  that  they  cannot  enter  in,  they  go  about  the  outside 
and  dispute  all  their  lives  about  words  and  vain  opinions,  pertain- 
ing as  much  unto  the  healing  of  a  man's  heel  as  the  health  of  his 
soul."  2  When,  therefore,  this  modest,  pious  scholar  colet's 
announced  a  course  of  lectures  on  the  epistles  of  Paul  oxraT3 
it  betokened  a  revolution,  although  the  authorities  epistles. 
could  not  be  expected  to  divine  its  significance.  If  the  Oxford 
doctors  could  have  understood  the  result  of  this  unconscious  ap- 
peal from  the  Sentences  to  the  Scriptures  they  might  well  have 
been  filled  with  dismay.  For,  as  Seebohm  says,  "  they  could  not 
foresee  that  those  very  books  of  the  Sentences  over  which  they 
had  pored  so  intently  for  so  many  years  in  order  to  obtain  the 
degree  of  Master  in  Theology,  and  at  which  students  were  still 

1  On  the  significance  of  these  Dionysian  writings  see  Seebohm,  The  Oxford 
Reformers,  index,  and  Westcott,  Religious  Thought  in  the  West,  pp.  142  ff. 

2  Practice  of  Prelates,  p.  291,  Parker  Society. 


372  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

toiling  with  the  same  object  in  view — they  could  not  foresee  that 
within  forty  years  those  very  books  would  be  utterly  banished  from 
Oxford,  ignominiously  nailed  up  on  posts  as  waste  paper,  their 
loose  leaves  strewn  about  the  quadrangles  until  some  sportsman 
should  gather  them  up  and  thread  them  on  a  line  to  keep  the  deer 
within  the  neighboring  woods."  ' 

The  medieval  doctrine  of  the  verbal  inspiration  of  the  whole 
Bible  had  reached  its  natural  climax  in  the  idolatrous  regard  of  the 
words  as  containing  all  the  meanings  which  might  be  fastened  on 
them.  For  instance,  when  St.  Jerome's  opinion  was  quoted  to  the 
effect  that  St.  Mark  (ii,  26)  made  a  slip  of  the  memory  in  writing 
Abiathar  for  Ahimelech,  a  learned  contemporary  of  Colet's  at  Ox- 
medieval  f°r(l  declared  that  that  could  not  be  unless  the  Holy 
verbal°f  Spirit  himself  could  be  mistaken,  and  for  his  authority 
inspiration.    cited  Ezek>   -h  20  .  « Whithersoever  the  Spirit  went, 

thither  likewise  the  wheels  were  lifted  up  to  follow  him."2  This 
reductio  ad  absurdum  of  the  theory  of  verbal  inspiration  is  illus- 
trated in  the  solemn  statement  of  Thomas  Aquinas:  "Inasmuch 
as  God  is  the  author  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  all  things  are  at 
one  time  present  to  his  mind,  therefore  under  their  single  text  they 
express  several  meanings.  Their  literal  sense  is  manifold ;  their 
spiritual  sense  threefold — namely,  allegorical,  moral,  anagogical."  3 
Tyndale  complains  that  under  this  treatment  the  literal  sense 
amounts  to  nothing.  "  Twenty  doctors  expand  one  text  twenty 
ways,  and  with  an  antitheme  of  half  an  inch  some  of  them  draw  a 
thread  nine  days  long.  They  not  only  say  that  the  literal  sense 
profiteth  nothing,  but  also  that  it  is  hurtful  and  noisome  and  kill- 
eth  the  soul." 4  They  prove  this  by  Paul  in  2  Cor.  iii,  6  :  "  The 
letter  killeth  but  the  spirit  giveth  life."  He  says  again  that  they 
are  wont  to  look  on  no  more  Scripture  than  they  find  in  their  Duns, 
and  that  some  of  them  will  prove  a  point  of  faith  as  well  out  of  a 
fable  of  Ovid  or  any  other  poet  as  out  of  St.  John's  gospel  or 
Paul's  epistles.  Thus  had  the  scholastic  belief  in  the  verbal  in- 
spiration, as  Seebohm  remarks,  led  men  into  a  condition  of  mind  in 
which  they  practically  ignored  the  Scriptures  altogether. 

Everybody  flocked  to  Colet's  lectures.  His  words  fell  as  water 
upon  a   thirsty  land.     His  methods  are  entirely  different  from 

1  Oxford  Reformers,  3d  ed.,  p.  4 ;  Ellis,  Letters,  2d  series,  ii,  61,  62. 
s  Seebohm,  pp.  29,  30. 
3Summa,  pt.  i,  quest,  i,  art.  10. 

4  Obedience  of  a  Christian  Man,  chapter  on  Four  Senses  of  Scripture,  Lov- 
ett's  ed.,  pp.  265  ff. 


THE   ENGLISH   REFORMATION— JOHN   COLET.  373 

those  in  vogue.  He  does  not  give  long  dissertations  on  the  texts, 
nor  link  together  the  expositions  of  the  fathers  and  schoolmen — in 
fact,  he  hardly  mentions  these  latter  at  all.  He  treats  COLET.s  IN_ 
the  epistle  as  a  human  document,  the  words  of  a  liv-  SotHS^ths 
ing  man,  and  he  therefore  brings  out  all  the  personal  K1>I*TLEs- 
allusions,  the  historical  setting,  and  light  from  contemporary  writ- 
ers. Then  he  carefully  sets  himself  to  draw  out,  almost  as  a  modern 
exegete  would,  the  meaning  of  that  great  and  profound  epistle, 
though  with  traces  of  mystical  or  philosophical  phraseology  and 
interpretation,  which  he  had  learned  from  Plato,  Plotinus,  and  the 
pseudo-Dionysius.  He  also  fearlessly  applies  the  lessons  learned 
to  his  own  times.  How  fresh  and  strong  must  have  come  Colet's 
words  as  he  uncovered  the  plain  sense  of  Scripture,  when  we  re- 
member that  at  that  very  time  the  new  Lady  Margaret  Professor 
of  Divinity  at  Oxford  announced  as  the  subject  of  his  opening 
course  the  Quodlibeta  of  Scotus.1 

In  what  sense  was  Colet  a  reformer  ?  It  cannot  be  said  that 
Colet  distinctly  repudiated  any  of  the  dogmas  of  the  Church  of  his 
time.  He  simply  shelved  them  in  favor  of  the  simple  declarations 
of  the  Bible  and  the  Apostles'  Creed.  A  standpoint  so  liberal  and 
yet  intensely  Christian  makes  Colet  a  kind  of  standard  bearer  for 
all,  a  man  around  whom  the  Churches  may  rally  in  colet's  posi- 
this  age  of  Christian  union.  His  latest  biographer  theNreVok- 
and  successor  in  St.  Paul's  School,  London,  which  he  MATION- 
founded,  calls  attention  to  this  aspect  of  Colet.  Even  if  we  can- 
not trace  the  great  Reformation  movement  to  him,  an  instinctive 
feeling  remains  that  in  Colet  we  have  a  strong  connecting  link  be- 
tween the  old  and  the  new.  In  his  many-sided  character  there  is 
something  in  which  all  may  claim  a  share.  The  Roman  Catholic 
must  honor  one  of  whom  More  declares  that  "none  more  learned 
or  more  holy  had  lived  among  them  for  many  ages  past."8  The 
High  Churchman  will  probably  find  but  little  in  his  extant  writ- 

1  This  professorship  was  founded  by  Lady  Margaret,  Countess  of  Richmond 
and  Derby,  in  1497.  She  named  as  the  first  professor  her  own  confessor,  Ed- 
mund Wylsford,  B.D.,  of  Oriel  College,  just  as  Mrs.  Valeria  G.  Stone,  of  Mai- 
den, Mass.,  appointed  her  own  friend,  Dr.  J.  P.  Gulliver,  as  the  first  incum- 
bent (1878)  of  her  new  chair  of  the  relations  of  science  and  Christianity  at 
Andover  Theological  Seminary.  On  Colet's  lectures  at  Oxford,  see  Seebohm, 
pp.  29  ff. ;  Lupton,  Life  of  John  Colet,  pp.  59  ff. 

2Epist.  aliquot  erudit.,  1520,  leaf  M,  iii.  A  Roman  Catholic  authority,  The 
Tablet,  Lond.,  June  24,  1876,  places  the  theological  position  of  Colet  between 
that  of  Erasmus  and  More,  meaning,  probably  that  he  is  more  Catholic  than 
the  former,  less  so  than  the  latter. 


374  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

ings  from  which  he  would  feel  bound  to  dissent.  "  Were  he  liv- 
ing," says  an  able  reviewer,  "he  could  be  dean  of  St.  Paul's  now ; 
but  he  could  not  be  cardinal  archbishop  of  Westminster.  In  the 
English  Church  we  have  many  now  his  exact  counterparts,  but  in 
the  Komish  communion  there  is  no  room  for  such  as  he,  or,  if 
barely  tolerated,  he  would  be  relegated  to  some  remote  oratory,  and 
as  much  as  possible  put  to  silence."1 

This  is,  however,  precarious  reasoning.  It  does  not  appear  that 
he  denied  any  Eoman  doctrine.  His  two  bosom  friends  and  fellow- 
workers,  Erasmus  and  More,  lived  long  enough  to  take  an  attitude 
toward  the  Reformation,  and  we  cannot  say  that  Colet's  preferences 
would  not  have  been  theirs — to  remain  in  the  old  fold.  "  The  Evan- 
gelical Churchman  and  Nonconformist  have  been  forward  to  claim 
in  Colet  a  representative  of  themselves." 2  Colet  was  like  St. 
George  Mivart  and  many  liberal  Catholics,  content  to  remain  in  the 
Church  of  his  youth,  not  contending  against  her  doctrines,  but 
finding  Christ  sufficient  for  himself.  "Knowledge,"  he  says, 
"  leads  not  to  eternal  life,  but  love.  Whoso  loveth  God  is  known 
of  him.  Ignorant  love  has  a  thousand  times  more  power  than  cold 
wisdom."  Several  Lollards  —  Protestants  of  that  age  —  suffered 
under  Archbishop  Warham  in  1511,  and  Colet  never  lifted  his  voice 
for  them.  In  fact,  he  himself  is  said  to  have  been  one  of  the  judges.3 
It  is  indeed  true  that  the  bishop  of  London,  Fitzjames,  a  bigoted 
obscurantist,  inflamed  against  Colet  for  the  latter's  zeal  as  a  moral 
reformer,  trumped  up  charges  against  him,  and  laid  them  before 
the  archbishop.  What  were  these  charges?  (1)  That  images 
ought  not  to  be  worshiped.  (2)  That  when  Christ  commanded 
Peter  the  third  time  to  feed  his  lambs  he  made  no  allusion  to  the 
application  of  episcopal  revenues  in  hospitality  or  anything  else, 
seeing  that  Peter  was  a  poor  man  and  had  no  episcopal  revenues. 
(3)  That  in  speaking  once  of  those  whose  custom  it  was  to  read 
their  sermons  (Colet  must  have  been  an  extemporaneous  preacher) 
he  meant  to  give  a  side  hit  at  the  bishop  of  London,  who,  on  ac- 
count of  his  old  age,  was  in  the  habit  of  reading  his  sermons.4  It 
is  no  wonder  that  the  archbishop  threw  out  these  charges  in  dis- 

1  The  Yorkshire  Post,  June  8,  1876. 

2  See  especially  The  Christian  Observer,  Lond.,  August,  1873,  and  the  re- 
marks on  the  De  Corpore  Christi  Mystico  in  the  British  Quarterly  Review, 
October,  1876,  p.  574  ;  Lupton,  Life  of  Dean  Colet,  Lond.,  1887,  pp.  265,  266. 

3  Foxe,  Acts  and  Monuments,  ed.  Cattley  and  Townsend,  v,  648. 

4  Erasmus  speaks  of  the  custom  of  reading  sermons  as  the  "  stiff  and  formal 
way  of  many  in  England." 


THE   ENGLISH   REFORMATION— JOHN    COLET.  375 

gust.1  No  better  proof  is  needed  of  Colet's  orthodoxy  from  the 
Eoman  Catholic  standpoint.2  The  great  value  of  Colet's  work 
from  a  Protestant  view  was  in  his  emphasis  on  the  essentials  of  re- 
ligion, his  appeal  to  the  Bible,  and  the  impetus  he  gave  to  its  study. 
In  these  ways  he  furnished  a  solid  and  lasting  contribution  to  the 
emancipation  of  the  modern  Church  from  the  dogmatic  and  degen- 
erate scholasticism  of  his  age. 

As  a  moral  reformer  Colet  is  to  be  held  in  everlasting  remem- 
brance. He  spoke  out  with  prophetic  distinctness  and  earnestness 
against  the  abuses,  the  crimes,  the  scandals  in  the  Church.  His 
great  sermon  which  he  preached  as  dean  of  St.  Paul's  in  1512,  be- 
fore the  convocation,  is  extant.  Like  Wesley's  equally 
celebrated  sermon  before  the  University  of  Oxford  in     mokal  ear- 

NESTNE8S 

1744,  it  was  a  ringing  call  to  the  Church  to  begin  that 
moral  reformation  for  which  there  was  preeminent  need.  He 
takes  up  one  abuse  after  the  other,  makes  one  impeachment  after 
the  other,  and  presses  home  upon  their  consciences  the  work  of 
reformation  in  themselves  and  in  the  Church,  which,  he  says,  is 
a  much  more  pressing  need  than  the  stamping  out  of  heresy. 
The  depraved  life  of  the  clergy  is  the  worst  heresy.  This  kind 
of  heresy  reigns  in  the  Church  to  her  miserable  destruction. 
Wherefore,  awake  from  your  sleep,  and  listen  to  St.  Paul  when 
he  says,  Be  not  conformed  to  this  world.3  It  is  the  glory  of 
Colet  that  in  his  holy  and  beautiful  life  and  in  all  his  teaching 
and  preaching  he  witnessed  for  the  regeneration  of  a  corrupt 
Church,  for  the  moral,  if  not  the  doctrinal,  purification  of  English 
Christianity. 

Colet's  place  in  the  history  of  education,  the  account  of  his 
founding  of  St.  Paul's  School,  London,  and  the  rules  he  gave  it, 
are  themes  of  fascinating  interest,  but  must  be  passed  over.  Sir 
Thomas  More,  one  of  the  most  admirable  characters  in  English 

1  Seebohm,  pp.  249  ff.  ;  Lupton,  pp.  202  ff. 

5  An  illustration  of  the  carelessness  with  which  books  of  reference  repeat 
errors  is  found  in  that  usually  accurate  work,  the  Schaff-Herzog  Encyclopaedia, 
article  Colet :  "  By  his  well-known  disapproval  of  auricular  confession,  celi- 
bacy of  the  clergy,  and  other  Roman  practices,  he  was  considered  by  the 
faithful  little  short  of  a  heretic."  We  have  no  evidence  that  he  rejected 
auricular  confession,  and  as  to  the  celibacy  of  the  clergy,  Colet  was  a  complete 
Roman  Catholic.  He  not  only  believed  in  celibacy  for  the  clergy,  but  he  be- 
lieved in  it  for  all  Christians,  arguing  for  it  boldly  and  meeting  the  objections 
which  would  naturally  be  brought  to  such  an  alarming  proposition.  See  Lup- 
ton, pp.  262,  263. 

3  See  this  sermon  quoted  in  full  in  Seebohm,  pp.  230  ff. 


376  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

history,  stood  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  Colet  and  Erasmus  in  their 
efforts  for  the  new  learning  and  for  the  reform  of  the  Church.  In 
his  Utopia,  1516,  More  outlines  the  social  and  political  ways  and 
moke's  principles  which  he  would   like  to  have   seen  estab- 

utopia.  Hshed,  doing  for  the  secular  life  what  Erasmus  in  his 

New  Testament  had  done  for  the  religious.  This  is  one  of  the  noblest 
books  of  the  sixteenth  century.  In  its  plea  for  a  fairer  distribution 
of  the  products  of  labor,  for  amelioration  of  the  condition  of  the 
poor,  and  for  a  socialism  that  is  consistent  with  progress  and  that 
would  give  scope  for  individual  initiative  and  enterprise ;  for  its 
plea  for  peace ;  for  its  recognition  of  the  fact  that  war  is  essen- 
tially brutal  and  always  inglorious ;  for  its  plea  for  universal  edu- 
cation ;  for  its  descriptions  of  a  model  city  in  sanitary  and  other 
matters,  in  which  he  anticipated  the  best  municipal  regulations 
of  the  twentieth  century ;  for  its  faith  in  both  science  and  re- 
ligion ;  for  its  moral  philosophy  as  at  once  utilitarian  and  Chris- 
tian ;  for  its  anticipation  of  Christian  union  on  a  devotional  basis, 
and  for  its  large  and  noble  spirit  of  comprehension  and  toleration 
in  religion — for  all  this  the  Utopia  of  Sir  Thomas  More  is  a  work 
which,  written  in  the  dawn  of  the  sixteenth  century,  is  of  almost 
miraculous  insight,  genius,  and  truth.1 

1  The  best  edition  of  the  Utopia  is  by  J.  H.  Ltipton,  which  reproduces  the 
Latin  text  of  1518  and  the  first  English  transl.,  that  of  Ralph  Robynson,  1551, 
with  introd.,  additional  tranls.,  and  notes,  Clarendon  Press,  1895.  An  excel- 
lent ed.  of  Latin  is  that  of  V.  Michelis  and  T.  Zeigler,  which  gives  the  text  of 
1516,  as  corrected  by  later  recensions,  Berlin,  1895.  See  the  Nation,  N.  Y., 
Feb.  13,  1896,  p.  145.  A  handy  and  excellent  ed.  of  English  text  is  in  Ideal 
Commonwealths,  ed.  by  H.  Morley,  Lond.,  1885;  7th  ed.,  1896.  There  is  also 
a  cheap  ed.  pub.  by  John  B.  Alden,  N.  Y. 


THE   DIVORCE.  377 


CHAPTEE    II. 

THE   DIVORCE. 

The  English  Eeformation  is  the  best  illustration  that  history 
affords  of  the  words  of  the  psalmist,  God  maketh  the  wrath  of  man 
to  praise  him.  "  A  movement  which  has  had  most  vast  and  benefi- 
cent results  was  conceived  in  iniquity  and  carried  forward  in  a 
spirit  well  worthy  of  its  inception,  with  a  disregard  of  truth,  honor, 
and  charity,  with  a  cruelty  and  tyranny,  almost  without  parallel. 

Henry  VIII  had  come  to  the  throne  in  1509  at  the  age  of  eighteen. 
Handsome,  witty,  brave,  a  friend  of  the  new  learning,  his  advent 
was  hailed  with  ioy  by  all  the  better  men  of  the  na- 

J     J        J  HEXRY  VIIl'S 

tion.     But  this  ioy  was  not  longlived.     It  soon  became  marriage 

J     J  O  WITH 

apparent  that  Henry  had  the   Tudor  vices — cruelty,   catharfne 

rr  J  .  J        OF  ARAGON. 

anger,  ambition,  lust,  and  the  passion  for  power.  And 
as  he  was  a  king  of  the  strongest  and  most  aggressive  personality, 
with  strong  power  over  men,  it  is  not  a  matter  of  surprise  that  he 
soon  ruled  with  almost  absolute  power,  and  exercised  over  Church 
and  State  a  tyranny  of  which  the  best  counterpart  is  that  of  the 
old  Eoman  emperors.  Seven  weeks  after  his  accession  he  married 
Catharine  of  Aragon,  daughter  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  and  the 
widow  of  his  brother  Arthur,  to  whom  she  was  married  a  little 
more  than  four  months — a  marriage  which  was  never  consummated. 
As  to  this  last  point  the  solemn  appeal  of  Catharine  to  Henry  at 
the  legatine  court,  whether  it  was  not  so,  ought  to  be  sufficient  proof 
as  over  against  the  gossip  of  a  lying  age,  by  which  some  historians 
have  permitted  themselves  to  be  misled.  In  eight  years  (1510-18) 
Catharine  bore  Henry  seven  children  which,  born  in  such  rapid  suc- 
cession, were  either  stillborn  or  died  soon  after  birth — all  ex- 
cept Mary.1  Catharine  began  to  show  the  effects  of  age,  and  after 
1518  ceased  to  bear  children.  This  fact,  with  the  additional  one 
of  the  death  of  the  male  offspring,  began  to  make  Henry  restive  and 
dissatisfied — a  condition  of  mind  not  allayed  by  his  falling  in  love, 
about  1522,  with  the  brilliant  and  beautiful  Anne  Boleyn,  a  young 
woman  of  his  court.  From  this  time  he  sought  a  divorce  from 
Catharine,  on  the  ground  that  the  Scriptures  forbade  marriage  with 

1  They  were  married  June  3, 1509.  For  a  list  of  miscarriages  and  of  births 
see  Froude,  Hist,  of  England,  N.  Y.  ed.,  i,  117,  note. 


378  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

a  deceased  brother's  wife,1  and  that  the  dispensation  of  the  pope 
which  allowed  the  marriage  was  therefore  void.  The  king  over- 
looked Deut.  xxv,  5-10,  which  not  only  makes  legal  a  marriage 
anne  with  a  deceased  brother's  wife  left  childless,  but  com- 

boleyn.  mands  it.     Although  Henry  had  dishonored  Anne's 

sister,  Anne  herself  would  not  favor  his  advances  until  she  could  do 
so  lawfully.  It  is  often  asserted  that  Anne  Boleyn  was  the  mis- 
tress of  Henry — an  assertion  which  is  not  only  destitute  of  proof 
but  is  improbable  in  itself.  Henry,  though  not  a  faithful  husband, 
was  chastity  itself  beside  many  sovereigns  both  contemporary  and 
later,  and  was  punctilious  in  insisting  on  marriage.  And  would  a 
man  of  Henry's  pride  make  his  mistress  his  queen  ? 2  There  is  no 
evidence  that  Henry  ever  carried  on  immoral  premarital  intrigues 
with  any  one  of  his  numerous  wives. 

There  were  three  difficulties  in  the  way  of  the  divorce.  (1)  The 
fact  acknowledged  by  all  Christendom  that  Henry's  marriage  with 
Catharine  was  valid.  (2)  The  virtuous  and  pious  Catharine,  with 
all  her  sweetness  of  disposition,  was  found  to  be  as  immovable  as  a 
rock  when  asked  to  assent  to  the  divorce.  Besides,  could  she  be 
fool  enough  to  brand  with  illegitimacy  her  own  children  ?  (3)  The 
barriers  to  pope  wanted  to  be  on  good  terms  with  the  emperor,  her 
the  divorce.  unci6j  Desides  the  more  honorable  reason  which  natu- 
rally made  him  loath  to  declare  invalid  what  his  predecessor  had 
sanctioned.  But  Henry  was  never  balked  in  anything  he  under- 
took, and  he  was  determined  to  get  in  England  what  he  could  not 
procure  in  Eome.  What  right  had  the  pope  to  control  the  mat- 
ter ?  Had  not  the  English  kings  often  rebuked  popes  for  their 
too  high-handed  interference  in  English  affairs  ?  Had  not  Eng- 
lish parliaments  placed  limits  to  their  interference  ?  But  Henry 
had  no  desire  to  break  with  the  pope  if  he  could  attain  his  end 
without. 

Henry's  minister,  Cardinal  Wolsey,  ever  too  willing  to  bend  his 
conscience  in  his  utter  devotion  to  the  king,  sent  his  secretary, 
Stephen  Gardiner,  to  Rome  in  1528  to  induce  Clement  to  appoint 
legates  to  decide  the  question,  and,  if  possible,  in  Henry's  favor. 
The  pope  appointed  Wolsey  and  Cardinal  Campeggio,  but  re- 
served to  himself  the  final  decision.  Delay,  however,  was  the 
word.  It  was  seven  months  before  the  court  sat.  This  was  due 
in  part  to  the  outbreak  of  the  sweating  sickness,  which  struck 
everyone  with  terror.     Henry  had  a  mortal  fear  of  death,   and 

1  See  Lev.  xviii,  16  ;  xx,  21. 

2  Child,  Church  and  State  under  the  Tudors,  pp.  72,  288. 


THE   DIVORCE.  379 

while  the  plague  was  raging  he  acted  the  part  of  a  pious  man  and 
a  kind  husband  to  Catharine — a  fact  which  throws  to  the  winds 
those  "  scruples  "  which  he  had  so  solemnly  advertised.  But  when 
the  sickness  disappeared  he  sent  the  queen  away  and  TRIAL  OF 
recalled  his  "  Nan."  At  last  the  trial  took  place  at  the  cajthabot. 
Parliament  Chamber,  Blackfriars,  June,  1529.  The  case  was  thor- 
oughly reviewed ;  week  after  week  passed,  but  still  the  court  sat. 
On  July  23  the  king's  counsel  demanded  judgment ;  Campeggio 
said  he  could  not  be  coerced,  but  that  in  so  important  a  matter  he 
must  wait  until  he  could  refer  the  matter  to  the  pope  ;  in  the  mean- 
time he  would  adjourn  the  court  until  October. 

At  this  trial  Catharine  made  a  strong  appeal  in  Latin  to  the 
justice  of  the  legates,  closing  with  these  words  :  "If  there  be  any 
offense  which  can  be  alleged  against  me  I  consent  to  depart  in  in- 
famy; if  not,  then  I  pray  you  in  the  name  of  the  Holy  Trinity  and 
the  high  court  of  heaven  to  do  me  justice."1  This  speech  was 
received  with  applause.  Froude,  with  his  usual  exaggeration  in 
treating  of  Henry,  says  the  divorce  was  popular — "  the  nation  was 
thoroughly  united  on  the  divorce  question."2  On  the  contrary, 
the  masses,  and  especially  the  women,  were  disgusted  with  Henry 
and  "  Nan  Boleyn,"  and  the  frequent  street  cries,  "  No  Nan  Boleyn 
for  us,"  almost  provoked  bloody  reprisals  ;  and  in  the  popular 
case  of  some,  loyalty  to  the  old  queen  cost  them  their  EXCITEMENT- 
lives.  Hook  speaks  more  truthfully  when  he  says  :  "  The  matrons 
of  England  rose  up  in  chaste  indignation  at  King  Henry's  treat' 
ment  of  his  wife — an  indignation  imparted  to  their  children,  and 
handed  on  from  generation  to  generation,  until  it  has  covered  with 
everlasting  infamy  the  name  of  a  once  popular  king." 3  Samuel 
Rawson  Gardiner  says  :  "The  queen's  cause  was  popular  with  the 
masses,  who  went  straight  to  the  mark,  and  saw  in  the  whole  affair 
a  mere  attempt  to  give  a  legal  covering  to  Henry's  lust."4  "  The 
common  people,  who  with  much  anxiety  attended  the  success  of 
this  great  affair,  seemed,  betwixt  pity  to  Queen  Katherine  and 
envy  to  Anne  Boleyn,  to  cast  out  some  murmuring  and  seditious 
words."5 

1  See  the  speech  in  full  in  Dodd's  Church  Hist,  of  England. 

2  Hist,  of  England,  i,  107,  136,  153. 

3  Archbishops  of  Canterbury,  vi,  477.  As  to  contemporary  feeling  see  S. 
Hubert  Burke,  Historical  Portraits  of  the  Tudor  Dynasty  and  the  Reformation 
Period,  i,  198-200. 

4  Students'  Hist,  of  England,  p.  382. 

5  Lord  Herbert  of  Cherbury,  Hist,  of  Henry  VIII  (written  about  1645),  Ward, 
Lock  &  Co.'s  edition,  p.  362. 


380  HISTORY   OP   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

The  delay  of  the  legatine  court  angered  Henry,  and  in  his  an- 
ger he  turned  against  his  most  devoted  servant  Wolsey,  who  was 
proceeded  against  for  having  violated  the  statute  of  prcemunire. 
This  statute  (1353,  enlarged  1393  and  later)  forbade 
offense  the  reference  of  any  matter  to  Rome  which  belonged 

to  England,  or  receiving  from  Rome  benefices,  trans- 
lations, and  excommunications.1  It  was  practically  a  dead  letter, 
and  English  kings  had  long  ceased  to  take  it  seriously.  In 
Wolsey 's  case  the  revival  of  the  statute  was  doubly  unjust  because  he 
had  exercised  his  legatine  powers  at  the  express  wish  of  the  king. 
He  turned  over  all  his  goods  and  houses  to  the  king,  including  his 
colleges  at  Ipswich  and  Oxford,  the  latter  being  afterward  restored 
to  educational  use  and  named  Christ  Church.  In  abject  poverty 
he  was  allowed  to  depart  to  his  diocese  in  the  north,  where  in  deep 
humility  and  in  Christian  service  he  made  atonement  for  his  past 
worldliness.  Contemporary  writers  give  a  beautiful  picture  of  his 
activity  in  works  of  charity  and  preaching  during  his  retirement 
at  Cawood.2  But  his  enemies  were  still  active,  and  on  some  futile 
pretext  persuaded  Henry  to  charge  him  with  treason.  Completely 
broken  in  heart  and  body,  poor  Wolsey  set  out  for  his  trial  in 
London.  He  could  only  reach  Leicester,  where  he  laid  himself 
down  to  die. 

The  next  morning  Sir  William  Kingston,  the  keeper  of  the 
Tower,  approached  the  dying  man  with  some  paltry  money  matter 
about  which  the  king  in  his  ruthless  avarice  had  commanded  him 
to  make  inquiries.  Seeing  his  feeble  condition,  Kingston  tried  to 
encourage  him.  "  Well,  well,  Master  Kingston,"  replied  Wolsey, 
"  I  see  the  matter  against  me,  how  it  is  framed  ;  if  I  had  served 
God  as  diligently  as  I  have  served  the  king,  he  would  not  have 
given  me  over  in  my  gray  hairs.  Howbeit,  this  is  the  just  reward 
that  I  must  receive  for  my  worldly  diligence  and  pains  that  I  have 
had  to  do  him  service.  Commend  me  to  his  majesty,  beseeching 
him  to  call  to  his  remembrance  all  that  has  passed  between  him  and 
me  to  the  present  day,  and  most  chiefly  in  this  great  matter  ;  then 
shall  his  conscience  declare  whether  I  have  offended  him  or  no. 
He  is  a  prince  of  royal  courage,  and  hath  a  princely  heart ;  and 
rather  than  he  will  miss  part  of  his  appetite  he  will  hazard  the  loss 
of  one  half  of  his  kingdom.  I  assure  you  I  have  often  kneeled  be- 
fore him  in  his  privy  chamber  the  space  of  an  hour  or  two  to  per- 

1  See  Low  and  Pulling,  Dictionary  of  English  History,  p.  832. 

2  See  Carlo  Logario,  Narrative  ;  Grove,  Life  and  Times  of  Cardinal  Wolsey, 
iv  ;  Burke,  Historical  Portraits  of  the  Tudor  Dynasty,  i,  224-227. 


THE   DIVORCE.  381 

suade  him  from  his  will  and  appetite,  but  I  could  never  dissuade 
him."  Then  his  words  and  voice  failed  him.  His  eyes  grew  fixed 
and  glazed.  The  clock  struck  eight,  and  he  breathed  wolsey's 
his  last  November  29,  1530.  "  And  calling  to  our  re-  death. 
membrance,"  says  Cavendish,  "  his  words  the  day  before,  how  he 
said  that  at  eight  of  the  clock  we  should  lose  our  master,  we  stood 
looking  upon  each  other,  supposing  he  had  prophesied  of  his  depar- 
ture." "  No  words  could  paint  with  so  terrible  a  truthfulness," 
says  Green,  "  the  spirit  of  the  new  monarchy  which  Wolsey  had 
done  more  than  any  of  those  who  went  before  him  to  raise  into  an 
overwhelming  despotism.  All  sense  of  loyalty  to  England,  to  its 
freedom,  to  its  institutions,  had  utterly  passed  away.  The  one  duty 
which  fills  the  statesman's  mind  is  a  duty 'to  his  prince,'  a  prince 
whose  personal  will  and  appetite  were  overriding  the  highest  inter- 
ests of  the  State,  trampling  under  foot  the  wisest  counsels,  and 
crushing  with  the  blind  ingratitude  of  a  Fate  the  servants  who  op- 
posed him.  But  even  Wolsey,  while  he  recoiled  from  the  monster 
form  that  he  had  created,  could  hardly  have  dreamed  of  the  work 
of  destruction  which  the  royal  courage  and  yet  more  royal  appetite 
were  to  accomplish  in  the  years  to  come."1  The  condemnation  of 
Wolsey  is  one  of  the  dark  blots  upon  Henry's  character.  No  man 
ever  served  his  king  with  greater  fidelity,  and  the  publication  of 
the  State  Papers,  which  Brewer  edited  with  such  valuable  intro- 
ductions, shows  that  in  this  service  he  thought  that  he  was  best  ex- 
alting England.  And  his  masterly  continental  policy  did  in  fact 
restore  her  to  that  place  among  the  nations  which  she  had  lost  by 
the  wars  of  the  Roses. 

The  question  has  been  agitated  as  to  the  origin  of  Henry's  "  scru- 
ples" as  to  his  first  marriage.     There  are  four  explanations:  (1) 
Henry's  doubts  were  suggested  by  his  own  conscience.     This  he  re- 
peatedly declared  in  public,  but,  unfortunately  for  him,  in  private 
he  made  admissions  of  a  different  kind.     Here  he  spoke  coarsely 
of  personal  repulsion  to  his  faithful  wife  whom  his  lust  had  aged 
and  broken  down.     (2)  His  doubts  were  awakened  by  henry's 
his  new  passion  for  Anne  Boleyn.     The  chief  objec-  TO  first 
tion  to  this  is  chronological ;  the  proposal  for  divorce 
dating  from  1526  ;  the  proposal  to  Anne  from  1527.     But  this  is 
on  the  surface.     Anne  came  to  court  in  1522,  and  the  "sprightly 
black-eyed  flirt "  had  infatuated  him  before  1526.     There  is  his- 
torical evidence,  however,  to  show  that  doubts  concerning  Henry's 
marriage  were  suggested  independently  of  and   probably  before 
1  Short  Hist.,  chap,  vi,  sec.  6,  at  end. 


382  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

his  acquaintance  with  Anne.  (3)  The  thought  of  divorce  was 
suggested  by  Anne's  friends.  There  is  no  evidence  of  this. 
Brewer  adopts  the  first  of  these  solutions  on  one  page  of  his  great 
work,  the  second  on  another,  and  the  third  on  still  another,  a 
procedure  so  singular  that  it  can  only  be  accounted  for  on  the 
supposition  that  there  is  evidence  for  all  three  explanations,  but 
no  preponderating  and  decisive  evidence  for  anyone.1  Lord  Acton 
in  a  learned  discussion  offers  another  solution,  namely,  that  (4) 
Wolsey  was  the  first  to  hint  the  divorce.2  Although  Wolsey  and 
Henry  VIII  denied  this,  Lord  Acton  shows  that  there  is  strong 
contemporary  evidence  for  it.  Perhaps  we  shall  never  know  who 
first  conceived  a  project  which  may  have  had  almost  simultaneous 
birth  in  various  minds,  and  which  coincided  so  well  with  the  passions 
and  ambitions  of  many  in  that  tragic  time. 

The  next  step  was  the  appeal  to  the  universities.  For  this 
Henry  was  indebted  to  Thomas  Cranmer,  a  Cambridge  divinity 
tutor.  When  the  king  heard  the  suggestion  he  exclaimed,  "  Who 
is  this  Dr.  Cranmer  ?  I  will  speak  to  him.  Marry!  I  trow  he  has 
got  the  right  sow  by  the  ear. "  He  was  appointed  royal  chaplain  and 
archdeacon  of  Taunton,  was  attached  to  the  household  of  Anne 
Boleyn's  father,  wrote  a  treatise  in  favor  of  the  divorce,  was  sent  on 
two  embassies — one  to  Italy,  in  1530,  and  one  to  Ger- 

HENRY'S  „„„  •      i         i      -ir  i  n 

appeal  to       many,  in  1531-32 — was  married  at  Nuremberg  early 

THE  UNI- 

versities.  in  1532  to  the  niece  of  the  reformer  Osiander  (a  mar- 
riage uncanonical  but  not  then  illegal),  and  on  the  30th  of  March, 
1533,  was  consecrated  archbishop  of  Canterbury.  The  appeal  to 
the  learning  of  Christendom  marked  a  new  era,  but  unfortunately 
the  appeal  was  not  left  to  be  decided  on  its  merits,  so  that  the 
''whole  inquiry  was  a  farce.  Wherever  Henry  and  his  allies  could 
bribe  or  bully  the  learned  doctors  an  answer  was  usually  given  in  the 
affirmative.  Wherever  the  empire  could  bribe  or  bully  the  answer 
was  usually  given  in  the  negative."8  "  Corruption  and  intimidation, 
the  resources  of  tyranny,  were  exhausted  to  procure  sentences  in 
favor  of  the  king,  and  though  with  the  foreign  universities  Henry 
met  with  but  partial  success,  he  carried  his  will  in  his  own." 4 

1  Letters  and  Papers,  Foreign  and  Domestic,  of  the  Reign  of  Henry  VHI, 
Lond.,  1875,  iv,  222,  258,  298. 

3  Wolsey  and  the  Divorce  of  Henry  Vlll,  in  Quar.  Rev. ,  Lond. ,  Jan. ,  1877. 

3  S.  R.  Gardiner,  Students'  Hist,  of  England,  p.  385. 

4  R.  W.  Dixon,  Hist,  of  the  Church  of  England  from  the  Abolition  of  the 
Roman  Jurisdiction,  Lond.,  3d  ed.  rev.,  vol.  i,  p.  34.  This  great  work,  which 
cost  over  twenty-five  years'  labor,  is  a  work  of  learning,  research,  and  historical 


THE   DIVORCE.  383 

The  royal  despot  now,  December,  1530,  brought  an  indictment 

against  the  whole  body  of  the  clergy  for  having  consented  to  the 

legatine  authority  of  Wolsey,  thus  falling  under  the  statutes  of 

prcemunire  and   provisors.     This   was    a  monstrous 

WHOLE    BODY  .  _  a 

of  clergy      action  ;  lor  the  laity  were  equally  guilty,  and  the  king 

INDICTED.  .  ~  ^  J   °  •>'  b 

more  guilty  than  all,  because  it  was  by  his  authority 
that  the  legatine  court  was  held.  The  clergy  knew,  however,  that 
they  had  no  chance,  that  Henry's  lawyers  would  as  little  as 
Henry  give  them  justice,  and  that  with  the  memory  of  their  ex- 
actions and  corruptions  resistance  of  the  process  would  expose 
them  as  outlaws  to  robbery  and  murder.  The  convocation  of  Can- 
terbury offered,  therefore,  to  buy  the  freedom  of  the  clergy  by  a 
grant  of  £100,000,  to  which  was  added  £18,000  by  the  convocation 
of  York.1  Henry  refused  the  pardon  unless  the  clergy  would 
acknowledge  him  supreme  head  of  the  Church  of  England. 

sense.  Like  so  much  of  the  best  work  of  the  English  Church  in  recent  years,  it 
is  written  from  the  High  Church  point  of  view,  and  its  judgments  of  dissentient 
and  independent  movements  are  not  always  reliable.  Its  author  is  the  son  of 
James  Dixon,  an  eminent  Wesleyan  Methodist  minister,  whose  life  he  wrote, 
Lond.,  1874. 

1  Dixon,  Hist.  Ch.  of  England,  i,  61,  makes  the  amount  paid  by  the  Canter- 
bury clergy  £144,000.  This  is  a  mistake.  The  exact  amount  was  £100,044 
8s.  8d.,  and  for  those  of  York  £18,840  0s.  lOd. — the  whole  equal  to  over  a  mil- 
bon  pounds  of  present-day  currency. 


384  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE    BREACH    WITH    ROME. 

Events  now  moved  with  great  rapidity.  In  1531  the  clergy  I 
allowed  that  Henry  was  supreme  head  of  the  English  Church,  with 
the  reservation,  so  far  as  the  law  of  Christ  allows ;  to  which  of 
course  Henry  acceded  as  a  condition  to  be  taken  for  granted,  and 
which  still  left  for  his  authority  a  region  of  beautiful  indefinite- 
ness.  In  1532  various  acts  were  passed — one  limiting  the  exemp- 
henry-s  tions  of  the  clergy  from  the  civil  courts  ;  another  re- 

theenglish  straining  the  payment  of  annates,  or  the  first  year's 
income  of  bishops  and  archbishops,  to  Rome ;  and  a 
third  in  which  the  Church  gave  over  all  independent  authority  as 
a  spiritual  body.  This  last  provided  that  the  clergy  should  neither 
meet  in  convocation,  nor  enact  or  execute  new  canons,  without 
the  king's  authority,  and  that  all  past  legislation  should  be  sub- 
mitted to  the  king  for  his  review.  In  1533  the  statute  of  appeals 
was  passed,  prohibiting  forever  all  appeals  to  Rome,  and  making 
the  archbishop's  court  the  court  of  last  resort,  except  in  certain 
cases  relegated  to  the  upper  house  of  convocation.  In  this  year 
also  the  houses  of  convocation  annulled  the  marriage  with  Cath- 
arine— an  act  which  shows  the  servility  of  the  clergy  as  well  as  the 
suddenness  and  completeness  with  which  they  had  broken  with  the 
pope,  with  whom  their  Church  had  been  in  unbroken  and  undis- 
puted spiritual  communion  for  nearly  a  thousand  years.  This  was 
followed  by  Archbishop  Cranmer's  sentence  of  divorce  between 
Henry  and  Catharine,  May  23,  1533,  on  the  ground  that  the  mar- 
riage had  been  null  from  the  beginning. 

What  did  Henry  mean  by  making  himself  head  of  the  Church  ? 
and  what  did  the  clergy  mean  by  sanctioning  it  ?  It  is  evident  that 
he  did  not  anticipate  a  final  breach  with  the  pope,  nor  was  he  act- 
ing out  of  harmony  with  the  traditions  of  the  English  Church  and 
State.  It  can  be  shown  incontestably  that  in  nearly  all  matters 
touching  local  government  and  appointments  the  Church  in  Eng- 
land was  autonomous  ;  that  in  all  matters  of  external  rule  and  ad- 
ministration the  popes  acted  only  by  sufferance,  by  consent  of  the 
king,  who  ever  since  the  conquest  had  been  in  a  real  sense  the  head 
of  the  Church. 


THE   BREACH   WITH  ROME.  385 

In  1307  the  earls,  barons,  and  the  "  whole  community  of  the  realm" 
petitioned  the  king  to  protect  them  against  papal  oppressions 
which  they  declared  were  destroying  both  Church  and  historic 
State.  In  1400  the  clergy  implored  Henry  IV  to  save  fobking'b 
the  Catholic  faith,  sustain  divine  worship,  preserve  SUPREMACy- 
the  Church  of  England,  and  remedy  scandals  and  dissensions.  In 
fact  the  doctrine  of  the  divine  right  of  kings,  which  was  a  terribly 
living  reality  in  England  down  to  1688,  in  France  to  the  revolu- 
tion, and  is  still  potent  in  Germany,  and  which  has  been  the 
parent  of  infinite  oppression  and  cruelty,  invested  the  sovereigns 
of  England  with  a  sacred  sanction  as  rulers  in  the  things  of  God  as 
well  as  those  of  men.  Bracton,  the  great  authority  on  English  law 
from  the  thirteenth  century  to  the  seventeenth,  is  the  spokesman 
of  this  doctrine.  "  The  king  is  the  vicar  and  minister  of  God  on 
earth  ;  everyone  is  under  him,  and  he  is  under  no  one,  unless,  in- 
deed, he  is  under  God."  He  is  also  under  law,  because  the  law 
makes  him  king.  "  He  is  the  vicar  of  God  as  much  in  spirituals  as 
in  temporals."  '  Sir  Edward  Coke,  the  Bracton  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  seems  practically  to  assert  the  same  when  he  speaks  of  the 
acts  of  Henry  VIII  as  restoring  to  the  crown  that  ecclesiastical 
jurisdiction  which  had  been  usurped.2  An  act  passed  in  Edward 
Ill's  reign  (1359)  goes  so  far  as  to  say  that  the  spiritual  jurisdic- 
tion of  kings  is  derived  from  a  priestly  character  given  to  them 
by  their  unction  at  coronation.3 

Let  us  remember  that  the  English  Church,  as  a  Church  inde- 
pendent from  Eome,  had  as  one  of  its  foundation  stones  the  doc- 
trine of  kingly  absolutism.  The  popes  recognized  this  excessive 
power  of  the  king  in  matters  spiritual,  although  the  exercise  of 
these  ecclesiastical  prerogatives  was  often  in  abeyance,  and  in  the 
hands  of  weak  kings  might  seem  to  have  lapsed.  But  the  laws 
were  there,  and  they  were  sometimes  enforced  with  a  decision  that 
made  the  popes  wince.  "  If  the  king  of  England,"  bitterly  cries 
out  Clement  VII  (1342-52),  "were  to  ask  for  an  ass  to  be  made 
bishop,  he  must  not  be  denied."4  "It  is  not  the  pope,"  said 
Martin  V  (1417-31),  "but  the  king  of  England  that  governs  the 
Church  in  his  dominions.     With  his  provisions  and  appointments 

1  De  Legibus  et  Consuetudinibus  Anglise,  i,  8.  Tbis  great  work  was  edited, 
witb  a  translation,  by  Sir  Travers  Twiss  for  the  Rolls  series,  6  vols.,  1878-83. 

2  See  Comyns,  Digest,  art.  Prerogative,  D  11,  13  ;  Blunt,  Tbe  Reformation  of 
the  Chnrch  of  England,  i,  233. 

3  Blunt,  i,  233,  n.  5.  See  Ingram,  England  and  Rome,  Lond.,  1892,  pp. 
121-126.  *  Godwin,  Catalogue  of  Bishops  of  England,  p.  526. 

27  ■ 


386  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

he  regulates  it  as  if  he  were  the  vicar  of  Christ.  He  makes  laws  for 
the  churches,  benefices,  clerics,  the  ecclesiastical  orders,  and  the 
concerns  of  the  hierarchy,  as  if  the  care  of  the  Church  had  been 
intrusted  to  him  and  not  to  us.  When  we  send  our  notaries  and 
proctors  unto  England  carrying  our  censures  and  processes,  the 
bearers  are  seized,  imprisoned,  and  stripped  of  their  all ;  nor  is 
any  application  to  the  apostolic  see  allowed  by  the  English  laws 
to  be  made.'' 1 

But  all  this  existed  side  by  side  with  the  most  distinct  recogni- 
tion of  the  pope  as  the  spiritual  lord  of  Christendom,  as  bishop  of 
the  Church  Catholic,  and  as  occupying  the  chair  of  St.  Peter,  with 

whom  union  was  necessary.  The  archbishops  received 
lordship  of    from  him  their  pallium,  and  taxes  of  various  kinds 

were  paid  into  his  treasury.  It  is  likely  that  most  of 
the  English  prelates  had  Gerson's  idea  of  the  papacy,  the  idea  of 
the  enlightened  men  of  the  fifteenth  century — namely,  that  the 
pope  is  the  head  of  the  Church  and  the  center  of  unity,  but  that 
he  is  under  a  general  council  by  which  he  may  be  held  to  account. 
Sir  Thomas  More  wrote  to  Cromwell :  "For  in  the  next  general 
council  it  may  happen  that  this  pope  may  be  deposed  and  another 
substituted  in  his  room,  with  whom  the  K[ing's]  H[ighness]  may  be 
very  well  content.  For  albeit  that  I  have  for  my  own  part  such  opin- 
ion of  the  pope's  primacy  as  I  have  showed  you,  yet  never  thought 
I  the  pope  above  the  general  council."  a  Henry,  and  the  parliament 
and  convocation  that  so  humbly  followed  his  imperious  will,  had 
no  idea  of  repudiating  at  this  time  the  personal  reverence  and 
obedience  which  Western  Christendom  paid  to  the  pope.  In  1532 
Henry  wrote  to  the  papal  conclave  for  a  cardinal's  hat  for  the 
bishop  of  Worcester,  and  in  1533  he  sent  to  the  pope  for  the  bulls 
and  pall  for  Cranmer  on  his  promotion  to  the  archbishopric  of  Can- 
terbury, just  as  in  1531  he  waited  until  Lee  and  Gardiner  had  re- 
ceived the  necessary  papal  documents  before  he  would  invest  them 
Avith  the  temporalities  of  their  sees.3  On  May  20,  1532,  Henry 
wrote  to  the  pope  assuring  him  that  he  would  do  all  that  he  could 
for  the  preservation  of  the  faith.  The  letter  is  addressed  to  ' '  our 
most  holy  and  most  clement  lord  the  pope,"  speaks  of  the  pope's 
burning  zeal  in  propagating  and  preserving  the  Christian  faith, 

1  See  this  remarkable  letter  in  Raynaldus,  sub  ann.  1426  ;  Collier,  Ecc.  Hist, 
of  England,  vii,  633  ;  Milman,  vii,  531  ;  Ingram,  pp.  116-118.  See  also  Green- 
wood, Cathedra  Petri,  vol.  vi,  pp.  553  ff. 

2  Strype,  Eccl.  Mem.,  i,  pt.  2,  202. 

3  See  Dodd,  Church  Hist,  of  England,  i,  173,  note  by  Tierney. 


THE   BREACH   WITH   ROME.  387 

describes  him  as  the  best  of  pastors,  and  is  signed  "your  most 
devoted  and  obedient  sou."1  On  May  27,  1533— four  days  after 
Cranmer  had  annulled  the  Catharine  marriage — the  king  addressed 
another  deferential  letter  to  the  pope.8 

In  the  mind  of  Heury  and  the  Church  and  State  of  his  time  the 
momentous  legislation  of  1531-33  meant  (1)  that  as  between  the 
king  and  the  pope  the  English  clergy  were  now  entirely  and  finally 
under  the  king,  that  for  even  spiritual  offenses  they  were  out  of 
the  cognizance  of  the  pope  ;  (2)  that  church  moneys  should  be 
spent  at  home,  cutting  off  the  financial  support  of  the  papacy ; 
(3)  that  church  legislation  in  England  should  be  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  king.     It  is  no  doubt  true  that  these  far- 

°  #  THE  POPES 

reaching    propositions   did  not  intentionally  subvert    lordship 

°       r        \  .  J  REDUCED   TO 

the  pope's  spiritual  headship,  but  it  must  be  confessed  A  cipher. 
that  they  really  subverted  it.  For  what  value  would  that  primacy 
be  to  the  pope  if  it  were  to  be  henceforth  a  thing  of  the  imagina- 
tion, a  beautiful  sentiment,  the  glamour  of  an  old  institution,  to 
be  reverenced  but  not  obeyed  ?  If  as  head  of  the  Church  the 
pope  henceforth  was  to  have  no  hand  in  regulating  that  Church, 
it  is  evident  that  fcr  England  the  real  pope  did  not  sit  in  Rome. 
There  is  a  grim  irony,  therefore,  in  the  elaborate  attempts  of  An- 
glican historians  to  show  that  the  fateful  bills  of  1531-33,  and 
even  the  acts  of  1534,  did  not  touch  the  papal  su-  THE  church 
premacy  in  spirituals,  or  subvert  the  constitution  of  kated^o 
the  Catholic  Church.  Looking  beneath  the  surface,  THE  STATE- 
these  bills  were  revolutionary  ;  they  subverted  the  New  Testament 
idea  of  a  Church  in  taking  the  government  of  the  Church  out  of  the 
hands  of  the  Church  itself — the  body  of  believers  ;  they  subverted 
the  ancient  constitution  in  overthrowing  government  by  laity  and 

1  Sanctissimo  Clementissimoque  Domino  nostro  Papas.  Beatissime  pater, 
post  humillimam  commendationem,  et  devotissima  pedum  oseula  beatorum. 
Reddidit  nuper  nobis  Reverendus  Dominus  Ubaldinus  Sanctitatis  Vestrse 
Nuncius,  ipsius  ad  nos  breve  ;  quod  ubi  perlegissemus,  ac  omnia  accurate  au- 
divissemus,  quaa  ille  de  rebus  publicis  suaa  commissa  fidei  prudenter,  distincte 
et  copiose  nobis  exposuit,  non  potuimu3  Sanctitatis  Vestras  in  iis  tractandis 
promovendisque  actionibus,  quas  commune  omnium  bonum,  publicam  tran- 
quillitatem  et  Christianas  in  primis  religionis  propagationem  et  conservationem 
concernere  videntur,  flagrans  studium,  solicitamque  mentem  non  summopere 
laudare,  optimique  pastoris  pectore  dignam  existimare.  ...  At  the  end  of  this 
letter  the  king  signs  himself,  Ejusdem  Vestrae  Sanctitatis  devotissimus  atque 
obsequentissimus  filius,  Dei  gratia  Rex  Angliae  et  Franciae,  fidei  defensor,  ac 
Dominus  Hibernias,  Henricus. — State  Papers,  vii,  459  ;  Pocock,  Records  of 
the  Reformation,  ii,  673,  674.  -  Printed  in  Pocock,  ii,  675. 


388  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

clergy  in  provincial  councils  and  prelates  in  general  councils; 
they  subverted  the  medieeval  constitution  by  exalting  the  king 
against  the  pope,  whose  power  was  reduced  to  nothing.  Henceforth 
the  Church  was  to  be  a  department  of  the  State  ;  the  king  was  to 
be  its  executive  and  its  judge  ;  its  clergy  were  to  be  his  ministers. 

Did  no  contemporaries  see  the  drift  of  things  ?  Chapuys,  am- 
bassador of  Charles  V  to  England,  was  a  close  student  of  affairs 
and  a  sagacious  observer.  In  his  dispatches  he  says,  February  14, 
1531 :  "  The  thing  that  has  been  treated  to  the  pope's  prejudice 
is  that  the  clergy  have  been  compelled,  under  pain  of  said  law  of 
contempo-  praemunire,  to  accej)t  the  king  as  head  of  the  Church, 
baby  views,  ^^h  implies  in  effect  as  much  as  if  they  had  declared 
him  pope  of  England/'  February  21,  1531:  "If  the  pope  had 
ordered  the  lady  to  be  separated  from  the  king,  the  king  would 
never  have  pretended  to  claim  sovereignty  over  the  Church.  .  .  . 
There  is  none  who  do  not  blame  this  usurpation  except  those  who 
have  promoted  it.  .  .  .  The  nuncio  has  been  with  the  king  to- 
day. .  .  .  The  nuncio  has  entered  upon  the  subject  of  this  new 
papacy  made  here,  to  which  the  king  replied  that  it  was  nothing, 
and  was  not  intended  to  infringe  the  authority  of  the  pope,  pro- 
vided his  holiness  would  pay  due  regard  to  him,  and  otherwise  he 
knew  what  to  do."  June  6, 1531:  This  letter  gives  an  account  of  a 
visit  of  the  king's  councilors  to  Catharine  to  persuade  her  to  give 
in.  Catharine  says  :  "As  to  the  supremum  caput  she  considered 
the  king  as  her  sovereign,  and  would  therefore  serve  and  obey  him. 
He  was  also  sovereign  in  his  realm  as  regards  temporal  jurisdiction ; 
but  as  to  the  spiritual  it  was  not  pleasing  to  God  either  that  the 
king  should  so  intend  or  that  she  should  consent ;  for  the  pope 
was  the  only  true  sovereign  and  vicar  of  God  who  had  power  to 
judge  spiritual  matters,  of  which  marriage  was  one."1  As  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  held  marriage  a  sacrament,  and  as  the 
marriage  of  the  king  was  still  under  consideration  by  the  pope,  the 
decision  of  the  case  by  Cranmer  was  a  repudiation  of  the  authority 
of  both  pope  and  general  council. 

The  king  was  married  to  Anne  Boleyn  either  in  November,  1532, 
or  January,  1533 ; 2  the  divorce  was  decreed  May  23,  1533  ;  Anne 

1  State  Papers,  Henry  VIII.  See  these  and  other  documents  in  Appendix  to 
Child,  Church  and  State  under  the  Tudors,  Lond.,  1890. 

2  The  date  cannot  certainly  be  determined.  Cranmer  says  he  was  married 
about  St.  Paul's  Day,  which  day  is  either  November  14  or  January  25.  Sanders, 
a  contemporary  Catholic  writer,  says  November  14,  and  Pocock,  an  eminent 
authority  in  the  divorce,  accepts  this.  See  Pocock  in  The  Academy,  London, 
July  10,  1875 ;  Child,  Church  and  State  under  the  Tudors,  pp.  72,  288. 


THE   BREACH   WITH   ROME.  389 

was  crowned  queen  June  1 ;  Henry  appealed  to  a  general  council, 
which  before  he  had  refused  to  do  when  proposed  by  the  pope;  on 
July  11  Clement  VII  gave  his  long-delayed  decision  the  final 

„  .  .,         -  .  ,7,  .        •  i-r  BBBACH  WITH 

confirming  the  former  marriage  and  threatening  Henry  the  tope. 
with  excommunication  if  he  did  not  take  Catharine  back. '  Henry 
replied  to  this  in  the  year  1534  by  completing  the  breach  between 
England  and  the  Church.  Three  great  acts  were  passed  in  this 
year.  The  second  act  of  Annates  conferred  on  him  not  only  the 
first  fruits  of  bishoprics,  but  also  the  first  fruits,  as  well  as  the 
tenth  of  each  year's  income,  of  all  the  clergy.  This  act  also  regu- 
lated the  manner  of  appointing  bishops,  namely,  by  the  chapter 
of  the  vacant  see  of  the  nominee  of  the  king — a  method  which 
has  remained  substantially  intact  to  the  present.  The  historian 
Green  thinks  that  this  now  amounts  to  a  popular  election. 
"This  strange  expedient/'  he  says,  "has  lasted  till  the  present 
time ;  but  its  character  has  wholly  changed  since  the  restoration 
of  constitutional  rule.  The  nomination  of  bishops  has,  ever 
since  the  accession  of  the  Georges,  passed  from  the  king  in  person 
to  the  minister  who  represents  the  will  of  the  people.  Practically, 
therefore,  the  English  prelate  alone  among  all  the  prelates  of  the 
world  is  now  raised  to  the  episcopal  throne  by  the  same  popular 
election  which  raised  Ambrose  to  the  episcopal  chair  at  Milan. 
This,  however,  is  imaginary.  The  prime  minister  may  be  elected 
by  the  will  of  the  people,  but  the  man  he  nominates  for  a  vacant 
see  is  not  only  not  elected  by  the  people  of  that  see,  but  may  be  op- 
posed by  both  the  clergy  and  laity.  But  the  chapter  must  elect 
him  or  they  lay  themselves  liable  to  prcemunire,  as  Lord  Eussell 
had  to  hint  to  some  recalcitrants  at  the  election  of  Hampden  in 
1847.  Another  act  abolished  Peter's  pence,  and  forbade  anyone  to 
sue  the  pope  or  any  of  his  deputies  for  licenses,  dispensations,  and 
faculties,  and  that  all  such  favors,  when  granted  at  all,  shall 
come  from  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury  under  the  king.  The 
third  act  is  of  most  importance,  as  it  cut  the  last  strand  which  tied 
the  English  Church  to  the  unity  of  Christendom  : 

"  Albeit  the  king's  majesty  justly  and  rightfully  is  and  ought  to 
be  the  supreme  head  of  the  Church  in  England,  and  so  is  recog- 
nized by  the  clergy  of  this  realm  in  their  convocations,  yet  never- 
theless for  corroboration  and  confirmation  thereof,  and  for  increase 
of  virtue  in  Christ's  religion  within  this  realm  of  England,  and  to 
repress  and  extirp  all  errors,  heresies,  and  other  enormities  and 

1  See  this  sentence  in  Pocock,  Records  of  the  Reformation,  ii,  677. 

2  Green,  Short  History  of  the  English  People,  Lond.  ed.,  p.  330. 


390  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

■abuses  heretofore  used  in  the  same ;  be  it  enacted  by  the  author- 
ity of  this  present  Parliament  that  the  king  our  sovereign  lord,  his 
parliament-  heirs  and  successors,  kings  of  this  realm,  shall  be  taken, 
anceSfkom  accepted,  and  reputed  the  only  supreme  head  on  earth 
rome.  0£  £]ie  Qhurch  0f  England,  called  Anglicana  Ecclesia  ; 

and  shall  have  and  enjoy,  annexed  and  united  to  the  imperial  crown 
of  this  realm,  as  well  the  title  and  style  thereof,  as  all  honors,  dig- 
nities, preeminences,  jurisdictions,  privileges,  authorities,  immu- 
nities, profits,  and  commodities  to  the  said  dignity  of  supreme  head 
of  the  same  Church  belonging  and  appertaining;  and  that  our  said 
sovereign  lord,  his  heirs  and  successors,  kings  of  this  realm,  shall 
have  full  authority  and  power  from  time  to  time  to  visit,  repress, 
redress,  reform,  order,  correct,  restrain,  and  amend  all  such  errors, 
heresies,  abuses,  offenses,  contempts,  enormities,  whatsoever  they 
be,  which  by  any  spiritual  authority  and  jurisdiction  ought  or  may 
lawfully  be  reformed,  repressed,  ordered,  redressed,  corrected,  re- 
strained, or  amended,  most  to  the  pleasure  of  Almighty  God,  the 
increase  of  virtue  in  Christ's  religion,  and  for  the  conservation  of 
the  peace,  unity,  and  tranquillity  of  this  realm  ;  any  usage,  custom, 
foreign  law,  foreign  authority,  prescription,  or  any  other  thing  or 
things  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding."  ' 

This  brief  and  sweeping  act  did  indeed  what  the  Spanish  ambas- 
sador said,  that  is,  made  the  king  in  effect  the  pope  of  England. 
In  the  words  of  a  recent  scholar :  "This  is  in  fact,  though  not  in 
name,  what  both  the  convocation  and  Parliament  had  done  ;  it  was 
what  Henry  VIII  fully  intended  that  they  should  do.  Pope  of 
England  he  was,  and  pope  of  England  he  remained,  and  so  did  his 
successors  after  him  ;  and  though  Edward,  from  the  necessity  of  his 
age,  and  Elizabeth,  from  a  certain  sense  of  personal  dignity  and  the 
fitness  of  things,  placed  their  papal  authority,  if  I  may  so  say,  '  in 
commission,'  neither  of  them  dreamed  of  abdicating  it.  It  con- 
tinued on,  less  vigorously  exercised,  but  not  always  less  offensively 
asserted,  through  the  reigns  of  the  feeble  Stuarts,  and  it  appears 
prominently  in  the  curious  clause  of  the  act  of  Uniformity,2  which 
gives  to  that  '  most  religious  and  gracious  sovereign/  Charles  II,  a 
power  of  dispensing  in  the  case  of  foreigners  with  episcopal  orders, 
as  a  qualification  for  the  cure  of  souls,  and  has  only  disappeared  in 
practice  with  the  recent  gradual  absorption  of  the  royal  prerogatives 
in  the  powers  of  the  houses  of  Parliament."3 

1  Statutes  of  the  Realm,  iii,  492  ;  Gee  and  Hardy,  Documents  Illustrative  of 
English  Ch.  Hist.,  p.  243.  2 13  and  14  Car.  II,  c.  4,  s.  xv. 

;!  Child,  Church  and  State  under  the  Tudors,  pp.  77,  78. 


DOGMATIC  FOUNDATION  OF  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND.      391 


CHAPTER    IV. 

THE  DOGMATIC  FOUNDATION  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND. 

It  was  no  part  of  the  design  of  Henry  and  those  who  followed 
him  in  the  new  departure  to  overthrow  the  main  points  of  doc- 
trine as  held  by  the  mediaeval  Church,  although  taking  the  oppor- 
tunity to  revise  somewhat  and  clear  the  current  faith  from  super- 
stition. How  far  revisions  in  favor  of  pure  doctrine  would  extend 
would  depend,  of  course,  upon  the  views  of  those  in  power ;  and 
in  her  veerings  the  Church  has  actually  traced  the  round  of  the 
compass  from  extreme  Catholicism  to  moderate  Protestantism.  In 
the  act  concerning  Peter's  pence  and  dispensations,  1534,  it  is  de- 
clared that  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  "your  nobles  HENRY  VIII»S 
and  subjects  intend  to  decline  or  vary  from  the  con-  £?^ii^VA" 
gregation  of  Christ's  Church  in  any  things  concerning  doctrine. 
the  very  articles  of  the  Catholic  faith  of  Christendom."  Henry, 
who  prided  himself  on  his  theological  learning  and  wrote  a  book 
against  Luther,  had  no  idea  of  overthrowing  the  pope's  doctrine 
with  his  primacy,  except  certain  corrupt  and  recent  phases  of  that 
doctrine.  In  the  remarkable  protestation  for  refusing  to  heed  the 
pope's  call  for  a  council,  1537,  Henry,  or  his  theologians,  after  say- 
ing that  England  had  taken  leave  of  popish  crafts  forever,  says 
also  :  ' '  At  the  same  time  we  protest  before  God  and  all  men  that 
we  embrace,  profess,  and  ever  will  so  do,  the  right  and  holy  doc- 
trine of  Christ.  All  the  articles  of  his  faith,  no  jot  omitted,  be  so 
dear  unto  us  that  we  should  much  sooner  stand  in  jeopardy  of  our 
realm  than  to  see  any  point  of  Christ's  religion  in  jeopardy  with  us. 
We  protest  that  we  never  went  from  the  unity  of  his  faith,  neither 
will  we  depart  an  inch  from  it.  No,  we  will  much  sooner  lose  our 
lives  than  any  article  of  our  belief  shall  decay  in  England." ' 

The  leaven  of  Protestantism  had  been  working  to  the  great  dis- 
quiet of  the  authorities.  The  clergy  of  the  lower  house  of  con- 
vocation, June  23,  1536,  issued  a  protestation  in  which  they  cata- 
logued the  assertions  of  these  new  lights.  Amid  much  that  is 
crudely  expressed  we  see  the  unmistakable  return  to  Scripture  in 

1  See  this  remarkable  document,  printed  in  Foxe,  Acts  and  Monuments,  ed. 
Cattley,  v,  138  ff.  See  also  Strype,  i,  379;  Sleidan,  xi;  Dixon,  History 
Church  of  England,  i,  506  ff. 


392  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

the  denial  of  the  "  sacring  of  high  mass " — the  host  declared  to 
be  "  but  a  piece  of  bread/'  the  assertion  of  justification  by  faith 
alone,  the  priesthood  of  all  believers  and  the  consequent  right  of 
laymen  to  administer  the  sacraments,  the  abolition  of  ceremonies 
not  contained  in  Scripture,  that  priests  have  no  right  to  excom- 
municate, and  that  no  human  constitutions  bind  the  conscience  ex- 
cept such  as  be  scriptural.1  These  teachings  so  alarmed  Henry 
that  he  felt  some  formal  doctrinal  utterance  was  demanded.  The 
the  ten  answer  was  the  "  Articles  devised  by  the  king's  high- 

articles.  ness's  majesty  to  establish  Christian  quietness  and  unity 
among  us,"  1536,  commonly  called  the  Ten  Articles.  Like  every 
formulary  of  the  Church  of  England,  they  bear  the  character  of  a 
compromise,  the  attempt  being  to  satisfy  those  who,  like  Cran- 
mer,  Latimer,  Fox  (bishop  of  Hereford),  Hilsey,  and  Barlow, 
were  inclined  toward  Protestantism,  and  those  who,  like  Lee 
(archbishop  of  York),  Stokesley  (bishop  of  London),  Tonstal 
(bishop  of  Durham),  Gardiner  (bishop  of  Winchester),  and  Sher- 
burne (bishop  of  Winchester),  were  strongly  inclined  to  Cath- 
olicism. We  give  a  brief  resume  of  this  foundation  of  Anglican 
theology. 

First,  as  to  the  articles  necessary  for  salvation.  I.  The  rule  of 
faith  is  the  "whole  body  and  canon  of  the  Bible  and  also  the 
three  creeds  " — the  Apostles',  the  Nicene,  and  the  Athanasian. 
All  the  things  taught  in  these  creeds  must  be  believed  by  all,  or 
they  "cannot  be  very  members  of  Christ  and  his  espouse,  the  Church, 
but  be  very  infidels  or  heretics,  and  members  of  the 
essential  to  devil,  with  whom  they  shall  perpetually  be  damned." 
The  four  councils,  which  indorse  the  said  creeds, 
must  all  be  received — Nicaea,  Constantinople,  Ephesus,  and  Chal- 
cedon.2     II.  Baptism  is  absolutely  necessary  for  the  remission  of 

1  Wilkins,  Concilia,  iii,  137  ;  Strype,  Memorials,  ii,  266  ;  Blunt,  i,  435  ;  Dixon, 
i,  405  ff. 

8  It  is  often  said  that  the  Church  of  England  received  the  first  six  ecumen- 
ical councils,  and  this  is  true,  for  the  fifth  and  sixth,  hoth  Constantinople,  553 
and  681,  simply  confirmed  or  enlarged  the  decisions  of  the  first  four.  See 
Professor  E.  T.  Green,  The  Thirty-nine  Articles  and  the  Age  of  the  Reformation, 
an  Exposition  in  the  Light  of  Contemporary  Documents,  London,  1896,  p.  144, 
Technically  she  is  bound  to  the  first  four  only.  "  Some  of  these  councils, 
such  as  especially  these  four,  Nicaea,  Constantinople,  Ephesus,  and  Chalcedon, 
we  embrace  and  receive  with  great  reverence." — Reformatio  Legum,  c.  14. 
Nothing  shall  be  adjudged  heresy  except  "  by  the  authority  of  the  canonical 
Scriptures,  or  by  the  first  four  general  councils,  or  by  any  of  them,  or  by  any 
other  general  council  wherein  the  same  was  declared  heresy  by  the  express 
and  plain  words  of  the  said  canonical  Scripture." — Stat.  1  Eliz.,  c.  1. 


DOGMATIC  FOUNDATION  OF  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND.   393 

sins,  but  will  not  avail  for  adults  except  they  come  repenting  of 
their  sins  and  "  heartily  believing  all  the  articles  of  our  faith." 
Unless  infants  are  baptized  they  shall  undoubtedly  be  damned,  if 
they  die,  because  in  baptism  alone  they  obtain  remission  of  sins, 
the  favor  of  God,  and  are  made  the  children  of  God.  The  Catho- 
lic doctrine  of  infant  damnation  appears  in  the  present  Prayer 
Book  in  this  form:  "It  is  certain  by  God's  word,  that  children 
which  are  baptized,  dying  before  they  commit  actual  sin,  are  un- 
doubtedly saved."1  III.  The  "sacrament  of  penance  "  consists  of 
three  parts :  (1)  Contrition,  which  includes  sorrow  for  sin  and  a 
' '  certain  faith,  trust,  and  confidence  of  the  mercy  and  goodness  of 
God,  whereby  the  penitent  must  conceive  certain  hope  and  faith 
that  God  will  forgive  his  sins,  and  repute  him  justified,  and  of  the 
number  of  his  elect  children,  not  for  the  worthiness  of  any  merit 
or  work  done  by  the  penitent,  but  for  the  only  merits  of  the  blood 
and  passion  of  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ."  (2)  Confession,  which 
must  be  made  to  the  ministers  of  the  Church,  from  whcm  will  be 
received  the  words  of  absolution.  Auricular  confession  and  abso- 
lution are  still  the  faith  of  the  English  Church,  but  only  in  the 
way  of  recommendation,  not  as  parts  of  a  sacrament.2  (3)  Amend- 
ment of  life,  or  the  bringing  forth  the  fruits  of  penance  in  prayer, 
fasting,  almsdeeds,  and  restitution.  IV.  The  selfsame  body  and 
blood  of  Christ  is  corporally,  really,  and  in  substance  distributed 
and  received  under  the  form  and  figure  of  bread  and  wine.  This 
announces  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation  as  to  its  result  but 
not  its  method,  and  Blunt  calls  it  the  "  full  and  firm  assertion  of 
the  doctrine  of  the  real  presence  as  it  is  and  always  has  been  held 
by  the  High  Church  divines  of  the  Church  of  England."3  V. 
Justification,  or  remission  of  sins,  is  the  gift  of  the  pure  mercy  of 
God,  and  is  attained  by  contrition,  faith,  and  charity. 

Second,  as  to  ceremonies.  VI.  Images  are  to  be  retained  in  the 
churches  as  representers  of  virtue  and  promoters  of 

•     i  i  iii  t  i   •         1  tttt       o     1  DOCTRINES 

piety,  but  not  to  be  censed  or  worshiped.     Vll.  oal-     as  to  cere- 
vation   comes    from   God  alone   through  Christ,  our 
only  sufficient  Mediator,  yet  it  is  very  laudable  to  pray  to  saints 
in  heaven  that  they  may  intercede  for  us.     This  must  be  done 

1  Rubric  at  end  of  Office  for  Public  Baptism  of  Infants. 

2  See  the  formula  of  ordination,  the  absolution  pronounced  by  the  priest  at 
the  morning  and  evening  prayer  and  in  the  communion  service,  the  first 
exhortation  in  the  communion  service,  the  Office  for  the  Visitation  of  the 
Sick,  and  Canon  113(1604).— Green,  Thirty-nine  Articles,  pp.  190  ff. 

3  Reformation  of  Church  of  England,  i,  443. 


394  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

without  superstition,  and  without  the  recognition  of  patron  saints. 
VIII.  All  holy  days  of  the  Church  must  be  observed.  IX.  The  or- 
dinary rites  and  ceremonies,  such  as  vestments,  holy  water,  bearing 
of  candles  on  Candlemas  Day,  ashes  on  Ash  Wednesday,  palms  on 
Palm  Sunday,  creeping  to  the  Cross  on  Good  Friday,  hallowing  of 
the  font,  and  other  like  exorcisms  and  benedictions,  are  to  be  con- 
tinued as  things  good  and  are  to  be  used  as  spiritual  helps  but  not  as 
remitting  sin.  X.  Prayers,  masses,  and  alms  are  to  be  offered  for 
souls  in  purgatory,  but  the  time  of  their  release  therefrom  and  the 
kind  of  pains  are  not  known;  and  the  abuses  of  the  bishop  of 
Eome's  pardons,  and  the  assertion  that  masses  said  at  special  places 
deliver  souls  and  "  send  them  straight  to  heaven  "  are  to  be  rejected.1 
This  was  a  via  media  that  ought  to  have  pleased  the  Oxford 
Reformers  of  1833,  so  homeopathically  did  it  mix  Evangelicalism 
with  Catholicism.  Jacobs  has  shown  that  its  evangelical  elements 
were  borrowed  from  the  Augsburg  Confession  and  Apology,2  but 
these  were  of  so  general  and  vanishing  a  nature  that  most  Roman 
Catholics  of  that  age  would  have  had  little  difficulty  in  accepting 
them.  The  men  of  the  old  faith  would  have  been  so  thoroughly  at 
home  in  the  building  that  they  would  hardly  have  no- 

ESTIMATES  .  °       .  "J  J 

of  the  ten     ticed  the  different  coloring  on  the  walls.  Comparedwith 

ARTFCI  FS 

Tridentine  Catholicism  of  1545-63  the  Ten  Articles 
are  a  considerable  improvement,  but  there  was  hardly  a  progressive 
Catholic  in  Christendom  who  would  not  heartily  have  subscribed  to 
them.  We  give  here  three  estimates  of  this  creed  by  men  of  widely 
different  standpoints.  (1)  Foxe  :  "  Wherein,  although  there  were 
many  and  great  imperfections  and  untruths  not  to  be  permitted  in 
any  true  reformed  Church,  yet,  notwithstanding,  the  king  and  the 

1  Who  drew  up  the  articles  is  not  known.  Dixon — i,  411 — says  chiefly  Fox, 
of  Hereford.  Blunt  says  Convocation — i,  436,  437.  The  document  represents 
itself  as  proceeding  from  the  king  alone  as  the  result  of  his  revision  of  what 
the  clergy  have  concluded  and  agreed  upon,  Henry  thus  practically  claiming 
the  whole  paper.  The  opinion  of  Hardwick  is  probably  as  correct  as  any  : 
"  A  rough  draft  of  the  articles  was  made  by  a  committee  consisting  of  the  mod- 
erate divines  of  each  party,  and  presided  over  by  the  king  himself,  or  placed 
in  frequent  communion  with  him  by  means  of  the  vicar-general  (Thomas 
Cromwell).  After  various  modifications  had  been  introduced  to  meet  the  wishes 
of  discordant  members,  and  the  censorship  of  the  royal  pen  had  been  completed, 
the  draft  was  probably  submitted  to  the  Upper  House  of  Convocation,  and  per- 
haps was  made  to  undergo  some  further  criticism  at  the  hands  of  remaining 
prelates  who  had  not  assisted  in  the  compilation." — History  of  the  Articles, 
pp.  40,  41.  Froude,  History  of  England,  iii,  67,  with  his  characteristic  care- 
lessness as  to  facts,  gives  the  whole  merit  of  the  document  to  Henry. 

2  Lutheran  Movement  in  England,  Phil.,  1890,  rev.  ed.,  1894,  pp.  90  ff. 


DOGMATIC  FOUNDATION  OF  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND.   395 

council,  to  bear  with  the  weaklings,  which  were  newly  weaned  from 
their  mother's  milk  of  Kome,  thought  it  might  serve  somewhat  for 
a  time."1  Lingard  (R.  C.)  :  "  Throughout  the  work  Henry's  at- 
tachment to  the  ancient  faith  is  most  manifest,  and  the  only  con- 
cession he  makes  is  the  order  for  the  removal  of  abuses  with  per- 
haps the  omission  of  a  few  controverted  subjects."2  Schaff : 
"  They  are  essentially  Romish,  with  the  pope  left  out  in  the  cold. 
They  cannot  even  be  called  a  compromise  between  the  men  of  the 
'  old  learning '  headed  by  Gardiner,  and  of  the  '  new  learning ' 
headed  by  Cranmer."3  On  the  whole  S.  R.  Gardiner  gives  a  fair 
judgment:  "The  Ten  Articles  in  some  points  showed  a  distinct 
advance  in  the  direction  of  Lutheranism,  though  there  was  also  to 
be  discerned  in  them  an  equally  distinct  effect  to  explain  rather 
than  to  reject  the  creed  of  the  medieval  Church."4 

The  next  doctrinal  utterance  of  the  Church  of  England  was  the 
Institution  of  a  Christian  Man,  1537,  consisting  of  an  exposition 
of  the  creed,  sacraments,  Ten  Commandments,  paternoster,  Ave 
Maria,  justification,  and  purgatory.  It  incorporates  a  large  part  of 
the  Ten  Articles,  but  the  whole  is  pervaded  by  a  fervid  spirit  of  de- 
votion, asit  discusses  theological  doctrines  and  facts  from  the  point 
of  view  of  Christian  piety  and  the  edification  of  the 

INSTITUTION" 

Church.     Parts  of  this  long  treatise  might  still  be  read   of  a  chris- 

TIAN  MAN. 

as  a  manual  of  the  inner  life.  It  was  drawn  up  by  a 
large  commission  of  divines,  including  all  the  eminent  bishops  and 
theologians  of  both  parties.  Dogmatically  it  is  thoroughly  Cath- 
olic— even  more  so  than  the  Ten  Articles,  as  it  goes  beyond  these  in 
recognizing  seven  sacraments,  although  it  places  matrimony,  con- 
firmation, holy  orders,  and  extreme  unction  on  a  lower  level — a 
disposition  with  which  the  Roman  Church  would  not  find  fault. 5     In 

1  Acts  and  Monuments,  v,  164.  2  Hist,  of  England,  vi,  272. 

3  Creeds  of  Christendom,  i,  611.  For  other  estimates  see  Jacobs,  Lutheran 
Movement  in  England,  pp.  98-102. 

4  Students'  Hist,  of  England,  p.  396.  For  text  of  Ten  Articles,  see  Formula- 
ries of  Faith,  put  forth  by  authority  during  reign  of  Henry  VHI,  ed.  by  Bishop 
Charles  Lloyd,  Oxf.,  1825,  rev.  1856  (two  texts  from  different  manuscripts)  ; 
Burnet,  Hist,  of  Bef.  of  Church  of  England,  pt.  i,  bk.  iii,  1536  (abd.)  ;  Collier, 
Ecc.  Hist,  of  Great  Britain,  ed.  Barham,  iv,  350  ff.;  Fuller,  Ch.  Hist,  of  Brit- 
ain, bk.  5,  cent.  16,  sec.  34,  35  (ed.  Nichols,  ii,  77  ff.) ;  Hardwick,  Hist,  of 
Articles,  pp.  239  ff .  ;  Blunt,  Ref.  of  Ch.  of  England,  i,  439-444,  483-487  (first  5 
arts,  abd.,  others  in  full).     See  also  Dixon,  i,  411-438;  Jacobs,  chap.  vi. 

5  This  great  treatise  is  given  in  full  in  Lloyd's  admirable  work,  Formularies 
of  Faith,  pp.  21-213.  It  was  not  formally  authorized  by  Henry  VIII,  he  sim- 
ply allowing  it  to  be  published  with  the  letter  of  the  committee  to  himself  as  a 
preface. 


396  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

submitting  their  work  to  Henry  the  learned  commissioners  deferred 
to  him  as  final  judge  of  the  correctness  of  their  teachings,  as  a  Cath- 
olic author  does  to-day  to  the  pope.     He  was  indeed  supreme  head. 

Two  years  after  were  published  the  celebrated  Six  Articles 
which,  from  the  penal  clauses  attached  to  them,  were  called  the 
"  whip  with  six  strings."  To  strengthen  himself  politically  Henry 
had  tried  to  come  to  a  doctrinal  understanding  with  the  German 
reformers,  but  these  conferences  had  come  to  nothing.  As  soon 
as  disputed  doctrines  were  touched,  like  the  sacraments,  irreconcil- 
able differences  came  to  the  surface.  It  woiild  appear,  however, 
thesixakti-  that  these  discussions  caused  a  reaction  in  Henry's 
mind,  so  that  he  was  determined  to  have  the  ancient 
truths  more  sharply  defined.  He  pushed  through  Parliament  the 
act  of  the  Six  Articles,  1539,  framed  by  himself,  and  even  defended 
by  himself  on  the  floor  of  the  House  !  I.  In  the  sacrament  the 
natural  body  and  blood  of  our  Saviour  are  present  under  the  form  of 
bread  and  wine,  no  substance  of  bread  and  wine  remaining.  II. 
Communion  in  both  kinds  not  necessary ;  either  kind  is  both 
flesh  and  blood.  III.  Priests  after  ordination,  as  before,  may  not 
marry  by  the  law  of  God.  IV.  Vows  of  chastity  made  by  man  or 
woman  ought  to  be  observed.  V.  Private  masses  must  be  contin- 
ued. VI.  Auricular  confession  both  expedient  and  necessary. 
Persons  violating  the  first  article  shall  be  burned,  those  violating 
the  other  five  shall  be  killed  as  felons.  This  terrible  act  was  the 
logical  climax  of  Henry's  Catholicism  ;  and  it  illustrates  how  little 
the  Church  of  England  was  Protestant  in  these  basal  years,  and 
how  a  national  or  governmental  Church  must  inevitably  reflect  the 
ruling  spirit  of  the  time,  must  respond,  like  a  ship,  to  the  man  at 
the  wheel. 

This  intensifying  of  the  Catholic  elements  received  another  illus- 
tration in  the  Necessary  Doctrine  and  Erudition  for  any  Christian 
„.„„„„„,„  Man,  1543,  a  revised  and  enlarged  edition  of  the  In- 
doctrine         stitution.     The  work  was  done  by  a  committee  of  con- 

AND    ERUDI-  •> 

christ^a  ANY  vocati°n>  was  passed  upon  and  ratified  by  the  whole 
MAN-  convocation,  and  so  became  an  expression  of  clerical 

opinion  in  a  wider  sense  than  was  the  case  with  the  Six  Articles. 
Unlike  the  Institution,  it  was  published  with  the  authority  and  in 
the  name  of  the  king,  and  is  the  last  dogmatic  paper  to  which  the 
supreme  head  attached  his  seal.  As  against  Luther  it  asserted  free 
will,  justification  by  repentance,  faith,  amendment  of  life  and 
baptism,  and  the  meritoriousness  of  good  works,  but  only  through 
the  "  merciful  goodness  of  God  accepting  them."   It  declared  it  was 


DOGMATIC  FOUNDATION  OF  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND.   397 

not  necessary  for  laymen  to  read  the  Scriptures,  affirmed  transub- 
stantiation,  receiving  in  one  kind  and  receiving  fasting,  declared 
the  obligation  of  celibacy  for  clergymen,  and  in  other  respects  proved 
the  sound  orthodoxy  of  the  Church  of  England.  If  it  omits  these 
words  of  the  Institution,  "All  the  people  of  the  world,  were  they 
Jews,  Turks,  Saracens,  or  of  any  other  nation,  who  should  finally 
be  found  out  of  the  Catholic  Church,  or  be  dead  members  of  it,should 
utterly  perish,  and  be  damned  forever,"  is  it  because  the  Church 
of  1543  had  reached  a  more  comprehensive  view  than  that  of  1537  ? 
The  papacy's  most  loyal  order — the  Society  of  Jesus — is  the  one 
most  insistent  on  the  salvation  of  non-Catholics.1 

With  the  removal  of  the  incubus  of  the  terrible  despotism  of 
Henry  VIII  the  more  Protestant  part  of  the  Church  had  an  oppor- 
tunity to  assert  itself.  But  the  crucial  years  of  that  formative 
period,  1530-47,  left  its  permanent  impress  on  Anglican  theology, 
and,  as  Blunt  says,  settled  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  of  England 
on  very  nearly  its  present  footing.2  The  Protestantizing  of  the 
Church  never  went  so  far  during  the  subsequent  reigns  that  the 
Catholics  found  any  difficulty  in  feeling  at  home.  The 
last  official  declaration  of  doctrine  was  the  Thirty-nine  nine  akti- 
Articles  of  1553,  and  they  strike  the  golden  mean  so 
well  that  ultra- Protestants  hold  them  up  as  their  palladium,  and 
ultra-Catholics  claim  that  there  is  nothing  in  them  inconsistent 
with  the  purified  Catholicism  of  the  first  reformers,  while  Newman 
proves  that  they  can  all  be  received  in  a  Eoman  sense.  This  univer- 
sal contentment  is  fortunate,  because  from  1571  to  the  present  all 
clergymen  of  the  Church  of  England  have  to  subscribe  to  them. 
Catholics  call  attention  to  the  recognition  of  the  Apocrypha,  of  the 
binding  character  of  the  Apostles',  Nicene,  and  Athanasian  Creeds — 
thus  placing  them  on  a  practical  equality  with  Scripture — the  teach- 
ing authority  of  the  Church,  baptismal  regeneration,  the  secondary 
authority  of  tradition  and  Church  custom,  and  the  authority  of  the 
two  books  of  Homilies.  The  Protestants  emphasize  the  following  : 
The  Bible  the  only  rule  of  faith,  justification  by  faith  only,  denial 
of  works  of  supererogation,  emphasis  on  predestination,  the  defini- 
tion of  the  Church,  the  fallibility  of  the  Church  and  of  general 
councils,  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  as  only  a  spiritual 
partaking  of  Christ's  body,  and  the  denial  of  the  mass.  Over 
against  this  formidable  array  of  Protestant  tenets  the  other  party 

1  The  Necessary  Doctrine  and  Erudition  is  printed  in  full  in  Bp.  Lloyd's  For- 
mularies of  the  Faith,  pp.  213  ff. 

2  Reformation  of  Ch.  of  Eng.,  i,  480. 


393  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

reinforces  the  Catholic  Articles  by  an  appeal  to  the  Prayer  Book, 
as  strongly  making  for  Catholic  faith  and  practice.  There  can  be 
no  doubt  that  this  is  the  historic  position  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, Protestant  as  against  Roman  corruptions,  Catholic  as  against 
private  judgment,  the  return  to  the  Bible  as  the  only  guide  without 
reference  to  the  fathers  and  "  historical  continuity/'  and  the  priest- 
hood of  all  believers.  "  We  are  come  as  near  as  we  possibly  can/' 
says  Bishop  Jewel,  "  to  the  Church  of  the  apostles,  and  to  the  old 
Catholic  bishops  and  fathers,  and  have  directed  according  to  their 
customs  not  only  our  doctrine,  but  also  the  sacraments  and  the 
form  of  Common  Prayer."1  "We  doubt  not,"  said  Ferrar  and 
Coverdale,  "but  we  shall  be  able  to  prove  all  our  confession  here 
to  be  most  true,  by  the  verity  of  God's  word  and  the  consent  of 
the  Catholic  Church."  One  of  the  canons  of  1571  warns  the 
preachers  that  they  "  shall  take  heed  that  they  teach  nothing  but 
that  which  is  agreeable  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Old  Testament  and 
the  New,  and  that  which  the  Catholic  fathers  and  ancient  bishops 
have  gathered  out  of  that  very  doctrine."  These  great  voices  from 
the  fountain-head  meet  a  voice  equally  great — albeit  that  of  a  lay- 
man— of  the  present  age.  "  It  is  mere  fiction,"  says  Gladstone, 
"that  the  English  Reformation  was  grounded  on  the  doctrine  of 
private  judgment.  It  asserted  merely  this  :  that  the  nation  was 
ecclesiastically  independent,  not  of  Catholic  consent,  but  of  for- 
eign authority."  a 

1  Apology,  Isaacson's  transl.,  pp.  243,  279. 

2  Church  and  State,  ii,  96.     See  Lendrum,  The  Principles  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, Lond.,  new  ed.,  1888,  pp.  12-20. 


THE   SUPPRESSION   OF   MONASTERIES.  399 


CHAPTEE   V. 

THE  SUPPRESSION  OF  MONASTERIES. 

The  inappeasable  rapacity  of  Henry  VIII  and  the  extraordinary 
extravagance  of  himself  and  his  court  led  him  to  seek  new  fields 
for  spoliation.  The  monasteries  were  suggested.  The  suppression 
of  these  was  an  event  of  wide-reaching  importance  on  the  religious 
life  of  England. 

England  was  a  happy  hunting  ground  for  all  orders  of  monks 
and  friars.  In  a  territory  hardly  larger  than  the  State  of  New 
York  there  were  at  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century  twelve 
hundred  religious  houses,  and  although  after  Henry  IV  came  to 
the  throne,  1399,  there  was  a  notable  decline  in  the  number  of 
new  houses  founded — an  indication  of  a  dawning  age  of  a  different 
temper — there  were  still  about  eight  hundred  houses  on  which 
Henry  VIII  could  lay  his  hands.1  Precedents  were  not  en- 
tirely lacking.  The  Knights  Templars  had  been  dissolved,  1307. 
Henry  V  broke  up  a  number  of  "  alien  priories  " — cells  or  branches 
of  French  monasteries  whose  inmates  might  be  dangerous  while 
he  was  carrying  on  his  war  with  France  ;  Wolsey  had  abolished 
several  in  order  with  their  resources  and  revenues  to  found  his  two 
colleges.  In  all  these  cases,  however,  no  one's  private  purse  was  en- 
riched ;  but  with  Henry  and  his  unscrupulous  minister,  Cromwell, 
the  object  was  entirely  mercenary.  Commissioners  were  sent  out 
to  visit  the  monasteries  armed  with  eighty-six  articles  of  inquiry 
and  twenty-five  injunctions,  and  these  were  of  so  vexatious  and 
threatening  a  character  that  it  is  evident  that  it  was  not  the  inten- 
tion of  the  visitors  to  find  out  the  real  state  of  the  houses,  but  to 
bear  so  hardly  upon  the  inmates  as  to  compel  them  to  resign  or  to 
be  expelled  as  contumacious.2  They  also  had  the  authority  to  seize 
all  silver  plate  and  other  valuables,  and  send  to  the  king ;  and  one 

1  From  1066  to  1399  there  were  870  religious  houses  founded  in  England,  78 
colleges,  and  192  hospitals  ;  many  of  the  colleges  were  monastic.  From  1399 
to  1509  there  were  only  8  new  houses  founded,  while  in  the  same  period  there 
were  founded  60  colleges,  hospitals,  and  schools.— Dixon,  Hist,  of  Church  of 
England,  i,  319,  note. 

2  Articles  of  inquiry  and  injunctions  are  printed  in  "Wilkins,  Concilia, 
iii,  786. 


400  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

of  their  injunctions  was  to  forbid  any  monk  to  leave  the  precinct 
of  the  monastery.  This  rendered  the  continuance  of  some  of  the 
monasteries  impossible,  and  brought  about  their  "voluntary"  dis- 
solution. After  the  visitors  had  done  their  work  a  bill  was  brought 
into  Parliament,  February,  1536,  dissolving  the  smaller  monasteries 
and  confiscating  all  their  possessions  and  revenues  "unto  the 
king's  majesty,  and  to  his  heirs  and  assigns  forever,  to  do  and  use 
therewith  his  and  their  own  wills,  to  the  pleasure  of  Almighty  God, 
henry  awes  an^  to  the  h°nor  and  profit  of  this  realm. "  ]  Parliament 
parliament.  wag  unwilling  to  make  this  grant,  but  in  true  Henri- 
cian  style  they  were  awed  into  submission.  "  When  the  bill  had 
stuck  long  in  the  lower  house,  and  could  get  no  passage,  he  com- 
manded the  Commons  to  attend  him  in  the  forenoon  in  his  gallery, 
where  he  left  them  wait  till  late  in  the  afternoon ;  and  then  com- 
ing out  of  his  chamber,  walking  a  turn  or  two  amongst  them,  and 
looking  angrily  on  them,  first  on  the  one  side  and  then  on  the 
other,  at  last  I  hear  (saith  he)  that  my  bill  will  not  pass  ;  but  I 
will  have  it  pass,  or  I  will  have  some  of  your  heads ;  and  without 
other  rhetoric  or  persuasion  returned  to  his  chamber.  Enough 
was  said,  the  bill  passed,  and  all  was  given  to  him  as  he  desired."2 
The  suppression  of  these  monasteries  and  other  changes  in  the 
religion  of  the  realm,  and  the  tyranny  with  which  these  changes 
were  carried  out,  aroused  the  northern  counties  to  an  armed  de- 
monstration called  the  Pilgrimage  of  Grace,  1536.  The  pilgrims 
demanded  that  the  king  should  put  away  those  ministers  who  were 
the  instruments  of  his  rapacity,  that  he  should  give 
pilgrimage     the  commonalty  their   rights,    "restore     to   Christ's 

OF  GRACE.  J  ,        .  t 

Church  all  wrongs  done  to  it,  and  bring  back  again 
the  faith  of  Christ  and  his  laws."  The  leaders  of  these  armed 
petitioners  and  many  who  sympathized  with  them  were  executed 
for  treason.3  The  movement  was  not  treason,  but  an  unfriendly 
demonstration  against  unpopular  measures.  The  wholesale  and  in- 
discriminate executions  which  followed  it,  including  the  burning 

1  This  act  is  printed  in  full  in  Gee  and  Hardy,  Documents  Illustrative  of 
English  Church  History,  pp.  257  ft*. 

2  Sir  Henry  Spelman,  History  and  Fate  of  Sacrilege,  ed.  S.  J.  Eales,  Lond., 
1888,  p.  99.  This  great  book  was  finished  about  1634.  It  began  to  be  printed 
in  1663  by  Spelman's  literary  executor,  but  was  stopped  for  fear  of  giving 
offense  to  nobility  and  gentry.  It  was  first  published  in  1698,  and  republished 
in  1846,  with  a  long  introductory  essay  by  Webb  and  Neale.  This  remarkable 
essay  is  reproduced  in  Eales's  excellent  edition. 

3  See  Burke,  Historical  Portraits  of  Tudor  Dynasty,  i,  481  ff . ;  Blunt,  Refor- 
mation, i,  319-326. 


THE    SUPPRESSION   OF   MONASTERIES.  401 

of  one  woman,  are  in  keeping  with  the  spirit  of  a  reign  which  sac- 
rificed on  the  altar  of  its  despotism  about  eighty  thousand  people, 
some  justly,  the  most  unjustly. 

In  1537  and  1538  the  larger  monasteries  were  attacked  and  sup- 
pressed, and  this  was  followed  by  a  destruction  of  relics  and  shrines.1 
Everything  was  confiscated  by  the  king,  what  was  left  was  carried 
away  by  the  neighborhood  folks,  and  the  walls  served  as  local 
quarries.  It  is  supposed  that  the  value  of  the  property  which 
came  into  the  king's  hands  was  over  fifty  millions  of  pounds  of 
present  money.  A  part  of  the  money  went  back  to 
the  Church.     Six  new  bishoprics — Westminster,  Ox-    TION  OF  THE 

SPOILS 

ford,  Chester,  Gloucester,  Bristol,  and  Peterboro — 
were  founded,  and  seven  chapters  of  other  cathedrals.2  Some  of 
the  monasteries  were  allowed  to  remain  in  part  of  their  original 
splendor  as  collegiate  churches,  of  which  Beverley,  Southwell,  Man- 
chester, Wolverhampton,  and  Ripori  may  be  mentioned  as  exam- 
ples ;  occasionally  a  monastic  church  was  left  untouched,  such  as 
St.  Albans,  Sherborne,  Shrewsbury,  Hexham,  and  others.  "  It  is 
possible  that  the  intercession  of  Cranmer,  who  wished  that  many 
monasteries  should  be  turned  into  colleges,  of  Latimer,  who  desired 
to  see  one  retained  as  a  place  of  holy  retirement  in  each  county, 
and  of  some  persons  in  the  neighborhood  of  dissolved  monasteries, 
who  wished  to  have  the  use  of  the  churches,  may  have  saved  some 
from  destruction  ;  and  it  is  to  the  credit  of  the  king  in  the  midst 
of  his  rapacity  and  sacrilege  that  he  did  not  turn  a  deaf  ear  to 
such  appeals.  With  them  also  must  be  classed  the  successful 
appeal  of  Sir  Richard  Gresham  in  favor  of  St.  Thomas's  and  St. 
Bartholomew's  Hospitals  ;  and  a  few  grammar  schools  which  were 
founded  by  Henry  VIII  may  likewise  be  considered  as  fragments  res- 
cued from  the  millions  of  spoils  which  he  took  from  religious  uses." : 

1  The  act  for  the  suppression  of  the  larger  monasteries  is  given  by  Gee  and 
Hardy,  pp.  281-303. 

8  Canterbury,  Durham,  Winchester,  Ely,  Carlisle,  Norwich,  and  Worcester. 
These  cathedrals  had  hitherto  been  served  by  monks.  These  thirteen  cathe- 
drals, are,  therefore,  called  those  of  the  new  foundation. 

3  Blunt,  Reformation  of  Church  of  England,  i,  372.  It  must  not  be  supposed 
that  this  represents  all  that  was  saved  from  the  king's  rapacious  maw.  In  the 
account  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  Court  of  Augmentation,  from  April  21,  1536, 
to  Michaelmas  (September  29),  1547,  we  have  among  the  disbursements  :  War 
expenses,  £546,528 ;  naval  matters,  £27,922  ;  coast  fortifications,  £64,458 ; 
pensions  to  religions,  £33,045.  For  the  king's  household  expenses  and  money 
for  the  king's  use  we  have  £274,086.  See  Gasquet,  Henry  VIH  and  the  Eng- 
lish Monasteries,  Lond.,  1888;  5th  ed.,  1893,  ii,  534. 

28  c 


402  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Henry's  executions,  in  fact,  were  often  on  the  wholesale,  like 
those  of  oriental  despots.  A  band  of  robbers  attacked  some  of  his 
treasure  wagons  ;  he  caught  eighty  and  hanged  them  all.  It  was 
only  by  the  long  entreaties  of  Wolsey,  Queen  Catharine,  Mary  of 
France,  and  Margaret  of  Scotland,  that  he  was  induced  to  counter- 
mand his  order  for  the  execution  of  eight  hundred  riotous  men  and 
boys  and  eleven  women  after  "  Evil  May  Day."  He  ordered  a 
goodly  number  of  the  inhabitants  of  every  town  and  village  which 
had  helped  the  Holy  Pilgrimage,  and  also  all  the  monks  and  canons 
who  were  implicated  in  it,  to  be  strung  up  as  an  example.  The  cool 
brutality  of  this  universal  murderer  is  only  equaled  by  Henry's  lust, 
rapacity,  and  ingratitude. 

It  used  to  be  considered  that  Henry's  suppression  of  the  mon- 
asteries was  due  to  virtuous  indignation  against  intolerable  corrup- 
tion. Historical  research  has  completely  dissipated  that  idea.  (1) 
It  has  been  proved  beyond  question  that  some  of  the  visitors  or 
unjust  commissioners  were  conscienceless  scoundrels,  whose 

of  sup-3  word  was  worthless  and  whose  methods  were  unscrupu- 
pression.  lous.  "  They  were  men,"  says  quaint  Fuller,  "  who  well 
understood  the  method  they  went  on,  and  would  not  come  back 
without  a  satisfactory  answer  to  him  that  sent  them,  knowing 
themselves  were  likely  to  be  no  losers  thereby."  '  (2)  The  king  re- 
fers to  the  monks'  own  confessions  of  vice.  But  these  confessions 
do  not  exist,  except  one  or  two  cases  which  were  drawn  up  by  the 
commissioners  and  perhaps  signed  by  them.  "  There  is  no  doubt," 
says  Gardiner,  "  that  the  confessions  were  prepared  beforehand  to 
deceive  contemporaries,  and  there  is  therefore  no  reason  why  they 
should  deceive  posterity."2  (3)  When  the  actual  cases  of  sin  men- 
tioned by  the  visitors  are  canvassed  it  is  found  that  they  accuse 
scarcely  two  hundred  and  fifty  monks  and  nuns  among  many  thou- 
sands. Of  the  entire  number  of  convents  visited  in  the  north  very 
little  is  reported  amiss.  (4)  Of  these  two  hundred  and  fifty  ac- 
cused many  received  pensions  afterward,  which  is  a  fair  acquittal. 
Prior  Wingfield,  of  West  Acre,  and  twelve  of  his  monks  were 
charged  with  incontinency,  and  the  priory  suppressed.  Yet  he 
received  a  pension  of  £40  a  year  and  became  rector  of  Burnham 
Thorpe,  in  Norfolk,  in  the  reign  of  Edward  VI.  (5)  In  1536 
several  monasteries  were  visited  again  by  another  commission.  On 
almost  all  of  these  the  reports  are  favorable.3     (6)  S try pe  says  that 

1  Ch.  Hist,  of  Britain,  ii,  214,  ed.  Nichols. 

2  Students'  Hist,  of  England,  p.  398.     Comp.  Gasquet,  i,  347-353. 

3  Gairdner,  Calendar  of  State  Papers,  x,  Pref .  xlv  ;  Gasquet,  i,  356. 


THE   SUPPRESSION  OF  MONASTERIES.  403 

special  injunctions  were  sent  to  the  bishops  by  Cromwell  to  watch 
the  conduct  of  "  abbeys  and  religious  houses  that  especially  stuck 
to  the  pope." '  Although  these  houses  were  marked  there  is  a 
singular  absence  of  all  condemnatory  expressions  in  the  voluminous 
letters  of  that  period.  The  old  and  contemporary  chroniclers — 
Hall,  Stow,  Grafton,  Holinshed,  and  Fabian — bring  no  accusations. 
Wriotheseley,  though  in  favor  of  the  reformers,  makes  no  mention 
of  charges  of  immorality.  He  says  that  in  1535  the  lesser  monas- 
teries were  granted  to  the  king  "  to  the  augmentation  of  the  crown," 
and  adds  :  "  It  was  a  pity  the  great  lamentation  that  the  poor  peo- 
ple made  for  them,  for  there  was  great  hospitality  kept  amongst 
them,  and,  as  it  was  reported,  ten  thousand  persons  had  lost  their 
living  by  the  putting  down  of  them,  which  was  great  pity."  2  The 
best  modern  historians  on  the  question  of  Henry  VIII  and  the 
monasteries  are  in  agreement  with  the  old  chroniclers.3 

What  were  the  results  of  the  suppression  ?  It  completed  the  deg- 
radation of  the  English  laborer  and  created  the  problem  of  pau- 
perism. As  a  contemporary  writer  says,  it  "made  of  gentlemen 
knights,  and  the  poorer  sort,  stark  beggars."  The  poverty  a 
monks  were  indulgent  landlords,  and  on  their  estates  result. 
vast  numbers  of  cottagers  were  able  to  keep  up  an  independent 
though  most  frugal  existence.  When  these  estates  came  into  the 
possession  of  lay  owners  rents  were  raised,  commons  were  inclosed, 
and  the  poorer  classes  were  pushed  to  the  wall.  The  heritage  of 
the  poor  was  consumed  by  this  selfish  land  administration.  Not  only 
were  the  number  of  the  poor  greatly  increased,  but  poverty  was 
now  made  a  crime.  In  1536  the  vagrant  was  to  be  tied  to  the  end 
of  a  cart  naked  and  whipped  through  the  town  "  till  his  body  be 
bloody  by  reason  of  such  whipping."  *  In  1547  the  vagrant  is  called 
a  slave,  and  on  the  second  conviction  he  should  suffer  death  unless 
some  one  would  take  him  into  service. b 

Poverty  affected  education.     The  rents  were  so  high  that  even 

1  Eccl.  Mem.,  i,  333. 

2  Chron.  published  by  Camden  Society,  ed.  Hamilton.  Wriotheseley  was  a 
Londoner,  and  if  there  was  much  talk  in  the  city  of  immorality  in  the  monas- 
teries he  would  have  been  likely  to  make  a  note  of  it.     Chapuys  is  also  silent. 

3  In  chap,  ix  of  vol.  i,  Gasquet  sifts  the  charges  of  immorality,  and  shows 
that  they  have  been  grossly  exaggerated.  Gasquet  is  a  Roman  Catholic  ;  but  he 
writes  in  a  historic  spirit,  and  with  constant  reference  to  the  original  sources. 
Protestant  critics  have  acknowledged  the  success  of  his  vindication.  The  West- 
minster Review  says  that  his  "  statements  of  facts  leave  nothing  to  be  desired 
in  point  of  accuracy." 

4  Stat.  22  and  27  Henry  VHI.  5 1  Edw.  VI,  c.  3. 


404  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

yeomen  could  no  longer  send  their  eons  to  school.    Many  schools  were 

closed.     The  monasteries  and  convents  had  supported  scholars  at 

the  universities  :   the   change  at  the  dissolution  was 

SfHOOT  S 

injured  felt  so  deeply  that  in  Cambridge  the  scholars  in  1554 

petitioned  Henry  for  privileges,  as  they  feared  the 
destruction  of  monasteries  would  altogether  annihilate  learning. 
"  There  was  now  [1546]  general  decay  of  stu dents,"  says  Fuller, 
"  no  college  having  more  scholars  therein  than  hardly  those  of  the 
foundation ;  no  volunteers  at  all,  and  only  persons  pressed  in  a 
manner,  by  their  places  to  reside.  Indeed,  on  the  fall  of  the  abbeys 
fell  the  hearts  of  all  scholars,  fearing  the  ruin  of  learning.  And 
these  their  jealousies  they  humbly  represented  in  a  bemoaning  letter 
to  King  Henry  VIII.  He  comforted  them  with  a  gracious  return ; 
and  to  confute  their  suspicion  of  the  decay  of  colleges  acquainted 
them  with  his  resolution  to  erect  a  most  magnificent  one  with  all 
speedy  conveniency." '  "Very  few  there  be,"  laments  Latimer,  in 
the  next  reign,  "  that  help  poor  scholars.  ...  It  would  pity  a  man's 
heart  to  hear  what  I  hear  of  the  state  of  Cambridge  ;  what  it  is  in 
Oxford  I  cannot  tell.  ...  I  think  there  be  at  this  day  [1550]  ten 
thousand  students  less  than  were  within  these  twenty  years,  and 
fewer  preachers."2  So  far  as  Oxford  is  concerned,  "most  of  the 
halls  and  hotels,"  writes  Anthony  Wood,  "  were  left  empty.  Arts 
declined  and  ignorance  began  to  take  place  again."  3 

It  remains  to  inquire  what  would  have  been  a  statesmanlike 
method  of  dealing  with  the  monasteries.  Their  number  was  intoler- 
more  able,  they  were  appropriating  a  large  part  of  the  wealth 

methods  °^  the  nation,  and  a  new  age  was  slowly  outgrowing 
possible.  them.  For,  however  true  is  the  remark  of  Thorold 
Rogers,  "  The  monks  were  the  men  of  letters  in  the  Middle  Ages, 
the  historians,  the  jurists,  the  philosophers,  the  physicians,  the  stu- 
dents of  nature,  the  founders  of  schools,  authors  of  chronicles, 
teachers  of  agriculture,  fairly  indulgent  landlords,  and  advocates 
of  genuine  dealing  toward  the  peasantry,"  it  is  at  the  same  time 
true  that  with  the  dawn  of  the  modern  age  the  community  itself 
was  taking  upon  itself  these  functions  and  doing  work  that  had 
been  too  much  confined  to  the  monks.  Then  their  specifically  re- 
ligious mission  was  founded  upon  a  false  and  pernicious  misconcep- 

1  Fuller,  Hist,  of  the  University  of  Cambridge  and  Waltham  Abbey,  ed. 
Nichols,  p.  173  (sec.  7,  Nos.  15,  16,  28,  Henry  VHI). 

2  Sermons,  i,  159,  246,  267;  ii,  92.    See  Blunt,  i,  367,  368  ;  Gasquet,  ii,  518-520. 
KHist.  and  Antiquities  of  University  of  Oxford,  ed.  Gutch,  ii,  67.     This  is 

confirmed  by  Brodrick,  Hist,  of  the  University  of  Oxford,  p.  80. 


THE  SUPPRESSION   OF   MONASTERIES.  405 

tion  of  Christianity,  and  the  consciousness  of  this  misconception 
was  slowly  arising  in  the  minds  of  men.  Therefore  both  for  secular 
and  religious  ends  the  monastery  was  becoming  an  anachronism, 
and  the  thinning  out  and  dying  out  of  many  houses  in  the  fifteenth 
century  was  a  testimony  to  that  fact.  But  all  this  was  no  excuse 
for  the  wholesale  destruction  of  monasticism  at  a  blow  in  answer  to 
the  cupidity  of  a  cruel  tyrant — a  destruction  which  brought  wide- 
spread disaster  to  social,  intellectual,  and  political  interests,  besides 
working  immense  personal  harm  and  loss.  A  better  method  might 
have  been  used.  By  a  careful  investigation  it  could  have  been 
found  what  monasteries  had  outlived  their  usefulness,  or  were  failing 
to  contribute  to  the  common  weal.  These  could  have  been  quietly 
suppressed,  with  fair  dealing  to  their  inmates  and  tenants.  This 
process  of  elimination  and  conversion  might  have  gone  on  grad- 
ually and  steadily  until  English  monasticism  as  an  institution  had 
become  a  thing  of  the  past.  The  monastery  should  have  been 
slowly  transformed  into  the  college,  school,  industrial  center,  man- 
ufactory, hospital,  library.  How  to  change  the  old  institution  into 
the  new  uses  was  a  problem  for  statesmen,  and  alas  !  the  age  of 
Henry  VIII  and  long  after  was  not  an  age  of  statesmen,  but  of 
brute  force. 


406  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE    MARTYRDOM    OF     ROMAN    CATHOLICS     AND    PROTESTANTS 
AT    THE    HANDS    OF    THE    NEW    STATE    CHURCH. 

With  the  passing  of  the  Act  of  Succession,  1534,  there  were 
laws  enough  to  condemn  to  death  every  person  in  England  if  such 
the  act  of  na(l  been  the  will  of  those  in  power.  In  fact,  so  per- 
succession.  fect  wag  ^g  Tudor  aDsoiutism  that  it  might  almost  be 
said  that  Henry  had  in  his  own  hands  the  life  of  every  person  in 
England.  The  Act  of  Succession  was  needlessly  offensive,  for  it  not 
only  declared  on  whom  the  succession  should  turn,  but  it  also  de- 
clared the  king's  marriage  with  Catharine  against  the  laws  of  God 
and  utterly  void,  his  marriage  with  Anne  perfectly  good,  marriages 
within  degrees  prohibited  by  Jewish  law  to  be  void — a  list  of  such 
degrees  being  given,  and  that  all  who  had  been  married  within  such 
degrees  were  to  be  separated  and  their  children  bastardized.  This 
act  was  not  simply  to  remain  as  a  public  statute,  but  all  persons  of 
importance  in  the  realm  were  to  be  sworn  to  it. 

The  first  to  die  for  the  old  faith  was  Elizabeth  Barton,  the  "  holy 
first  mar-  maid  of  Kent,"  and  the  monks  who  were  implicated 
lishroFma\G'  m  ner  trances  and  prophesies.     It  is  unnecessary  to 

CATHOLICISM.      £yQ    ^    ^^    Qf    J^  fogfo^         ghe     wag     &n     English. 

Saint  Teresa,  but  unfortunately  her  visions  and  inspired  ravings 
had  to  do  with  Henry's  divorce  from  Catharine,  and  since  many  be- 
lieved in  the  genuineness  of  her  revelations  it  was  determined,  lest 
the  public  should  be  affected,  to  put  her  to  death.  On  May  5,  1534, 
Elizabeth  Barton,  Dr.  Booking  and  Dering,  two  monks  of  the  Ben- 
edictine monastery  of  Christ  Church,  Canterbury,  Risby  and 
Rich,  two  Franciscan  friars,  and  Masters  and  Gold,  two  secular 
priests,  were  executed  at  Tyburn,  the  protomartyrs  of  English 
Catholicism.1  Lord  Coke  in  his  Institutes  and  Amos  in  his  Statutes 
of  Henry  VIII  show  that  the  execution  of  Barton  and  her  com- 
panions, even  according  to  the  laws  of  that  time,  was  unjust.  As 
to  the  so-called  "  confessions  "  which  the  ordinary  accounts  tell  of, 
there  is  no  evidence  that  she  made  any  real  confession,  and  even  if 
she  did  it  might  have  been  wrung  from  her  in  the  agonies  of  tor- 

1  A  full  account  of  this  matter  is  given,  with  copious  references  to  the  origi- 
nal authorities,  by  Gasquet,  Henry  VIII  and  the  English  Monasteries,  i,  HO  ff. 


MARTYRDOM   OF   CATHOLICS  AND  PROTESTANTS.       407 

ture.     Besides,  Cromwell  was  an  adept  in  writing  confessions  and 
having  them  signed.     More  and  Fisher  narrowly  escaped. 

But  their  escape  was  only  for  a  time.  Fisher,  bishop  of  Roches- 
ter, a  friend  of  the  new  learning  and  of  reform,  one 
of  the  holiest  and  noblest  prelates  in  English  history, 
after  a  year's  unjust  imprisonment  was  brought  out  in  his  feeble  age 
to  die.  He  was  willing  to  acknowledge  the  succession,  but  not  the 
supreme  headship.  On  the  scaffold  he  said,  "  Christian  people, 
I  come  hither  to  die  for  the  faith  of  Christ's  holy  Catholic  Church. 
I  have  not,  I  thank  God,  yet  feared  death.  I  pray  you  all  to  assist 
me  with  your  prayers  that  in  the  very  stroke  of  death  I  may  not  fail 
in  any  point  of  the  Catholic  faith.  And  I  beseech  Almighty  God 
to  save  the  king  of  this  realm,  and  to  hold  his  hand  over  it,  and  to 
send  the  king  good  counsel."     This  was  June  22,  1535. 

The  accusation  against  More,  who  also  was  ready  to  swear  to  the 
succession,  was  that  he  would  not  answer  directly 
whether  the  king  were  supreme  head  of  the  Church,  sation  "and" 
"  So  great  a  master  of  law/'  says  Canon  Dixon,  "  found 
no  difficulty  in  pointing  out  that  the  great  accusation  against  him 
was  silence,  and  that  no  law  could  punish  any  man  for  holding  his 
peace.  When  the  king's  attorney  interposed  that  his  silence  was 
malicious,  that  no  dutiful  subject  would  have  refused  to  answer, 
More  denied  the  position.  His  silence,  he  said,  was  no  sign  of  mal- 
ice, as  the  king  might  know  by  many  of  his  dealings  ;  his  conscience 
had  procured  neither  slander  nor  sedition,  for  he  had  never  re- 
vealed his  thoughts  and  reasons  to  any  man  living.  It  could  not 
be  said  that  no  good  subject  would  have  refused  to  answer  unless  a 
good  subject  be  so  bad  a  Christian  as  to  have  no  fear  of  offending 
his  conscience.  This  was  in  truth  the  most  important  part  of  More's 
defense.  He  was  not  only  a  champion  of  the  Church  and  of  the 
primacy  and  jurisdiction  of  the  pope  ;  he  was  the  champion  also  of 
English  liberty,  which  had  been  betrayed  by  Parliament.  There 
are  many  men  living  in  England  now  under  laws  which  they  mis- 
like  but  obey,  who,  if  they  were  pressed  to  swear,  declare,  and  sub- 
scribe, as  More  was,  might  feel  themselves  compelled  in  conscience 
to  refuse  to  swear,  declare,  and  subscribe  as  More  did.  If  every  act 
of  Parliament  were  to  be  sworn  by  all  subjects  there  would  be  in- 
tolerable slavery." ' 

When  he  saw  that  sentence  was  about  to  be  passed  on  him  he 
asked  permission  to  speak,  when  he  declared  the  motive  which  had 
actuated  him  throughout.     The  indictment  was  founded,  he  said, 
1  Hist,  of  the  Church  of  England,  i,  291. 


408  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

upon  an  act  of  Parliament  which  was  contrary  to  the  laws  of  God 
and  the  Church,  and  also  contrary  to  the  oath  of  the  king  at  his 
coronation.  Lord  Chancellor  Audley  referred  him  to  the  assent  of 
the  bishop,  the  universities,  and  the  best  learned  men  in  the  realm. 
One  realm,  answered  More,  could  not  be  set  against  all  Christendom 
beside.  The  Duke  of  Norfolk  broke  out,  "  Now,  Sir  Thomas,  you 
show  your  obstinate  and  malicious  mind."  "  Noble  Sir,"  replied 
More,  "not  any  obstinacy  or  malice  causeth  me  to  say  this,  but  the 
just  necessity  of  the  cause  constraineth  me."  The  judges  then 
granted  him  farther  privilege  to  speak  if  he  desired,  and  More  re- 
plied in  these  noble  and  immortal  words  :  "  More  have  I  not  to  say, 
my  lords,  but  that  like  as  the  holy  apostle  St.  Paul,  as  we  read  in 
the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  was  present  and  consenting  to  the  death 
of  the  protomartyr  Stephen,  keeping  their  clothes  that  stoned  him 
to  death  ;  and  yet  they  are  both  twain  holy  saints  in  heaven,  and 
there  shall  continue  friends  together  forever  ;  so  I  verily  trust  and 
shall  therefore  heartily  pray  that  though  your  lordships  have  been 
on  earth  my  judges  to  condemnation,  yet  we  may  hereafter  meet  in 
heaven  merrily  together  to  our  everlasting  salvation  ;  and  God  pre- 
serve you  all,  and  especially  my  sovereign  lord  the  king,  and  grant 
him  faithful  counselors."  '• 

On  July  6,  1535,  a  messenger  appeared,  saying  that  it  was  the 
execution  king's  will  that  he  suffer  that  morning  at  nine  o'clock. 
of  more.  tt  ipjjg  king  will  not  that  you  use  many  words  at  the  ex- 

ecution." "  I  am  well  warned,"  said  More,  "for  I  meant  to  have 
said  somewhat."  "See  me  safe  up,"  he  said  to  the  constable  at 
the  foot  of  the  scaffold,  "  I  will  shift  for  myself  in  coming  down." 
As  he  laid  his  head  on  the  block  he  moved  his  beard  aside.  "It 
were  a  pity  to  cut  that,  it  never  committed  treason,"  and  these  last 
words  of  the  greatest  wit,  noblest  layman,  and  most  accomplished 
and  high-minded  man  in  England,  "  were  redeemed  from  levity  by 
the  deep  irony  that  lay  beneath  them."  2 

Eichard  Reynolds,  a  Brigitite  (monk  of  the  order  of  St.  Brigitta, 
richard  or  Bridget  of  Sweden),  an  eminent  theologian  and  well 

Reynolds.  skilled  in  Greek  and  Hebrew,  was  accused  of  denying 
Henry's  title  of  supreme  head.  He  said  at  his  examination  that  he 
never  had  declared  this  opinion  to  any  man  living,  except  to  those 
who  came  to  confession.  If  matters  of  this  kind,  he  said,  might 
go  by  the  suffrages  of  men,  we  would  have  more  witnesses  than  you; 
"  you  have  the  Parliament  of  one  kingdom,  I  have  with  me  the 
whole  Christian  world,  except  those  of  this  kingdom  ;  I  do  not  say 
1  More,  Life  of  More.  2  Dixon,  i,  295. 


MARTYRDOM   OF   CATHOLICS  AND   PROTESTANTS.        409 

all  of  this  kingdom,  because  the  less  part  is  with  you  ;  and  granting 
that  the  major  part  of  the  nation  followed  not  my  opinion,  it  is  in 
external  dissembling,  and  for  fear  of  losing  their  dignities  and  hon- 
ors or  for  the  hope  of  obtaining  the  king's  favor."  He  was  executed 
at  Tyburn,  May  4,  1535. 

The  Carthusian  monks  in  London  were  noted  all  over  the  city 
for  their  holiness,  and  when  indictments  were  brought  THE  CARTHU. 
against  them  for  refusing  to  acknowledge  the  new  doc-  SIAN  MONKS- 
trine  of  supreme  headship  the  jury  hesitated  so  long  in  bringing  in 
the  verdict  of  treason  that  Cromwell  sent  down  to  find  out  the  rea- 
son of  the  delay.  The  jury  said  they  could  not  bring  in  such  holy 
persons  as  malefactors.  Cromwell  sent  word  that  in  that  case  they 
should  suffer  the  death  of  malefactors  themselves.  The  story  of  the 
last  days  of  these  monks  and  of  the  effort  of  the  prior  Houghton  to 
sacrifice  himself  that  others  might  be  saved  is  one  of  the  most  pathetic 
in  history. '  Houghton  and  two  of  his  brethren,  with  Reynolds  and 
Hale,  were  executed  at  Tyburn,  May  4,  1535,  with  horrible  cruelty. 
They  were  hung,  cut  down  alive,  disemboweled  and  their  bowels 
burnt,  beheaded  and  dismembered,  methods  of  inflicting  death  ac- 
counted cruel,  at  least  when  combined,  even  in  that  hardened  age.2 
A  pardon  was  offered  to  them  as  they  stepped  up  the  scaffold  if  they 
would  obey  the  decree  of  the  king.  "  I  call  the  omnipotent  God  to 
witness,  and  all  good  people,"  said  Houghton,  "and  beseech  you  all 
to  attest  the  same  for  me  in  the  terrible  day  of  judgment,  that  here 
being  to  die,  I  publicly  profess  that  it  is  not  out  of  obstinate  malice 
or  a  mind  of  rebellion  that  I  do  disobey  the  king,  but  only  for  the 
fear  of  God  that  I  offend  not  the  supreme  majesty,  because  our  holy 
mother  the  Church  hath  decreed  and  appointed  otherwise  than  the 
king  and  Parliament  hath  ordained.  And  I  am  here  ready  to  en- 
dure this  and  all  other  torments  that  can  be  suffered,  rather  than 
oppose  the  doctrine  of  the  Church."  The  others  declared  that 
they  took  their  sufferings  not  only  patiently  but  cheerfully,  acknowl- 
edging that  they  had  obtained  great  favor  from  God,  that  he  had 
given  them  to  die  for  the  truth,  and  for  the  assertion  of  the  evan- 
gelical and  catholic  doctrine  that  in  spirituals  the  king  is  not 
supreme  primate  of  the  Church  in  England.     On  the  following 

1  See  Dixon,  i,  268-275. 

2  "  The  thing  was  noted  here  of  extreme  cruelty. "— Harvel  toStarkey,  Venice, 
June  15,  Ellis,  ii,  274.  Dixon  calls  this  aggregation  of  deaths  "  great  but  perhaps 
not  unusual  cruelty"— i,  274.  A  common  description  of  such  executions  during 
this  and  the  following  reigns  is  "  hung,  drawn,  and  quartered  ;  "  but  may  we 
not  believe  that  the  rope  was  allowed  to  do  its  work  before  the  knife  was  used  ? 


410  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

June  19  three  other  Carthusian  monks  were  executed.  Robert 
Hobbes,  abbot  of  Woburn.  was  executed  in  1537,  and  in  that  year 
several  Carthusian  monks  were  starved  to  death  in  Newgate  prison, 
bound  in  chains,  standing  so  that  they  could  not  move  day  or 
night. 

It  would  be  tedious  to  give  farther  details  in  this  horrible  cata- 
other  logue.     Forest,  of  Greenwich,  the  eloquent  provincial 

catholic  °^ tne  dissolved  order  of  Observants  (strict  Franciscans), 
rccTiMs.  was  suspended  by  chains  over  a  fire  at  Smithfield,  May 

22,  1538,  Latimer  preaching  the  sermon.  Anthony  Brown,  another 
Observant,  Cooke,  prior  of  White  Friars,  Doncaster,  and  Vicar  Crofts 
of  Shepton  Mallet,  suffered  the  same  year,  as  did  also  several  nobles 
in  the  West.1  The  same  fate  befell  Faringdon,  head  of  the  Bene- 
dictines at  Reading,  with  two  priests,  November  8,  1539.  *  Abel, 
Fetherstone,  and  Powell — the  two  latter  able  writers  against  the 
divorce,  and  Powell  against  Luther — were  executed  July  30,  1540. 3 
Under  Edward  VI  no  Catholics  were  killed  ;  under  Elizabeth  the 
persecutions  were  continued.  It  must  be  remembered  that  all  these 
were  perfectly  loyal  to  king  and  Parliament ;  their  sole  offense  was 
that  they  could  not  say  that  the  king  was  supreme  head  in  spirit- 
uals in  the  Catholic  Church,  although  their  opinion  was  never  ut- 
tered publicly  or  not  uttered  at  all. 

But  the  even-handed  orthodoxy  of  the  new  State  Church  of 
England  cannot  be  surpassed.  The  same  hurdle  which  carried  to 
Smithfield  those  who  still  held  to  Catholic  unity  carried  also  those 
who  had  left  Catholicism  of  both  the  old  and  new  variety  for  the 
Bible.  It  must  not  be  supposed  that  these  Protestant  martyrs  had 
protestant  reached  the  proportion  and  harmony  of  faith  ;  but 
martyrs.  they  were  working  toward  the  light,  and  had  grasped 
one  or  two  fundamental  principles.  The  first  and  one  of  the 
noblest  of  these  martyrs  was  John  Frith.  The  pupil  of  Gardiner 
at  Cambridge,  he  was  transplanted  to  Oxford  by  Wolsey  as  one  of 
the  most  promising  men  for  his  new  college.  There  he  and  other 
students  studied  Luther,  received  his  opinions,  and  for  this  was 
imprisoned  in  the  cellar  of  the  college,  where  three  of  the  youth- 
ful heretics  died.  Frith  was  at  length  pardoned  by  Wolsey,  went 
john  frith  ^°  Flanders,  wrote  learnedly  and  ably  against  purga- 
tory, returned  to  England,  wrote  a  treatise  against 
the  Catholic  view  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  being  the  first  system- 
atic refutation  of  transubstantiation  or  consubstantiation  written  in 

1  See  Dixon,  ii,  56  ff.,  60,  97.  2  Ibid.,  ii,  155. 

3  Dodd,  Ch.  Hist,  of  England,  i,  209. 


MARTYRDOM   OF   CATHOLICS  AND  PROTESTANTS.        411 

English,1  was  arrested  for  heresy,  condemned,  and  was  burned  to 
death  July  4,  153:J,  when  not  over  thirty  yeais  of  age.  Bound  to 
the  same  stake  was  a  simple-hearted  young  tailor — almost  a  boy — 
whose  answer  to  the  question  put  to  him  was,  "I  think  as  Frith 
thinks."  It  was  the  glory  of  John  Frith  to  be  a  martyr,  not  only 
for  the  Protestant  doctrines  of  the  sacraments  and  the  future  life, 
but  for  the  Protestant  distinction  between  essentials  and  nonessen- 
tials in  religion  ;  and  therefore  this  brilliant  young  scholar  appears 
as  a  reformer  far  ahead  of  his  time.  "  We  may  admire  the  great- 
ness of  the  man  who  first  died  for  freedom  of  conscience,  and  in 
sweet  and  touching  words  justified  himself  in  laying  down  his  life 
upon  that  ground.''"' 

In  these  golden  words  Frith  marks  an  era  in  the  history  of 
thought :  "  I  think  many  men  wonder  how  I  can  die  in  this  arti- 
cle, seeing  that  it  is  no  necessary  article  of  our  faith,  for  I  grant 
that  neither  part  is  an  article  necessary  to  be  believed  under  pain 
of  damnation,  but  leave  it  as  a  thing  indifferent,  to  think  thereon 
as  God  shall  instill  in  every  man's  mind,  and  that  neither  part  con- 
demn the  other  in  this  matter,  but  receive  each  other  in  brotherly 
love,  reserving  each  other's  infirmity  to  God. 

"  The  cause  of  my  death  is  this :  because  I  cannot  in  conscience 
abjure  and  swear  that  our  prelates'  opinion  of  the  .sacrament  (that 
is,  that  the  substance  of  bread  and  wine  is  verily  changed  into  the 
flesh  and  blood  of  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ)  is  an  undoubted 
article  of  the  faith,  necessary  to  be  believed  under  pain  of  dam- 
nation. 

"  Now,  though  this  opinion  were  indeed  true  (which  thing  they 
can  neither  prove  by  Scripture  nor  doctors),  yet  could  I  not  in  con- 
science grant  that  it  be  an  article  of  faith  to  be  believed  ;  for  there 
are  many  verities  which  yet  may  be  no  such  articles  of  our  faith. 
It  is  true  that  I  lay  in  irons  when  I  wrote  this  ;  howbeit  I  would 
not  have  you  to  receive  this  truth  for  an  article  of  faith  ;  for 
ye  may  think  contrary  without  all  jeopardy  of  damnation."  He 
knew  the  writing  of  this  book  on  the  sacrament  would  be  fatal  to 
him.  In  his  preface  he  says:  "I  took  upon  me  to  touch  this 
terrible  tragedy,  and  wrote  a  treatise,  which,  beside  my  painful 
imprisonment,  is  like  to  purchase  me  most  cruel  death,  which 
I  am  ready  and  glad  to  receive  with  the  spirit  and  inward  man, 

'More,  in  describing  Frith's  book,  says  that  it  "  teacheth  in  a  few  leaves 
shortly  all  the  poison  that  Wickcliffe,  CEcolampadius,  Huskin,  Tindale,  and 
Zwinglius  have  taught  in  all  their  books  before."  Frith  must,  therefore,  have 
taken  advanced  ground.  a  Dixon,  i,  168. 


412  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

although  the  flesh  be  frail,  whensoever  it  shall  please  God  to  lay 
it  upon  me." ' 

John  Lambert,  a  priest  of  the  diocese  of  Norwich,  was  accused  of 
heresy  on  the  sacrament,  and  was  examined  by  the  lenient  and  en- 
lightened Warham,  archbishop  of  Canterbury.  There  he  fell  back 
john  upon  his  rights  under  English  civil  (not  ecclesiastical) 

lambert.        ja^  an(^  refUge(j  to  answer  on  points  on  which  he  was 

not  accused.  The  processes  of  the  Church  all  over  Christendom 
were  founded  on  the  principle  that  every  man  was  guilty  unless  he 
could  prove  himself  innocent,  and  so  proceeded  on  the  method  of 
interrogation  or  inquisition.  Lambert  would  not  allow  the  justice 
of  this ;  so  he  refused  to  answer  "  till  you  had  brought  first  some 
that  would  have  accused  me  to  have  trespassed  in  the  same ;  which 
I  am  certain  you  cannot  do,  bringing  any  that  is  honest  and  credi- 
ble." 2  On  most  of  the  other  forty-five  interrogatories,  however,  he 
answered  in  full.  Afterward  he  was  arrested  again,  and  appealing 
to  the  king's  court  was  tried  in  the  palace  of  Whitehall  before  the 
king  and  many  prelates  and  nobles  of  the  empire.  The  story  of 
this  trial,  or  rather  baiting,  of  poor  Lambert  is  a  most  dramatic  one. 
The  terrible  face  of  the  king  and  his  cruel  voice  at  first  terrified  the 
heretic  so  that  he  could  hardly  answer.  ""Why  standest  thou 
still  ?"  thundered  Henry  ;  "answer  as  touching  the  sacrament  of 
the  altar,  whether  dost  thou  say  it  is  the  body  of  Christ  or  wilt 
deny  it  ?  "  The  supreme  head,  as  he  spoke,  lifted  his  cap  out  of 
reverence  for  the  sacrament.  Lambert  replied,  "  I  answer  with  St. 
Augustine  that  it  is  the  body  of  Christ  after  a  certain  manner." 
"Answer  me  neither  out  of  St.  Augustine,  neither  by  the  authority 
of  any  other,  but  tell  me  whether  thou  sayest  it  is  the  body  of 
Christ  or  no."  "  Then  I  do  deny  it,"  said  Lambert,  "  to  be  the  body 
of  Christ."  Then  said  the  king,  "  Mark  well ;  for  now  shalt  thou 
be  condemned  by  Christ's  own  words,  Hoc  est  corpus  meum." 
Henry  then  commanded  the  bishops  to  charge  down  upon  the  de- 
fenseless priest  with  their  heavy  artillery,  which  they  did  for  the 
space  of  five  hours. 

After  the  last  bishop  had  finished  his  argument  the  king  said  to 
the  prisoner,  "  "What  art  thou  now  after  all  these  great  labors 
which  thou  hast  taken  upon  thee,  and  all  the  instructions  and  rea- 
sons of  these  learned  men  ?     Art  thou  not  yet  satisfied  ?     Wilt 

'See  Frith,  Works,  Russell's  ed.,  iv.  450;  Dixon,  i,  168,  note.  Selections 
from  Frith's  works  are  also  published  in  the  Religious  Tract  Society's  British 
Reformers.  Gardiner,  in  his  Students'  History  of  England,  p.  390,  pays  a  trib- 
ute to  this  noble  martyr.  2  Foxe,  Acts  and  Monuments,  v,  190. 


MARTYRDOM   OF   CATHOLICS  AND   PROTESTANTS.       413 

thou  live  or  die?  "What  sayest  thou?  Thou  hast  yet  free  choice." 
Lambert  had  been  standing  all  this  time,  and  had  ceased  to  reply 
to  his  many  assailants.  "  I  yield  and  submit  myself  lambebt's 
wholly  to  the  will  of  your  majesty."  It  was  a  vain  con^emna- 
appeal.  The  secular  judges  were  not  more  merciful  T1°N" 
to  heretics  than  the  ecclesiastical  in  this  fateful  reign,  and  not  as 
merciful.  "  Commit  thyself  into  the  hands  of  God,  and  not  into 
mine/'  was  the  answer  of  the  king.  "  My  soul  I  commend  to  God," 
said  Lambert,  "my  body  I  submit  to  your  clemency."  "If  you 
submit  yourself  to  my  judgment,"  replied  the  king,  "  you  must  die, 
for  I  will  be  no  patron  of  heretics.  Cromwell,  read  the  sentence." 
Four  days  afterward,  November  20,  1538,  Lambert  was  burned  at 
Smithfield  with  horrible  brutality.1 

On  July  30,  1546,  Barnes,  Garret,  and  Jerome  were  burned  at 
Smithfield  for  heresy.  Jerome  was  vicar  at  Stepney  and  an  able 
preacher.  He  denied  the  authority  of  the  Parliament  to  pass  the 
Six  Articles  and  thus  to  bring  the  conscience  into  chains.  Garret  had 
been  a  curate  in  London,  and  had  gotten  into  trouble 
by  selling  Tyndale's  Bible  and  other  books.  Dr.  garret',  and 
Eobert  Barnes  had  been  with  the  reformers  at  Witten- 
berg and  had  written  and  preached  in  favor  of  some  of  the  reformed 
doctrines.  He  believed  in  justification  by  faith  alone,  and  the 
worthlessness  of  good  works  in  commending  us  to  God  before  justi- 
fication, though  they  were  essential  afterward ;  on  the  invocation 
of  saints  he  assumed  a  noncommittal  attitude,  saying  that  Scripture 
does  not  command  it.  The  general  orthodoxy  of  these  three  was 
unimpeachable,  and  their  murder  on  the  part  of  the  new  Church 
State  was  an  intolerable  crime.  It  was  not  even  thought  necessary 
to  mention  the  errors  for  which  they  died.  The  Parliament  simply 
attainted  them  for  heresy,  and  handed  them  over  to  the  sheriff. 
They  were  burned  on  the  same  occasion  that  Abel,  Fetherstone, 
and  Powell  were  hanged  for  denying  the  supreme  headship.2 

In  1541  a  boy  of  fifteen,  Mekins,  was  hanged  or  burned  in  Smith- 
field.     A  young  man,  John  Porter,  died  in  the  king's 

it  £    T_*         OTHER 

prison,  Newgate,  compressed  with  the  weight  of  his  protestant 
chains,  his  crime  being  expounding  from  one  of  the 
great   Bibles  which   Bonner,  bishop  of  London,  had  set  up  in 
St.  Paul's.     Three  were  burned  in  Salisbury  for  speaking  against 

1  Foxe  devotes  large  space  to  Lambert,  his  writings,  and  his  trial — v,  181-250. 

8  Foxe,  under  1540,  vol.  v,  pp.  414  ff.,  gives  full  details.  Selections  from 
Barnes's  works  pub.  by  Eel.  Tract  Soc,  Lond.,  with  account  of  his  life  and 
death,  and  dying  protestation  in  full.     Dixon  gives  fair  account — ii,  251  ff. 


414  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

the  sacrament,  and  two  were  burned  at  Lincoln.  In  1543  Pear- 
son, a  priest,  Filmer,  a  tailor,  and  Testwood,  a  famous  singer, 
were  burned  at  Windsor  for  insufficient  orthodoxy  as  to  the 
mass.  At  the  same  time  indictments  were  made  out  against  cer- 
tain dignitaries,  but  these  were  dismissed  and  the  accusers  pun- 
ished— an  illustration  of  the  impartiality  of  despotism.  "A  free 
pardon  was  the  royal  method  of  mitigating  the  Six  Articles  when 
they  imperiled  people  of  condition."1 

In  1546  Lascelles,  Belenian,  a  priest,  Adams,  a  tailor,  and  Anne 
Askew  were  burned  in  Smithfield.  Anne  Askew  was  a  woman  of 
remarkable  strength  of  mind  and  knowledge  of  Scripture — a  true 
anne  sister  of  Anne  Hutchinson,  and  found  no  difficulty  in 

refuting  those  who  were  sent  to  convince  her  of  error. 
During  her  imprisonment  she  was  racked  terribly  to  get  her  to  im- 
plicate certain  ladies  of  the  court,  though  in  this  the  torturers  were 
unsuccessful.  Her  chief  offense  was  denying  the  mass.  "  There 
be  some  do  say  that  I  deny  the  eucharist  or  sacrament  of  thanks- 
giving ;  but  those  people  do  untruly  report  of  me.  For  I  both  say 
and  believe  it,  that  if  it  were  ordered  like  as  Christ  instituted  it 
and  left  it,  a  most  singular  comfort  it  were  unto  us  all.  But  as 
concerning  your  mass,  as  it  is  now  used  in  our  days,  I  do  say  and 
believe  it  to  be  the  most  abominable  idol  that  is  in  the  world ;  for 
my  God  will  not  be  eaten  with  teeth,  neither  yet  dieth  he  again. 
And  upon  these  words  that  I  have  now  spoken  will  I  suffer  death." s 
In  the  next  reign  Joan  Bocher,  a  Kentish  woman  who  did  her  own 
thinking,  was  burned  May  2,  1550,  for  denying  the  incarnation — 
apparently  holding  Docetic  views.  Perry  says  that  Joan  Bocher's 
opinions  were  blasphemous,3  which  is  true  only  in  the  sense  that  all 
error  is  blasphemous.  Anglican  historians  are  wont  to  call  the  he- 
roic constancy  of  the  "  heretics  "  obstinacy.  In  1551  George  van 
Parris,  a  Flemish  surgeon  living  in  London,  was  burned  in  Smith- 

1  Dixon,  ii,  334,  note. 

2  Anne  Askew's  Confession  of  Faith,  made  in  Newgate,  in  Foxe,  v,  549.  Be- 
sides in  Foxe,  some  of  her  writings  are  found  in  the  vol.  on  Edward  VI,  Balnaves, 
and  others  in  the  Religious  Tract  Soc.  British  Reformers.  Blunt,  Reformation 
of  Church  of  England,  i,  539,  540,  says  that  Askew  was  an  Anabaptist,  and  that 
she  seems  to  have  had  secret — presumably  treasonable — communications  with 
Queen  Catharine  Parr  and  other  ladies  of  the  palace,  both  of  which  assertions 
are  against  incontestable  evidence.  In  treating  of  matters  relating  to  Protes- 
tants this  historian  is  violently  prejudiced  and  one-sided.  Canon  Dixon  is 
much  more  judicial,  though  not  always  to  be  followed.  Blunt's  characterization 
of  the  Protestant  martyrs  (i,  541-547)  is  a  caricature  where  it  is  not  false. 

3  See  his  admirable  Students'  English  Church  History,  ii,  200. 


MARTYRDOM   OF   CATHOLICS  AND   PROTESTANTS.        415 

field  on  the  charge  of  denying  the  divinity  of  Christ.  After  the 
Church  of  England  was  established  under  Queen  Elizabeth  the 
martyrdom  of  Catholics  on  the  one  hand  and  of  Protestants  on  the- 
other  began  again,  and  the  persecution  continued  until  at  the  revo- 
lution in  1688  a  foreign  Protestant  prince  guaranteed  toleration. 

We  have  not  mentioned  the  martyrs  killed  before  the  full  estab. 
lishment  of  the  present  Church  in  1533.  In  1511  four  men  and 
one  woman  were  handed  over  by  Archbishop  Warham  to  the  secular 
arm  with  these  words  :  "  Our  holy  mother,  the  Church,  having 
nothing  further  that  she  can  do  in  this  matter,  we  leave  the  four 
mentioned  heretics,  and  every  one  of  them,  to  your  royal  highness 
and  your  secular  council."  Whether  they  were  burned  earlier 
or  imprisoned  we  do  not  know.  Thomas  Bilney  was  maktyrs. 
burned  at  Norwich  in  1531  for  his  opinion  on  images,  pilgrimages, 
and  saint  worship — the  authorities  not  sticking  on  definitions  of 
heresy.  Thomas  Hilton,  a  priest' of  Maidstone,  Kent,  was  burned 
at  Gravesend  about  the  end  of  1530  for  denying  the  five  so-called 
sacraments  and  circulating  books  written  by  reformers.  Bayfield, 
priest  of  Bury  St.  Edwards,  was  burned  at  Smithfield,  November 
11,  1531,  for  introducing  prohibited  books,,  Tewkesbury,  a  leather 
dealer,  upheld  the  truth  so  vigorously  before  his  judges,  the  bishops, 
that  he  put  them  to  silence.  Although  he  did  not  publish  abroad 
his  views  he  was  burned  at  Smithfield,  December,  1,531.  Bainham, 
a  lawyer,  was  also  burned,  April,  1532. 

As  these  burnings  took  place  under  the  chancellorship  and  with 
the  authority  of  More  the  question  of  his  personal  complicity 
arises.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  More  held  these  executions 
perfectly  justifiable,  and  did  not  revolt  from  them.  He  wrote 
against  Tindal  and  other  heretics  with  fierce  invective, 

&  .  .  ,       .  THOMAS 

and,  as  usual,  imputing  to  them  evil  motives  and  sin-     moke's  re- 

£  ,  T  LATION  TO 

ful  characters.     On  the  other  hand  Lord  Acton  says  :      these  exe- 

CUTIONS. 

"  Sir  Thomas  More  protested  before  his  death,  in  terms 
which  have  satisfied  the  impartial  judgment  of  one  of  his  latest 
successors  on  the  woolsack,  that  no  Protestant  had  perished  by  his 
act." '  These  are  the  words  of  More  :  "  Of  all  that  ever  came  into 
my  hand  for  heresy,  as  help  me  God,  saving  the  sure  keeping  of 
them,  had  never  any  stripe  or  stroke  given  them,  so  much  as  a  fillip 
on  the  forehead. "  2  But  this  may  mean  that  he  did  not  favor  ex- 
amination by  torture.  Mark  Pattison  says  :  "  It  is  admitted  by 
himself  that    he   inflicted  punishment    for   religious   opinion."3 

1  Quar.  Rev.,  Lond.,  Jan.,  1877,  art.  i,  at  end. 

2  Apology,  xxxvi.  3Encyc.  Brit.,  9th  ed.,  art.  More. 


416  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Whereas  Erasmus  says :  "  While  he  was  chancellor  no  man  was 
put  to  death  for  these  pestilent  opinions,  while  so  many  suffered 
death  in  France  and  the  Low  Countries."  But  Erasmus  was  living  in 
Freiburg  in  Breisgau  during  More's  chancellorship,  and  might  not 
have  heard  of  cases  of  burning  which  actually  occurred  in  England, 
1529-32.  Death  for  heresy  was  a  part  of  the  common  law  of 
Christendom,  and  unless  the  king  intervened  the  law  would  take 
its  course,  even  if  More  did  not  actually  sentence  to  death,  and 
take  its  course  upon  More's  evident  approval.  According  to  one  of 
his  early  biographers  More  acknowledged  that  he  was  "  troublesome 
to  heretics."  '  His  biographer  confirms  what  we  know  to  have  been 
his  whole  attitude  by  saying :  "  He  so  hated  this  kind  of  men 
(heretics)  that  he  would  be  the  sorest  enemy  that  they  could  have, 
if  they  would  not  repent." 

Both  Henry  and  the  Parliament  were  furious  against  "this  kind 
of  men  "  also,  and  if  More  had  shown  indulgence  to  them  he  would 
have  been  dismissed  immediately.  Green  acknowledges  his  "  se- 
verities against  the  Protestants,"  and  accounts  for  them  on  the 
ground  that  More  thought  that  it  "was  only  by  a  rigid  severance 
of  the  cause  of  reform  from  what  seemed  to  him  the  cause  of  revo- 
lution "  that  he  could  carry  through  his  projects.2  So 
and 'more  also  S.  E.  Gardiner  admits  that  he  "used  his  author- 
ity to  support  the  clergy  in  putting  down  what  he 
termed  heresy  by  the  process  of  burning  the  obstinate  heretic."3 
As  to  the  comparative  zeal  of  Wolsey  and  More  in  pursuing  here- 
tics, a  question  on  which  the  eminent  authorities,  Brewer  and  Lord 
Acton,  differ,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  palm  of  indifference 
or  mercy  must  be  allowed  to  Wolsey.  The  cardinal  was  averse  to 
burning  meu,  and  had  a  higher  way  of  dealing  with  heresy,  namely, 
by  learning  and  argument.  He  even  appointed  some  men  inclined 
to  Lutheranism  to  his  new  college  in  Oxford,  thinking  that  by 
study  and  association  with  their  colleagues  they  would  outgrow 
their  mistaken  opinions.  Canon  Perry  well  praises  his  "large- 
hearted  contempt  for  the  use  of  persecutions  in  matters  of  religion," 
and  adds  :  "  The  best  testimony  to  Wolsey's  greatness  is  the  differ- 
ence between  the  reign  of  his  master,  Henry,  before  his  fall  and 
.after  it." 4 

1  More,  Life  of  More,  p.  211.        2  Short  Hist,  of  English  People,  ch.  vi,  §6. 
3  Hist,  of  England,  p.  538.  4  Students'  Church  Hist,  of  England,  ii,  52. 


THE   MARIAN  REACTION.  417 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE    MARIAN   REACTION. 

Under  Edward  VI  (1547-53)  the  work  of  reformation  pro- 
ceeded in  a  more  radical  fashion,  but  within  Catholic  limits.  The 
greed  and  spoliation,  the  same  cruelty  and  high-minded  unscru- 
pulousness  which  had  marked  the  work  of  Henry  and  THE  refor- 
his  men,  still  characterized  the  Edwardine  reformers,  under* 
Those  who  favored  the  old  religion  or  stood  by  the  EDWARD  VI- 
Henrician  settlement  were  sent  to  prison,  while  heretics  were  sent 
to  the  stake.  The  suppression  of  chantries  and  hospitals  proceeded 
with  the  same  ruthlessness,  and  war  was  waged  against  images  and 
painted  glass  in  churches.  The  English  Reformation  was  still  a 
thing  of  court  and  council,  in  which  the  motives  of  the  chief 
actors  were  strangely  mixed.  Unlike  other  movements  of  that 
time,  it  did  not  spring  from  personal  experience  of  divine  grace 
which  changed  the  current  of  life,  nor  from  profound  convictions 
of  truth  born  of  long  study  of  Holy  Scripture.  Unlike  all  true 
reformation,  it  did  not  proceed  to  regenerate  the  life  of  the  people  ; 
nor  could  it  do  this,  because  it  was  still  Catholic — that  is,  it  still 
said  that  grace  must  come  through  sacrament  and  service  and 
ritual  and  priest  rather  than  from  the  first-hand  contact  of  the 
believing  spirit  with  Christ. 

The  first  thoroughly  Protestant  Reformation  on  a  large  scale — 
on  a  scale  large  enough  to  change  the  whole  life  of  a  nation — was 
that  under  Wesley  ;  and  it  was  so  transforming  because  it  was  led 
by  preachers  whose  enthusiasm  sprang  from  personal 

J    r  r  °  r  INCOMPLETE- 

experience,  and  who,  like  the  apostles,  led  the  people  ness  of 

r  .  r  i  ENGLISH  AND 

to  the  living  fountain,   Christ.     Even  the  Lutheran  german  kef- 

OlijMATION 

Reformation,  though  it  held  aloft  always,  as  the  Eng- 
lish Church  did  not,  the  Pauline  principle  of  justification,  was 
crippled  as  a  regenerating  force  because,  in  the  application  of 
the  principle,  it  too  remained  Roman  ;  that  is,  it  dared  not  trust 
Christ  for  both  principle  and  method — faith,  but  still  thrust  the 
catechism  and  the  sacraments  between  the  soul  and  its  Redeemer. 
Luther  did  not  see  that  the  true  place  of  catechetics,  confirmation, 
sacraments,  is  after  conversion,  not  before,  and  certainly  not  a  sub- 
stitute for  it.  This  is  one  of  the  reasons  why  the  Protestant  Ref- 
29  2 


418  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

ormation  was  so  largely  a  moral  failure,  a  failure  so  conspicuous 
that  Luther  was  at  times  utterly  cast  down  in  despair. 

Of  this  moral  failure  in  England  we  have  incontestable  evidence 
from  contemporary  or  nearly  contemporary  witnesses.  Strype  says 
that  the  whole  nation  grew  infamous  for  the  crime  of  adultery. 
Adulteries  and  divorce  increased  enormously,  so  that  Latimer  in  a 
sermon  preached  in  1550  cried  out  to  the  king,  "  For  the  love  of 
God,  take  an  order  for  marriage  here  in  England."1 
degeneracy    Camden,  the  secretary  of  Sir  William  Cecil,  says  that 

OF  THE  TIMES.  .,  .  ,  -|      -|       1  l      T     • 

sacrilegious  avarice  ravenously  invaded  church  livings, 
colleges,  chantries,  hospitals,  and  places  dedicated  to  the  poor. 
Ambition  among  the  nobility  and  disobedience  among  the  common 
people  grew  so  extravagant  that  England  seemed  to  be  in  a  down- 
right frenzy.2  Even  Burnet  calls  attention  to  these  glaring  evils. 
"  This  gross  and  insatiable  scramble  after  the  goods  and  wealth 
that  had  been  dedicated  to  good  designs,  without  applying  any 
part  of  it  to  promote  the  good  of  the  Gospel  and  the  instruction 
of  the  poor,  made  all  people  conclude  that  it  was  for  robbery  and 
not  for  reformation  that  their  zeal  made  them  so  active.  The 
irregular  and  immoral  lives  of  many  of  the  professors  of  the  Gospel 
gave  their  enemies  great  advantage  to  say  that  they  ran  away  from 
confession,  penance,  fasting,  and  prayer,  only  to  be  under  no  re- 
straint, and  to  indulge  themselves  in  a  licentious  and  dissolute 
course  of  life.  By  these  things  that  were  but  too  visible  in  some 
of  the  most  eminent  among  them  the  people  were  much  alienated 
from  them  ;  and  as  much  as  they  were  formerly  against  popery  they 
grew  to  have  kinder  thoughts  of  it,  and  to  look  on  all  the  changes 
that  had  been  made  as  designs  to  enrich  some  vicious  characters 
and  to  let  in  an  inundation  of  vice  and  wickedness  upon  the 
nation/'3  Latimer  lashed  the  vice  of  the  time  with  unsparing 
hand,  until  the  court  of  Edward  VI  became  tired  of  his  reproofs 
and  stopped  his  preaching.  The  pious  and  learned  Eidley  con- 
sidered the  return  to  Eome  under  Mary  as  a  punishment  to  the 
nation  for  its  sins,  and  wrote  his  Piteous  Lamentation  out  of  the 
bitterness  of  his  heart :  "  Alas  !  my  dear  country,  what  hast  thou 
done  that  thus  thou  hast  provoked  the  wrath  of  God,  to  pour  out 
his  vengeance  upon  thee  for  thine  own  deserts  ?     Canst  thou  be 

1  Memorials  of  Archbishop  Cranmer,  i,  293,  294. 

2  Camden,  Chronicle  on  Edward  VI's  reign. 

3  History  of  the  Reformation  of  the  Church  of  England,  pt.  ii,  1553,  bk.  i  ; 
pt.  iii,  1553,  bk.  iv  (Reeves  &  Turner's  ed.),  i,  557  ;  ii,  770, 771.  This  edition 
contains,  in  an  appendix,  all  the  valuable  records  originally  published. 


THE  MARIAN  REACTION.  419 

content  to  hear  thy  faults  told  thee  ?    Alas  !  thou  hast  heard  of 
it,  and  wouldst  never  amend."  ' 

The  Keformation  had  never  touched  the  conscience  of  even  the 
Church  in  England,  not  to  speak  of  the  nation.  There  was  no 
service  too  menial  exacted  by  Henry,  no  decision  too  unjust,  to  be 
accorded  by  the  venal  Church  and  parliament.  His  butcheries  of 
the  innocent  and  helpless  received  all  necessary  sanction.  Under 
Edward  VI  the  same  obsequiousness  of  nation  and  Church  was 
shown.  Cranmer's  English  Prayer  Book  supplanted  the  Latin 
mass  service  in  the  churches,  and  the  Articles  of  1552,  which  went 
much  farther  toward  Protestantism  than  any  of  Henry's  creeds, 
received  all  necessary  assent.  Of  course  there  were  individual 
cases  of  men  who  would  not  sell  their  conscience — of  Catholics 
like  Bishop  Gardiner  who  were  imprisoned,  and  of  heretics  who 
were  burned.  And  when  Mary  established  the  old  religion  the 
Church  and  nation  swung  around  again  in  obedient 

QUEEN"  A1ARY 

impulse.  This  filled  a  true  spirit  like  Eidley's  with 
so  much  disgust  that  he  accused  the  whole  country  of  superficiality 
and  deceit.  "  Judges  of  the  laws,  justices  of  peace,  sergeants,  law- 
yers— it  may  truly  be  said  of  them  as  of  the  most  part  of  the  clergy, 
of  curates,  vicars,  parsons,  prebendaries,  doctors  of  the  law,  arch- 
deacons, deans,  yea,  and  I  may  say  of  bishops  also,  I  fear  me  for 
the  most  part,  although  I  doubt  not  but  God  had  and  hath  ever 
whom  he  in  every  state  knew  and  knoweth  to  be  his,  but  for  the 
most  part,  I  say,  they  were  never  persuaded  in  their  hearts,  but 
from  the  teeth  forward,  and  for  the  king's  sake,  in  the  truth  of 
God's  word  ;  and  yet  all  these  did  dissemble,  and  bear  a  copy  of  a 
countenance  as  if  they  had  been  sound  within."2  If  so  many  vil- 
lanies  had  not  been  cloaked  under  the  plea  of  reformation,  Mary 
would  not  have  found  the  people  so  respondent. 

During  all  her  harsh  treatment  Mary  had  remained  true  to  the 
religion  of  her  mother.  When  she  came  to  the  throne,  therefore, 
1553,  two  things  filled  her  mind :  to  restore  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land to  its  old-time  communion,  and  to  marry  Philip  II  of  Spain, 
the  eldest  son  of  her  cousin  Charles  V.  Parliament  at  once 
reestablished  the  mass,  repealed  the  act  allowing  the        „A„VAm 

■*■  MARi  AND 

clergy  to  marry,  gave  consent  in  the  next  year  to  her        philip  n 
marriage  with  Philip,  reenacted  the  statutes  for  the 
suppression  of  heresy,  and  agreed  to  a  reconciliation  with  Eome. 
"  Intercede,"  said  the  parliament   to  the  king  and  queen,  who 

1  See  Parker  Society  ed.  of  his  Works,  pp.  58,  59. 

2  Works,  Parker  Soc,  p.  59. 


430  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

were  married  July,  1554,  the  Spaniard  receiving  the  title  of  king- 
and  the  name  of  Philip  and  Mary  appearing  together  on  all  official 
documents  and  their  heads  on  all  coins — "  intercede  with  the  pope 
that  we  may  as  children  repentant  be  received  into  the  bosom  and 
unity  of  Christ's  Church,  so  as  this  noble  realm,  with  all  the  mem- 
bers thereof,  may  in  unity  and  perfect  obedience  to  the  see  apostolic 
and  pope  for  the  time  being,  serve  God  and  your  majesties  to  the 
furtherance  and  advancement  of  his  honor  and  glory.  Amen."  On 
November  30,  1554,  the  parliament  bowed  at  the  feet  of  Cardinal 
Pole  and  received  absolution.  They  then  repealed  all  the  remain- 
ing laws  obnoxious  to  the  j^ope,  but  only  on  condition  well  under- 
stood from  the  beginning  that  the  abbey  and  other  ecclesiastical 
lands  and  wealth  should  be  allowed  to  rest  in  the  hands  of  their 
present  possessors.  With  this  noble  proviso  the  nation's  represent- 
atives returned  to  the  Roman  obedience. 

We  now  come  to  that  event  which  forever  invests  the  reign  of 
Mary  with  lurid  and  tragic  light — the  burning  of  the  Protestants. 
We  call  them  Protestants  in  the  proper  sense,  as  protesting  against 
Rome.  They  were  not  Protestants  in  the  full  sense,  but  rather 
Anglicans,  or  Catholics,  holding  to  the  faith  of  the  visible  historic 
Catholic  Church,  whose  creeds  they  accounted  binding,  but  free 
from  the  additions  and  corrupt  practices  of  Rome.  On  these  terms 
Dixon  says:  "Unfortunately,  in  the  heat  of  their  contest  with 
what  they  termed  papistry,  they  [the  English  reformers]  adopted 
or  accepted  another  designation  [from  that  of  Catholic],  which 
has  been  fruitful  of  widespread  error,  and  has  done  more  to  con- 
fuse history  than  almost  any  other  application  of  terms  that  had 
place  in  the  English  Reformation.  They  called  or  let  themselves 
be  called,  Protestant."     It  was  used  by  the  reformers  themselves, 

and  by  contemporary  historians  like  Foxe.  "  It  re- 
on  term  tained  its  original  and  proper  meaning  in  England  (or 

a  share  of  it)  when,  in  the  next  century,  it  was  used  to 
denote  the  High  Church  or  Laudian  party  in  opposition  to  the 
Puritans  ;  but  unhappily  it  passed  into  vogue  as  the  opposite,  not 
of  papist,  but  of  Catholic,  in  which  abused  sense  it  is  now  common 
in  literature.  This  popular  and  literary  misconception  has  reacted; 
on  the  history  of  the  Reformation  with  stupefying  effect.  The 
men  who  let  themselves  be  called  Protestants,  but  were  never 
weary  of  declaring  themselves  Catholic,  have  been  thought  to  have 
been  not  Catholic  because  Protestant.  The  opposite  of  Catholic  is 
not  Protestant,  but  heretic ;  the  opposite  of  Protestant  is  not  Cath- 
olic, but  papist."     With  this  understanding  Dixon  continues  to 


THE   MARIAN  REACTION.  421 

call  the  reformers  Protestant,  and  as  papist  is  an  opprobrious  word 
he  substitutes  Romanensian.1 

Historically,  there  is  much  to  be  said  for  the  reasoning  of  Canon 
Dixon.  This  also,  however,  must  be  said  :  (1)  Throughout  the 
whole  mediaeval  period,  communion  with  the  see  of  Eome  as  the 
center  of  unity  was  a  part  of  the  Catholic  confession.  (2)  In  an- 
cient and  mediaeval  history,  the  opposite  of  Catholic  was  schismatic 
rather  than  heretic,  and  sometimes  both.  Indeed,  it  is  invidious 
to  apply  those  old  distinctions  rigidly  to  modern  conditions,  be- 
sides implying  false  assumptions.  Dixon  would  make  the  most 
strenuous  defenders  of  essential  Christianity  heretics,  a  word  that 
ought  to  be  kept  for  those  who  deny  fundamental  truth. 

Mary  was  really  no  greater  persecutor  than  her  father  or  her 
sister  Elizabeth,  but  the  dignity  of  the  victims,  the  heroic  con- 
stancy and  dramatic  circumstances  of  their  suffering,  have  captured 
the  imagination  of  the  English  people,  and  have  driven  home  to 
their  hearts  a  perpetual  hatred  of  Rome.  Those  who  died  for 
so-called  heresy  in  Henry's  and  Edward's  reigns  were  humble  and 
obscure  ;  but  with  a  beautiful  impartiality  Mary  held  that  a  high 
position  should  not  excuse  from  justice. 

The  first  martyr  of  note  was  John  Rogers,  prebendary  of  St. 
Pancras  in  the  cathedral  of  St.  Paul,  rector  of  Chigwell,  in  Essex, 
and  vicar  of  St.  Sepulchre,  in  London.  He  was  educated  at  Cam- 
bridge and  in  Wolsey's  college  in  Oxford  ;  chaplain  of  English 
merchants  in  Antwerp  ;  edited  a  new  translation  of  the  Bible,  gen- 
erally known  as  Matthew's  Bible,  published  in  1537  ;  JOHlf 
married  and  removed  to  Wittenberg,  and  returned  to  kogeks. 
London  in  the  reign  of  Edward  VI.  After  long  imprisonment  he 
was  condemned  to  death  for  these  two  articles :  That  the  Catholic 
Church  of  Rome  is  the  Church  of  Antichrist ;  and,  That  in  the 
sacrament  of  the  altar  there  are  not  substantially  nor  really  the  nat- 
ural body  and  blood  of  Christ.  As  he  was  being  led  to  Smithfield, 
February  4,  1555,  his  wife  and  eleven  children  met  him,  and  a 
pardon  was  offered  him  if  he  would  recant.  "  This  sorrowful 
sight  of  his  own  flesh  and  blood  could  nothing  move  him  ;  but  that 
he  constantly  and  cheerfully  took  his  death  with  wonderful  patience 
in  the  defense  and  quarrel  of  Christ's  Gospel." 3 

1  Dixon,  Hist,  of  Church  of  England,  iv,  Lond.,  1891,  220-223. 

5  See  Chester,  Life  of  John  Kogers,  Lond. ,  1861.  Full  details  of  these  martyr- 
doms will  be  found  in  Foxe,  Acts  and  Monuments,  vols,  vi  and  vii ;  Strype ; 
Burnet ;  Blunt,  ii,  278  ff .  ;  and  especially  Dixon,  iv,  who  devotes  a  whole  volume 
to  the  Marian  history. 


422  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

The  next  martyr  was  John  Hooper,  bishop  of  Gloucester.  He 
■was  educated  at  Merton  College,  Oxford,  joined  the  Cistercians, 
fled  to  the  Continent  on  the  publication  of  the  Six  Articles,  married, 
and  was  thoroughly  imbued,  by  his  long  intercourse  with  the  Swiss 
reformers,  with  the  new  views.  He  returned  to  England  in  1549, 
john  an<i  entered  upon  his  ministry  with  indefatigable  zeal. 

hooper.  (i  jn  j.^s  BermonSj»  gays  Foxe,  "  he  corrected  sin,  and 

sharply  inveighed  against  the  iniquity  of  the  world  and  the  cor- 
rupt abuses  of  the  Church.  The  people  in  great  flocks  came  daily 
to  hear  him,  insomuch  that  the  church  would  oftentimes  be  so  full 
that  none  could  enter  further  than  the  doors.  In  his  doctrine  he 
was  earnest,  in  tongue  eloquent,  in  Scripture  perfect,  in  pains  in- 
defatigable." When  he  was  appointed  bishop  of  Gloucester  he  re- 
fused to  wear  the  vestments,  and  would  not  take  the  oath  of  con- 
secration until  the  king  himself  had  struck  out  the  reference  to 
angels  and  saints.  He  finally  compromised  on  the  question  of 
vestments,  and  was  consecrated  March  8,  1551.  After  suffering 
cruel  imprisonment  in  London  he  was  sent  to  Gloucester  to  die. 
When  he  saw  the  company  of  armed  men  deputed  to  escort  him  to 
the  stake,  February  9,  1555,  he  said,  "You  needed  not  to  make 
such  a  business  to  bring  me  ;  I  am  no  traitor.  I  would  have  gone 
alone  to  the  stake."  At  the  stake  a  box  containing  his  pardon  was 
placed  before  him,  to  be  his  on  condition  of  recanting.  "  If  you 
love  my  soul,  away  with  it ;  if  you  love  my  soul,  away  with  it,"  cried 
Hooper.  Unfortunately  the  wood  was  green  and  deficient,  and 
the  wind  blew  the  fire  away  from  the  stake  so  that  his  death  was 
prolonged  with  fearful  agony  for  nearly  an  hour.1 

Eowland  Taylor  became  rector  of  Hadleigh  in  1554  and  was  canon 
of  Kochester  and  one  of  the  preachers  at  Canterbury.  He  was  con- 
demned in  London,  and  also  sent  to  his  own  town  to  die.  As  he  left 
his  prison  in  the  dark  of  the  early  morning  he  found  his  wife  and 
Rowland  children  waiting  for  him.  He  was  allowed  to  stop  a 
taylor.  moment,  and  he  knelt  down  and  repeated  the  Lord's 

Prayer  with  his  family.  After  they  rose  up  he  kissed  his  wife,  and 
said,  "  Farewell,  my  dear  wife ;  be  of  good  comfort,  for  I  am  quiet 
in  my  conscience.  God  shall  stir  up  a  father  for  my  children." 
Then  he  kissed  his  daughter  Mary,  and  said,  "  God  bless  thee,  and 

1  In  1878  a  part  of  Hooper's  stake  was  found  with  a  quantity  of  wood  ashes 
in  excavating  a  mound  just  outside  the  cathedral  precincts,  where  he  suffered. 
This  relic  is  in  the  Gloucester  museum.  In  1863  a  cross  was  erected  in  his 
honor.  His  works  are  published  in  two  vols,  by  the  Parker  Society,  and  selec- 
tions in  one  vol.  by  Eel.  Tract  Soc. 


THE   MARIAN  REACTION.  423 

make  thee  his  servant ;  "  and,  kissing  Elizabeth,  he  said,  "  God  bless 
thee.  I  pray  you  all  stand  steadfast  unto  Christ  and  his  word,  and 
keep  you  from  idolatry."  His  death  was  fortunately  not  left  to  the 
fire,  but  was  anticipated  by  a  merciful  blow  on  the  head  with  a  hal- 
berd. His  parishioners  placed  a  stone  where  he  died,  with  the  in- 
scription :  "  1555  D.  Taylor  in  Defending  what  was  good  At  this 
Plas  Left  his  Blode."  This  is  the  only  contemporary  memorial  of 
the  Marian  martyrs. 

John  Bradford,  educated  in  the  grammar  school  of  his  native 
Manchester,  became  canon  of  St.  Paul's  and  an  able  divine  and 
preacher.  He  was  examined  by  one  of  the  London  heresy  boards 
and  condemned  for  denying  transubstantiation.  "  Only  transub- 
stantiation, which  was  had  on  my  own  confession,  was  the  thing  on 
which  my  Lord  Chancellor  proceeded.  Will  you  condemn  to  the 
■devil  any  man  that  believeth  truly  the  twelve  articles  of  the  faith, 
wherein  I  take  the  unity  of  Christ's  Church  to  consist,  although  in 
some  points  he  believe  not  the  definitions  of  that  which  you  call 
the  Church?"  "It  was  definition  indeed,"  Canon  Dixon  well  re- 
marks on  this,  "  that  was  now  working  this  harm  :  the  JOhn 
definitions  of  Trent  which  were  now  working  in  deadly 
wise,  making  necessary  to  salvation  matters  of  opinion,  belief,  or 
speculation  which  had  neither  place,  name,  nor  mention  in  the 
Christian  creeds.  These  definitions  of  doctrine,  with  the  contrary 
anathematizations,  were  new  gear,  which  the  pope  had  donned 
since  his  expulsion  from  England,  and  brought  with  him  on  his  re- 
turn."1 Bradford  was  a  reformer  in  advance  of  his  time.  He 
seemed  to  have  abandoned  the  Catholic  standpoint,  holding  Prot- 
estant views  on  the  Church  and  apostolical  succession.  Anglican 
writers  characterize  his  opinion  that  the  consecrated  elements  cease 
to  be  sacraments  after  use,  just  as  the  water  in  baptism,  as  a  "  very 
low  view."2  After  repeated  efforts  to  induce  him  to  recant  he 
was  burned  at  Smithfield,  with  a  boy  of  nineteen,  John  Leaf,  lashed 
to  the  same  stake,  July  1,  1555. 3 

1  Hist,  of  the  Ch.  of  England,  vi,  369.  He  refers  to  the  well-known  fact  that 
transubstantiation  was  one  of  the  latest  doctrines  of  the  Church,  not  winning 
a  final  place  until  the  fourth  Lateran  council,  1215.  It  was  found  in  none  of  the 
creeds  or  councils  until  the  seventh  Ecumenical  council,  787,  gave  it  a  faint  or 
prophetic  mention.  2  Dixon,  iv,  371,  note. 

3  Admirable  ed.  of  Bradford's  works,  by  A.  Townsend,  2  vols. ,  Cambridge, 
1848,  1853  (Parker  Soc),  with  Memoir.  See  also  Rel.  Tr.  Soc.'s  ed.  of  Bradford 
by  Stokes  ;  Stevens,  Life  of  Bradford,  with  his  Letters,  Examinations,  and  Con- 
ferences, Lond.,  1832 ;  and  Hone,  Lives  of  Bradford,  Grindal,  and  Hall,  Lond., 
1843. 


424  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

Nicholas  Eidley  was  educated  at  Pembroke  Hall,  Cambridge, 
took  orders  in  1527,  studied  also  at  Paris  and  Louvain,  received 
various  ecclesiastical  positions,  and  in  1550  became  Bonner's  suc- 
cessor to  the  see  of  London.  He  was  committed  to  the  Tower  for 
heresy  July  26,  1553,  from  which  he  was  removed  with  Latimer  to 
ridlet  and  ^ie  Ja*l  °^  the  Bocardo,  Oxford.  Hugh  Latimer  had 
latimeb.  been  one  0f  the  most  fearless  preachers  of  the  Eef- 
ormation,  a  man  of  the  utmost  honesty  and  conscientiousness  of 
purpose.  He  was  the  Luther  of  England,  blunt,  fearless,  direct, 
stern  in  denunciation,  yet  cheerful  and  a  lover  of  a  good  joke.  He 
was  also  a  Cambridge  man,  and  had  been  made  bishop  of  Worcester 
in  1535.  After  repeated  examinations  and  efforts  to  bring  about 
their  recantation,  Eidley  and  Latimer  were  led  to  the  same  stake 
in  front  of  Balliol  College,  Oxford,  October  16,  1555.  "  Be  of 
good  comfort,  Master  Eidley,  and  play  the  man,"  said  Latimer  to 
his  scholarly  and  shrinking  yet  brave  friend.  "  We  shall  this  day 
light  a  candle  by  God's  grace,  in  England,  as  I  trust  shall  never  be 
put  out."  Foxe  describes  Eidley  as  a  "man  beautified  with  excel- 
lent qualities,  so  ghostly  inspired  and  godly  learned,  and  now  writ- 
ten doubtless  in  the  Book  of  Life."  Poor  Eidley  suffered  long  and 
intensely  by  mismanagement  of  the  fire,  but  Latimer  died  almost 
immediately. 

' '  How  fast  the  Marian  death-list  is  enrolled  1 

See  Latimer  in  the  might 

Of  faith  stand  coupled  for  a  common  flight ! 

One  (like  those  prophets  whom  God  sent  of  old) 

Transfigured,  from  this  kindling  hath  foretold 

A  torch  of  inextinguishable  light ; 

The  other  gains  a  confidence  as  bold  ; 

And  thus  they  foil  their  enemy's  despite. 

The  penal  instruments,  the  shows  of  crime, 

Are  glorified  while  this  once-mitred  pair 

Of  saintly  friends  the  '  murtherer's '  chain  partake, 

Cowed,  and  burning  at  the  social  stake : 

Earth  never  witnessed  object  more  sublime 

In  constancy,  in  fellowship  more  fair  !  " ' 

1  Wordsworth,  Eccl.  Sonnets,  part  ii,  No.  34.  The  works  of  Bishop  Ridley 
are  published,  with  life  by  H.  Christmas,  by  the  Parker  Soc.  ,Camb. ,  1841 ;  also  by 
the  Rel.  Tract  Soc.  Foxe,  Acts  and  Monuments,  vol.  vii,  gives  full  details  of  the 
works  and  life  of  both  Ridley  and  Latimer.  See  G.  Ridley,  Life  of  Bishop 
Ridley,  Lond.,  1763.  Latimer's  works  have  been  ed.  for  Parker  Soc.  by  G.  E. 
Corrie,  1844-45,  and  his  life  has  been  written  by  Gilpin,  Lond.,  1755  ;  Tul- 
loch,  in  Leaders  of  the  Reformation,  Edinb.,  1860;  Demaus  (the  best),  Lond., 
1869,  rev.  1881 ;  Ellis,  Lond.,  1890 ;  Ryle,  Bishops  and  Clergy  of  Other  Days, 
pp.  65  ff.;  Adams,  Great  Englishmen,  pp.  364  ff. 


THE   MARIAN   REACTION.  425 

The  history  of  Thomas  Cranmer  is  the  history  of  the  English 
Reformation.  Cranmer  is  the  father  of  the  English  Church,  the 
minister  of  all  of  Henry's  spiritual  acts  as  supreme  head  as  well  as 
the  pliant  tool  of  his  enormities.  He  was  the  only  one  of  Henry's 
chief  advisers  who  kept  his  place  secure  throughout  his  reign,  and 
he  did  this  hy  bending  to  his  whims  and  opinions,  and  considering 
himself  faithfully  bound  to  second  his  acts,   however        „Aa 

"  '  THOMAS 

contradictory  those  opinions  and  acts  may  have  been  cranmer. 
to  those  previously  expressed  or  done,  and  however  detestable  they 
were  in  themselves.  He  assented  heartily  to  the  Catholic  creed  of 
Henry  and  to  the  more  Protestant  confession  of  Edward ;  he  ad- 
vocated the  Latin  mass  service  under  Henry,  and  he  drew  up  the 
English  liturgy  under  Edward  and  imprisoned  those  who  would  not 
read  it ;  when  Gardiner  insisted  under  Edward  on  being  consistent 
with  himself  and  keeping  the  same  judgment  on  the  course  of  refor- 
mation which  he  had  shared  with  Cranmer  under  Henry,  Cranmer 
had  him  put  in  prison  ;  he  divorced  Henry  from  Catharine,  blessed 
his  marriage  with  Anne  Boleyn,  and  then  entered  the  conspiracy 
against  Anne,  cursed  her  union  with  Henry,  and  declared  her  chil- 
dren illegitimate — a  declaration  which  he  also  made  concerning 
Catharine's  children,  though  he  afterward  acceded  to  the  act  which 
legitimated  both,  which  act  he  later  helped  to  overthrow.  Though 
he  did  not  burn  any  of  the  old  party  under  Edward,  as  he  did  under 
Henry,  because  he  thought  circumstances  did  not  favor  it,  he  still 
sent  heretics  to  the  stake  ;  and  when,  if 'we  may  believe  contem- 
porary historians,  Edward  would  fain  have  saved  the  poor  girl  of 
Kent,  Joan  Bocher,  Cranmer  urged  him  again  and  again  to  sign 
the  warrant,  which  the  king  did  at  length  with  tears,  and  throwing 
into  his  face  the  words,  "  Then  let  the  responsibility  of  this  action 
rest  on  thee,  my  lord  of  Canterbury." ' 

1  See  Foxe,  Acts  and  Monuments,  v,  699  ;  Hayward,  Life  of  Edward  YT,  p. 
276.  See  also  Heylyn,  Hist,  of  Ref.  of  Ch.  of  England,  first  ed.,  1661 ;  later  ed., 
J.  C.  Robertson,  i,  186,  187;  Strype,  Cranmer,  ii,  97;  Wilkins,  Cone,  iv,  42, 
43  ;  Burnet,  Hist,  of  Reformation  of  Ch.  of  England,  part  ii,  1549,  book  i ; 
Burke,  Historical  Portraits  of  the  Tudor  Dynasty,  ii,  315-322,  and  authorities 
there  referred  to.  In  the  case  of  Joan  Bocher,  says  Hook,  "  the  archbishop 
of  Canterbury  was  the  judge  who  sentenced  her  to  death,  and,  so  far  from 
being  ashamed  of  it,  the  whole  process,  together  with  others  of  the  same  kind, 
ranging  over  four  years  from  1548  to  1552,  is  narrated  in  Cranmer's  own  regis- 
ter."— Archbishops  of  Canterbury,  vii,  69.  John  Bruce,  F.S.A.,  editor  of  the 
works  of  Roger  Hutchinson  for  the  Parker  Society,  Camb.,  1842,  was  the  first 
to  question  the  story  of  Edward's  refusal  to  consent  to  Joan's  death  until  over- 
borne by  Cranmer  on  the  ground  that  the  order  for  burning  proceeded  from 
the  council  or  parliament  and  not  from  the  king.     See  his  pref.  to   Hutchin- 


426  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

His  intercourse  with  the  German  divines  and  his  study  of  the 
Scriptures  and  the  fathers  eventually  led  him  farther  toward  Prot- 
estantism, so  that  when  the  overshadowing  personality  of  Henry 
was  withdrawn  he  and  his  coworkers  were  able  to  commit  the 
English  Church  to  a  program  more  radical  than  Henry's  Cath- 
olic changes,  but  still  far  from  being  truly  Protestant.1  In  the 
carrying  out  of  this  program  he  was  tyrannical  and  unscrupu- 
lous, even  forbidding  for  a  time  all  preaching.  When  the  tables 
were  turned,  under  Mary,  he  tried  to  save  himself  by  recanting, 
which  he  did  six  or  seven  times,  and  his  burning  was  due,  not  to 
his  own  brief  final  following  of  his  better  conscience,  but  to  the 
perfidy  and  cruelty  of  the  Catholic  party,  who  were  determined  to 
burn  him  in  spite  of  his  repeated  avowal  of  orthodoxy.2  When 
Cranmer  saw  that,  he  for  the  moment  became  a  hero,  recanted  all 
his  recantations,  and  said  that  to  prove  his  sincerity  now  he  would 
cbanmer's  let  his  right  hand  burn  first.  They  led  him  to  the  fire 
death.  in  Oxford,  March  21,  1556,  and,  true  to  his  word,  he 

held  out  his  right  hand  in  the  flames,  and  kept  it  there  without 
flinching,  saying  again  and  again,  "  This  unworthy  hand."     "  The 

son's  works,  pp.  iii-v.  Recent  Anglican  historians — as,  for  example,  Hook, 
Archbishops  of  Canterbury,  vii,  64-67  ;  Dixon,  Hist,  of  Ch.  of  England,  iii,  238, 
note — have  readily  accepted  the  assertions  of  Bruce,  but  too  hastily.  For  (1) 
the  acts  of  the  council  were  often  ref erred  to  the  king  for  his  approval,  and  we 
have  no  reason  to  believe  that  this  was  an  exceptional  case  ;  (2)  it  is  hard  to 
account  for  the  uniform  testimony  of  contemporary  and  almost  contemporary 
witnesses  except  on  the  ground  of  the  truthfulness  of  the  report ;  (3)  there  is 
nothing  inherently  improbable  in  the  story,  but  rather  the  contrary.  Bruce 
says  that  it  was  not  customary  for  the  sovereign  to  sign  the  acts  of  the  council, 
but  this  does  not  appear.  Keen  observers  like  Hayward  and  Foxe  were  aware 
of  the  custom,  and  would  have  recognized  any  incongruity.  On  the  contrary, 
Bocher  and  Van  Parr  were  condemned  by  the  king's  commissioners  or  judges, 
and  the  writ,  De  hceretico  comburendo,  issued  by  them  was  signed  by  the  king 
in  council.  By  the  act  of  December,  1554,  however,  it  was  necessary  simply 
for  the  bishop's  court  to  hand  the  heretic  over  to  the  sheriff  without  the  sig- 
nature of  the  sovereign.  See  Blunt,  ii,  216.  The  king  is  not  represented  by 
contemporaries  as  objecting  on  grounds  of  humanity  simply,  but  on  account 
of  the  belief,  then  universally  held,  that  the  souls  of  heretics  go  to  hell.  He 
wanted  to  put  off  the  sentence,  hoping  that  the  maid  would  repent. 

1  Hook  says  truly  that  Cranmer  ' '  drifted  toward  Luther,  but  a  Lutheran  he 
never  became."  A  Lutheran  scholar  describes  him  as  "  having  lacked  the  cen- 
tral living  principle  of  justification  by  faith  alone  and  a  clear  perception  of 
other  Gospel  truths." — Bamberger,  Prot.  Encyc;  Hook,  vii,  417. 

2  "  Charity  itself  will  sometimes  doubt  whether  the  right  hand  would  have 
suffered  if  the  enemies  of  Cranmer  had  not  proved  themselves  the  basest  of 
mankind." — Hook,  vii,  417. 


THE   MARIAN  REACTION.  427 

■flames  which  consumed  his  body  have  cast  a  false  glitter  upon  his 
character,  but  this  is  no  fault  of  his.  Cranmer  in  the  last  act  of 
his  life,  with  his  burning  right  hand,  appealed  to  the  Church,  not 
for  honor,  but  for  pardon."  '  It  is  one  of  the  ironies  of  history  that 
this  man,  more  than  any  other  besides  Henry  VIII,  made  the  Eng- 
lish Church  what  it  is — in  its  unique  blending  of  Catholicism  and 
Protestantism,  held  into  religious  unity  by  its  inimitable  liturgy, 
translated  and  composed  largely  by  Cranmer  himself,  and  held  into 
external  unity  by  the  Erastianism  of  its  State  connection.  And  the 
history  of  the  Church  of  England,  with  its  chameleonlike  and  mul- 
tiform character,  with  its  wickedness  and  cruelty  on  the  one  hand 
and  its  glorious  achievements  for  God  and  humanity  on  the  other, 
is  Cranmer's  best  accusation  and  defense. 

Anglican  historians  have  never  pardoned  Macaulay  for  his  frank- 
ness in  estimating  Cranmer  :  "  He  was  at  once  a  divine  and  a 
courtier.  In  his  character  of  divine  he  was  ready  to  go  as  far  in 
the  way  of  change  as  any  Swiss  or  Scottish  reformer.  In  his  char- 
acter of  courtier  he  was  desirous  to  preserve  that  organization 
which  had  during  many  ages  admirably  served  the  purposes  of  the 
bishops  of  Rome,  and  might  be  expected  to  serve  equally  well  the 
purposes  of  the  English  kings  and  of  their  ministers.  This  temper 
and  his  understanding  eminently  fitted  him  to  act  as  mediator. 
Saintly  in  his  professions,  unscrupulous  in  his  dealings,  zealous  for 
nothing,  bold  in  speculation,  a  coward  and  a  time- 
server  in  action,  a  placable  enemy  and  a  lukewarm  judgment 

•  iva     J    J.  J.-U         OF   CRANMER. 

mend,  he  was  in  every  way  qualified  to  arrange  the 
terms  of  the  coalition  between  the  religious  and  the  worldly  enemies 
of  the  papacy."2  This  characterization  is  moderate  and  is  borne 
out  in  every  particular,  except  one,  by  history.  As  a  divine  Cran- 
mer would  go  a  good  way  with  Protestant  theologians,  but  not  the 
length  above  indicated.  In  his  essay  on  Hallam's  Constitutional 
History,3  Macaulay  treats  of  Cranmer  more  at  length  and  with  still 
less  reserve.  But  there  is  hardly  anything  said  that  is  not  a  simple 
statement  of  fact.  Take  this  for  instance :  "  Cranmer  rose  into 
favor  by  serving  Henry  in  the  disgraceful  affair  of  his  first  divorce. 
He  promoted  the  marriage  of  Anne  Boleyn  with  the  king.  On  a 
frivolous  pretense  he  pronounced  the  marriage  null  and  void.  On 
a  pretense,  if  possible,  still  more  frivolous  he  dissolved  the  ties 
which  bound  the  shameless  tyrant  to  Anne  of  Cleves.  He  attached 
himself  to  Cromwell  while  the  fortunes  of  Cromwell  flourished. 
He  voted  for  cutting  off  Cromwell's  head  without  a  trial  when  the 
1  Hook,  vii,  419.  2  Hist,  of  England,  i,  57.  'Essays,  i,  448  ff. 


428  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

tide  of  royal  favor  turned.  He  conformed  backward  and  forward 
as  the  king  changed  his  mind.  He  assisted  while  Henry  lived  in 
condemning  to  the  flames  those  who  denied  the  doctrine  of  tran- 
substantiation.  He  found  out  as  soon  as  Henry  was  dead  that  the 
doctrine  was  false.  He  was  not  at  a  loss,  however,  for  people  to 
burn.  The  authority  of  his  station  and  of  his  gray  hairs  was  em- 
ployed to  overcome  the  disgust  with  which  an  intelligent  and  vir- 
tuous child  regarded  persecution.  Intolerance  in  a  man  who  thus 
wavered  in  his  creed  excites  a  loathing  to  which  it  is  difficult  to 
give  vent  without  calling  foul  names.  Equally  false  to  political 
and  to  religious  obligation,  the  primate  was  first  the  tool  of  Somerset 
and  then  the  tool  of  Northumberland.  When  the  Protector  wished 
to  put  his  own  brother  to  death,  without  even  the  semblance  of  a 
trial,  he  found  a  ready  instrument  in  Cranmer.  In  spite  of  the 
canon  law,  which  forbade  a  churchman  to  take  any  part  in  matters 
of  blood,  the  archbishop  signed  the  warrant  for  the  atrocious  sen- 
tence. When  Somerset  had  been  in  his  turn  destroyed,  his  de- 
stroyer received  the  support  of  Cranmer  in  a  wicked  attempt  to 
change  the  course  of  the  succession."  These  are  all  statements  of 
facts  baldly  and  caustically  expressed.  This,  however,  must  be 
said  for  Cranmer.  He  lived  in  an  age  when  independence  of  judg- 
ment was  at  a  discount.  If  he  bent  to  the  royal  or  ruling  will,  so, 
speaking  generally,  did  everybody  else.  For  instance,  when  Henry 
took  a  personal  repulsion  to  his  fourth  wife,  Anne  of  Cleves,  and 
insisted  on  a  divorce,  both  convocation  and  parliament  granted  it 
without  a  word.1 

Who  was  responsible  for  the  Marian  persecution  ?  Blunt,  in  a 
long  and  learned  discussion,  lays  the  blame  chiefly  on  Philip, 
Mary's  husband,  and  the  influence  of  the  Spanish  divines  and  clergy 
who  accompanied  him.2  Dixon  controverts  this  at  considerable 
length  and  lays  the  blame  chiefly  on  Mary.3  An  able  critic  of 
Dixon  agrees  with  him  in  assigning  to  Mary  the  chief  glory  of  this 
carnival  of  death,  but  disagrees  with  him  in  exonerating  Philip  : 
"  We  must  allow  the  cold-blooded  Spaniard  a  full  share  in  the 
direful  tragedies,  and  not  load  the  unhappy  queen  with  all  the 
odium."4     The  old  opinion  founded  on  Foxe,  that  Bonner,  bishop 

1  Cranmer's  works  are  edited  by  Jenkins,  4  vols.,  Oxf.,  1834,  and  by  Cox,  2 
vols.,  Camb.,  1844-46;  Lives,  by  Strype,  new  ed.,  2  vols.,  1840,  and  3  vols., 
1847-1854  (ed.  for  Eccl.  Hist.  Soc,  best  ed.) ;  Todd,  2  vols.,  Lond.,  1831; 
Le  Bas,  2  vols.,  1833  ;  Collette,  Lond.,  1887;  Mason,  Lond.  and  Bost.,  1898. 

2  Reformation  of  Church  of  England,  ii,  226  ff . 

3  Hist,  of  Church  of  England,  vol.  iv. 

4  The  Marian  Persecution,  in  Church  Quar.  Rev.,  Lond.,  April,  1891,  p.  190. 


THE   MARIAN   REACTION.  429 

of  London,  was  chiefly  responsible,  modern  research  shows  to  be  un- 
tenable, although  his  contemporaries  summed  up  their  own  judg- 
ment in  the  terse  characterization,  "  Bloody  Bonner."  RESPonsibil- 
But  this  question  of  responsibility  is  largely  futile  and  j^™"  ?£r- 
perhaps  insoluble.  (1)  Persecution  was  the  spirit  of  8Ecutions. 
the  age.  If  Anglican  Protestants  suffered  under  Mary,  Bible  Prot- 
estants and  Koman  Catholics  suffered  under  Elizabeth.  (2)  Heresy 
was  punishable  with  death.  According  to  the  standards  of  ortho- 
doxy interpreted  by  the  Christendom  of  that  time,  the  new  English 
Churchmen  were  as  truly  heretics  as  Joan  Bocher.  (3)  The  at- 
tempt to  set  up  another  queen  in  the  Protestant  interest  was  as  un- 
fortunate for  the  Protestants  as  it  was  traitorous  to  the  rightful  ruler, 
and  must  have  permanently  embittered  Mary.  (4)  The  memories 
of  her  mother's  wrongs,  her  own  past  bitter  history,  the  circum- 
stances of  her  home  life,  her  consciousness  of  failure  in  winning 
the  love  of  her  subjects,  and  her  ill-health,  all  tended  to  inflame 
and  deepen  Mary's  conscientious  convictions  that  Protestantism  was 
a  heresy  dangerous  to  souls  and  to  the  commonwealth,  and  ought 
to  be  suppressed.  And  when  we  reflect  that  on  the  Continent  perse- 
cution of  Protestantism  was  practiced  on  a  horribly  vast  scale,  the 
number  of  277  who  suffered  in  England  under  Mary,  though 
sufficient  to  brand  on  the  English  heart  forever  an  instinctive  and 
unconquerable  hatred  of  Roman  Catholicism,  seems  paltry  indeed. 


430  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

THE    ELIZABETHAN     SETTLEMENT    OF    THE    CHURCH    OF 
ENGLAND. 

When  Elizabeth  came  to  the  throne,  in  1558,  it  was  very  uncer- 
tain what  course  she  would  pursue,  whether  that  of  her  half-brother 

Edward  or  that  of  her  half-sister  Mary.  During  the 
xtres  of  reign  of  the  latter  she  had  conformed  to  the  Eoman 

Catholic  religion.  She  still  heard  mass  and  was  crowned 
with  all  the  old  ceremonial.  Bishop  Bonner,  however,  was  imme- 
diately imprisoned  in  the  Marshalsea,  London,  where  he  was  kept 
until  his  death  in  1569  ;  the  queen  forbade  the  elevation  of  the 
host  in  her  presence  ;  eight  men  of  reforming  views  were  added  to  the 
council  ;  and  the  queen  entertained  a  petition  or  paper  from  one  of 
the  councilors  recommending  (1)  the  restoration  of  the  Church  of 
England  to  its  former  purity,  (2)  the  gradual  abasement  of  those 
favorable  to  the  late  queen,  (3)  the  giving  over  to  the  crown  of  the 
wealth  of  those  bishops  and  clergy  who  had  enriched  themselves  in 
the  late  reign — this  to  be  secured  by  the  pressure  of  the  prcemunire 
statute,  (4)  the  disregard  of  those  who  wished  to  carry  reform  far- 
ther, (5)  the  revision  of  the  English  Prayer  Book,  and  (6),  until  this 
revision  was  accomplished,  the  prohibition  of  all  innovation. 

It  was  evident,  therefore,  that  with  all  of  Elizabeth's  Eoman 
views  she  had  no  intention  whatever  of  keeping  England  in  unity 
with  the  pope.  Or,  as  Canon  Perry  comments  on  these  proposals  : 
"  The  main  body  of  the  nation,  indifferent  to  the  form  of  religion, 
was  to  be  bribed  by  the  spoil  of  the  Church,  and  the  restoration  to 
the  crown  of  those  sources  of  revenue,  the  alienation  of  which  they 
had  so  grudgingly  conceded  in  the  late  reign ;  while  the  lovers 
of  the  Reformation  were  to  be  propitiated  by  the  restoration  of 
the  reformed  worship,  changed,  however,  in   some  particulars,  to 

conciliate  and  attract  the  more  moderate  of  the  Ro- 

THE  PRAYER  .     .       „  . 

books  of         mamsts. 

In  1548  Edward  VI  published  a  new  communion 
service  in  English — the  same  substantially  as  that  now  used.2     In 

1  Hist,  of  the  Church  of  England,  Students'  Series.  Lond.,  1887.  6th  ed., 
1894,  ii,  255. 

3  This  service  is  given  in  full  in  Appendix  to  Cardwell,  Two  Liturgies  of 
Edward  VI  Compared,  pp.  425  ff . 


ELIZABETHAN  SETTLEMENT  OF  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND.  431 

1549  the  first  Prayer  Book  came  forth  from  a  committee  of 
divines.  It  was  based  primarily  on  the  old  Latin  service  books, 
.and  secondarily  on  Archbishop  Hermann's  consultation,  which 
was  drawn  up  by  Melanchthon  and  Bucer  on  the  basis  of  Lu- 
ther's Nuremberg  services.1  This  book  was  too  Catholic  to  suit 
Edward  and  some  of  the  council ;  it  was  therefore  subjected  to 
a  revision.2  The  new  book  was  published  in  1552.  It  was  more 
Protestant  than  the  other,  thus  sacrificing  much,  says  Perry,  that 
succeeding  generations  of  Churchmen  would  have  gladly  retained.3 
In  the  book  of  1549  the  direction  in  the  delivery  of  the  bread  in 
the  sacrament  was  :  "And  when  he  delivereth  the  sacrament  of 
the  body  of  Christ  he  shall  say  to  everyone  these  words  :  '  The 
body  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  which  was  given  for  thee,  preserve 
thy  body  and  soul  unto  everlasting  life.' "  In  the  book  of  1552  the 
words  were  :  "And  when  he  delivereth  the  bread  he  shall  say  :  '  Take 
and  eat  this,  in  remembrance  that  Christ  died  for  thee,  and  feed 
on  him  in  thy  heart  by  faith  with  thanksgiving.'"4  Protestants, 
however,  considered  even  the  second  book  of  Edward  as  too  Ro- 
man. Calvin  called  it  "  intolerable  stuff "  and  "  tolerable  fool- 
eries." 

It  was  this  book  which  Elizabeth  ordered  revised  in  1558, 5  and 
for  fear  that  in  the  meantime  her  subjects  would  wor-    ELIZABETH>a 
ship  God  according  to  the  dictates  of  their  own  con-    tion  as  to" 
sciences  she  put  out  this  proclamation  :  She  "charges    religion. 
and  commands  all  manner  of  her  subjects,  as  well  those  called 

1  The  divines  who  did  most  of  the  work  were  Cranmer  (chief),  Ridley,  Good- 
ryke,  bishop  of  Ely  ;  Holheach,  bishop  of  Lincoln  :  May,  dean  of  St.  Paul's  ;  Dr. 
John  Taylor,  dean  (afterward  bishop)  of  Lincoln  ;  Haynes,  dean  of  Exeter  ;  and 
Cox,  the  king's  almoner,  afterward  bishop  of  Ely.  See  Procter,  Hist,  of  Book 
of  Common  Prayer,  with  the  Sources  and  Rationale  of  its  Officers,  ed.  1892, 
p.  268,  note  4.  Francis  Procter  was  the  vicar  of  a  village  in  Norfolk,  and  his 
modest  but  scholarly  book,  first  printed  in  1855,  is  an  illustration  how  good 
work  makes  for  itself  a  perennial  life. 

2  The  chief  revisers  were  Cox,  Taylor,  Cranmer,  and  Ridley. 
3£.  c,  ii,  212. 

4  The  two  Prayer  Books  are  reprinted  in  full  in  parallel  columns,  with  a  valu- 
able introd.  byE.  Cardwell,  Oxf .,  3d  ed.,  1852.  The  words  quoted  from  the  Sec- 
ond Book  were  taken  from  the  Liturgy  of  John  a  Lasco,  a  Polish  nobleman 
and  clergyman,  who  had  established  in  1549  a  foreign  Protestant  congrega- 
tion in  London.     See  Cardwell,  p.  xxviii,  note  q. 

5  The  committee  of  revision  was  Parker,  Pilkington,  Bill,  May,  Cox,  Grindal, 
and  Whitehead,  supervised  by  Cecil,  the  new  premier,  with  the  assistance  of 
Guest.  Parker  was  prevented  by  illness,  and  Guest,  afterward  bishop  of 
Rochester,  seems  to  have  been  the  dominating  mind  on  the  committee. 


432  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

to  the  ministry  of  the  Church  as  all  others,  that  they  do  forbear  to 
teach  or  preach,  or  to  give  audience  to  any  manner  of  teaching  or 
preaching  other  than  to  the  gospel  and  epistle  of  the  day,  and  to 
the  Ten  Commandments,  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  without  exposition 
of  any  manner,  sense,  or  meaning,  to  be  applied  and  added  ;  or  to  use 
any  other  manner  of  public  prayer,  rite,  or  ceremony  in  the  church 
but  that  which  is  already  used  and  by  law  received  as  the  common 
litany,  used  at  this  present  in  her  majesty's  own  chapel,  and  the 
Lord's  Prayer  and  the  creed  in  English,  until  consultation  may  be 
had  by  parliament,  by  her  majesty,  and  her  three  estates  of  this 
realm  for  the  better  conciliation  and  accord  of  such  cases  as  at  this 
present  are  moved  in  matters  and  ceremonies  of  religion."1  This 
proclamation,  which  ended  by  threatening  punishment  to  all  who 
disobeyed,  assured  both  Protestants  and  Catholics  that  the  Church 
of  England  was  to  be  restored  according  to  Henry's  plan,  and  that 
they  should  govern  themselves  accordingly — an  assurance  that  was 
supported  by  the  declaration  of  the  Lord  Chancellor  at  the  open- 
ing of  parliament  in  January,  1559. 

The  Prayer  Book  committee  was  anxious  to  conciliate  the  Prot- 
estant element,  while  Elizabeth  was  thinking  of  the 
prayer'  Catholics.     She  had    Cecil,  therefore,  deliver  to  the 

revisers  a  paper  asking  them  whether  they  could  not 
provide  for  the  retention  of  the  image  of  the  cross,  of  processions, 
of  copes  for  holy  communion,  the  presence  of  noncommunicants  at 
that  sacrament,  of  prayers  for  the  dead,  of  the  prayer  of  consecra- 
tion of  the  elements  in  the  supper,  of  the  placing  the  elements 
in  the  mouth,  and  of  kneeling  at  reception.  These  requests 
were  not  granted,  and  Guest,  the  principal  reviser,  wrote  a  letter 
to  Cecil  giving  reasons.  "  Ceremonies  once  taken  away  as  ill- 
used  should  not  be  taken  again.  No  image  should  be  used  in 
the  church.  Procession  is  superfluous ;  it  is  better  to  pray  in  the 
church.  Because  it  is  sufficient  to  use  but  a  surplice  in  baptiz- 
ing, reading,  preaching,  and  praying,  therefore  it  is  enough  also 
for  the  communion.  Noncommunicants  should  be  dismissed  be- 
fore the  consecration,  and  (as  it  seems)  after  the  offertory.  The 
creed  is  ordained  to  be  said  only  of  the  communicants.  Prayer 
for  the  dead  is  not  used,  because  it  seems  to  make  for  sacrifice ; 
as  used  in  the  first  book  it  makes  some  of  the  faithful  to  be  in 
heaven,  and  to  need  no  mercy,  and  some  of  them  to  be  in  another 
place,  and  to  lack  help  and  mercy.     The  prayer  in  the  first  book 

1  This  interesting  document  is  given  in  full  by  Cardwell,  Documentary  An- 
nals of  the  Church  of  England,  i,  176,  177  (Oxf .,  1839). 


ELIZABETHAN  SETTLEMENT  OF  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND.  433 

for  consecration  of  elements,  0  merciful  Father,  is  to  be  disliked 
because  it  is  taken  to  be  so  needful  to  the  consecration  that  the 
consecration  is  not  thought  to  be  without  it.  Christ  in  ordaining 
the  sacrament  made  no  petition,  but  a  thanksgiving.  The  sacra- 
ment is  to  be  received  in  our  hands.  The  old  use  of  the  Church 
was  to  communicate  standing  ;  yet  because  it  is  taken  of  some  by  it- 
self to  be  a  sin  to  receive  kneeling,  whereas  of  itself  it  is  lawful, 
it  is  left  indifferent  to  every  man's  choice  to  follow  the  one  way  or 
the  other,  and  to  teach  men  that  it  is  lawful  to  receive  either 
standing  or  kneeling." '  It  was  rather,  therefore,  the  second 
Prayer  Book  of  Edward  than  the  first  which  the  Elizabethan  divines, 
in  the  hope  of  conciliating  the  Protestant — soon  to  be  called  Puritan 
— party,  revived.  In  the  delivery  of  the  elements  the  words  of  the 
first  and  second  books  were  united.  With  some  slight  additions 
made  by  the  queen,  this  Prayer  Book  was  enforced  on  the  nation  by 
the  parliament  of  1559  in  the  act  of  Uniformity.2  The  penalty  for 
the  first  offense  under  the  act  was  a  fine  of  one  hundred  marks  ; 
for  the  second,  four  hundred;  and  for  the  third,  all  the  offender's 
goods  and  life  imprisonment.  Many  of  the  bishops,  however,  and 
nine  temporal  lords,  opposed  the  bill  in  the  upper  house,  and  it 
passed  by  a  majority  of  only  three.  But  the  Prayer  Book  was 
received  immediately  and  used  everywhere.3 

Immediately  before  this  Uniformity  act  was  passed,  parliament 
restored  to  the  crown  its  spiritual  headship  in  an  act,  January, 
1559,  so  stringent  and  sweeping  that  it  would  have  delighted  Hen- 
rv's  own  heart.     It  empowered  the  queen  to  give  com- 

l  j.    x»j_    x       te     •    M.  SPIRITUAL 

missions  to  such  persons  as  she  thought  fit,  to  "visit,  headship 
reform,   redress,  order,  correct,  and  amend  all   such       to  the 

CROWN. 

errors,  heresies,  schisms,  abuses,  offenses,  contempts, 
and  enormities  which  by  any  manner  of  spiritual  ecclesiastical  power, 
authority,  or  jurisdiction  can  or  may  lawfully  be  reformed,  or- 
dered, redressed,  corrected,  or  amended."4  It  makes  this  limita- 
tion, however,  to  irresponsible  judgments  in  that  it  says  that  noth- 
ing shall  be  adjudged  heresy  which  has  not  already  been  so  ad- 
judged by  the  Scriptures,  or  by  the  first  four  councils,  or  by  any 
other  council  which  judged  according  to  the  Scriptures,  or  in  the 

1  Strype,  Annals,  i,  App.,  xiv ;  Procter,  p.  57,  note  4. 

5  This  act  is  printed  in  full  in  Gee  and  Hardy,  Documents  Dlustrative  of 
English  Church  History,  pp.  458  ff. 

3Parkhurst  to  Bullinger,  May,  1559.  "  The  book  set  forth  in  time  of  King 
Edward  is  now  in  general  use  throughout  England." — Zurich  Letters,  i,  29,  31. 

4  For  the  text  of  this  act  see  Gee  and  Hardy,  pp.  442  ff. 
30 


434  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

future  by  the  parliament  and  convocation.  This  in  reality  was  no 
safeguard  to  the  rights  of  conscience,  because  it  left  the  deter- 
mination of  what  was  thus  condemned  to  the  court  and  not  to  the 
" heretic."  But  it  clearly  showed  what  has  already  been  proven, 
namely,  the  intermediate  position  of  the  Church  of  England,  hold- 
ing aloft  both  the  Scriptures  and  the  Acta  Concilia  as  tests  of  or- 
thodoxy, with  final  appeal,  with  true  Erastian  instinct,  to  parlia- 
ment. The  act  also  changed  the  title  of  the  queen  from  supreme 
head  to  supreme  governor — a  distinction  without  a  difference. 
Elizabeth  abated  her  authority  not  one  jot. 

Injunctions  were  also  issued  forbidding,  among  other  things,  the 
extolling  of  images,  clerical  marriages  without  the  permission  of 
the  bishop  and  two  justices  of  the  peace,  the  wearing  of  vestments 
other  than  those  in  use  under  Edward,  and  the  taking  away  of  altars 
except  under  the  supervision  of  the  curate  and  churchwardens,  in 
which  case  the  place  of  the  altar  is  to  be  taken  by  a  table.  Although 
the  injunctions  did  not  command  the  removal  of  im- 
changes—  ages,  it  appears  that  in  some  places  these,  with  other 
ed,  some  objects  of  veneration,  were  both  removed  and  burnt.1 

R.V  TFC TFT) 

Matthew  Parker  was  consecrated  archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury in  the  chapel  of  Lambeth  Palace,  December  17,  1559.  The 
Thirty -nine  Articles  of  Eeligion  were  published  in  1563. 2  Some 
efforts  toward  making  the  Church  more  Protestant  were  thwarted. 
For  instance,  a  petition  of  the  lower  house  of  convocation  to 
the  upper  house  was  drawn  up  embodying  the  following  reforms  : 
(1)  Only  Sundays  to  be  kept  as  holy  days.  (2)  In  church  the 
minister  to  read  the  service  with  his  face  to  the  congregation  and 
distinctly.  (3)  The  sign  of  the  cross  in  baptism  to  be  disused. 
(4)  Kneeling  at  the  communion  not  to  be  obligatory.  (5)  A 
surplice  is  sufficient  vestment  for  all  occasions.  (6)  Let  organs 
be  prohibited.  These  salutary  provisions  were  rejected,  but  by 
a  majority  of  only  one.  Another  attempt  toward  Protestantism 
was  the  catechism  of  Dean  Nowell,  accepted  by  Parker,  and,  with 
alterations,  by  the  lower  house  of  convocation,  but  for  some  rea- 
son it  failed  to  get  through  the  upper  house,  to  the  joy  of  all  An-  i 
glicans  since.  The  catechism  was  of  a  Calvinistic  and  Puritan 
cast.  "  It  would  have  proved  a  serious  burden  to  the  Church  of 
England,"  says  Canon  Perry.3  "  We  may  be  satisfied,"  says  Dean 
Hook,  "  with  expressing  our  deep  sense  of  gratitude  to  the  merci-  i 

1  Heylin,  Hist,  of  Elizabeth,  p.  118  ;  Zurich  Letters,  i,  74. 

2  See  above,  p.  399. 

3  Hist,  of  Church  of  England,  Students'  Series,  ii,  280. 


ELIZABETHAN  SETTLEMENT  OF  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND.  435 

f ul  Providence  which  has  exonerated  us  from  a  burden  which  it 
would  be  difficult  to  sustain."  ' 

A  second  Book  of  Homilies  was  published  in  1563,  intended  es- 
pecially for  the  use  of  ignorant  and  otherwise  incompetent  clergy, 
of  whom  the  Church  of  England  was  then  full.  Ministers  held  a 
plurality  of  livings  ;  they  were  nongraduates  and  illiterate  ;  very 
few  had  real  capacity  ;  many  parishes  were  without  priests  at  all ; 
and  a  contemporary  remark  on  the  clergy  of  Hereford  seems  ap- 
plicable over  a  wide  area  :  "  The  clergy  of  the  cathedral  are  said  to 
be  disreputable  as  well  as  ignorant."2 

The  consecration  of  Parker  as  bishop  has  been  made  the  subject 
of  fierce  controversy,  because  on  it  turns  the  validity  of  the  orders, 
in  the  Catholic  sense,  of  the  Church  of  England.  Various  objec- 
tions have  been  made  to  it. 

1.  The  Nag's  Head  Fable  was  set  forth  in  1603,  and  is  to  the  effect 
that  at  Nag's  Head  tavern,  in  Cheapside,  Parker  and  OBJECTIONS 
other  bishops  were  ordained  in  a  hasty  and  indifferent  £onsecka?'s 
manner,  namely,  by  Scory  placing  a  Bible  on  their  TION- 
heads  or  shoulders,  and  saying,  "Take  the  authority  to  preach  the 
word  of  God  sincerely."3  This  fable  is  now  recognized  as  such  by 
even  Eoman  controversialists,  and  is,  of  course,  never  referred  to 
by  Leo  XIII  in  his  bull  on  English  orders. 

2.  The  fact  of  the  consecration  in  Lambeth  Chapel  has  been  denied 
by  some  on  the  ground  of  alleged  irregularities  in  the  Lambeth 
Episcopal  register.  These  irregularities,  if  they  exist,  can  be  ex- 
plained by  the  methods  of  copyists.  Cooke  says  that  there  were 
those  at  the  time  who  denied  the  existence  of  the  register,4  but  the 
only  one  he  quotes  is  Harding,  the  Eoman  Catholic  antagonist  of 
Jewel,  who  says,  "  We  say  to  you,  Mr.  Jewel,  show  us  the  regis- 
ter of  your  bishop."  But  on  turning  to  the  original  of  this  quota- 
tion— Cooke  does  not  give  the  place — we  find  that  Harding  does 
not  refer  to  the  Parker  register  at  all,  and  never  mentions  Parker, 
but  is  quoting  Tertullian  in  a  free  translation  for  the  purpose  of 
impugning  the  apostolic  succession  of  the  Church  of  England. 
"  Tell  us  the  original  and  first  spring  of  your  Church.  Show  us 
the  register  (ordinem)  of  your  bishops  continually  succeeding 
one  another  from  the  beginning,  so  that  the  first  bishop  have  some 
one  of  the  apostles  or  of  apostolic  men  for  his  author  and  prede- 

1  Lives  of  the  Archbishops  of  Canterbury,  ix,  354. 

2  State  Papers  of  Elizabeth  (Domestic),  xvii,  32. 
3Tierney's  Dodd,  vol.  ii,  Appendix,  xlii ;  Perry,  ii,  282. 
4  Cooke,  Historic  Episcopate,  N.  Y.,  1896,  p.  47. 


436  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

cessor." '  Harding  argues  against  the  English  hierarchy  on  the 
ground  that  they  had  separated  from  Catholic  belief,  that  their 
bishops  did  not  have  confirmation  of  the  bishop  of  Rome,  and  that 
even  if  they  received  consecration,  those  conferring  it  had  no  au- 
thority, and  therefore  the  ceremony  was  invalid.  Jewel  replies 
that  he  (Jewel)  was  consecrated  by  three  bishops  and  the  metro- 
politan, but  challenges  Harding  to  bring  a  canon  making  a  con- 
firmation by  the  pope  necessary.  He  also  quotes  canonists  to  prove 
that  a  consecration  by  even  one  bishop  is  valid.  Jewel  says  again  : 
"  Our  bishops  are  made  in  form  and  order,  as  they  have  been  ever, 
by  free  election  of  the  chapter  ;  by  consecration  of  the  archbishop 
and  three  other  bishops,  and  by  the  admission  of  the  prince. "a 
In  addition  to  this  it  is  a  fact  that  for  forty-four  years  every  Eoman 
writer  in  England  proceeded  on  the  assumption  of  the  actual  ordi- 
nation of  Parker  as  commonly  held  ;  that  not  one  of  them  ever  de- 
nied it.3  There  are,  indeed,  few  events  in  history  up  to  that  time 
more  certainly  and  amply  attested  by  contemporaneous  evidence 
evidence  than  the  consecration  of  Parker,  and  the  methods  of 
crationSof  reasoning  adopted  by  its  impugners  would  lead  to  uni- 
parker.  versal  skepticism.     "Of  this  consecration  there  re- 

mains a  long  and  minute  detailed  account  in  the  register  of  Lam- 
beth, and  a  contemporaneous  transcript  of  the  consecration  part  of 
it  in  the  library  of  Corpus  Christi  College,  Cambridge.  There  are 
notices  of  it,  also,  in  a  great  number  of  diocesan  registers ;  in  the 
registers  of  the  Prerogative  Court  of  Canterbury  ;  in  thirty  or  forty 
documents  in  the  Rolls ;  in  a  large  mass  of  contemporary  letters 
and  documents  preserved  in  Corpus  Christi  College,  Cambridge ;  in 
papers  preserved  in  Zurich,  and  not  known  in  England  until  1685  ; 
in  Parker's  own  book,  De  Antiquitate  Britannise  Ecclesiae,  printed 
in  1572,  and  in  many  other  places."4  The  fact  of  the  consecra- 
tion, therefore,  is  indisputable,  and  in  Leo  XIII's  bull  (Apostolicae 
Curae,  1896)  against  Anglican  orders  he  omits  entirely  mention  of 
defects  of  this  nature. 

3.  It  has  been  said  that  the  consecration  is  invalid  because  Bar- 
low, the  chief  consecrator,  was  himself  not  consecrated.     Even  if 

1  Edant  ergo  origines  ecclesiarum  suarum  :  evolvant  ordinem  episcoporum 
suorum,  ita  per  successiones  ab  initio  decurrentem,  ut  primus  ille  episcopus 
aliquem  ex  apostolis. — Tertull.,  De  Praescript.  Hser.,  xxxii.  See  Harding,  in 
Jewel,  Works,  iii,  321  (Parker  Soc). 

2  Works,  iii,  330,  334. 

3Haddan,  Apostolic  Succession  in  the  Church  of  England,  Lond.,  1869,  pp. 
181,  201. 

4 Perry,  Hist,  of  the  English  Church,  Lond.,  1887,  ii,  270. 


ELIZABETHAN  SETTLEMENT  OF  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND.  437 

this  were  true  of  Barlow,  the  conclusion  would  not  follow  if  the 
other  consecrators  were  ordained.  But  there  is  not  the  slightest 
evidence  for  it,  except  the  loss  of  the  certificate  of  Ag  T0 
Barlow's  consecration,  which  is  no  evidence  that  the  cons&-W'8 
consecration  did  not  take  place,  because  the  registers  ckation. 
of  men  concerning  whose  ordination  as  bishops  there  has  never  been 
a  dispute,  like  Gardiner  of  Winchester,  are  irrevocably  lost.  Even 
the  Roman  historian,  Lingard,  says  :  "  When  we  find  Barlow  dur- 
ing ten  years,  the  remainder  of  Henry's  reign,  constantly  associated 
as  a  bishop  with  the  other  consecrated  bishops,  discharging  with 
them  all  the  duties,  both  spiritual  and  secular,  of  a  consecrated 
bishop,  summoned  equally  with  them  to  parliament  and  convoca- 
tion, taking  his  seat  among  them  according  to  his  seniority,  and 
voting  on  all  subjects  as  one  of  them,  it  seems  most  unreasonable 
to  suppose,  without  direct  proof,  that  he  had  never  received  that 
sacred  rite  without  which,  according  to  the  laws  of  both  Church 
and  State,  he  could  not  have  become  a  member  of  the  episcopal 
body."1 

It  is  said  by  Cooke  that  in  the  making  of  a  bishop  ordination 
was  not  considered  necessary  in  Eeformation  England,  appoint- 
ment by  the  sovereign  being  all  that  was  required.2  Passages  that 
look  that  way  in  the  writings  of  the  times  refer  to  what  was  abso- 
lutely requisite  to  the  existence  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  and  not 
to  what  was  ordinarily  requisite  to  the  well-being  of  the  Church. 
Why  were  all  the  English  bishops  ordained  in  the  usual  way  ?  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  both  Henry  and  Elizabeth  were  Catholic  in  their 
conceptions  of  Church  order,  and  would  have  regarded  with  horror 
an  unordained  priest  or  bishop  officiating  in  the  sacred  service. 
Cooke  says  also  that  the  Edwardine  ordinal  recognizes  no  distinc- 
tion in  order  between  a  bishop  and  a  presbyter.3  It  is  true  that  the 
ordinal  (not  of  1549,  as  Cooke  calls  it,  when  no  ordinal  existed, 
but  the  ordinal  of  1550,  as  afterward  revised  and  published  first  in 
the  Prayer  Book  of  1552)  does  not  use  the  word  "  order  "  or  "  or- 
dering "  in  its  "  form  of  consecrating  of  an  archbishop  or  bishop," 
but  it  has  a  separate  service  for  the  consecrating  of  a  bishop,  a  serv- 
ice which  makes  it  in  effect  a  third  order.  At  the  bottom,  and 
according  to  the  apostolic  Church,  the  mediaeval  canonists  freely 
acknowledge  the  identity  of  priest  and  bishop.  Could  the  Angli- 
cans do  less  ?     But  both  Churches  held  to  the  necessity  of  episco- 

1  Hist,  of  England,  6th  rev.  ed.,  vol.  vi,  app.  DD. 

2  Historic  Episcopate,  pp.  49,  52. 
3 Ibid.,  p.  69. 


438  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

pal  ordination  for  the  clue  and  safe  constituting  of  a  Church.  This 
the  ordinal  assumes  throughout. ' 

4.  A  defect  in  the  form  of  ordination,  the  words  used  being 
"  Take  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  remember  that  thou  stir  up,"  as  in 
the  defect  2  Tim.  i,  6,  7,  whereas  it  is  claimed  that  the  name  of 
in  form.  ^e  0fgce  or  or(ier  to  which  the  person  ordained  is  ad- 
mitted should  be  part  of  the  form.  But  this  is  the  exact  form  used 
in  some  of  the  Latin  services  of  the  old  Church,  and  never  ques- 
tioned. The  essence  of  ordination  in  the  Catholic  sense  is  prayer 
and  imposition  of  hands,  and  the  form  of  words  is  indifferent.2 

5.  A  defect  in  intention.  Did  the  English  ordinal  intend  to 
consecrate  a  priest  or  bishop  in  the  Catholic  sense  ?  This  is  the 
gravamen  of  the  Eoman  objections.  Leo  XIII  says,  No,  because  a 
Catholic  intention  in  ordination  points  to  one  who  is  to  sacrifice 
the  unbloody  offering  of  the  mass,  and  not  to  a  minister  or  priest 
who  is  to  consecrate  elements  which  are  sacramentally  the  body 
and  blood  of  Christ  and  to  be  received  spiritually.     Everything 

that  sets  forth  the  "  dignity  and  office  of  the  priest- 

THE  DEFECT        »-..,«,,.., 

of  inten-        hood  m  the    Catholic  rite  has  been  deliberately  re- 

TION.  . 

moved  from  the  Anglican  ordinal.3  In  the  whole 
ordinal  not  only  is  there  no  clear  mention  of  the  sacrifice,  of  con- 
secration, of  the  sacerdotium,  and  of  the  power  of  consecration 
and  offering  sacrifice,  but  every  trace  of  these  things  in  the  Latin 
rites  is  purposely  struck  out."4  This  is  the  vital  point,  and  from 
the  Roman  standpoint  it  completely  vitiates  English  orders.  The 
only  reply  from  the  Anglican  side  is  to  say,  "  We  intend  to  do  what 
the  ancient  Church  intended  to  do  in  conferring  orders,  and  if  you 
require  more  than  that,  so  much  the  worse  for  you."  Then  Rome 
could  say,  "  The  Catholic  Church  is  a  living  organism,  and  to  be 
part  of  it  you  must  be  in  harmony  with  mediaeval  and  present  Chris- 
tendom as  well  as  with  what  you  think  was  the  ancient  teaching." 

If  286  people  (including  46  women)  perished  for  Protestantism 
under  Mary,  not  including  those  who  died  in  prison — computed  at 
68 — 204  perished  for  Catholicism  under  Elizabeth.6    Of  these  latter 

1  For  text  of  Edw.  ordinal  see  Cardwell,  Two  Liturgies  of  Edw.  VI,  pp.  398  ff. 

2  See  Brightman,  What  Objections  have  been  Made  to  English  Orders,  Lond., 
1897,  in  publications  of  Church  Historical  Society,  i,  153  ff. 

3  Leo's  Bull  on  English  Orders,  §7.  476iU,  §  8. 

5  See  full  table  of  Marian  martyrs  in  Perry,  ii,  251.  For  Elizabethan  martyrs 
see  Butler,  Memoirs  of  English,  Irish,  and  Scottish  Catholics,  i,  176  ff.  ;  Lee, 
Church  under  Queen  Elizabeth,  i,  140  ff.,  ii,  passim  ;  Brady,  Annals  of  the 
Catholic  Hierarchy  in  England  and  Scotland,  Rome,  1877,  pp.  37-60 ;  Milner, 
Letters  to  a  Prebendary,  1st  ed. ,  often  reprinted. 


ELIZABETHAN  SETTLEMENT  OF  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND.  439 

15  are  said  by  Milner  to  have  died  for  denying  the  queen's  spiritual 
supremacy,  126  for  exercising  the  priesthood,  and  the  others  for 
returning  to  the  old  Church  or  for  succoring  priests.  This  does 
not  include  those  who  died  for  real  or  imaginary  plots, 
nor  the  90  who  died  in  prison,  nor  the  105  who  were  the  church 
banished.  "I  say  nothing,"  says  Milner,  "  of  many  human 
more  who  were  whipped,  fined  (the  fine  for  recusancy 
— not  attending  church — was  £20  a  month),  or  stripped  of  their 
property  to  the  utter  ruin  of  their  families.  In  one  night  50  Cath- 
olic gentlemen  in  the  county  of  Lancaster  were  suddenly  seized 
and  committed  to  prison  on  account  of  their  nonattendance  at 
church.  At  the  same  time  I  find  an  equal  number  of  Yorkshire 
gentlemen  lying  prisoners  in  York  Castle  on  the  same  account, 
most  of  whom  perished  there.  These  were  every  week,  for  a 
twelvemonth  together,  dragged  by  main  force  to  hear  the  estab- 
lished service  performed  in  the  castle  chapel."  Under  the  pretext 
of  treason,  to  which,  of  course,  they  made  themselves  liable  for  re- 
fusing to  acknowledge  the  queen  as  the  religious  dictator  of  Eng- 
land, many  of  them  were  put  to  death  with  the  horrible  barbarity 
which  the  laws  sanctioned,  namely,  hung,  cut  down  alive,  disem- 
boweled, and  beheaded.  Tudor  history  has  made  us  familiar  with 
all  this,  and  it  is  not  necessary  to  dwell  upon  it ;,  but 
there  was  one  peculiarity  of  the  penal  processes  under  torture. 
Elizabeth  which  gives  her  reign  a  bad  preeminence — the  universal 
use  of  torture.  This  was  employed  occasionally  by  her  predecessors, 
but  in  her  reign  this  horrible  method  of  eliciting  the  desired  in- 
formation or  confessions  was  employed  on  the  wholesale.1 

For  this  persecution  it  cannot  be  denied  that  there  was  provoca- 
tion.    First:  Pius  V,  a  pope  of  austere  morals  and  profound  con- 
victions of  duty,  but  without  statesmanship  or  insight, 
issued  a  bull  of  excommunication  against  Elizabeth,    of  excom- 
February  25,  1570,  in  which  she  was  deprived  of  her 
crown  and  her  subjects  absolved  from  allegiance.2     Although  this 

1  For  full  details  see  Butler,  i,  180  ff. ;  Burke,  Historical  Portraits  of  the 
Tudor  Dynasty,  iv,  97  ff .  ;  Lee,  ii,  279  ff.  and  elsewhere. 

8  For  the  text  of  this  bull  in  Latin  and  English  see  Sanders,  De  Origine  ac 
Progressu  Schismatis  Anglicani,  lib.  iv,  c.  8,  tr.  Lewis,  Lond.,  1877,  first  pub. 
1585  ;  Tierney,  Dodd's  Church  Hist,  of  England,  iii,  p.  ii ;  W.  E.  Collins,  The 
English  Reformation  and  its  Consequences,  Lond.,  1898,  pp.  242  ff.  The  bull 
was  rescinded  by  Gregory  Xni,  April  5,  1580,  so  far  as  it  bound  English 
Catholics  in  their  present  circumstances,  but  was  renewed  by  Sixtus  V  on  con- 
dition of  the  success  of  the  Armada.  For  Sixtus's  bull  see  Butler,  i,  197  ;  and 
for  his  interest  in  the  Armada  see  Hiibner,  Sixtus  Y,  i,  352  ff. 


440  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

bull  fell  absolutely  flat,  and  was  either  practically  or  expressly  re- 
pudiated by  almost  every  responsible  Catholic  in  England,  it  yet 
gave  occasion  for  untold  suffering. 

Second  :  This  bull  gave  excuse  to  Philip  to  fit  out  his  Invincible 
Armada,  1588,  as  the  Spaniards  foolishly  called  it — armada  being 
the  Spanish  name  for  any  armed  fleet.  How  this  great  enterprise 
of  one  hundred  and  twenty  ships  went  to  pieces  against  the  better 
ships,  the  heavier  guns,  and  the  more  trained  marksmanship  and 
seamanship  of  the  English  sailors — helped  by  adverse  winds  and 
the  Spanish  storms — is  a  familiar  story.  The  victory  of  1588  was 
armada.  repeated  for  exactly  the  same  reasons — except  storms 

— by  the  American  victories  of  Manila  and  Santiago  in  1898.  Here 
again  the  loyalty  of  the  Catholics  was  unimpeachable.  The  admiral 
of  the  English  fleet  was  himself  a  Catholic,  Lord  Howard  of  Ef- 
fingham, and  Catholics  freely  offered  themselves  for  their  country. 
"  The  very  presence  of  such  a  man  as  Admiral  Howard/'  says  the 
historian  Gardiner,  "was  a  token  of  patriotic  fervor  of  which 
Philip  and  the  Jesuits  had  taken  no  account,  but  which  made  the 
great  majority  of  Catholics  draw  their  sword  for  their  queen  and 
country."  ' 

Third :  A  seminary  was  established  for  the  education  of  Eng- 
lish priests  at  Douai,  in  Flanders,  in  1568,  and  the  mission  of  these 
priests  was  the  reconversion  of  England.  The  missioners  were  bent 
on  religious  work  only,  refrained  from  political  intrigue,  and  re- 
joiced in  martyrdom  for  their  faith.  No  doubt  they  would  have 
the  douai  welcomed  the  succession  of  a  Catholic,  and  some  of 
seminary.  them  may  have  been  parties  to  plots;  but  it  is  incon- 
testable that  the  missioners  as  a  class  confined  themselves  to  minis- 
tering in  spiritual  things  in  furtive  ways,  and  in  constant  dread  of 
death.  The  assertion  of  some  Anglican  historians 2  that  these  priests 
were  traitors  seems  absolutely  without  warrant.  The  facts  are  that 
of  the  200  Catholics — more  or  less — who  were  executed  under 
Elizabeth,  only  one  impugned  her  title  to  the  throne ;  that  the 
priests  persisted  to  the  moment  of  death  in  denying  their  guilt,  ex- 
cept in  matters  of  faith  and  their  mission  as  priests ;  and  that  no 
treason  was  proved.  Although  the  trials  were,  as  usual  in  those 
days,  conducted  with  barbarous  disregard  for  justice,  there  is  not 
an  instance  in  which  the  tortures  on  which  their  judges  depended 
produced  a  confession  of  guilt,  even  if  a  confession  extorted  by 
torture  is  valueless  as  evidence. 

One  of  the  most  pious  and  heroic  of  these  priests,  Edmund  Cam- 

1  Students'  Hist,  of  England,  p.  460.  2  For  instance,  Perry,  ii,  357. 


ELIZABETHAN  SETTLEMENT  OF  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND.  441 

pion,  spoke  for  his  brethren  as  well  as  himself  in  his  trial.  "You 
refuse,"  said  the  persecutor,  "  to  swear  to  the  oath  of  supremacy?  " 
"I  acknowledge/'  answered  Campion,  "her  highness 
as  my  governor  and  sovereign.  I  acknowledged  before  campion. 
the  commissioners  her  majesty  to  be  my  queen  both  de  facto  and  de 
jure."  When  the  question  was  put  to  him  whether  a  papal  excom- 
munication of  a  sovereign  absolved  him  from  allegiance,  he  answered 
that  though  he  could  not  admit  that  it  would,  yet  the  question 
was  a  scholastic  one,  in  dispute  among  theologians,  and  as  it  formed 
no  part  of  the  indictment  it  ought  not  to  be  asked.  At  his  execu- 
tion he  again  protested  his  innocence  of  offense  against  the  queen  : 
"In  this  I  am  innocent ;  this  is  my  last  breath  ;  in  this  give  me 
credit.  I  have,  and  I  do  pray  for  her."  Lord  Charles  Howard  asked 
him  for  which  queen  he  prayed,  for  Elizabeth  the  queen  ?  Campion 
replied,  "  Yes,  for  Elizabeth,  your  queen  and  my  queen."  ' 

This  was  an  age  of  assassination,  and  there  is  no  wonder  if  plots 
were  hatched  to  make  away  with  Elizabeth.  Nor  can  there  be 
any  doubt  that  at  that  time  both  Protestants  and  Catholics 
believed  that  the  sudden  and  violent  taking  off  of  a  ruler  who 
to  them  was  a  tyrant  and  persecutor  was  considered 
perfectly  justifiable.  "Melanchthon  prayed  for  a  brave 
man  to  dispatch  Henry  VIII ;  the  brave  man  who  dispatched  the 
duke  of  Guise  was  praised  by  Beza  to  the  skies  ;  Knox  wished  the 
doom  of  Rizzio  to  be  inflicted  on  every  Catholic ;  the  Swedish 
bishops  recommended  that  a  dose  of  poison  should  be  mixed  with 
the  king's  food."8  A  fanatical  Dominican  stabbed  Henry  III  of 
France  in  1598,  and  Henry  IV  was  put  to  death  in  the  same  way 
by  Ravaillac  in  1610,  the  king's  life  having  been  attempted  nine- 
teen times.  Gerrards  in  1584  shot  William  of  Orange.  The 
wonder  is  that  more  plots  were  not  the  outcome  of  the  horrible 
dealings  of  this  reign  ;  for,  as  Hallam  says,  the  disaffection  of 
Catholics,  so  far  as  it  existed,  was  due  to  their  unjust  persecution.3 

1  Butler,  i,  190,  191,  239,  240.  See  the  remarkable  testimony  of  Plowden, 
Remarks  on  a  book  entitled,  Memoirs  of  Gregorio  Panzain,  1794,  quoted  by 
Butler,  i,  200-206.  In  view  of  the  facts  stated  above,  notice  such  a  statement 
as  this  :  ' '  It  is  probable  that  at  no  time  during  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  would  a 
Romanist  priest  who  was  ready  to  disclaim  the  deposing  power  of  the  pope, 
and  to  profess  his  loyal  allegiance  to  the  queen,  have  incurred  sentence  of 
death."— Perry,  ii,  357. 

2 Lord  Acton,  in  Quar.  Rev.,  Lond.,  Jan.,  1877,  art.  i. 

3  Constitutional  Hist,  of  England,  i,  160,  161.  He  attributes  the  "  whole,  or 
nearly  the  whole,  of  their  disaffection  to  her  unjust  aggressions  on  the  liberty 
of  conscience." 


442  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

(1)  The  insurrection  of  the  earls  of  Northumberland  and  West- 
moreland in  1569,  though  in  the  Catholic  interest,  was  left  in  the 
lurch  by  the  Catholics  generally.1  (2)  The  supposed  plot  of  Throg- 
morton  in  connection  with  the  dukes  of  Guise,  1583,  rests  on  no 
substantial  basis.  When  racked  he  protested  innocence,  then  on 
farther  racking  he  confessed,  afterward  retracted  his  confession, 
and  died  asserting  innocence.  (3)  Parry,  first  a  Protestant  spy 
employed  by  the  queen's  ministers,  then  a  Catholic  and  a  member 
of  parliament,  where  he  used  his  influence  for  toleration,  was  ar- 
rested on  a  charge  of  a  plot  to  assassinate  the  queen,  wrote  a  con- 
fession of  it — perhaps  with  a  view  to  pardon — and  afterward,  when 
condemned,  retracted  his  confession,  saying  it  was  extorted  from 
him  by  dread  of  torture,  and  cried  out  that  he  "  never  meant  to 
kill  the  queen,  and  that  he  would  lay  his  blood  upon  her  and  his 
judges  before  God  and  the  world,"  and  to  this  he  adhered  until  his 
execution,  March,  1585.  It  is  no  wonder  that  Hallam  refuses  to 
pronounce  on  his  guilt.2  (4)  John  Somerville,  a  son-in-law  of 
Edward  Arden,  a  relative  of  Mary  ( Arden)  Shakespeare,  the  mother 
of  the  dramatist,  was  convicted  of  conspiracy  with  his  father-in- 
law.  The  plot  was  probably  the  invention  of  Leicester,  the  enemy 
of  the  Ardens.3  (5)  The  only  plot  that  is  well  on  the  field  of  his- 
tory is  that  of  Babington,  in  which  Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  then  a 
prisoner  at  Fotheringay,  nine  miles  from  Peterborough,  was  impli- 
tthe  babing-  cated.  Even  of  the  genuineness  of  this  plot  there  are 
ton  plot.  doubts,  and  historians  are  divided.  Walsingham,  one 
of  the  great  men  that  survived  Elizabeth,  had  reduced  deception 
to  an  exact  science,  and  it  is  acknowledged  by  all  that  he  used  this 
science  in  entrapping  Mary  in  his  toils,  though  as  to  the  reality  of 
a  continental  plan  for  the  restoration  of  Catholicism  in  England, 
to  which  through  Walsingham's  agency  Mary  fell  victim,  there  can 
be  no  doubt. 

A  recent  writer  says  that  the  "  real  fountain  head  of  Babington's, 
or,  as  some  have  called  it,  Walsingham's  conspiracy,  and  the  chief 
confederates,  were  spies  in  the  pay  of  Walsingham,  and  all  the  cor- 
respondence of  Mary  and  her  friends  passed  through  his  hands." 

1  "  The  mass  of  the  Catholics  throughout  the  country  made  no  sign  ;  and  the 
earls  no  sooner  halted  in  the  presence  of  this  unexpected  inaction  than  their 
army  caught  the  panic  and  dispersed.  ...  It  was  the  general  inaction  of  the 
Catholics  which  had  foiled  the  hopes  of  the  northern  earls. " — Green,  Short 
Hist.,  Lond.  ed.,  p.  383. 

"L.  c,  i,  161,  note.     See  Butler,  i,  249-254. 

3  Butler,  i,  254 ;  Baynes,  Shakespeare,  in  Encyc.  Brit. ,  9th  ed. ,  xxi,  790.  Hal- 
lam calls  Somerville  a  half -lunatic. 


ELIZABETHAN  SETTLEMENT  OF  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND.  443 

Mary  charged  him  with  having  interpolated  the  last  letter  of  Bab- 
ington,  which  was  the  principal  evidence  of  her  complicity  in  the 
plot  to  murder  Elizabeth.  "  His  administration  of  foreign  affairs 
was  founded  on  a  system  of  bribery,  espionage,  and  deception.  He 
is  said  to  have  had  in  his  pay  fifty-three  agents  and  eighteen  spies 
in  various  countries." '  In  an  age  when  diplomacy  was  universally 
tainted  with  intrigues  and  lies,  the  astute  Walsingham  would  no 
doubt  have  considered  that  he  was  doing  God's  service  in  encompass- 
ing the  death  of  one  who  he  must  have  believed  endangered  Eng- 
land while  she  lived.  The  trial  of  Mary  was,  as  Hallam  says,  an 
illustration  of  that  "  shameful  breach  of  legal  rules  almost  universal 
in  trials  of  high  treason  during  the  reign  of  Elizabeth." 8 

Such  are  the  palliations  of  the  restored  Church-State's  persecu- 
tions of  the  Catholics.  When  we  consider  the  splendid  loyalty  of 
the  Catholics  in  the  face  of  unparalleled  provocation,  the  murder- 
ous venom  of  her  tortures  and  hangings  stains  the  history  of  the 
Church  of  England  in  her  hour  of  triumph  with  ineffaceable  dis- 
honor and  reproach.3 

The  persecution  of  the  Puritans,  as  the  Protestant  party  in  the 
Church  of  England  came  to  be  called,  and  the  mar-  THE 
tyrdom  of  the  Congregationalists,  will  be  considered  ^titto'I 
later.     From  the  English  Reformation,  as  finally  es-  p^T  THE 
tablished  under  Elizabeth,  has  evolved  the  Church  of  TANTS- 
England,  which   has  continued   without  radical   change   to    the 
twentieth  century. 

'Art.  Walsingham,  Sir  Francis,  in  Chambers'  Encyc,  ed.  1893,  x,  540. 

si.  &,  i,  164. 

3  There  is  much  of  truth  in  this  complaint  of  a  Catholic  writer  :  "For  three 
centuries  and  more,  according  to  their  opportunities  and  the  progressive  stages 
of  opinion  and  civilization,  the  Anglicans  have  burned  us  and  hanged  us, 
ripped  us  up,  confiscated  our  private  property,  seized  our  churches,  universities, 
ecclesiastical  titles  and  revenues,  kept  us  out  of  parliament,  insulted  our  hier- 
archy, and  in  all  possible  ways  made  the  exercise  of  our  faith  difficult." — 
Cor.  of  The  Tablet,  Lond.,  Feb.  17,  1877. 


444  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


LITERATUEE :  SCOTTISH  REFORMATION. 

SOURCES  AND    OLDER  WORKS. 

Book  of  the  Universal  Kirk  (Bannatyne  Club),  3  vols.,  Edinb.,  1839-45; 
Works  of  John  Knox,  ed.  by  D.  Laing,  6  vols.,  Edinb.,  1846-64  ;  Collection  of 
Confessions  of  Faith,  Catechisms,  etc.,  of  Authority  in  the  Ch.  of  Scotland,  ed. 
by  Dunlop,  Edinb.,  1719  ;  D.  Calderwood,  Hist,  of  the  Kirk  of  Scotland,  ed.  from 
MSS.  by  T.  Thomson,  8  vols.,  Edinb.,  1842-49,  the  best  original  authority, 
with  Knox  ;  J.  Row  (d.  1646),  Hist,  of  the  Kirk  of  Scotland,  1558-1637,  printed 
from  MSS.  by  Maitland  Club,  2  vols.,  Edinb.,  1842,  and  by  the  Wodrow  Soc., 
1842;  J.  Spotiswood  (d.  1639),  Hist,  of  Ch.  and  State  of  Scotland,  203-1625, 
Lond.,  1655;  best  ed.,  3  vols.,  Edinb.,  1847-51 — Episcopalian — many  errors 
pointed  out  by  Lee  ;  R.  Wodrow  (d.  1734),  Hist,  of  Sufferings  of  the  Ch.  of 
Scotland,  with  memoir,  4  vols.,  Glas.  1849;  Analecta,  4  vols.,  Edinb.  (Mait- 
land Club),  1843  ;  Collections  upon  the  Lives  of  the  Reformers  and  most  emi- 
nent ministers  of  the  Ch.  of  Scotland,  Glas. ,  1834  ;  all  of  first  importance. 

MODERN   WORKS. 

1.  McCrie,  Thomas.    Life  of  John  Knox.    Edinb. ,  1811 ;  2d  ed. ,  1813  ;  5th  ed. , 

1831;  6th  ed.,  1839.  This  epoch-making  and  standard  book  first  set 
Knox  forth  in  true  light  by  an  exhaustive  study  of  the  original  sources. 
P.  Hume  Brown  only  confirms  the  conclusions  of  McCrie  in  all  essential 
particulars.     Life  of  Andrew  Melville.     2  vols.    Edinb.,  1819. 

2.  Cook,  Geo.    Hist,  of  Ref.  in  Scotland.    Edinb.,  1811 ;  2d  ed.,  3  vols.,  1819. 

3.  McCrie,  Thomas  (son  of  No.   1,  above).     Scottish  Church  History,  1517- 

1630.  2  vols.  Edinb.,  1841 ;  4th  ed.,  1846  (2  vols.  inl).  Excellent.  The 
Scottish  Church  from  the  Reformation  to  the  Disruption.     Edinb.,  1875. 

4.  Hetherington,  W.  M.    Hist,  of  Ch.  of  Scotland.    Edinb.,  1843  ;  N.  Y.,  1881. 

5.  Stephen,  Thomas.     Hist,  of  Church  of  Scotland  from  Reformation  to  the 

Present.     4  vols.     Lond.,  1843-44.     Episcopal. 

6.  Cunningham,  John.     Church  Hist,  of  Scotland,   from  Earliest  Times  to 

Present  Century.     2  vols.     Edinb.,  1859.     Impartial. 

7.  Lee,  John.     Hist,  of  Church  of  Scotland  from  Reformation  to  1690,  with 

notes,  appendices  from  the  author's  papers  and  by  his  son,  the  editor, 
Wm.  Lee.     2  vols.    Edinb.,  1860.     Admirable. 

8.  Grub,  G.     Eccl.  Hist,  of  Scotland.     4  vols.     Edinb.,  1861.     Good.     Epis. 

9.  Brandes,  F.     John  Knox.     Elberfeld,  1862. 

10.  Stanley,  A.  P.     Hist,  of  Church  of  Scotland.     Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1872. 

11.  Rainy,  R.    Three  Lect.  on  Ch.  of  Scotland.    Edinb.,  1872.    Reply  to  Stanley. 

12.  Taylor,  W.  M.     John  Knox.     N.  Y.,  1885. 

13.  Bellesheim,  A.  Hist,  of  Cath.  Ch.  in  Scotland.    4  vols.    Tr. ,  Edinb. ,  1887-89. 

Roman  Catholic. 

14.  Stephen,  W.  Hist,  of  the  Scottish  Church.  2  vols.  Edinb.,  1896.  Episcopal. 

15.  Brown,  P.  Hume.     John  Knox.      2  vols.      Edinb.  1895-96.     Fine,  able. 

16.  Innes,  A.  T.     John  Knox.     Edinb.  and  N.  Y.,  1898.     The  best  short  life. 


SCOTTISH   REFORMATION— THE   MARTYR  PERIOD.        445 


CHAPTEE    IX. 

THE    SCOTTISH    REFORMATION-THE    MARTYR    PERIOD. 

The  moral  and  intellectual  degradation  of  the  Eoman  Church 
in  Scotland,  which  portended  a  reformation,  has  already  been  de- 
scribed.1 In  beginning  a  treatment  of  the  Eeformation  itself  it  is 
well  to  speak  first  of  those  brave  witnesses  whose  blood  was  the 
seed  of  a  purer  Church. 

As  early  as  1407  John  Eesby,  a  Lollard,  was  burned  for  heresy, 
and  in  1432  Paul  Craw,  a  Bohemian  Husite,  suffered  the  same  fate 
at  St.  Andrews.  To  prevent  his  giving  testimony  at  his  burning, 
his  mouth  was  gagged  by  a  ball  of  brass.  But  the  martyrdom 
itself  was  a  sufficient  testimony.  In  1494  several  men  and  women 
were  brought  up  before  the  archbishop  of  Glasgow.  From  the  arti- 
cles of  accusation,  which  Knox  copied  from  the  Glasgow  registers, 
it  appears  that  they  denied  the  lawfulness  of  images,  worship  of 
relics,  war,  tithes,  indulgences,  papal  jurisdiction  over  purgatory, 
swearing,  priestly  celibacy,  transubstantiation,  excom-  early 
munications,  and  worship  of  the  Virgin.  They  held  martyrs. 
that  we  are  not  more  bound  to  pray  in  the  kirk  than  in  other  places, 
that  we  are  not  bound  to  believe  all  the  doctors  of  the  kirk  have 
written,  that  such  as  worship  the  "sacrament  of  the  kirk"  com- 
mit idolatry,  that  the  pope  is  Antichrist,  that  he  and  his  ministers 
are  murderers,  and  that  they  who  are  called  principals  in  the 
Church  are  thieves  and  robbers.2  King  James  IV  himself  presided 
at  this  trial,  and  so  aptly  and  vigorously  did  the  Lollards  of  Kyle, 
as  they  were  called,  defend  themselves,  that  for  that  and  other  rea- 
sons the  king  would  not  allow  them  to  be  put  to  death.  They 
were  dismissed  with  the  caution  to  give  up  their  heresies. 

Whether  through  the  influence  of  the  kiug  or  for  other  reasons, 
no  one  suffered  on  account  of  faith  for  several  years.  The  Lollard 
preaching  still  went  on  ;  Tyndale's  Bibles  were  circulated  ;  and  the 
way  was  preparing  for  Knox.     Eventually  alarm  spread  through 

1  See  above,  i,  645-647.  For  a  fuller  description  see  McCrie,  Life  of  Knox, 
6th  ed.,  pp.  9-15. 

2  Works  of  John  Knox,  ed.  Laing,  Edinb.,  1846,  vol.  i,  pp.  8  ff.  Calderwood, 
Hist,  of  the  Kirk  of  Scotland  (Wodrow  Soc),  i,  50  ff.  Calderwood  thinks  it 
doubtful  whether  some  of  these  charges  were  not  false. 


446  HISTORY   OP   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

the  Church,  and  in  1525  the  Scottish  parliament  responded  to  it 
by  an  act  of  unmistakable  tenor.  "  Forasmuch  as  damnable  here- 
sies are  being  spread  in  divers  countries  by  the  heretic  Luther  and 
his  disciples,  and  this  realm  and  lieges  have  firmly  persisted  in  the 
holy  faith  since  the  same  was  first  received  by  them,  and  never  as 
yet  admitted  any  opinions  contrary  to  the  Christian 
tary  act  faith,  but  ever  have  been  clean  of  all  such  filth  and 
Lutheran  vice  ;  theref  ore,  that  no  manner  of  person — stranger — 
that  happens  to  arrive  with  the  ship  within  any  part 
of  this  realm,  bring  with  them  any  books  or  works  of  the  said  Lu- 
ther's, his  disciples  or  servants,  dispute  or  rehearse  his  heresies  or 
opinions  unless  it  be  to  the  confusion  thereof,  under  the  pain  of 
escheating  of  their  ship  and  goods,  and  putting  of  their  person  in 
prison."  It  appears  that  the  Leith  and  other  east  coast  town  skip- 
pers had  carried  on  quite  a  profitable  trade  in  Tyndale's  Bibles, 
which  were  printed  in  Cologne.1  Scotland  was  in  a  fair  way  of 
being  leavened  with  Protestantism,  and  this  aroused  the  Church, 
authorities  to  look  around  again  for  victims.  This  time  their  eye 
met  a  shining  mark. 

Patrick  Hamilton,  of  knightly  blood  on  his  father's  side  and  of 
royal  blood  on  his  mother's  (though  both  parents  were  illegitimate), 
the  cousin  of  two  bishops  and  related  to  other  persons  in  high 
places,  was  a  brilliant  young  Scotchman  of  pure  and  noble  char- 
acter. He  graduated  at  the  university  of  Paris  in  1520  and  then 
proceeded  to  Louvain,  where  a  college  for  the  study  of  Hebrew, 
Greek,  and  Latin  had  been  founded  in  1507  under  the  direction  of 
Erasmus,  that  he  might  pursue  linguistic  studies  under  the  great 
Humanist.3  He  returned  to  Scotland,  entered  the  university  of 
Patrick  St.  Andrews,  where  he  was  soon  made  teacher,  but  his 

Hamilton.  defending  the  reading  of  Tyndale's  Bible  brought  the 
wrath  of  the  authorities  upon  him,  and  he  fled  to  the  Continent. 
He  then  proceeded  to  the  new  university  of  Marburg,  founded  under 
Protestant  auspices,  where  Tyndale,  Frith,  and  Lambert  were  car- 
rying on  their  fruitful  studies.  Here  these  four  earnest  and  true- 
hearted  lovers  of  truth  were  preparing  themselves  for  that  baptism 
of  fire  which  they  were  to  receive — one  from  the  Spanish  author- 

>N.  S.  Walker,  Scotch  Church  History,  Edinb.,  1882,  p.  27. 

2  The  university  of  Louvain  itself  was  much  older,  founded  in  1425  or  1426. 
Five  or  six  thousand  students  were  in  attendance  during  the  heyday  of  its 
prosperity — its  first  one  hundred  and  fifty  years.  The  French  Revolution 
swept  it  away,  but  it  was  restored  in  1835,  and  still  continues  the  center  of 
Catholicism  and  conservatism. 


SCOTTISH   REFORMATION— THE   MARTYR  PERIOD.        447 

ities  of  Belgium,  one  from  the  Catholic  authorities  of  Scotland, 
and  two  from  the  Episcopal  rulers  of  England.  It  was  here  that 
Hamilton  composed  that  admirable  treatise  on  the  faith  which 
Knox  prints  entire  in  his  history  of  the  Eeformation  in  Scotland.1 
But  the  pious  young  scholar  yearned  to  preach  the  truth  in  his 
native  land.  He  therefore  returned,  but  was  seized,  condemned  to 
the  flames,  and  suffered  with  heroic  constancy  in  a  lingering  fire, 
at  St.  Andrews,  February  29,  1528.  Hamilton  had  attained  the 
full  joy  and  glory  of  the  Protestant  faith,  and  has  the  honor,  per- 
haps, of  being  in  the  full  sense  the  first  martyr  of  the  Scotch  Ref- 
ormation. The  early  death  of  this  enthusiastic  scholar,  with  his 
winning  personal  character  and  Christian  spirit,  made  a  profound 
impression  in  Scotland,  so  that  his  death  wrought  more  harm  to 
the  Catholic  faith  than  his  life.  "  The  reek  of  Master  Patrick 
Hamilton,"  said  one  of  the  retainers  of  the  archbishop  of  St.  An- 
drews, "  has  infected  as  many  as  it  did  blow  upon."  "  When  those 
cruel  wolves  had,  as  they  supposed,"  says  Knox,  "  clean  devoured 
the  prey,  they  found  themselves  in  worse  case  than  they  were  be- 
fore ;  for  then  within  St.  Andrews,  yea,  almost  the  whole  realm 
who  heard  of  that  fact,  there  was  found  none  who  began  not  to  in- 
quire, Wherefore  was  Master  Patrick  Hamilton  burnt  ?  " 2 

The  reforming  principles  spread  and  the  fires  were  kept  burning. 
Gourley  and  Straiton  were  burned  at  Greenside,  Edinburgh,  in 
1534,  and  Henry  Forrest  at  St.  Andrews  the  same  year.3  In  Feb- 
ruary, 1538,  Robert  Forrester,  gentleman,  Duncan  Simpson,  priest, 
Friar  Kyller,  Friar  Beveridge,  and  Dean  Thomas  Forrest  were 
burned  at  one  stake  on  Castle  Hill,  Edinburgh.  Of  the  last  named 
a  contemporary  historian  tells  a  racy  anecdote  which  reveals  the 
spirit  of  the  old  Church  and  of  the  new  better  than  a  lengthy  de- 
scription. 

^aing'sed.,  i,  19  ff. 

2  Works,  i,  36.  The  late  Professor  Lorirner  wrote  an  excellent  life  of  Patrick 
Hamilton,  Edinb.,  1857;  and  T.  P.  Johnson  has  made  him  the  subject  of  a 
drama,  Edinb.,  1882.  See  also  Laing,  Appendix  iii  to  his  ed.  of  Knox,  Works, 
i,  500  ff.  Hamilton,  says  Hetherington,  "  died  a  victim  to  the  malice  and 
treachery  of  the  popish  priesthood  ;  but  his  death  did  more  to  recommend  the 
cause  for  which  he  suffered  to  the  heart  of  Scotland  than  could  have  been  ac- 
complished by  a  lengthened  life,  as  a  sudden  flash  of  lightning  at  once  rends 
the  gnarled  oak  of  a  thousand  years,  and  yields  a  glimpse  of  the  strong  glories 
of  heaven."— Hist,  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  N.  Y.  ed.,  p.  26.  Calderwood 
prints — i,  80  ff.— a  letter  of  congratulation  of  the  university  of  Louvain  to  the 
"archbishop  of  St.  Andrews  and  doctors  of  Scotland,  commending  them  for 
the  death  of  Mr.  Patrick  Hamilton." 

3  Calderwood,  i,  96,  97. 


448  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

"  Dean  Thomas  Forrest,  vicar  of  Dolor,  preached  every  Sunday 
to  his  parishioners  the  epistle  or  gospel  as  it  fell   for  the  time, 

which  then  was  a  great  novelty  in  Scotland,  to  see 
by  thomas       any  man  preach  except  a  Black  friar  or  a  Gray  friar. 

Therefore  the  friars  envied  him,  and  accused  him  to 
the  bishop  of  Dunkell,  in  whose  diocese  he  remained,  as  a  here- 
tic, and  one  that  showed  the  mysteries  of  the  Scriptures  to  the 
vulgar  people  in  English  to  make  the  clergy  detestable  in  the  sight 
of  the  people.  The  bishop,  moved  by  the  friars'  instigation,  called 
the  said  Dean  Thomas,  and  said  to  him,  '  My  joy,  Dean  Thomas, 
Hove  you  well,  and  therefore  I  must  give  you  my  counsel  how  you 
shall  rule  and  guide  yourself.'  To  whom  Thomas  said,  '  I  thank 
your  lordship  heartily.'  Then  the  bishop  began  his  counsel  on 
this  manner  :  '  My  joy,  Dean  Thomas,  I  am  informed  that  you 
preach  the  epistle  or  gospel  every  Sunday  to  your  parishioners, 
and  that  you  take  not  the  cow  nor  the  upmost  cloth  from  your 
parishioners,  which  thing  is  very  prejudicial  to  the  churchmen,1 
and,  therefore,  my  joy,  Dean  Thomas,  I  would  you  took  your  cow 
and  upmost  cloth,  as  other  churchmen  do,  or  else  it  is  too  much 
to  preach  every  Sunday  ;  for  in  so  doing  you  may  make  the  people 
think  that  we  should  preach  likewise.  But  it  is  enough  for  you, 
when  you  find  any  good  epistle  or  any  good  gospel,  that  setteth 
forth  the  liberty  of  the  holy  Church,  to  preach  that,  and  let  the 
rest  be.'  Thomas  answered,  '  My  lord,  I  think  none  of  my  parish- 
ioners will  complain  that  I  take  not  the  cow  nor  the  uppermost 
cloth,  but  will  gladly  give  me  the  same,  together  with  any  other 
thing  they  have  ;  and  I  will  give  and  communicate  with  them  any 
thing  that  I  have.  And  so,  my  lord,  we  agree  right  well,  and 
there  is  no  discord  among  us.  And  where  your  lordship  saith  it  is 
too  much  to  preach  every  Sunday,  indeed  I  think  it  is  too  little, 
and  also  would  wish  that  your  lordship  did  the  like.'  'Nay,  nay, 
Dean  Thomas,'  said  my  lord,  'let  that  be,  for  we  are  not  ordained 
to  preach.'  Then  said  Thomas,  'Where  your  lordship  biddeth  me 
preach  when  I  find  any  good  epistle  or  a  good  gospel,  truly,  my  lord, 
I  have  read  the  New  Testament  and  the  Old,  and  all  the  epistles 
and  gospels,  and  among  them  all  I  could  never  find  any  evil  epis- 
tle or  evil  gospel.  But  if  your  lordship  will  show  me  the  good 
epistle  and  the  good  gospel,  and  the  evil  epistle  and  the  evil  gospel, 
then  I  shall  preach  the  good,  and  omit  the  evil.'  Then  spake  my 
lord  stoutly,  and  said,  '  I  thank  God  that  I  never  knew  what  the 

1  The  corpse  present  of  a  cow  and  the  uppermost  cloth,  or  coverlet,  of  the 
bed,  was  demanded  by  the  priest  on  the  death  of  a  parishioner. 


SCOTTISH   REFORMATION— THE   MARTYR  PERIOD.        449 

Old  and  the  New  Testament  was  !  Therefore,  Dean  Thomas,  I 
will  know  nothing  but  my  portuise  [breviary]  and  my  pontifical. '  ' 
Of  these  words  arose  a  proverb,  which  is  common  in  Scotland,  '  Ye 
are  like  the  bishop  of  Dunkelden,  that  knew  neither  the  new  law 
nor  the  old  law.'  '  Go  your  way/  said  my  lord,  'and  let  be  all 
these  phantasies  ;  for  if  you  persevere  in  these  erroneous  opiuions, 
you  will  repent  it  when  you  may  not  mend  it/  Thomas  said,  'I 
trust  my  cause  is  just  in  the  presence  of  God,  and  therefore  I  pass 
not  much  what  do  follow  thereupon.'  So  my  lord  and  he  departed 
at  that  time.  But  soon  a  summons  was  directed,  as  we  have 
heard."2 

In  1538  a  young  friar,  Jerome  Eussell,  and  a  boy  of  eighteen, 
Kennedy  of  Ayr,  perished  at  the  same  stake  in  Glas- 

TT  ^  U  1      £  •     ■  1    •  i-j.        RUSSELL  AND 

gow.  Kennedy  shrank  from  giving  up  his  young  life  Kennedy  at 
in  so  fearful  a  manner,  but  later,  as  the  diligent  old 
chronicler  says,  "  inward  comfort  began  to  burst  forth  as  well  in 
visage  as  in  tongue  and  word  ;  for  his  countenance  began  to  be 
cheerful  and  with  a  joyful  heart  and  loud  voice  he  uttered  these 
words  upon  his  knees  :  '  0  eternal  God  !  how  wonderful  is  that  love 
and  mercy  which  thou  bearest  to  mankind,  and  unto  me,  the  most 
miserable  wretch  and  caitiff,  above  all  others.  For  even  now  when  I 
would  have  denied  thee  and  thy  Son,  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and 
so  have  cast  myself  into  everlasting  damnation,  thou  by  thy  own  hand 
hath  pulled  me  out  from  the  very  bottom  of  hell  and  made  me  to 
feel  that  heavenly  comfort  which  taketh  from  me  that  ungodlie 
feare  wherewith  before  I  was  oppressed.  Now  I  defie  death  ;  do 
what  you  please  ;  I  praise  my  God  I  am  ready.'"  "When  the  perse- 
cutors railed  upon  Russell  he  answered  :  "  This  is  your  hour  and 
power  of  darkness  ;  now  sit  ye  as  judges,  and  we  stand  wrongfully 
accused,  and  more  wrongfully  to  be  condemned.  But  the  day  shall 
come  when  our  innocence  shall  appear,  and  you  shall  see  your  own 
blindness,  to  your  everlasting  confusion.  Go  forward,  and  fulfill 
the  measures  of  your  iniquity." 3 

In  Perth,  1543,  five  men  and  one  woman  met  their  death  for 
heresy.  The  case  of  the  woman,  Helen  Stark,  was  victims  at 
peculiarly  diabolical.  She  had  recently  given  birth  to  PERTH- 
a  child,  and  in  the  anguish  of  labor,  when  urged  by  the  midwife 
to  cry  to  the  Virgin  Mary,  she  answered  that  she  could  pray  to 
God  only.  For  this  she  was  accused  of  heresy  and  condemned  to 
die  with  her  husband,  one  of  these  Perth  martyrs.     After  witness- 

1  The  pontifical  was  the  mass  book  used  by  a  bishop. 
5  Foxe,  v,  622  ;  Calderwood,  i,  127.  3  Calderwood,  i,  133,  134. 

31  2 


450  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

ing  his  death  by  hanging  she  was  dragged  to  a  pool  of  water  with 
her  infant  clinging  to  her  bosom.  She  handed  the  babe  to  a  kind 
neighbor  and  then  gave  herself  up  to  death  in  the  whelming 
waters,  Scottish  law  making  drowning  the  death  penalty  for 
women. 

The  last  of  the  noble  army  of  Protestant  martyrs  whose  blood 
george  nas  consecrated  the  soil  of  Scotland  was  George  Wish- 

wishabt.  ar^  schoolmaster  and  preacher.  We  first  find  him 
master  of  the  grammar  school  at  Montrose,  where  he  taught  Ins 
pupils  the  Greek  Testament  (Greek  being  then  practically  un- 
known in  Scotland),  for  which  in  1538  he  was  summoned  before 
John  Hepburn,  bishop  of  Brechin.  To  save  his  life  he  fled  to 
England,  and  for  three  or  four  years  lived  there  and  on  the  Conti- 
nent. We  next  find  him,  1543,  at  Corpus  Christi  College,  Cam- 
bridge ;  in  1544  or  1545  he  returned  to  Scotland  and  from  that  time 
until  his  arrest  was  employed  in  preaching  the  Gospel  in  various 
parts  of  Scotland. 

W^hile  laboring  in  East  Lothian  he  was  the  instrument  of  the 
conversion  of  John  Knox.  But  he  was  betrayed  into  the  hands  of 
Cardinal  Beaton  and  was  burned  at  St.  Andrews,  March,  1546. 
The  proud  and  luxurious  cardinal  witnessed  the  agony  of  Wishart 
from  a  castle  window,  and  in  one  of  those  moments  of  spiritual  ex- 
altation in  which  the  mind  has  an  almost  preternatural  insight, 
the  dying  martyr,  like  Jacob,  uttered  a  prophecy  :  "  He  who  in  such 
state  from  that  high  place  f  eedeth  his  eyes  with  my  torment  within 
a  few  days  shall  be  hanged  out  of  the  same  window,  to  be  seen 
with  as  much  ignominy  as  he  now  leaneth  there  in  pride."  This 
made  a  deep  impression  on  the  bystanders,  and  they  remembered 
the  words  when  the  vengeance  of  God  overtook  the  slaughterer  of 
his  saints.1 

1  See  Foxe,  Acts  and  Monuments,  ed.  Cattley,  v,  625-636 ;  Calderwood,  i,  184 
ff.  ;  Knox,  i,  149  ff.  ;  Hetherington,  30  ff.  Patrick  Fraser  Tytler,  the  Episcopal 
historian  of  Scotland,  tries  to  prove  in  his  Hist,  of  Scotland,  v,  343,  that  Wishart 
was  privy  to  the  assassination  of  Beaton.  His  main  evidence  is  that  a  name 
similar  to  his  appears  among  the  men  who  were  supposed  to  have  been  hired  by 
the  laird  of  Brunstone,  in  collusion  with  Henry  VIII,  to  put  away  the  cardi- 
nal. But  (1)  there  is  no  evidence  that,  if  the  names  are  the  same,  they  refer  to 
our  Wishart ;  (2)  those  who  executed  judgment  on  Beaton  were  not  the  English 
committee,  but  Scotchmen  who  wanted  not  English  gold,  but  had  their  own  ter- 
rible accounts  to  settle  with  the  proud  and  licentious  cardinal ;  (3)  Wishart's 
character  as  a  peace-loving  scholar  and  preacher  makes  his  embroilment  in  a 
scheme  of  assassination  exceedingly  improbable  ;  (4)  there  are  also  chronolog- 
ical difficulties.     See  the  remarks  of  David  Laing  in  App.  ix  to  his  ed.  of  Knox, 


SCOTTISH   REFORMATION— THE  MARTYR  PERIOD.        451 

The  Scotch  Reformation  was  thus  early  baptized  by  the  blood  of 
the  martyrs.  This  awful  history  left  an  ineffaceable  impression 
on  the  Scotch  mind,  and  has  doubtless  been  one  of 
the  reasons  for  the  hearty  Protestantism  of  North  in  fersecu- 
Britain.  Nor  has  the  impression  been  counteracted 
by  any  persecution  on  the  other  side.  No  Roman  Catholic  per- 
ished in  the  fire,  and  but  one  or  two  on  the  gallows,  during  Prot- 
estant ascendency  in  Scotland.  Catholics  were  banished,  not 
burnt. *  If  Scotland  ever  returns  to  either  the  Roman  or  Anglican 
type  of  Catholicism,  it  will  be  because  she  has  turned  a  deaf  ear 
to  the  teachings  of  history. 

Works,  vol.  i ;  Thomas  McCrie,  Scottish  Church  History,  6th  ed.,  i,  39-42; 
Hetherington,  Appendix  No.  1.  Tytler's  conjecture  is  accepted  without  proof 
by  the  eminent  Roman  Catholic  historian  of  the  Catholic  Church  of  Scotland, 
Bellesheim,  Edinb.,  1897,  ii,  167,  and' in  a  footnote  to  that  page  the  translator, 
Father  Blair,  states  that  the  identity  of  the  emissary  with  the  martyr  "  is 
established  beyond  doubt  by  the  recently  published  correspondence,  and  pre- 
served in  the  State  Paper  Office,"  but  gives  no  proof.  The  High  Church  author 
of  the  History  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  Dean  Luckock,  in  the  National 
Churches  series,  Lond.,  1893,  p.  119,  repeats  the  charge,  also  without  bring- 
ing forward  proof,  but  adding  that  Wishart's  "act  is  strangely  condoned  or 
ignored  by  Protestant  biographers  " — a  statement  singularly  incorrect,  as  almost 
every  Protestant  writer  who  has  treated  of  Scottish  Reformation  history  since 
Tytler's  time  refers  to  it.  This  is  even  true  of  Professor  Moffat's  compact 
History  of  the  Church  in  Scotland,  Phil.,  1882,  p.  353.  The  oldest  authorities 
do  not  mention  the  prophecy  of  Wishart. 

'In  1573  a  priest,  named  Thomas  Robison,  suffered  death,  and  the  next  year 
another,  though  there  is  some  doubt  whether  these  two  are  not  one  and  the 
same  person.  The  Jesuit  Father  Ogilvie  perished  on  the  scaffold  March  10, 
1615,  but  this  was  under  the  Episcopal  rule  of  Archbishop  Spotiswood.  See 
Bellesheim,  iii,  230,  417.  The  laws  were  sufficient ;  the  Scotch  Protestants  sim- 
ply did  not  care  to  execute  them.  Of  course  Catholics  suffered  various  disa- 
bilities and  hardships,  but  on  the  whole  their  treatment  for  that  age  was 
remarkably  tolerant.  How  different  from  the  wholesale  butcheries  of  Prot- 
estants by  Catholics  on  the  Continent ! 


452  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 


CHAPTEE   X. 

JOHN    KNOX. 

The  Keformation  in  Scotland,  like  that  in  Germany  and  Switzer- 
land, but  unlike  that  in  England, gathered  round  a  great  personality, 
knox's  ear-  wno  summed  up  its  principles  in  his  own  intense  con- 
lier  career.  yictions  and  self-sacrificing  life.  It  is  a  strange  thing 
that  we  know  very  little  of  John  Knox  until  he  had  reached 
the  age  of  forty,  and  was  launched  without  his  desire  on  the  stormy 
sea  of  reform.  He  burst  forth  almost  from  the  unknown,  like 
Elijah  and  John  the  Baptist.  Born  of  peasant  parents  in  or  near 
Haddington  in  1505,  educated  at  the  university  of  Glasgow,  where 
he  sat  for  a  year  under  the  instruction  of  John  Major,  the  Kenais- 
sance  teacher,  who  afterward  made  such  a  brilliant  record  in  Paris, 
he  disappears  from  view  until  he  emerges  in  1540  as  a  notary 
and  priest  in  his  native  district.  In  1543  he  was  still  a  faithful 
Catholic,  for  he  describes  himself  in  a  notarial  deed,  "John  Knox, 
minister  of  the  sacred  altar  of  the  diocese  of  St.  Andrews,  notary 
by  apostolical  authority," and  he  dates  the  deed  in  such  a  year  "of 
the  pontificate  of  our  most  holy  Father  and  Lord  in  Christ,  the 
Lord  Paul,  pope  by  the  providence  of  God."  But  between  that 
and  1546  a  change  had  come  over  Knox,  for  we  then 
influence  find  him  defending  Wishart,  and  the  next  year,  1547, 
he  is  preaching  in  the  Church  of  St.  Andrews  against 
the  pope  as  the  head  of  an  antichristian  system.  We  may  there- 
fore, humanly  speaking,  attribute  the  conversion  of  Knox  to  the 
influence  of  the  life  of  the  beautiful-souled  Wishart,  whose  mar- 
tyrdom sealed  a  greater  than  he  to  an  irrevocable  break  with  the 
hierarchy,  and  to  the  work  for  which  his  own  life  had  been  poured 
out — the  restoration  of  biblical  Christianity  in  Scotland.  "  Si 
Stephanus  non  orasset,"  says  St.  Augustine,  "ecclesia  Paulum  non 
haberet." '  When  Wishart  saw  that  his  own  time  had  come  and 
Knox  pressed  to  go  with  him,  the  earnest  preacher  forbade  him, 
saying,  "Nay,  return  to  your  bairns,  and  God  bless  you  !  One  is 
sufficient  for  one  sacrifice." 

Did  Knox  come  into  the  light  by  the  quiet  path  of  intellectual 
enlightenment,  like  Melanchthon,  or  by  a  spiritual  rebirth  which 
1  Serm.  i  and  iv,  in  Festo  sancti  Stephani. 


JOHN   KNOX.  ±58 

meant  a  total  change  of  front,  a  complete  dislocation  and  rupture 
with  the  old  faith  ?  Unfortunately  Knox's  own  most  interesting 
and  valuable  history  of  his  work  gives  but  little  light.'  knox'bcon- 
There  remains,  however,  a  short  prayer  or  confession,  session. 
which  Knox  wrote  in  a  dark  period  of  the  Eeformation,  1566, 
perhaps  to  reassure  his  faith  and  strengthen  his  confidence  in  God. 
From  this  the  latest  and  one  of  the  best  biographers  of  Knox,  A. 
Taylor  Innes,  infers  spiritual  struggles,  from  which  he  issued  forth, 
like  Luther,  to  bear  testimony  to  that  which  he  had  felt  and  seen. 

JOHN"    KNOX,    WITH   DELIBERATE   MIND,  TO   HIS   GOD. 

"  Be  merciful  unto  me,  O  Lord,  and  call  not  into  judgment 
my  manifold  sins ;  and  chiefly  those  whereof  the  world  is  not 
able  to  accuse  me.  In  youth,  mid  age,  and  now  after  many  bat- 
tles, I  find  nothing  in  me  but  vanity  and  corruption.  For  in  qui- 
etness I  am  negligent  ;  in  trouble,  impatient,  tending  to  despera- 
tion ;  and  in  the  mean  [middle]  state  I  am  so  carried  away  with 
vain  fantasies,  that  alas  !  0  Lord,  they  withdraw  me  from  the  pres- 
ence of  thy  Majesty.  Pride  and  ambition  assault  me  on  the  one 
part,  covetousness  and  malice  trouble  me  on  the  other  ;  briefly,  0 
Lord,  the  affections  of  the  flesh  do  almost  suppress  the  operation  of 
thy  Spirit.  I  take  thee,  0  Lord,  who  only  knowest  the  secrets  of 
hearts,  to  record,  that  in  none  of  the  foresaid  do  I  delight  ;  but  that 
with  them  I  am  troubled,  and  that  sore  against  the  desire  of  my  in- 
ward man,  which  sobs  for  my  corruption,  and  would  repose  in  thy 
mercy  alone.  To  the  which  I  clame  [cry]  in  the  promise  that  thou 
hast  made  to  all  penitent  sinners  (of  whose  number  I  profess  myself 
to  be  one)  in  the  obedience  and  death  of  my  only  Saviour,  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  In  whom,  by  thy  mere  grace,  I  doubt  not  myself  to 
be  elected  to  eternal  salvation,  whereof  Thou  hast  given  unto  me 
(unto  me,  0  Lord,  most  wretched  and  unthankful  creature)  most 
assured  signs.  For  being  drowned  in  ignorance  Thou  hast  given  to 
me  knowledge  above  the  common  sort  of  my  brethren  ;  my  tongue 
hast  thou  used  to  set  forth  thy  glory,  to  oppugne  idolatry,  errors, 
and  false  doctrine.  Thou  hast  compelled  me  to  forespeak,  as  well 
deliverance  to  the  afflicted  as  destruction  to  certain  inobedient, 
the  performance  whereof,  not  I  alone,  but  the  very  blind  world  has 
already  seen.     But  above  all,  0  Lord,  by  the  power  of  thy  Holy 

1  The  reference  is  to  Knox's  History  of  the  Reformation  in  Scotland.  Of  this 
John  Hill  Barton  says  :  "  There  certainly  is  in  the  English  language  no  other 
parallel  to  it  in  the  clearness,  vigor,  and  picturesqueness  with  which  it  renders 
the  history  of  a  stirring  period." — Hist,  of  Scotland,  iii,  339. 


454  HISTORY   OP   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Spirit,  hast  sealed  unto  my  heart  remission  of  sins,  which  I  acknowl- 
edge and  confess  myself  to  have  received  by  the  precious  blood  of 
Jesus  Christ  once  shed  ;  in  whose  perfect  obedience  I  am  assured 
my  manifold  rebellions  are  defaced,  my  grievous  sins  purged,  and 
my  soul  made  the  tabernacle  of  thy  Godly  Majesty — thou,  0  Father 
of  mercies,  thy  Son,  our  Lord  Jesus,  my  only  Saviour,  Mediator, 
and  Advocate,  and  thy  Holy  Spirit,  remaining  in  the  same  by  true 
faith,  which  is  the  only  victory  that  overcome th  the  world/'  ' 

The  last  part  of  this  beautiful  confession  certainly  refers  to  the 
gladness  of  triumph  through  faith  in  Christ.  But  when  and  how 
this  new  life  came  to  Knox  we  have  no  means  of  knowing. 

It  was  the  seventeenth  chapter  of  John's  gospel  which  proved  an 
evangel  to  Knox.  "  Go,  read,  when  I  cast  my  first  anchor,"  he  said 
to  his  wife  the  day  before  his  death.  "  And  she  read  the 
pel,  chap-  seventeenth  of  John's  gospel."  It  was  this  gospel  which 
he  had  been  expounding  to  his  pupils  at  Longniddry, 
to  whom  Wishart  sent  him  back ;  and  when  he  was  received  into 
the  castle  of  St.  Andrews,  which  some  bold  men  in  sympathy  with 
reform  had  taken  possession  of  after  the  assassination  of  the  bloody 
Beaton,  he  began  to  explain  this  gospel  at  a  certain  hour  each  da}7, 
starting  where  he  left  off  at  Longniddry.  But  he  had  taken  no 
public  function  in  relation  to  the  new  movement.  The  men  of  St. 
Andrews  had  urged  him  to  preach,  but  he  refused,  alleging  that 
he  could  not  run  where  God  had  not  called.  They  were  sure  of  his 
call,  however,  if  he  was  not,  and  so  they  told  their  preacher,  John 
Kough,  after  a  sermon  on  the  power  of  the  Church  to  call  men  to 
the  ministry,  to  summon  Knox  to  the  work.  Knox  himself  tells 
the  story  : 

"  The  said  John  Kough,  preacher,  directed  his  words  to  the  said 
John  Knox,  saying,  'Brother,  ye  shall  not  be  offended,  albeit  that 
knox's  call  I  speak  unto  you  that  which  I  have  in  charge,  even 
to  preach.  from  all  those  that  are  here  present,  which  is  this  :  In 
the  name  of  God,  and  of  his  Son,  Jesus  Christ,  and  in  the  name  of 
these  that  presently  called  you  by  my  mouth,  I  charge  you,  that  ye 
refuse  not  his  holy  vocation,  but  that  as  ye  tender  the  glory  of  God, 
the  increase  of  Christ  his  kingdom,  the  edification  of  your  breth- 
ren, and  the  comfort  of  me,  whom  ye  understand  well  enough  to 
be  oppressed  by  the  multitude  of  labors,  that  ye  take  upon  you  the 
public  office  and  charge  of  preaching,  even  as  ye  look  to  avoid  God's 
heavy  displeasure,  and  desire  that  he  shall  multiply  his  graces  with 
you.'    And  in  the  end  he  said  to  those  that  were  present,  'Was 

1  Works,  vi,  483. 


JOHN   KNOX.  455 

not  this  your  charge  to  me  ?  And  do  ye  not  approve  this  vocation? ' 
They  answered,  '  It  was  ;  and  we  approve  it.'  Whereat  the  said 
John,  abashed,  burst  forth  in  most  abundaut  tears  and  withdrew 
himself  to  his  chamber.  His  countenance  and  behavior,  from 
that  day  till  the  day  that  he  was  compelled  to  present  himself  to  the 
public  place  of  preaching,  did  sufficiently  declare  the  grief  and 
trouble  of  his  heart  ;  for  no  man  saw  any  sign  of  mirth  of  him, 
neither  yet  had  he  pleasure  to  accompany  any  man,  many  days  to- 
gether." ' 

This  was  the  second  turning  point  in  Knox's  life.  He  spent  a 
week  of  seclusion  in  the  castle  in  prayer,  meditation,  and  study,  and 
when  he  came  out  he  had  taken  up  the  cross.  He  not  only  deter- 
mined to  be  the  advocate  of  the  despised  Protestants,  but  he  had 
apparently  thought  out  from  the  Scriptures  all  the  main  lines  of 
his  work,  policy,  and  doctrines.  In  the  very  first  sermon  he  preached 
he  denounced  the  whole  Church  system  as  antichristian,  and 
took  the  latest  Puritan  ground  that  even  in  ceremonies  we  must 
wait  upon  the  voice  of  God,  "  that  man  may  neither  KNOX.s  FIRST 
make  nor  devise  a  religion  that  is  acceptable  to  God."  SERMON- 
Both  theology  and  polity  must  be  derived  from  Scripture,  and  Knox 
added  this,  that  the  magistrate  has  the  power  to  reform  religion 
and  Church — a  mistake  founded  on  a  misapplication  of  Eom.  xiii,  4, 
but  one  natural,  perhaps  inevitable,  for  the  times.  But  the  great 
truth  which  he  grasped  with  satisfying  clearness  was  that  the  call 
of  God  comes  to  every  man  direct,  without  any  intervention  ex- 
cept the  open  word.  This  was  the  glory  of  his  message — a  mes- 
sage which  quickened  all  Scotland  and  started  it  on  its  career  of 
intellectual  and  spiritual  achievement.  Nor  did  Knox  claim  any 
special  inspiration  above  other  believers,  or  to  be  in  any  miraculous 
sense  a  prophet  of  God.  He  was  not  a  prophet  by  unique  revela- 
tion, but  he  was  a  witness-bearer  of  unique  consecration.  He  re- 
joiced with  all  his  brethren  in  "that  doctrine  and  that  heavenly 
religion  whereof  it  hath  pleased  his  merciful  providence  to  make 
me,  among  others,  a  simple  soldier  and  witness-bearer  unto  men."  2 

1  Works,  i,  187,  188. 

2  "Works,  iii,  155.  Some  of  Knox's  biographers  have  assumed  a  special  super- 
natural call  and  endowment  which  fitted  him  to  be  a  prophet  in  the  sense  of 
both  a  forthteller  and  a  foreteller.  Mrs.  McCunn,  in  her  excellent  Life,  says 
that  he  "  constantly  claimed  the  position  accorded  to  the  Hebrew  prophets,  and 
claimed  it  on  the  same  grounds  as  they."  P.  Hume  Brown  hints  at  the  same 
when  he  tells  "how  completely  Knox  identified  his  action  with  that  of 
the  Hebrew  prophets  "— i,  84.  To  this  it  may  be  said  on  the  one  hand  (1)  that 
Knox  was  a  profound  student  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  had  all  the  freedom, 


456  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

In  1547  St.  Andrews  was  captured  by  a  foreign  fleet,  and  Knox  and 
his  companions  were  carried  to  France  to  serve  in  the  galleys.  "  It 
was  the  specialty  of  France,"  says  Hume  Brown,  "  that  it  utilized 
knox  a  gal-  heretics  by  converting  them  into  galley  slaves.  .  .  . 
ley  slave.  ^n(j  ft  any  form  0f  torture  could  break  men's  spirits 
into  playing  false  to  their  convictions,  it  may  safely  be  said  that 
one  more  effective  could  hardly  be  devised  than  the  life  of  a  slave 
in  a  French  galley.     The  crew  of  one  of  these  vessels  amounted  to 

boldness,  and  ethical  and  religious  enthusiasm  of  the  prophets  ;  and  (2)  that  he 
sometimes  gave  forth  marvelous  predictions  which  were  marvelously  verified. 
"  I  dare  not  deny  (lest  in  so  doing  I  should  be  injurious  to  the  giver)  but  that 
God  hath  revealed  to  me  secrets  unknown  to  the  world  ;  and  also  that  he  hath 
made  my  tongue  a  trumpet  to  forewarn  realms  and  nations,  yea,  certain  great 
personages,  of  translations  and  changes,  when  no  such  things  were  feared,  nor 
yet  were  appearing  ;  a  portion  whereof  cannot  the  world  deny  (be  it  never  so 
blind)  to  be  fulfilled,  and  the  rest,  alas  !  I  fear  shall  follow  with  greater  expedi- 
tion and  in  more  full  perfection  than  my  sorrowful  heart  desireth.  These  rev- 
elations and  assurances,  notwithstanding,  I  did  ever  abstain  to  commit  any  thing 
to  writ,  contented  only  to  have  obeyed  the  charge  of  him  who  commanded  me 
to  cry." — Works,  vi,  230.  But  this  must  not  be  pressed  too  far,  for,  on  the 
other  hand,  it  is  true  that  the  predictions  formed  no  important  part  of  his 
preaching,  nor  did  he  lay  any  store  by  them.  When  some  urged  him  in  1573 
to  "  enter  into  a  particular  determination  of  the  present  troubles,"  he  replied 
that,  "  as  I  never  exceeded  the  bounds  of  God's  Scriptures,  so  will  I  not  do  in 
this  part  by  God's  grace." — Works,  iii,  169.  When  some  of  his  old  friends 
seemed  inclined  to  bring  back  the  exiled  Queen  of  the  Scots,  Knox  denounced 
both  the  queen  and  themselves.  They  accused  him  of  prejudging  her  and 
"entering  into  God's  secret  counsel."  This  charge  troubled  him  greatly. 
"  One  thing  that  is  most  bitter  to  me,"  he  says,  "  and  most  fearful,  if  that  my 
accusers  were  able  to  prove  their  accusation,  to  wit,  that  I  proudly  and  arro- 
gantly entered  into  God's  secret  counsel  as  if  I  were  called  thereto.  God  be 
merciful  to  my  accusators,  of  their  rash  and  ungodly  judgment.  If  they  un- 
derstood how  fearful  my  conscience  is,  and  ever  has  been,  to  exceed  the  bonds 
of  my  vocation,  they  could  not  so  boldly  have  accused  me.  I  am  not  ignorant 
that  the  secrets  of  God  appertain  to  himself  alone  ;  but  things  revealed  in 
his  law  appertain  to  us  and  our  children  forever.  What  I  have  spoken  against 
the  adultery,  against  the  pride,  and  against  the  idolatry  of  that  wicked 
woman,  I  spake  not  as  one  that  entered  God's  secret  counsel,  but  being  one 
(of  God's  great  mercy)  called  to  preach  according  to  his  blessed  will  revealed 
in  his  most  holy  word  " — vi,  592.  It  is  incontestable  that  his  work,  both  as 
a  preacher  and  a  ref ormer,  was  founded  on  the  simple  and  scriptural  principles 
which  all  could  understand,  and  anything  like  miraculous  knowledge  of  men 
or  of  the  future  were  simply  momentary  intuitions  which  were  infinitesimal  in 
relation  to  the  whole  message  and  life  of  the  man.  Knox  was  not  a  Savona- 
rola, though  the  two  reformers  had  points  of  likeness.  See  the  admirable 
treatment  of  the  alleged  prophetic  calling  of  Knox  in  Innes,  Life  of  Knox, 
pp.  39-44. 


JOHN   KNOX.  457 

about  one  hundred  and  fifty  men,  and  the  usual  complement  of 
slaves  was  about  three  hundred.  The  rowers'  benches  were  fixed  at 
right  angles  to  the  vessel's  sides,  and  to  each  of  these  benches  were 
chained  from  four  to  six  slaves,  who  sat  on  them  without  change  of 
posture  by  day,  and  slept  under  them  by  night,  absolutely  with- 
out shelter  at  all  seasons  of  the  year.  The  officers  in  charge  of 
the  slaves,  known  as  the  comite,  moved  along  the  coursier,  whip 
in  hand,  applying  it  to  the  bare  shoulders  of  every  wretch  who 
showed  signs  of  lagging  in  his  work.  .  .  .  Beyond  the  physical 
horror  of  his  surroundings,  the  character  of  his  fellows  in  misery 
must  have  frozen  the  heart  of  the  victim,  who  had  known  the 
sanctities  of  life  and  who  was  there  for  no  other  crime  than  the 
scrupulous  interpretation  of  the  leading  of  his  conscience.  Chained 
to  the  same  oar  might  be  the  thief  and  the  murderer,  the  Turk 
and  the  Moor,  from  whose  presence  he  could  not  escape  for  one  hour 
throughout  the  years  it  was  his  fate  to  live  a  life  so  unspeakably 
worse  than  death."  '  But  through  this  horrible  nightmare  of  his 
spirit,  in  spite  of  doubts  and  terrors,  he  kept  his  soul  serene,  and 
came  out  of  this  nineteen  months'  inferno  chastened  in  spirit,  but 
unconquered  still  in  faith  and  hope. 

The  next  five  years  (1549-54)  were  spent  in  England,  where  he 
rendered  great  service  to  the  Edwardine  reformers,  and  helped 
form  the  nucleus  of  that  party  which  later,  under  oox  IN 
the  name  of  Puritans,  became  the  saving  element  of  England. 
English  Christianity.  He  preached  in  many  parts  of  England,  be- 
came king's  chaplain,  and  it  was  owing  to  his  influence  that  King 
Edward's  council  placed  the  rubric  in  the  Prayer  Book  to  the  effect 
that  kneeling  at  the  sacrament  implies  no  adoration  whatever — a 
rubric  still  preserved.  "God  gave  boldness  and  knowledge,"  says 
Enox,  "  to  the  court  of  parliament  to  take  away  the  round-clipped 
god  [the  wafer  or  lozengelike  bread  still  used  in  the  High  Church 
celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper]  wherein  standeth  all  the  holiness 
of  the  papists,  and  to  command  common  bread  to  be  used  at  the 
Lord's  table,  and  also  to  take  away  the  most  part  of  the  supersti- 
tions (kneeling  at  the  Lord's  table  excepted)  which  before  profaned 
Christ's  true  religion."  a     Perhaps  the  Koman  Catholic,  Weston, 

1  John  Knox,  vol.  i. 

9  Admonition  to  the  Professors  of  the  Trnth  in  England,  quoted  in  McCrie, 
Knox,  p.  54.  "He  had  influence,"  saysMcCrie,  "to  procurean  important  change 
in  the  communion  office,  completely  excluding  the  notion  of  the  corporal  pres- 
ence of  Christ  in  the  sacrament,  guarding  against  the  adoration  of  the  elements, 
which  was  too  much  countenanced  by  the  practice,  still  continued,  of  kneeling 
at  their  reception." — Life  of  John  Knox,  6th  ed.,  p.  53. 


458  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

speaking  in  Mary's  reign,  exaggerates  Knox's  influence  when  he 
says  that  "  a  runagate  Scot  did  take  away  the  adoration  or  wor- 
shiping of  Christ  in  the  sacrament,  by  whose  procurement  that 
heresy  was  put  into  the  last  communion  book  ;  so  much  prevailed 
that  one  man's  authority  at  that  time."  At  any  rate  Knox's  five 
years  in  England  were  by  no  means  unfruitful. 

The  most  of  the  next  five  years  (1554-59)  he  spent  on  the  Con- 
tinent, for  a  while  pastor  of  an  English  congregation  in  Erankfort, 
knox  on  the  anc^  a^er  that  holding  the  same  office  in  Geneva.  In 
continent,  ^jg  latter  city  Knox  spent  the  happiest  and  most 
peaceful  years  of  his  life.  There  he  had  what  was  really  the  first 
Puritan  congregation  in  history,  and  there  he  was  able  to  carry  out 
his  own  views  as  to  church  government  and  worship  without  fear 
either  of  Catholic  nobles  or  avaricious  half -Protestant  lords.1  The 
church  order  he  drew  up  was  that  afterward  adopted  in  Scotland  ; 
the  Psalms  of  his  Genevan  church  were  the  model  for  the  English 
and  Scotch  versions  ;  and,  above  all,  the  "  Genevan  Bible,  prepared 
by  the  members  of  Knox's  congregation  at  the  very  time  he  was 
their  minister,  continued  for  three  quarters  of  a  century  thereafter 
to  be  the  household  book  of  the  English-speaking  nations."2 

A  visit  to  Scotland  in  1555  was  not  without  results.  In  his 
Letter  of  Wholesome  Counsel  to  the  nobles  and  other  laymen  he 
urges  Scripture  study:  "Within  your  own  houses,  I  say,  in  some 
a  visit  to  cases,  ye  are  bishops  and  kings ;  your  wife,  children, 
Scotland.  servants,  and  family  are  your  bishopric  and  charge ; 
of  you  it  shall  be  required  how  carefully  and  diligently  ye  have 
always  instructed  them  in  God's  true  knowledge,  how  that  ye  have 
studied  in  them  to  plant  virtue  and  repress  vice.  And  therefore, 
I  say,  ye  must  make  them  partakers  in  reading,  exhorting,  and  in 
making  common  prayers,  which  I  would  in  every  house  were  used 
once  a  day  at  least."  3 

He  marked  out  a  course  for  the  reformed  congregations  which 
was  a  remarkable  revival  of  the  Pauline  assemblies,  but  which 
he  himself  did  not  repeat  in  all  its  apostolic  freedom  when  the 
Reformation  was  actually  established  in  Scotland.  This  was  left 
to  Wesley  to  restore  in  the  class  meeting.  "I  think  it  necessary 
that  for  the  conference  [comparing]  of  Scriptures  assemblies  of 
brethren  be  had.  The  order  therein  to  be  observed  is  expressed 
by  St.  Paul,  .  .  .  after  '  confession '  and  '  invocation '  let  some 
place  of  Scripture  be  plainly  and  distinctly  read,  so  much  as  shall 

1  P.  Hume  Brown  does  justice  to  this  aspect  of  Knox's  life — i,  203  ff. 

2  Innes,  p.  68.  3  Works,  iv,  129. 


JOHN   KNOX.  459 

be  thought  sufficient  for  one  day  or  time,  which  ended,  if  any 
brother  have  exhortation,  question,  or  doubt,  let  him  not  fear  to 
speak  or  move  the  same,  so  that  he  do  it  with  moderation,  either 
to  edify,  or  to  be  edified.  And  hereof  I  doubt  not  but  great 
profit  shall  shortly  ensue  ;  for,  first,  by  hearing,  reading,  and  con- 
ferring the  Scriptures  in  the  assembly,  the  whole  body  of  the  Scrip- 
tures of  God  shall  become  familiar,  the  judgments  and  spirits  of 
men  shall  be  tried,  their  patience  and  modesty  shall  be  known,  and 
finally  the  gifts  and  utterance  shall  appear."  If  any  difficulty  of 
interpretation  occurs  it  shall  be  "  put  in  writing  before  ye  dismiss 
the  congregation,"  with  the  view  of  consulting  some  wise  adviser. 
Many  would  be  glad  to  help  them.  "  Of  myself  I  will  speak  as  I 
think;  I  will  more  gladly  spend  fifteen  hours  in  communicating  my 
judgment  with  you,  in  explaining  as  God  pleases  to  open  to  me  any 
place  of  Scripture,  than  half  an  hour  in  any  matter  beside."  Why 
did  not  Knox  carry  out  this  scriptural  program  in  the  sequel  ? 
Was  he  afraid  of  the  contentiousness  of  the  northern  mind  and  that 
pride  of  opinion  which  in  exaggerated  form  has  sometimes  marked 
the  perfervid  Scot  ?  Or  did  his  experience  with  the  continental 
Anabaptists  and  other  enthusiastic  religionists  convince  him  that 
a  more  rigid  form  of  service  and  doctrine  was  necessary  for  the 
times  ?  No  doubt  it  was  this  latter,  as  his  letter  "To  the  Breth- 
ren," from  Dieppe,  reveals.1 

1  Works,  iv,  261. 


460  HISTORY   OF    THE    CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


CHAPTEE  XI. 

THE    ESTABLISHMENT    OF    PROTESTANTISM    IN    SCOTLAND. 

In  spite  of  discouragements  the  reformed  faith  was  winning  its 
way.  Many  of  the  nobles  and  prominent  men  were  irrevocably 
committed  to  it,  and  it  only  needed  a  few  earnest  preachers  to  go 
through  the  country  in  order  to  bring  over  the  common  people. 
Kuox's  rousing  letters  from  the  Continent  were  the  next  best  thing 
to  his  personal  presence.  The  Protestant  lords  and  gentry  met  in 
Edinburgh  and  entered  into  a  solemn  compact  to  stand  together  for 
truth  and  right.  This  is  the  first  of  the  "  covenants  "  which  mark 
the  critical  periods  of  Scottish  history,  and  is  one  of  the  most  nota- 
ble a»  well  as  most  noble  documents  in  history  : 

"  We  perceiving  how  Satan,  in  his  members  the  Antichrists  of  our 
time,  cruelly  doth  rage,  seeking  to  downthrow  and  destroy  the 
first  cove-  evangel  of  Christ  and  his  congregation,  ought  ac- 
lokds°and  cording  to  our  bounden  duty  to  strive  in  our  Master's 
gentry.  cause  even  unto  death,  being  certain  of  the  victory  in 

him  :  the  which,  our  duty  being  well  considered,  we  do  promise  be- 
fore the  majesty  of  God  and  his  congregation,  that  we  by  his  grace 
shall  with  all  diligence  continually  apply  our  whole  power,  sub- 
stance, and  very  lives  to  maintain,  set  forward,  and  establish  the 
most  blessed  word  of  God,  and  his  congregation  ;  and  shall  labor 
at  our  possibility  to  have  faithful  ministers  purely  and  truly  to 
minister  Christ's  evangel  and  sacraments  to  his  people.  We  shall 
maintain  them,  nourish  them,  and  defend  them,  the  whole  congre- 
gation of  Christ,  and  every  member  thereof,  at  our  whole  powers, 
and  wairing  [expending]  of  our  lives  against  Satan  and  all  wicked 
power  that  does  intend  tyranny  and  trouble  against  the  aforesaid 
congregation.  Unto  the  which  holy  word  and  congregation  we 
do  join  us  ;  and  also  do  renounce  and  forsake  the  congregation 
of  Satan,  with  all  the  superstitions,  abominations,  and  idolatry 
thereof.  And  moreover  shall  declare  ourselves  manifestly  enemies 
thereto  by  this  our  faithful  promise  before  God,  testified  to  his 
congregation,  by  our  subscription  at  these  presents.  At  Edinburgh 
the   30  day  of  December,  1557  years.     God  called  to  witness." ' 

1  Knox,  "Works,  i,  273.  A  less  formal  covenant  had  already  been  entered  into 
by  the  gentlemen  of  Mearns  two  years  before. 


ESTABLISHMENT   OF   PROTESTANTISM   IN   SCOTLAND.    461 

What  would  not  Luther  have  given  if  he  could  have  had  a  dec- 
laration like  that  from  the  German  princes  !  From  the  use  of  the 
word  congregation  to  designate  the  assembly  of  God's  true  believers 
the  Protestant  nobles  were  called  the  lords  of  the  congregation. 

The  next  step  was  the  resolution  that  common  prayers  be  read 
in  every  church  on  Sunday,  and  that  this  should  be  done  by  the 
most  qualified  in  the  parish  if  the  curate  were  incompetent.  It 
was  also  resolved  that  preaching  be  "had  and  used  privately  in 
quiet  houses,  great  meetings  being  avoided  till  God  move  the 
prince  to  grant  the  public  preaching."  The  country  was  now 
ruled  by  Mary  of  Guise,  widow  of  James  V,  who  died  in  1542, 
leaving  as  his  only  legitimate  child  the  infant  Mary, 
to  be  known  in  history  as  the  most  famous  and  unfor-         of  guise 

REf'FNT 

tunate  of  the  Scotch  sovereigns.  The  French  mother 
ruled  as  regent  during  the  minority  of  the  bairn — wily,  conciliatory, 
not  without  a  statesmanlike  bent  to  compromise,  but  at  heart  a 
true  Catholic.  Several  times  on  the  verge  of  attempting  to  crush 
the  Protestants,  a  show  of  strength  on  their  part  would  lead  her  to 
withdraw  her  menaces  and  grant  more  concessions.  Under  her 
tentative  partial  toleration  the  reformed  party  consolidated  and 
expanded. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  towns  of  Europe  were  the  centers  of 
liberty  and  movements  toward  self-government — "  fortresses  of 
freedom  and  the  advance-guard  of  constitutional  civilization."  It 
was  an  important  moment,  therefore,  when  the  congregation  re- 
solved that  the  brethren  in  every  town  "should  assemble  together. 
And  this  our  weak  beginning  did  God  so  bless  that  within  a  few 
months  the  hearts  of  many  were  so  strengthened  that  we  sought  to 
have  the  face  of  a  church  among  us."  Dundee,  for  instance,  "be- 
gan to  erect  a  face  of  a  public  church  reformed."1  In  1558  the 
" first  petition  of  the  Protestants  of  Scotland"  was  presented  to 
the  regent,  in  which  they  craved  a  "public  reformation."  Even 
the  bishops  went  so  far  as  to  propose  that  the  old  Church  should 
remain  established,  while  the  Protestants  might  privately  pray 
in  the  vulgar  tongue  and  baptize.  This  the  reformers  declined. 
After  a  time  the  regent  "gave  us  permission  to  use  ourselves  godly, 
according  to  our  desires,  provided  we  should  not  make  public  as- 
semblies in  Edinburgh  or  Leith  " — that  is,  in  the  capital.  Some 
think  that  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  pressure  of  the  great  scheme 
to  unite  the  French  and  Scotch  crowns,  and  thus,  with  the  help  of 
Spain,  to  dethrone  Elizabeth  and  bring  England  back  to  the  papal 

1  Works,  i,  300. 


462  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

obedience,  Mary  of  Guise  would  have  continued  her  tolerant  policy, 
and  Scotland  would  have  been  the  first  country  in  the  world  to 
grant  complete  freedom  of  worship.  But  such  a  consummation 
under  a  Guise  would  have  presaged  the  millennium  ! 

On  April  24,  1558,  the  beautiful  queen  of  Scotland  at  the  age 
of  sixteen  was  married  to  the  boy  heir  to  the  French 

MAKRIAGE  OF  ,,         .       ,.    ,         .    ,  ...  ,  .  ,  , 

mary  queen  crown — the  foolish  girl  putting  her  signature  to  a  se- 
cret deed  to  the  effect  that  if  she  died  childless  both 
her  Scotch  realm  and  her  right  of  succession  to  the  English 
throne  (she  was  the  great-granddaughter  of  Henry  VII)  were  con- 
veyed to  France.  Under  such  golden  dreams  the  regent  mother 
ceased  her  conciliatory  attitude  to  the  Protestants,  and  forbade  un- 
authorized preaching.  Wheu  they  reminded  her  of  her  repeated 
promises,  she  replied  that  "  it  became  not  subjects  to  burden  their 
princes  with  promises  farther  than  it  pleaseth  them  to  keep  the 
same  " — an  assertion  that  sounds  well  in  the  mouth  of  a  Catholic 
Guise,  and  which  more  than  one  generation  of  men  had  good  reason 
to  remember  under  the  "  good  old  times  "  of  the  Stuarts. 

Knox  felt  that  his  time  was  come.  For  better  or  worse,  he  must 
do  his  work  in  Scotland  now.  An  excommunicated  outlaw  though 
he  was,  having  been  already  burned  in  effigy,  he  appears  suddenly 
on  the  scene.  "  I  am  come,  I  praise  my  God,  even  in  the  brunt  of 
battle  ;  for  my  fellow-preachers  have  a  clay  appointed  to  answer  be- 
fore the  queen  regent  on  the  10th  of  this  instant,  where  I  intend, 
if  God  impede  not,  also  to  be  present :  by  life,  by  death,  or  else  by 
both,  to  glorify  his  good  name,  who  thus  mercifully  has  heard  my 
long  cries."  l  He  landed  May  2, 1559.  A  provincial  council  of  the 
clergy  was  then  sitting  in  Greyfriars,  Edinburgh.  It  is  said  that 
the  morning  of  May  3  a  monk  rushed  in  on  the  council 
return  to  in  breathless  haste,  pale  with  terror,  and  exclaimed  in 
broken  words,  "John  Knox!  John  Knox  is  come! 
He  slept  last  night  in  Edinburgh ! "  The  council  was  panic- 
stricken  and  broke  up  in  dismay a — recalling  the  words  of  the  wise 
man,  "  The  wicked  flee  when  no  man  pursueth  "  (Prov.  xxviii,  1). 

Knox  was  again  declared  an  outlaw,  but  he  had  departed  for 
Dundee,  and  thence  for  Perth,  then  the  capital  of  Protestantism. 
He  preached  a  vehement  sermon  against  idolatry  and  other  Catholic 
abuses  and  false  doctrines,  and  began  to  pour  courage  into  the 
hearts  of  the  reformers.  He  traveled  through  other  parts  of  the 
country,  preaching  everywhere  his  fiery  sermons,  calling  the  people 
back  to  the  Gospel,  and  denouncing  the  corruptions  of  the  Church 
1  Works,  vi,  21.  2  Hetherington,  Hist,  of  Church  of  Scotland,  p.  42. 


ESTABLISHMENT   OF   PROTESTANTISM   IN    SCOTLAND.    463 

like  a  flaming  evangel  of  wrath  and  truth.  On  the  16th  of  June, 
1559,  he  appeared  at  the  risk  of  his  life  in  the  old  pulpit  of  St. 
Andrews,  where  he  had  first  preached,  and  in  which 
in  his  exile  days  he  had  prophesied  he  would  yet  again  pkeachesTn 
send  forth  the  words  of  life.  The  archbishop  said  that  ST' ANDREWS- 
if  he  appeared  there  he  would  give  order  to  his  soldiers  to  fire  upon 
him.  The  Protestant  lords  were  in  doubt,  fearing  for  Knox's  life, 
yet  greatly  desiring  to  try  the  effect  of  his  preaching  at  this  critical 
juncture  in  that  citadel  of  the  faith— the  ecclesiastical  capital 
of  the  kingdom.  They  referred  the  matter  to  Knox  himself.  He 
prayed  them  not  to  hinder  him  from  his  privilege.  "  As  for  dan- 
ger that  may  come  to  me,  let  no  man  be  solicitous ;  for  my  life  is 
in  the  custody  of  Him  whose  glory  I  seek.  I  desire  the  hand  and 
weapon  of  no  man  to  defend  me.  I  only  crave  audience,  which,  if 
it  be  denied  here  unto  me  at  this  time,  I  must  seek  farther  where 
I  may  have  it."  In  spite,  therefore,  of  the  archbishop's  hundred 
spears  and  dozen  culverins,  he  carried  out  his  intention.  His  text 
was  the  passage  of  Christ's  casting  the  buyers  and  sellers  out  of  the 
Temple — ominous  challenge  at  the  start.  His  awful  appeal  had 
the  desired  effect,  and  at  the  close  of  the  sermon  the  magistrates  of 
St.  Andrews  allowed  the  people  to  destroy  the  monasteries  and  the 
apparatus  of  "idolatry"  in  the  churches. 

Knox  and  the  congregation  then  moved  to  Edinburgh,  whence 
the  regent  had  departed,  where  he  had  the  privilege  of  unfettered 
preaching.  His  soul  must  have  been  carried  away  with  delight 
in  those  great  days — laying  the  foundations  again  of  empire  and 
Church,  and  building  a  worthy  house  for  the  eternal  KN0X  AT 
Gospel.  "  The  long  thirst  of  my  wretched  heart  is  Edinburgh. 
satisfied  in  abundance  that  is  above  my  expectation  ;  for  now  forty 
days  and  more  hath  God  used  my  tongue  in  my  native  country  to 
the  manifestation  of  his  glory.  "Whatever  now  shall  follow  as 
touching  my  own  carcass,  his  holy  name  be  praised."1  Knox  was 
so  far  successful  in  Edinburgh  that  a  truce  was  granted  for  six 
months — until  January,  1560,  during  which  time  freedom  of  con- 
science was  allowed. 

With  French  troops  pouring  in  to  help  the  Catholic  cause,  it  was 
evident  that  the  congregation  must  seek  help  elsewhere.  It  is  to 
the  credit  of  the  statesmanship  of  the  Scotch  lords  and  Cecil  that  the 
perpetual  feud  between  the  North  and  South  was  at  least  partially 
healed  by  the  coming  in  of  fresh  and  greater  interests.  So  much 
let  Protestantism  take  to  herself  of  permanent  contribution  to 

1  Works,  vi,  26. 


464  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

civilization.  Elizabeth's  great  statesman  wrote  to  the  congregation 
asking  "  if  support  should  be  sent  hence,  what  manner  of  amity 
might  ensue  betwixt  these  two  realms,  and  how  the  same  might  be 
hoped  to  be  perpetual,  and  not  to  be  so  slender  as  heretofore  hath 
been, without  other  assurance  of  continuance  than  from  time  to  time 
hath  pleased  France."    The  reply  in  Knox's  own  hand- 

ALLIANCE  OF  ...  „.n  ,      .  ,  ■      , 

scotch  and  writing  is  one  ot  the  most  important  statements  in 
protes-  history.     It  assures  England  "  of  our  constancy  (as 

men  may  promise)  till  our  lives  end ;  yea,  farther,  we 
will  divulgate  and  set  abroad  a  charge  and  commandment  to  our 
posterity  that  the  amity  and  league  between  you  and  us,  contracted 
and  begun  in  Christ  Jesus,  may  by  them  be  kept  in  violated  forever." 
This  was  signed  by  all  the  Protestant  lords.  Before  the  arrival  of 
English  help  the  forces  of  the  regent  drove  the  Protestants  out  of 
Edinburgh  ;  but  after  that  arrival  the  Catholic  party  saw  the  hope- 
lessness of  the  struggle,  and  without  fighting  a  battle  made  over- 
tures for  peace.  The  treaty  of  peace,  signed  July  7,  1560,  provided 
for  a  removal  of  the  French  troops,  amnesty  for  those  who  had 
been  compelled  to  resist  the  regent,  redress  of  grievances  of  the 
civil  administration,  a  free  parliament  to  be  called  to  settle  the 
religious  and  other  affairs  of  the  kingdom,  and  that  during  the  ab- 
sence of  the  king  and  queen,  Francis  and  Mary  (the  regent  died 
June  10),  the  government  should  be  administered  by  a  council  of 
twelve,  all  natives  of  Scotland. 

On  the  first  day  of  August,  1560,  the  most  important  parliament 
ever  held  in  Scotland  convened  in  Edinburgh.  It  was  attended 
by  nobles,  lairds,  burghers,  and  bishops.  Would  the  men  of  the  old 
Church  make  a  stand  now,  and  in  this  free  assembly,  where  every 
man  could  speak  his  convictions,  defend  their  doctrines  and  rights  ? 
They  were  silent,  and  made  no  fight.  They  saw  the  handwriting 
on  the  wall,  and  their  acquiescence  in  this  great  crisis  was  a  con- 
fession that  the  Eoman  Church  had  proved  false  to  its  duties  to 
the  parlia-  the  Scotch  people,  and  that  it  was  justly  reformed. 
ment  of  1560.  When  Knox  presented  his  confession  of  faith  to  the 
parliament  it  was  accepted  almost  unanimously,  only  three — 
possibly  five — of  the  secular  members  voting  against  it,  and  the 
bishops,  although  they  would  not  vote  for  it,  allowing  it  to  go 
without  debate.  The  Church  that  could  use  only  fire  and  sword 
in  its  day  of  power  against  inoffensive  preachers  and  laymen  was 
now  intellectually  impotent  in  the  day  of  discussion. 

On  the  other  side  the  Earl  of  Marischal  said  :  "  Seeing  that  my 
lords  bishops,  who  for  their  learning  can,  and  for  that  zeal  they 


ESTABLISHMENT   OF   PROTESTANTISM   IN   SCOTLAND.    4G5 

should  bear  to  the  verity  would  (as  I  suppose),  gainsay  anything 
that  directly  repugns  to  the  verity  of  God — seeing,  I  say,  my  lords 
here  present  speak  nothing  to  the  contrary  of  the  doctrine  proposed, 
I  cannot  but  hold  it  to  be  the  very  truth  of  God  and  the  contrary 
to  be  deceivable  doctrine.  The  rest  of  the  lords  with  common 
consent,  and  with  '  as  glad  a  will  as  ever  I  heard  men  speak,'  al- 
lowed the  same."1  "Divers,  with  protestation  of  their  conscience 
and  faith,  desired  rather  presently  to  end  their  lives  than  ever  to 
think  contrary  unto  that  allowed  there.  Many  also  offered  to  shed 
their  blood  in  defense  of  the  same.  The  old  lord  of  Lindsay,  as 
grave  and  goodly  a  man  as  ever  I  saw,  said,  '  I  have  lived  many 
years ;  I  am  the  oldest  in  this  company  of  my  sort ;  now  that  it 
hath  pleased  God  to  let  me  see  this  day,  where  so  many  nobles  and 
others  have  allowed  so  noble  a  work,  I  will  say  with  Simeon,  Nunc 
dimittis.'"  The  parliament  passed  acts  outlawing  the  Church 
of  Rome,  and  making  it  a  penal  offense  to  say  mass.  There 
was  fortunately  gradation  in  punishment  for  ecclesiastical  offenses, 
which  gave  the  Scotch  Protestants  an  enviable  reputation  for 
moderation  in  a  day  when  religious  penal  codes  were  atrociously 
severe.3 

The  ecclesiastical  organization  was  left  by  parliament  to  the 
Church  itself,  and  on  December  20,  1560,  ministers  and  laymen 
met  in  Edinburgh  "to  consult  on  those  things  which  are  to  for- 
ward God's  glory,  and  the  weil  of  his  Kirk,  in  the  realm  " — the  first 
general  assembly  of  the  Church  of  Scotland.  In  its  main  features 
the  dogmatic  and  ecclesiastical  foundations  of  Scotch 
Protestantism,  as  settled  in  1560  and  the  year  follow-       general 

..  .  -.  ..,,...  ASSEMBLY. 

ing,  have  remained  amid  many  trials  and  vicissi- 
tudes until  the  present  time.  For  that  reason  it  is  not  necessary 
to  go  into  the  romantic  and  tragic  history  of  Mary  Queen  of 
Scots,  or  Knox's  conflicts  with  her,  or  the  numerous  intrigues, 
scandals,  and  crimes  which  mark  the  secular  history  during  the 
seven  years  of  her  sad  reign.     The  Scottish  Church  emerged  from 

1  See  in  full  in  Calderwood,  ii,  38. 

2  Only  for  the  third  offense  was  death  decreed,  and  as  the  punishment  for  the 
second  conviction  was  banishment,  it  is  evident  that  the  law  desired  not  the 
death  of  any.  "  The  only  defense  of  these  statutes,"  says  Innes,  "and  it  is  a 
very  inadequate  one,  is  that  they  could  not  be  fully  enforced  and  were  not, 
and  that  perhaps  they  were  not  quite  intended  to  be  enforced.  In  point  of 
fact,  Scotland  in  the  Reformation  time  had  little  bloodshedding  for  mere  relig- 
ion on  either  side  to  show,  compared  to  the  deluge  which  stained  the  scaffold 
of  continental  Europe  " — and,  we  might  add,  of  England  too. — Innes,  Life  of 
John  Knox,  pp.  100,  101. 

32 


466  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

this  critical  era  pretty  much  as  it  entered — perhaps  more  firmly- 
established.1 

1  This  Marian  era  in  Scotland  is  the  battle  ground  of  historians,  but  as  not 
one  of  the  disputed  questions  has  any  vital  relation  to  the  history  of  the  Scotch 
Reformation  it  is  not  necessary  to  discuss  them.  One,  however,  is  the  question 
of  Knox's  relation  to  the  murder  of  Rizzio  and  Darnley.  There  is  no  evidence  to 
implicate  him.  P.  Hume  Brown  in  his  voluminous  and  impartial  Life  acquits 
him  in  both  cases.  Knox's  attitude  was  this :  When  a  sinful  enemy  of  the 
truth  had  been  destroyed,  he  took  it  as  the  working  out  of  God's  providence, 
and  might  even  go  so  far  as  to  express  gratification.  Bellesheim — iii,  99 — makes 
him  party  to  Rizzio's  death,  but  gives  no  proof,  simply  following  the  guid- 
ance of  the  biased  Episcopal  historian,  Tytler — iii,  223.  In  fact,  this  part 
of  Bellesheim's  great  book  is  based  too  much  on  second-hand  Roman  Cath- 
olic and  other  writers.  The  Anglican  Luckock,  who  of  course  Tepeats  the 
charge — p.  150,  Hist,  of  the  Church  in  Scotland,  Lond.,  1899 — is  even  less 
reliable,  his  work  being  intensely  partisan  and  bitter.  What  poison  is  it 
which  too  often  infects  Roman  Catholic  historians,  which  colors  and  preju- 
dices all  their  judgments  and  angles  of  vision  ?  Another  question  is  the  com- 
plicity of  Mary  in  the  murder  of  her  husband.  Here  the  circumstantial  evi- 
dence is  unfortunately  strong  against  the  fair,  but — in  her  affections — fickle 
queen,  who  had  allowed  herself  to  become  enamored  of  the  coarse  and  brutal 
Bothwell.  A  statement  of  opinion  of  historians  is  given  by  Fisher,  The  Ref- 
ormation, pp.  377,  378,  note  3.  The  latest  historian  of  Mary,  D.  Hay  Fleming, 
Lond.,  1897,  holds  that  she  accomplished  the  murder  of  Darnley,  and  was 
-probably  criminally  intimate  with  Bothwell.  As  to  the  genuineness  of  the 
Casket  Letters,  since  the  publication  of  the  article  by  Dr.  H.  Bresslau,  in  the 
Historisches  Taschenbuch  for  1882,  and  T.  F.  Henderson's  Casket  Letters  and 
Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  Edinb.  and  Lond.,  1889,  doubt  is  set  at  rest.  Take  the 
briefest  possible  statement  of  simple  facts  like  this :  ' '  The  chief  actor  in  this 
tragedy  [murder  of  the  King  Henry  Stuart,  Lord  Darnley]  was  undoubtedly 
James  Hepburn,  Earl  of  Bothwell,  an  unscrupulous  noble,  who  since  Moray's 
revolt,  and  still  more  since  Rizzio's  murder,  had  enjoyed  a  large  share  of  the 
queen's  favor.  But  there  were  suspicions  that  the  queen  herself  was  not 
wholly  ignorant  of  the  plot,  and  these  suspicions  could  not  but  be  strengthened 
by  what  followed.  On  the  12th  of  April  Bothwell  was  brought  to  a  mock  trial 
and  was  acquitted ;  on  the  24th  he  intercepted  the  queen  on  her  way  from 
Linlithgow  to  Edinburgh,  and  carried  her,  with  scarcely  a  show  of  resistance, 
to  Dunbar.  On  the  7th  day  of  May  he  was  divorced  from  the  comely  wife 
whom  he  had  married  little  more  than  a  twelvemonth  before  ;  on  the  12th 
Mary  publicly  pardoned  his  seizure  of  her  person,  and  created  him  Duke  of 
Orkney ;  and  on  the  15th — only  three  months  after  her  husband's  murder — 
she  married  a  man  whom  everyone  regarded  as  his  murderer. " — Jos.  Eobert- 
son,  art.  Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  in  Chambers  Encyc,  rev.  ed,  1893,  vii,  76. 
.  Can  it  be  a  matter  of  regret  that  such  a  queen  and  such  a  Church  were  driven 
out  of  Scotland  ?  As  Innes  well  puts  it,  the  ' '  strong  shudder  of  disgust  that 
passed  through  the  commons  of  Scotland  shook  her  throne  to  the  ground." — 
Knox,  p.  141. 


THE    FOUNDATION   OF  THE   SCOTTISH   CHURCH.         467 


CHAPTER    XII. 

THE    FOUNDATION    OF    THE    SCOTTISH    CHURCH. 

John  Knox's  association  with  Calvin,  as  well  as  his  tempera- 
ment and  attitude  toward  religion  and  the  Bible,  made  it  certain 
that  the  Eef  ormation  in  Scotland  would  proceed  by  paths  different 
from  the  halting  and  dubious  methods  of  the  new  Church  of  Eng- 
land. Both  Knox  and  Calvin  earnestly  tried  to  build  up  the  Church 
anew  on  scriptural  foundations,  without  regard  to  that  "  historic 
continuity,  "that  worship  of  Roman  Catholic  precedent,  which  ham- 
pered the  genesis  of  the  Church  across  the  Tweed.  If  they  failed 
it  was  either  because  they  mistook  the  ideal  or  cir-  KNOx's 
cumstances  did  not  allow  them  perfectly  to  embody  it.  appeal1  tIT 
It  must  be  confessed  that  Knox's  plan  for  the  reorgan-  scripture. 
ization  of  religion  in  Scotland  was  for  that  age  eminently  just  and 
right,  and  he  is  not  to  be  blamed  if  the  rapacity  of  the  nobles  made 
it  impossible  of  realization.  In  certain  large  particulars  the  Scot- 
tish reformers  did  carry  out  their  thought  in  spite  of  various  fail- 
ures and  temporary  defeats,  and  their  work  has  stood  the  test  of 
time.  The  Presbyterian  polity  and  doctrine  have  nurtured  innu- 
merable souls  into  unsurpassed  strength  and  solidity  of  Christian 
character  ;  have  trained  whole  peoples  for  self-government  and  the 
enjoyment  of  constitutional  liberties  ;  kept  a  large  and  increasingly 
influential  section  of  the  Church  Catholic  both  from  sacerdotalism 
on  the  one  hand  and  false  liberalism  on  the  other  ;  and  thus  have 
vindicated  the  faith  and  daring  of  those  reformers  who  parted  from 
Luther  in  their  determination  to  restore  the  old  paths  according  to 
the  Pauline  pattern.1 

First,  some  description  must  be  given  of  the  form  of  Church  gov- 
ernment and  discipline  which  the  Scottish  reformers  set  up.  The  first 
General  Assembly  of  the  Church  of  Scotland  was  held  on  December 
26,  1560,  consisting  of  six  ministers  and  thirty -four  laymen.  One 
of  their  first  steps  was  to  draw  up  a  book  of  Discipline.  "  They  took 
not  their  example," says  Row,  one  of  the  number,  "from  any  kirk 

1  Luther's  aim  was  to  sweep  away  all  gross  abuses  and  to  reform  the  Church 
in  a  moderate  fashion,  keeping  all  usages  and  doctrines  that  were  not  mani- 
festly contradicted  by  Holy  Scripture.  Calvin's  aim  was  to  go  back  to  the 
Scripture  first,  and  work  from  that  model. 


408  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

in  the  world  ;  no,  not  from  Geneva,"  but  from  the  Scriptures.  They 
then  submitted  it  to  the  privy  council,  not  that  they  recognized 
first  and  the  right  of  the  secular  power  to  dictate  as  to  their  pol- 
bookNof  ity>  but  that  they  might  have  the  approval  of  that 

discipline,  power  in  the  carrying  out  of  its  provisions.  This  was 
necessary,  because  the  old  order  which  their  Discipline  was  to  super- 
sede was  intrenched  behind  numerous  civil  rights  and  privileges, 
and  would  not  be  dislodged  unless  compelled.  The  reformers 
wanted  their  own  Church  to  be  recognized  as  the  legal  and  estab- 
lished polity  of  Scotland.  In  this  they  were  not  ahead  of  the 
sentiment  of  their  time  ;  but  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  his- 
torical situation  in  the  beginnings  of  Protestantism  required  a  kind 
of  union  between  Church  and  State.  It  is  hard  to  see  how  other- 
wise the  new  faith  could  have  gotten  a  foothold.  Would  it  not  have 
been  crushed  as  it  was  in  France  ?  At  first  the  civil  authorities 
refused  to  ratify  the  Discipline  prepared  by  the  Assembly  of  1560-61, 
chiefly  on  account  of  its  Christian  disposal  of  the  old  Church  prop- 
erty and  wealth,  and  partly  on  account  of  its  severe  dealing  with 
sin.  But  the  second  book  of  Discipline  was  thus  ratified  twenty 
years  after,  and  as  it  is  substantially  like  the  first  we  are  enabled 
to  give  an  idea  of  the  ecclesiastical  foundation  of  Scotch  Protes- 
tantism. 

The  officers  of  the  Church  were  of  four  kinds  :  (1)  the  pastor  or 
minister,  who  was  to  be  elected  by  the  people,  called  by  God  and 
the  Church,  carefully  examined  as  to  his  intellectual  fitness  and 
doctrinal  soundness,  to  whom  preaching  and  administration  were 
chiefly,  though  not  exclusively,  confined ;  (2)  the  doctor  or 
teacher,  or  professional  exegete  and  theologian,  who  taught  in 
officers  of  schools  and  universities ;  (3)  the  elder,  elected  by  the 
the  church,  congregation,  at  first  for  one  year,  who  must  assist 
the  minister  in  discipline  and  government,  and  in  administering 
the  Lord's  Supper ;  and  (4)  the  deacon,  also  elected,  who  had  a 
special  charge  of  church  moneys  and  the  poor.  This  popular  char- 
acter of  the  Scotch  Church — a  carrying  out  of  the  priesthood  of  all 
believers — was  modified  somewhat  both  in  practice  and  in  law.  Very 
often  ministers,  instead  of  being  elected  by  the  church  they  were 
to  serve,  were  appointed  by  patrons,  and  were  generally  received 
without  question.  Besides,  the  Discipline  provided  that  in  case  a 
church  remained  without  a  pastor  for  some  time,  a  minister  was  to 
be  assigned  them.  The  examination  as  to  fitness  was  severe,  as  the 
reformers  held  it  better  that  there  be  no  ministers  at  all  than  that 
these  should  be  incompetent.     The  elders  were  afterward  elected 


THE   FOUNDATION   OF   THE   SCOTTISH   CHURCH.         469 

for  life.  Knox  was  strongly  opposed  to  this,  as  he  thought  they 
might  attain  such  power  as  would  put  in  jeopardy  the  freedom  of 
the  Church  of  G-od.  In  the  appointment  of  ministers  the  laying 
on  of  hands  was  not  at  first  used.  "  Other  ceremony  than  the 
public  approbation  of  the  people,  and  the  declaration  of  the  chief 
minister  (or  of  the  president)  that  the  person  there  presented  is 
appointed  to  serve  the  church,  we  cannot  approve ;  for  albeit  the 
apostles  used  imposition  of  hands,  yet  seeing  the  miracle  is  ceased, 
the  using  of  the  ceremonie  we  judge  not  necessary." ' 

There  were  two  or  three  other  classes  of  officers  in  the  reformed 
Church  of  Scotland,  which  appear  only  as  expedients  to  meet  the 
distress  then  present.     With  the  growth  and  consolidation  of  the 

1  Laying  on  of  hands  did  not  have  in  apostolic  times  the  meaning  we  attach 
to  ordination  ;  it  was  rather  a  symbol  of  prayer  and  blessing  for  a  specific  work 
or  time.  The  word  "  ordain  "  in  the  modern  ecclesiastical  sense  does  not  occur 
in  the  New  Testament.  Ordination  by  imposition  of  hands  was  afterward 
adopted  by  the  Scottish  Church.  In  the  second  book  of  Discipline  we  read  : 
"  There  are  four  ordinary  offices  or  functions  in  the  Church  of  God — the  pastor, 
minister,  or  bishop  ;  the  doctor  ;  the  elder  ;  and  the  deacon."  "  The  office  of 
doctor  is  to  open  up  the  mind  of  the  Spirit  of  God  in  the  Scriptures  simply, 
without  such  application  as  the  minister  uses.  .  .  .  Under  the  name  and  office 
of  doctor  is  also  comprehended  the  order  in  schools,  colleges,  and  universities." 
The  chief  office  of  the  elder  is  government  and  discipline.  Dr.  John  Cunning- 
ham thus  describes  the  difference  between  the  first  and  second  books  of  Disci- 
pline :  "  The  first  book  exhibited  a  system  of  polity  sagaciously  suited  to  the 
circumstances  of  the  country  and  the  Church  :  it  seemed  to  grow  oiit  of  the 
times.  The  second  aims  at  elaborating  a  system  from  the  New  Testament, 
without  reference  to  circumstances.  The  one  looked  to  practice,  the  other  to 
the  establishment  of  general  principles.  They  differ  in  several  respects.  The 
first  book  had  abolished  the  imposition  of  hands  in  ordination  ;  the  second  re- 
stored it.  The  first  book  gave  its  sanction  to  superintendents  and  readers  ;  the 
second  removed  the  superintendent,  as  he  savored  of  the  diocesan  bishop,  and 
the  reader,  as  his  office  had  no  warrant  in  the  word  of  God,  however  much  it 
might  be  required  by  the  times.  In  the  first  there  is  no  mention  of  the  courts 
of  the  Church,  though  we  can  trace  in  some  of  its  arrangements  the  beginning 
of  them  all ;  in  the  second  there  is  an  elaborate  chapter  upon  assemblies,  but, 
singularly  enough,  the  presbytery,  now  reckoned  the  fundamental  court  of 
a  Presbyterian  Church,  is  not  marked  out  as  a  court  separate  and  distinct  from 
the  kirk  session.  .  .  .  Time  has  made  havoc  upon  the  polity  established  by  the 
second  book  of  Discipline,  as  upon  everything  human.  The  doctor  and  deacon 
have  disappeared  from  the  office-bearers  of  the  Church  ;  the  minister  and  elder 
alone  remain.  The  kirk  session  has  been  discriminated  from  the  presbytery  ; 
and  by  kirk  session,  presbyteries,  synods,  and  general  assemblies  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Church  is  now  carried  on.  But  the  second  book  possesses  much 
that  is  enduring,  and  to  this  day  remains  the  foundation  stone  of  an  ecclesias- 
tical constitution."— Church  Hist,  of  Scotland,  i,  444,  445. 


470  HISTORY  OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

Church  they  were  discontinued,  and  it  is  doubtful  if  they  were 
meant  to  be  permanent.  Headers  and  exhorters  were  men  who,  in 
the  absence  of  ministers  or  in  places  destitute  of  the  services  of 
religion,  could  read  the  Scriptures  in  the  congregation,  and  add  a 
word  of  exhortation.  They  were  analogous  to  Metho- 
church  dist  local  preachers,  though  their  field  was  much  more 

restricted.  The  idea  of  a  trained,  educated  ministry 
was  such  an  important  one  in  the  mind  of  the  reformers  that  they 
could  not  have  sympathized  with  Wesley's  large  and  systematic  use 
of  lay  talent.  There  was  also  a  body  of  men  called  superintend- 
ents. They  were  elected  by  the  burghers  and  chief  men  of  the 
Church,  and  their  duty  was  to  travel  through  the  country,  preach 
and  administer  the  sacraments  in  destitute  places,  overlook  the 
work  of  country  ministers  and  exhorters,  examine  them  as  to  their 
fitness,  and  supply  the  needs  of  distant  and  neglected  parishes. 
They  anticipated  the  work  of  the  original  Methodist  circuit  rider 
and  the  first  presiding  elders.  When  the  Scotch  Church  grew  and 
had  ministers  sufficient  for  its  parishes  these  superintendents  were 
superseded.  They  had  few  of  the  functions  of  a  Roman  Catholic 
bishop,  but  were  a  good  expedient  for  the  trying  hour.  The  last  of 
them  died  in  1591.  In  all  ecclesiastical  annals  no  finer  illustration 
exists  of  the  prompt  and  effective  meeting  of  a  great  and  sudden 
emergency  than  in  the  original  and  complex  method  by  which  the 
Scotch  reformers  seized  their  golden  moment  at  once  to  undo  a  dark 
Roman  Catholic  past  and  to  lay  the  granite  foundations,  enduring  as 
their  own  dear  Highlands,  of  a  spotless  and  heroic  Protestantism. 

Public  worship  was  carried  on  substantially  as  at  present  in 
Presbyterian  Churches,  though  the  liturgy  which  Knox  used  at 
Geneva  was  at  first  largely  employed.  A  meeting  was  also  held 
weekly,  called  the  prophesying,  which  was  attended  by  all  the  min- 
isters and  educated  men  of  the  vicinity,  the  work  of  which  was  not 
prayer,  testimony,  exhortation,  and  the  free  interchange  of  spir- 
public  itual  counsel,  but  rather  the  study  of  the  Scriptures. 

worship.  This  was  afterward  converted  into  the  presbytery. 
Like  all  the  reformed  Churches,  the  Scotch  made  no  provision  in 
its  polity  for  the  due  expression  and  training  of  religion  considered 
as  an  experience — a  large  feature  in  the  Apostolic  Church  and  the 
chief  excellence  of  the  polity  of  certain  Protestant  Churches.1 

A  remarkable  factor  in  the  Reformation  plans  in  Scotland  was 
the  provision  for  education.     Every  parish  must  have  at  least  one 

1  See  this  point  ably  handled  by  Rigg,  Comparative  View  of  Church  Organi- 
zations, Lond.,  1887  ;  2d  ed.,  1891 ;  3d  ed.  rev.,  1899. 


THE   FOUNDATION   OF   THE   SCOTTISH   CHURCH.         471 

schoolmaster,  and  if  a  parish  could  not  afford  this  the  minister  or 
reader  must  see  to  the  instruction  of  the  children.  "In  every 
notable  town  there  should  be  erected  a  college,  in  which  the  arts,  at 
least  logic  and  rhetoric,  together  with  the  tongues,  EMPHasis  on 
might  be  read  by  sufficient  masters,  for  whom  honest  EDUCATIO-N- 
stipends  must  be  provided,  as  also  provision  for  those  that  are  able 
by  themselves  or  by  their  friends  to  be  sustained  at  letters." 
School  attendance  was  compulsory.  The  rich  and  powerful  were 
obliged  to  dedicate  their  sons  to  the  Church  and  commonwealth  ; 
the  children  of  the  poor  were  to  be  supported  at  the  charge  of  the 
Church,  if  they  showed  a  genius  for  learning.  The  ministers  and 
the  learned  men  in  the  town  were  to  examine  the  youths  every 
quarter  to  see  what  progress  had  been  made.  They  had  the  course 
marked  somewhat  as  follows  :  two  years  catechism  and  elementary 
grammar ;  three  years  grammar  ;  four  years  logic,  rhetoric,  and 
Greek ;  then,  till  the  age  of  twenty-four,  whatever  study  would 
most  profit  Church  or  State,  whether  law,  physic,  or  divinity.  Not 
every  youth,  of  course,  was  expected  to  go  so  far.  The  ap- 
pointed "  time  being  expired  in  every  course,  the  children  should 
either  proceed  to  further  knowledge,  or  else  they  must  be  set  to 
some  handicraft,  or  to  some  other  profitable  exercise  :  provided  al- 
ways that  first  they  have  the  knowledge  of  God's  law  and  com- 
mandments; the  use  and  office  of  the  same  ;  the  chief  articles  of  the 
belief  ;  the  right  form  to  pray  to  God  ;  the  number,  use,  and  effect 
of  the  sacraments  ;  the  true  knowledge  of  Christ  Jesus,  of  his  offices 
and  natures  ;  and  such  other  points  without  the  knowledge  whereof 
neither  any  man  deserves  to  be  called  Christian,  neither  ought  any 
to  be  admitted  to  the  participation  of  the  Lord's  table." 

The  whole  scheme  was  crowned  by  the  university,  and  the  re- 
formers had  the  courses  of  study  there  also  well  marked  out.  This 
great  educational  program,  which  with  daring  faith  and  far-sighted 
wisdom  Knox  and  his  colaborers  constructed,  was  not  earned  out 
fully,  on  account  of  failure  of  means,  but  it  was  in  part  realized. 
And  may  we  not  believe  that  the  preeminence  of  Scotland,  in  both 
learning  and  religion,  is  due  to  this  magnificent  emphasis  on  popular 
intelligence,  informed  by  intense  piety  and  leading  to  the  prof ound- 
est  and  widest  erudition  ? '  The  divorce  of  Christianity  from  cul- 
ture, which  is  one  of  the  lamentable  and  perhaps  necessary  features 
of  the  American  educational  system,  was  guarded  against  by  the 
Scotch  reformers. 

1  See  this  educational  scheme  outlined  in  Principal  Lee,  Hist,  of  Church  of 
Scotland,  i,  192  ff. 


FIRST  SCOTCH 
CONFESSION. 


472  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

The  means  for  developing  the  work  to  which  God  had  set  the  Scotch 
reformers  were  to  come  from  the  patrimony  of  the  Church,  a  Church 
which  had  in  fact  absorbed  a  great  part  of  the  wealth  of  the  king- 
dom, and  which  in  the  judgment  of  the  reformers  ought  now  justly 
to  be  returned.  This  wealth  was  to  be  devoted  (1)  to  the  support 
of  the  clergy  in  such  "honest  provision  as  would  give  neither  occa- 
sion for  solicitude  nor  yet  of  insolence  and  wantonness;"  (2)  to 
schools  and  universities ;  (3)  for  the  care  of  the  sick  and  poor. 
Unfortunately  the  nobles  would  not  consent  to  this,  and  in  their 
greed  seized  upon  much  of  the  estate  of  the  Church.  There  was, 
however,  as  one  historian  remarks,  a  rough  justice  in  this,  as  they 
were  but  reclaiming  their  own. ' 

The  founders  of  Scottish  Presbyterianism  were  Calvinists,  and 
yet  it  is  remarkable  that  although  they  presented  to  the  estates  in 
1560  a  strong  and  evangelical  creed,  it  contained  not  a  hint  of  the 
severer  features  of  Calvinism.  In  this  respect  it  differs  widely 
from  the  historic  standard  of  the  Scottish  Church — the 
"Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  1648,  which  is  one  of 
the  most  thoroughgoing  and  consistent  statements  of  doctrine  from 
the  Calvinistic  standpoint  in  all  literature.  The  men  of  1560  were 
intent  on  giving  an  outline  of  their  faith  as  against  Eoman  Cathol- 
icism, and  there  is  little  in  their  Confession  which  a  hearty  Ar- 
minian  could  not  accept,  being  in  this  respect,  though  for  a  differ- 
ent reason,  very  similar  to  the  creed  of  the  English  Presbyterian 
Church  of  1889.  The  first  Scottish  Confession  is  rather,  in  fact, 
a  religious  and  ethical  document  than  a  collection  of  theological 
statements  in  the  sense  of  the  discriminating,  vigorous,  and  sys- 
tematic creeds  of  a  later  time.  It  begins  with  this  noble  pro- 
test :  "  If  any  man  will  note  in  this  our  Confession  any  articles  or 
sentences  repugning  to  God's  Holy  Word,  that  it  would  please  him 

1  Speaking  of  the  cupidity  of  the  landholders,  who  rendered  partially  abor- 
tive the  grand  scheme  outlined  above,  Dr.  Norman  L.  Walker  says  :  "  It  is  an 
obvious  calumny  to  say  that  what  attracted  the  barons  of  the  Reformation  at 
the  first  was  their  hope  of  sharing  in  the  spoils  of  the  Church  ;  for,  with  the 
court  against  them,  nobody  could  have  expected  the  revolution  which  so  soon 
took  place.  But  it  casts  a  shadow  on  the  subsequent  sincerity  of  some  of 
them  that  they  made  their  Protestantism  pecuniarily  so  profitable.  And  yet 
let  us  not  refuse  to  confess  that  there  was,  after  all,  a  certain  wild  justice 
in  their  depredations.  The  ancestors  of  these  men  had  given  land  to  the 
monks  under  the  belief  that  they  could  intercede  for  them  in  heaven  ;  and  the 
monks  accepted  the  gifts  as  for  value  promised  or  bestowed.  The  vanity  of 
the  bargain  was  now  disclosed,  and  goods  were  reclaimed  that  had  been  taken 
on  false  pretenses." — Scottish  Church  History,  p.  34. 


THE   FOUNDATION   OF   THE   SCOTTISH   CHURCH.         473 

of  his  gentleness  and  for  Christian  charity's  sake  to  admonish  us  of 
the  same  in  writing,  and  we  of  our  honors  and  fidelity  do  promise 
unto  him  satisfaction  from  the  mouth  of  God,  that  is,  from  the 
Holy  Scripture,  or  else  reformation  of  that  which  shall  prove  amiss. 
For  God  we  take  to  record  in  our  consciences  that  from  our  hearts 
we  abhor  all  sects  of  heresy  and  all  teachers  of  erroneous  doctrine  ; 
and  that  with  all  humility  we  embrace  the  piety  of  Christ's  Gospel, 
which  is  the  only  food  for  our  souls,  therefore  so  precious  unto 
us  that  we  are  determined  to  suffer  the  extremity  of  worldly  dan- 
ger, rather  than  we  shall  suffer  ourselves  to  be  defrauded  of  the 
same.  For  hereof  we  are  most  certainly  persuaded  that  whosoever 
denieth  Christ  Jesus,  or  is  ashamed  of  him  in  the  presence  of  men, 
shall  be  denied  before  the  Father  and  before  his  holy  angels.  And 
therefore  by  the  assistance  of  the  mighty  Spirit  of  the  same  our 
Lord  Jesus,  we  firmly  propose  to  abide  to  the  end  in  the  confes- 
sion of  this  our  faith."  These  are  words  of  men  who  were  as  ear- 
nestly intent  on  finding  the  truth  as  they  were  in  holding  on  to  it 
at  the  risk  of  life. 

A  few  brief  quotations  will  give  the  spirit  of  the  confession  on 
controverted  doctrines.  Election  :  God  "of  mere  grace  elected 
us  in  Christ  Jesus,  his  Son,  before  the  foundation  of  the  world  was 
laid"  (Art.  viii).  Source  of  religious  authority:  "Thus 
our  faith,  and  the  assurance  of  the  same,  proceedeth  not  from  flesh 
and  blood,  that  is  to  say,  from  natural  powers,  within  us,  but  is  the 
inspiration  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  .  .  .  who  sanctifieth  points  of 
us  and  bringeth  us  into  all  verity  by  his  own  opera-  doctrine. 
tion"  (Art.  xii).  "The  authority  of  the  Scriptures  proceeds  from 
no  Kirk,  but  from  God  alone,  and  depends  neither  on  men  nor  an- 
gels" (Art.  xix).  Total  depravity  :  By  original  sin  the  "image 
of  God  is  utterly  defaced  in  man,  and  he  and  his  posterity  by  na- 
ture become  enemies  of  God,  slaves  to  Satan,  servants  to  sin  "  (Art. 
iii).  "  Of  nature  we  are  so  dead,  so  blind,  so  perverse  that  nei- 
ther can  we  feel  when  we  are  pricked  [by  the  Spirit],  see  the  light 
when  it  shineth,  nor  assent  unto  the  will  of  God  when  it  is  revealed, 
unless  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  Jesus  quicken  that  which  is  dead  " 
(Art.  xii).  The  Church  :  The  Kirk  is  "a  company  and  multitude 
of  men  chosen  of  God,  who  rightly  worship  and  embrace  him 
by  true  faith  in  Christ  Jesus,  who  is  the  only  head  of  the  same 
Kirk."  This  Church  is  Catholic  because  it  contains  the  elect  of 
all  ages  and  nations,  whether  Jews  or  Gentiles,  providing  they 
have  communion  with  God  and  with  Christ,  through  the  Spirit 
(Art.  xvi).     This  Kirk  is  invisible.     The  notes  of  a  true  (visible) 


474  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Church  are  the  true  preaching  of  the  word,  right  administration 
of  the  sacraments,  and  ecclesiastical  discipline  (Art.  xviii).  The 
authority  of  councils  is  only  that  of  the  truth  they  utter,  and  the 
ceremonies  and  other  regulations  they  ordain  may  be  changed  if 
they  foster  superstition  or  become  obsolete  (Art.  xx). 

The  Sacraments  :  "  We  utterly  damn  the  vanity  of  them  that 
affirm  the  sacraments  to  be  nothing  less  but  naked  and. bare  signs. 
Ko,  we  assuredly  believe  that  by  baptism  we  are  engrafted  in  Christ 
Jesus,  made  partakers  of  his  justice,  by  which  our  sins  are  covered 
and  remitted ;  and  also  that  in  the  Supper,  rightly  used,  Christ 
Jesus  is  so  joined  with  us  that  he  becometh  the  very  nourishment 
and  food  of  our  souls."  There  is  no  transubstantiation  or  consub- 
stantiation,  as  the  elements  are  only  "  sacramental  signs/'  but  the 
use  of  these  signs  by  faith  becomes  to  the  believer  a  feeding  on  the 
body  and  blood  of  Christ  (Art.  xxi).  The  sacraments  can  be  admin- 
istered only  by  lawful  ministers  (Art.  xxii).  The  sacrifice  of  the 
mass  as  a  propitiation  for  sin  is  "  blasphemous  to  Christ  Jesus, 
makes  derogation  to  the  sufficiency  of  his  only  sacrifice  once  offered 
for  purgation  of  all  those  that  shall  be  sanctified/'  and  that  doctrine 
1 '  we  utterly  abhor,  detest,  and  renounce"  (Art.  xxii).  Damnation 
of  heathens  and  moealists  :  "  We  utterly  abhor  the  blasphemy 
of  them  that  affirm  that  men  who  live  according  to  equity  and  justice 
shall  be  saved,  what  religion  that  ever  they  have  professed  "  (Art. 
xvi).  Damnation  of  children  of  unbelieving  parents  :  After 
saying  that  only  those  who  avow  the  doctrine  of  Christ  and  believe 
on  him  can  be  saved,  the  creed  adds,  "  we  comprehend  the  chil- 
dren with  the  faithful  parents."  Infant  baptism  :  "  We  confess 
that  baptism  appertains  as  well  to  the  infants  of  the  faithful  as  unto 
them  that  be  of  age  and  discretion.  And  so  we  damn  the  error  of 
the  Anabaptists."  The  State  :  Emperors,  kings,  dukes,  princes, 
and  magistrates  are  of  God's  ordinance,  "  ordained  for  the  manifes- 
tation of  his  glory  and  for  the  singular  profit  and  commodity  of 
mankind"  (Art.  xxiv).  Religious  toleration:  "  To  kings,  prin- 
ces, rulers,  and  magistrates  we  affirm  that  chiefly  and  most  princi- 
pally the  conservation  and  purgation  of  religion  appertaineth,  so 
that  not  only  they  are  appointed  for  civil  policy,  but  also  for  mainte- 
nance of  true  religion,and  for  suppressing  of  idolatry  and  superstition 
whatsoever,  as  in  David,  Josephat,  Ezekias,  Josias,  and  others  highly 
commended  for  their  zeal  in  this  case  may  be  espied  "  (Art.  xxiv).1 

1  The  Creed  of  1560  is  quoted  in  full  in  Knox,  Works,  ii,  93  ff.;  Calderwood, 
ii,  15  ff. ;  Schaff,  Creeds,  iii,  437  ff.,  with  Latin  translation  ;  Dunlop,  Collections 
of  Confessions  of  Faith,  and  Catechisms,  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  ii,  13  ff. 


THE   FOUNDATION   OF   THE   SCOTTISH   CHURCH.         475 

The  doctrine  of  election  was  not  left  ambiguous  designedly,  but 
the  writers  of  the  creed  were  content  to  give  a  general  statement 
of  a  principle  which  in  its  Calvinistic  sense  no  one  doubted.  After 
the  work  of  Arminius  such  a  statement,  of  course,  would  not  suf- 
fice, and  in  the  hands  of  the  Westminster  theologians  the  real 
teaching  of  the  Church  was  fully  set  forth.  "  By  the  decree  of  God, 
for  the  manifestation  of  his  glory,  some  men  and  angels  are  pre- 
destinated unto  everlasting  life,  and  others  foreordained  to  ever- 
lasting death.  These  angels  and  men  thus  predestinated  and  fore- 
ordained are  particularly  and  unchangeably  designed ;  and  their 
number  is  so  certain  and  definite  that  it  cannot  be  either  increased 
or  diminished."  "  Neither  are  any  other  redeemed  by  Christ 
.  .  .  but  the  elect  only."  "  Whatsoever  comes  to  pass  is  freely  and 
unchangeably  ordained  by  God."1  The  doctrines  of  religious  in- 
tolerance, damnation  of  the  heathen  and  of  nonelect  infants,  were 
reaffirmed  by  the  Westminster  divines. 

In  1580  a  brief  creed  was  adopted  as  a  kind  of  appendix  to  that 
of  1560,  and  is  sometimes  called  the  second  Scotch  Confession.  It 
is  the  strongest  antipapal  document  of  the  Eeformation  times,  be- 
insr  taken  up  almost  entirely  with  a  catalogue  of  Cath- 

•  i   .  l  •-i-'ij.i  SECOND 

one  errors,  which  are  characterized  with  a  frankness  scotch 
of  objurgation  which  would  satisfy  the  most  fanatical 
Protestants.  The  Roman  Antichrist's  doctrine  as  now  damned  and 
confuted  by  the  word  of  God  and  Kirk  of  Scotland  "  we  detest 
and  refuse — his  usurped  authority  on  the  Scriptures,  the  Kirk, 
the  civil  magistrate,  and  consciences  of  men  ;  his  tyrannous  laws 
against  Christian  liberty  ;  his  erroneous  doctrine  against  sufficiency 
of  the  written  word ;  his  corrupted  doctrine  concerning  original 
sin  ;  his  five  bastard  sacraments  ;  his  cruel  judgment  against  infants 
departing  without  the  sacrament ;  his  absolute  necessity  of  bap- 
tism ;  his  blasphemous  opinion  of  transubstantiation  ;  his  dispensa- 
tions of  solemn  oaths,  perjuries,  and  decrees  of  marriage ;  his  cru- 

1  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  chap,  iii,  §  iii,  iv,  vi,  i.  Efforts  have 
"been  made  in  many  directions  to  tone  down  or  modify  these  clear  and  perfectly 
truthful  and  logical  statements  of  original  Calvinism.  The  best  that  could  be 
done  is  the  explanatory  preface  adopted  by  the  United  Presbyterian  Church 
of  Scotland,  which  says  that  the  confession  must  be  interpreted  in  accordance 
with  God's  loving  and  bona  fide  proposals  of  salvation  to  all  men.  The  Cum- 
"berland  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  exscinded  the  Calvinistic 
articles  of  the  third  chapter,  and  placed  in  their  stead  articles  of  an  Arminian 
tenor.  With  this  type  of  theology,  as  with  other  antediluvian  extremes,  the 
new  time  has  softened  the  old  asperities.  The  larger  brotherhood  has  forever 
taken  the  place  of  the  insular  and  the  individual. 


476  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

elty  against  innocent  divorced  ;  his  devilish  mass  ;  his  blasphemous 
priesthood  ;  his  profane  sacrifice  for  the  sins  of  the  dead  and  quick; 
...  his  erroneous  and  bloody  decrees  made  at  Trent,  with  all  the 
subscribers  and  approvers  of  that  cruel  and  bloody  band  conjured, 
against  the  Kirk  of  God."  Everything  savoring  of  Eome  is  anath- 
ematized in  the  ringing  sentences  of  this  creed.  If  the  Church 
of  England  had  from  the  heart  adopted  anything  near  the  uncom- 
promising Protestantism  of  that  creed,  the  whole  course  of  his- 
tory would  have  been  changed,  and  we  might  not  hear  to-day  the 
rumblings  of  that  storm  which  may  yet  sweep  that  Church  from 
off  her  worldly  vantage  ground.  The  Calvinism  of  the  Scottish 
Church,  though  still  uttered  by  her  statute  books,  has  long  since 
been  weakened  and  disintegrated,  if  not  completely  dissolved,  by  the 
larger  truth  and  intenser  love  which  no  Church,  at  least  of  late, 
has  received  more  hospitably  than  she  ;  but  her  Protestantism  she 
has  held  fast  as  a  sacred  trust  from  God,  and  she  has  thus  realized 
the  truth  of  his  promise,  "  Them  that  honor  me  will  I  honor. " 
Holding  on  to  the  important  and  essential  in  Christian  doctrine, 
the  limitations  and  errors  which  she  necessarily  adopted  at  the  first 
she  has  long  since  left  behind  ;  she  has  been  used  of  God  as  a  pro- 
moter of  learning,  philanthropy,  literature — the  mother  of  civiliza- 
tions and  the  reclaimer  of  heathenisms  ;  and  she  promises  to  be  in 
the  coming  time,  as  she  has  been  for  the  last  quarter  century,  the 
most  regnant  influence  in  theology  in  all  English-speaking  lands. 

"I  need  not  deny,"  says  Thomas  Carlyle,  "that  Protestantism 
was  a  revolt  against  spiritual  sovereignties — popes — and  much  else. 
Nay,  I  will  grant  that  English  Puritanism,  revolt  against  earthly 
sovereignties,  was  the  second  act  of  it;1  that  the  enormous  French 
Eevolution  itself  was  the  third  act,  whereby  all  sovereignties 
carlyle's  earthly  and  spiritual  were,  as  it  might  seem,  abolished 
protes^  T°  or  made  sure  of  abolition.  Protestantism  is  the  grand 
tantism.  root  from  which  our  whole  subsequent  European  his- 

tory branches  out.  For  the  spiritual  will  always  body  itself  forth 
in  the  temporal  history  of  men;  the  spiritual  is  the  beginning  of 
the  temporal.  ...  In  our  island  there  arose  a  Puritanism  which 
even  got  itself  established  as  Presbyterianism  and  national  Church 
among  the  Scotch;  which  came  forth  as  a  real  business  of  the  heart, 
and  has  produced  in  the  world  very  notable  fruit.     In  some  senses 

1  But  it  must  be  remembered  tbat,  in  the  Middle  Ages  and  after,  tbe  pope  and 
Roman  Church,  often  revolted  against  earthly  sovereignties.  The  difference  is 
that  Protestants  revolted  against  insufferable  tyranny,  and  the  pope  against 
kings  who  would  not  follow  his  beck. 


THE  FOUNDATION  OF   THE   SCOTTISH   CHURCH.        477 

one  may  say  it  is  the  only  phasis  of  Protestantism  that  ever  got 
to  the  rank  of  being  a  faith,  a  true  heart-communication  from 
heaven,  and  of  exhibiting  itself  in  history  as  such.  We  CARLYlk  on 
must  spare  a  few  words  for  Knox,  himself  a  brave  KNOX- 
and  remarkable  man,  but  still  more  important  as  chief  priest  and 
founder,  which  one  may  consider  him  to  be,  of  the  faith  that  be- 
came Scotland's,  New  England's,  Oliver  Cromwell's. 

"  In  the  history  of  Scotland,  too,  I  can  find  properly  but  one 
epoch;  we  may  say  it  contains  nothing  of  world-interest  at  all  but 
this  Reformation  by  Knox.  .  .  .  Common  man  as  he  was,  the 
vague  shoreless  universe  had  become  for  him  a  firm  city  and  a 
dwelling  place  which  he  knew.  Such  virtue  was  in  belief,  in  these 
words  well  spoken,  /  believe. 

"  Well,  this  is  what  I  mean  by  a  whole  '  nation  of  heroes ' — a  be- 
lieving nation.  There  needs  not  a  great  soul  to  make  a  hero;  there 
needs  a  God-created  soul  which  will  be  true  to  its  origin — that  will 
be  a  great  soul.  .  .  . 

"  This  that  Knox  did  for  his  nation,  I  say,  we  may  really  call  a 
resurrection  from  death.  It  was  not  a  smooth  business,  but  it  was 
welcome  surely,  and  cheap  at  that  price  had  it  been  far  rougher. 
On  the  whole  cheap  at  any  price! — as  life  is.  The  people  began  to 
live;  they  needed  first  of  all  to  do  that,  at  what  cost  and  costs  so- 
ever. Scotch  literature  and  thought,  Scotch  industry;  James 
Watt,  David  Hume,  Walter  Scott,  Robert  Burns — I  find  Knox  and 
the  Reformation  acting  in  the  heart's  core  of  every  one  of  these 
persons  and  phenomena;  I  find  that  without  the  Reformation  they 
would  not  have  been.  Or  what  of  Scotland  ?  The  Puritanism  of 
Scotland  became  that  of  England,  of  New  England.  A  tumult  in  the 
High  Church  of  Edinburgh  spread  into  a  universal  battle  and  strug- 
gle over  all  these  realms;  these  came  out  after  fifty  years'  struggling, 
what  we  all  call  the  '  Glorious  Revolution,'  a  Habeas  Corpus  Act, 
Free  Parliament,  and  much  else!  Alas!  is  it  not  too  true  what  we 
said,  that  many  men  in  the  van  do  always,  like  the  Russian  soldiers, 
march  into  the  ditch  of  Schweidnitz,  and  fill  it  up  with  their  dead 
bodies,  that  the  rear  may  pass  over  them  dry  shod  and  gain  the  honor? 
How  many  earnest,  rugged  Cromwells,  Knoxes,  poor  peasant  Cove- 
nanters, wrestling,  battling  for  very  life  in  rough,  miry  places, 
have  to  struggle  and  suffer  and  fall,  greatly  censured,  bemired,  be- 
fore a  beautiful  Revolution  of  Eighty-eight  can  step  over  them  in 
official  pumps  and  silk  stockings,  with  universal  three-times-three! " ' 

1  Heroes  and  Hero  Worship :  Hero  as  Priest,  in  Works,  Estes  &  Lauriat's 
ed.,  i,  349,  367,  369,  370. 


478  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


LITERATURE:   THE  IRISH   REFORMATION. 

See  Nos.   1,  2,  8,  23,  24,  in  vol.  i,  pp.  649,  650,  and  compare  the  following 
with  the  literature  referred  to  in  each  : 

1.  Reid,  J.  S.     Hist,  of  Presbyterian  Church  in  Ireland.     3  vols.     Edinb., 

1834-37 ;  2d  ed.,  1853  ;  3d  ed.,  1867.  Has  appendix  of  documents.  Val- 
uable. 

2.  Mant,  R.     Hist,  of  the  Church  of  Ireland  from  the  Reformation  to  the 

Revolution.     2  vols.     Oxf.  and  Lond.,  1839-41.     Prot.  Episcop. 

3.  King,   R.     Church   History  of  Ireland.     3   vols.     Dubl.,   1841  ;   5th  ed., 

bound  in  2  vols.,  1867.     Prot.  Episcop. 

4.  Moran,  P.  F.     Hist,    of   Catholic   Archbishops  of   Dublin.     Dubl.,  1864 

Monasticum  Hibernicum.  Dubl.,  1873.  Hist,  of  the  Irish  Church.  Lond., 
1874.  Spicilegium  Ossoriense.  2  vols.  Dubl. ,  1874-78.  A  collection  of 
original  documents.     Roman  Catholic. 

5.  Richey,  A.    Sects  :  Lectures  on  the  Hist,  of  Ireland.   2d  ser.    Lond.,  1870. 

6.  Dwyer,  Canon.     The  Diocese  of  Killaloe  from  the  Reformation  till  the 

Close  of  the  Eighteenth  Century.  Dubl. ,  1878.  Prot.  Episcop.  Excel- 
lent.    See  Church  Quar.  Rev.,  vii,  492. 

7.  Malone,  S.    Church  Hist,  of  Ireland.    New  ed.    Dubl.,  1880.   Roman  Cath. 

8.  Bagwell,  R.     Ireland  under  the  Tudors.     Lond.,  1885. 

9.  Seddall,  H.     The  Church  of  Ireland.     Dubl.,  1886. 

10.  Hassenkamp,  R.     Geschichte  Irlands  von  der  Reformation  bis  zu  seiner 

Union  mit  England.  Leipz.,  1887.  See  R.  Buddensieg  in  Church  Rev., 
N.  Y.,  Sept.,  1887,  p.  383.     Trend.,  Lond.,  1888. 

11.  Ball,  J.  T.     The  Reformed  Church  of  freland,  1537-1886.     Lond.  and  N. 

Y.,  1887.  History  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Ireland,  chiefly  in  its  legis- 
lative and  administrative  aspects  by  an  Episcopalian  layman.  Admir- 
able.    See  T.  Witherow,  in  Presb.  Rev.,  1887,  753. 

12.  Hamilton,  Thos.     Hist,  of  the  Irish  Presbyterian  Church.     Edinb.,  1887. 

See  John  Hall,  in  Presb.  Rev.,  N.  Y.,  viii,  357. 

13.  L*win,  C.  H.     Hist,  of  Presbyterianism  in  South  and  West  of  Ireland. 

Lond.,  1890. 

14.  Morris,  W.  O'C.    Ireland,  1494-1868.    Lond.,  1896. 


PRELUDE   TO   THE   IRISH   REFORMATION.  479 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

PRELUDE    TO   THE    IRISH   REFORMATION. 

The  interval  from  the  establishment  of  English  rule  and  the  Ro- 
man system  in  Ireland  to  the  Reformation  was  marked  by  broils, 
disturbances,  troubles — a  time  of  political  and  religious  anarchy. 
Between  the  exaction  of  the  secular  lords  on  the  one  hand  and  the 
spiritual  on  the  other,  the  poor  Irish  were  ground  as  between  mill- 
stones. To  the  spiritual  lords  was  now  given  an  increasing  power. 
The  pope  encouraged  the  clergy  to  refuse  submission  to  lay  tribu- 
nals, and  required  them  to  reserve  all  matters  like  wills  and  titles 
to  their  own  courts.  An  instance  of  the  justice  for 
which  the  Irish  might  look  to  their  masters  appears  in  period  of 

ANARPHY 

the  case  of  Widow  le  Blunde.  Her  petition  to  Edward  I 
declares  that  property  awarded  her  by  the  king's  judges  had  been 
detained  by  the  archbishop  of  Cashel  (MacCarwill,  1253-1289); 
that  this  prelate  had  killed  her  father,  imprisoned  her  grandfather 
and  grandmother  until  they  perished  by  famine,  and  starved  to 
death  her  six  brothers  and  sisters,  who  claimed  a  share  of  the  in- 
heritance of  which  the  archbishops  retained  possession.  She  says 
that  the  writs  obtained  by  her  in  the  king's  courts  had  been  ren- 
dered useless  by  the  bribery  of  the  oppressor,  and  that  she  had  been 
obliged  to  cross  the  Irish  Sea  no  less  than  five  times  to  seek  redress.1 
Even  if  we  allow  that  the  petitioner  has  exaggerated,  an  indictment 
remains  sufficient  to  brand  with  infamy  such  an  administration  of 
trust. 

Then  by  the  power  of  excommunication  the  spiritual  courts  had 
a  menace  which  indeed  made  them  formidable  to  the  luckless  wight 
who  provoked  their  ire.2  An  instance  of  the  power  of  the  Church 
occurred  in  1267,  when  the  mayor  and  citizens  of  Dublin  made  an 

1  Leland,  Hist,  of  Ireland,  i,  234 ;  Killen,  Eccl.  Hist,  of  Ireland,  i,  237. 

2  Hallam  says  that  temporal  penalties  attached  to  Church  censures  were  an 
established  principle  in  Europe  in  the  Middle  Ages  :  "  By  our  common  law  an 
excommunicated  person  is  incapable  of  being  a  witness  or  of  bringing  an  ac- 
tion ;  and  he  may  be  detained  in  prison  until  he  obtains  absolution.  By  the 
Establishments  of  St.  Louis  (Ordonnances  des  Rois,  i,  121),  his  estate  or  person 
might  be  attached  by  the  magistrate.  (He  might,  however,  sue  in  the  lay, 
though  not  in  the  spiritual,  court.)    These  actual  penalties  were  attended  by 


480  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

effort  to  reduce  the  fees  of  the  clergy.  The  archbishop  denounced 
the  arrangement,  and  placed  the  city  under  an  interdict.1  The 
power  of  pope's  legate  confirmed  this.  The  privy  council  then 
the  church,  interfered,  and  a  compromise  was  effected  in  these 
terms :  For  a  public  sin  a  citizen  should  make  satisfaction  by  a  sum 
of  money;  in  the  case  of  a  second  transgression  he  should  be  cudgeled 
about  the  Church;  for  a  third,  a  public  cudgeling  attended  by  a 
procession;  and  if  he  still  proved  incorrigible  he  should  be  exiled 
from  the  city  or  cudgeled  through  it.8  The  unhappy  victim,  who 
for  some  offense  had  been  made  obnoxious  to  the  heavy  financial 
claims  of  the  clergy,  was  thus  saved  from  too  heavy  drafts  by  an 
institution  to  which  as  an  Irishman  he  could  not  greatly  object — 
the  shillalah.3 

With  the  papal  and  English  heel  on  Ireland,  the  Church  was 
at  the  mercy  of  foreigners.  English  and  Italian  ecclesiastics  over- 
ireland  ran  ^ne  country  and  seized  upon  all  the  offices  and 

w^th^mdle-  Denences«  Very  often  these  men  did  not  reside  in  the 
siastics.  country,  but  took  its  revenues  without  any  service  in 

return.  Finally  the  Irish  could  not  stand  this  injustice,  and  in  1250 
passed  the  resolution  that  no  Englishman  should  be  admitted  canon 
into  an  Irish  church.      King  Henry  appealed  to  the  pope,  who  at 

marks  of  abhorrence  and  ignominy  still  more  calculated  to  make  an  impression 
on  ordinary  minds.  The  excommunicated  were  to  be  shunned,  like  men  in- 
fected with  leprosy,  by  their  servants,  their  friends,  and  their  families.  Two 
attendants  only,  if  we  may  trust  a  current  history,  remained  with  Robert,  who, 
on  account  of  an  irregular  marriage,  was  put  to  this  ban  by  Gregory  V,  and 
these  threw  all  the  meats  which  had  passed  his  table  into  the  fire  (Velly,  t.  ii). 
Indeed,  the  mere  intercourse  with  a  proscribed  person  incurred  what  was  called 
the  lesser  excommunication,  or  privation  of  the  sacraments,  and  required  peni- 
tence and  absolution.  In  some  places  a  bier  was  set  before  the  door  of  an  ex- 
communicated individual,  and  stones  thrown  at  his  windows — a  singular  method 
of  compelling  his  submission  (Vaissette,  Hist,  de  Languedoc,  t.  iii,  App.,  p. 
350 ;  Du  Cange,  v.  Excommunicatio).  Everywhere  the  excommunicated  were 
debarred  of  a  regular  septdture,  which,  though  obviously  a  matter  of  police, 
has,  through  the  superstition  of  consecrating  burial  grounds,  been  treated  as 
belonging  to  ecclesiastical  control." — Middle  Ages,  chap,  vii,  pt.  i,  standard 
ed.,  N.  Y.,  1880,  i,  643  ;  Lond.  ed.,  ii,  171,  172.  In  the  East  it  was  a  universal 
opinion  that  the  dead  bodies  of  excommunicated  persons  never  decay,  austere 
Mother  Earth  refusing  to  mix  with  their  contaminated  flesh  ! 

1  On  the  interdict,  see  above,  i,  765,  note. 

2  Harris,  Ware's  Bishops  of  Ireland,  1322-23  ;  Killen,  i,  260. 

3  No  offense  intended.  To  whatever  other  forms  of  violence  the  Irishman 
may  plead  guilty,  of  the  institution  of  lynch  law  anywhere  in  his  island  he 
.must  in  justice  be  fully  acquitted. 


PRELUDE  TO   THE   IRISH   REFORMATION.  481 

once  annulled  the  proposition.1  The  position  of  Ireland  gave  the 
pope  an  excellent  opportunity  to  levy  on  her  limited  resources, 
when  stronger  and  more  independent  kingdoms  resented  his  exac- 
tions. In  addition  to  his  ordinary  revenues  he  obtained  special 
assessments  four  times  in  forty  years,  three  being  to  help  him 
carry  on  his  war  against  Germany,  and  the  fourth  to  assist  him  in 
contending  against  the  king  of  Aragon.8  Italian  cupidity  went 
farther.  "  Those  who  laid  violent  hands  on  the  clergy  PAPAIj 
could  not  obtain  absolution  except  from  a  legate  kapacity. 
charged  with  that  special  commission.  And  such  a  legate  seldom 
left  the  island  without  a  very  substantial  addition  to  his  wealth. 
Jacobus,  who  arrived  in  1220  or  1221,  and  who  was  sent,  according 
to  the  annalists,  '  to  regulate  and  constitute  the  ecclesiastical  dis- 
cipline,' is  said  to  have  '  collected  horseloads  of  gold  and  silver 
from  the  clergy  of  Ireland  by  simony.'  The  patience  with  which 
the  people  submitted  to  such  barefaced  rapacity  supplies  evidence 
as  well  of  their  spiritual  as  of  their  political  degradation.  To 
satisfy  the  demands  of  these  greedy  foreigners  the  ecclesiastics 
were  sometimes  obliged  to  sell  the  ornaments  of  their  churches, 
and  the  laity  were  compelled  to  deprive  themselves  of  their  ordi- 
nary comforts."3  Some  Catholic  writers  ascribe  the  compliance 
of  the  Irish  to  their  attachment  to  the  holy  see,  but  Killen  is 
much  nearer  the  truth  when  he  says  that  it  obviously  proceeded 
from  their  helplessness.4 

The  attitude  of  the  pope  to  the  Irish  attempts  at  independence 
is  interesting.  The  Irish  who  lived  in  the  Pale,  that  is,  that  part 
of  eastern  Ireland  actually  occupied  and  ruled  by  the  English, 
were  the  victims  of  a  rapacious  and  cruel  tyranny.  They  were 
denied  the  benefits  of  the  English  law,  and  they  were  out  of  reach 
of  the  Brehon  code.  Their  position  was  something  like  that 
of  the  Jews  of  the  Middle  Ages — men  whom  no  law  protected, 
who  might  be  exploited  according  to  the  opportunity  of  any  who 
had  the  desire.  The  Irish  were  robbed  of  their  cattle,  stripped  of 
their  lands,  might  even  be  killed  by  any  Englishman,  and  in  all 
cases  had  no  redress.  They  often  petitioned  the  English  king  to 
admit  them  to  the  privilege  of  the  English  laws,  but  the  English 
in  the  Pale  always  defeated  their  application. 

Irish  troubles  with  England  go  back  far  beyond  the  establish- 
ment of  Protestantism,  and  for  the  heavy  score  of  this  Mobe 

1  See  this  bull  in  Liber  Munenim  Publicorum  Hibernicae,  pt.  iv,  55,  56. 

2  These  levies  were  in  1229,  1240,  1247,  and  1270. — Mant,  Hist,  of  the  Church 
of  Ireland,  i,  13.  3  Killen,  i,  264.  *Ibicl.,  p.  263,  note. 

33  8 


482  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

of  the  islands  against  her  English  sister  she  may  thank  a  Roman 
Catholic  people  who  forged  her  chains  and  a  brutal  pope  who  closed 
the  last  link.  When  Robert  Bruce  had  won  the  independence  of 
Scotland  on  the  field  of  Bannockburn,  June  24,  1314,  the  Irish  in 

despair  invited  him  to  come  over  and  interfere  for 
with  them.     His  brother,  Edward  Bruce,  responded  to  the 

call,  liberated  them,  and  for  three  years,  1315-18, 
reigned  king  of  Ireland.  But  famine  so  weakened  his  forces  that  he 
was  overthrown  and  slain,  October,  1318.  Yet  no  sooner  did  their 
deliverer  appear  than  the  pope  thundered  his  excommunications 
against  him  and  his  adherents.  The  noble  appeal  which  the  Irish 
made  to  the  pope  had  no  effect.  "  By  means  of  base  and  wicked 
scheming  they  have  so  far  prevailed  against  us  that  after  expelling 
us  violently  from  our  spacious  habitations  and  patrimonial  inher- 
itances, they  have  forced  us  to  retire  for  the  preservation  of  life  to 
mountains,  woods,  bogs,  and  barren  moors,  and  even  to  the  caves 
of  the  rocks,  and  there  like  wild  beasts  to  dwell  for  a  long  period. 
Nay,  even  there  they  were  incessantly  molesting  us  and  exerting 
themselves  with  all  their  might  to  drive  us  away;  and  recklessly 
seizing  for  their  own  use  every  spot  where  we  reside,  they  men- 
daciously assert,  in  the  extreme  frenzy  that  blinds  them,  that  we 
have  no  claim  to  any  free  dwelling  place  in  Ireland,  but  that  of 
right  the  whole  property  of  the  country  belongs  to  themselves. 
Because  of  these  and  many  other  things  of  the  same  description, 
there  have  arisen  between  us  and  them  implacable  enmities  and 
perpetual  wars.  .  .  .  From  the  time  of  the  grant  [of  Adrian]  to 
the  present  more  than  fifty  thousand  people  of  both  nations  have 
perished  by  the  sword,  besides  those  who  have  fallen  victims  of 
famine,  to  grief,  and  to  the  rigors  of  captivity.  These  few  facts 
concerning  the  general  history  of  our  forefathers,  and  the  miserable 
condition  to  which  the  pope  of  Rome  has  reduced  us  ourselves, 
may  suffice  for  this  occasion."1 

The  memorial  calls  attention  to  the  deprivation  of  their  rights 
by  the  English.     Though  anyone  could  go  to  law  with  an  Irish- 
man, no  Irishman,  except  a  prelate,  could  commence  an  action 
with  an  Englishman.     If  an  Englishman  killed  an  Irishman  of 
!  any  degree,  no  punishment  was  awarded.     English  monks  said  it 
!  was  no  more  sin  to  kill  an  Irishman  than  it  was  to  kill  a  dog,  and 

1  This  appeal  was  addressed  by  King  Donald  O'Neill,  who  styles  himself 
"  king  of  Ulster  and  true  heir  to  the  throne  of  all  Ireland  by  hereditary  right," 
to  Pope  John  XXII  (1316-34),  in  the  name  of  the  nobles  and  people  of  Ireland. 
The  original  is  in  Fordun,  Scotichronicon,  A.  D.  1318. — Killen,  i,  275. 


PRELUDE   TO   THE   IRISH    REFORMATION.  483 

that  if  any  ecclesiatic  was  guilty  of  such  an  act  he  need  not  refrain 
from  saying  mass  for  a  single  day.  At  the  close  of  the  memo- 
rial the  petitioners  say:  "Seeing  it  is  freely  allowed  for  every 
person  to  renounce  his  right  and  make  it  over  to  another,  and  the 
whole  right  to  the  said  kingdom  [of  Ireland]  is  known  miSH  appeal 
to  pertain  to  us  as  its  true  inheritors,  we  have  by  our  TO  THE  P0PE* 
letters  patent  given  and  granted  to  the  said  [Edward  Bruce],  and 
for  the  establishment  of  judgment,  justice,  and  equity  in  the  land, 
which,  for  default  of  a  proper  supreme  authority,  have  utterly 
failed  therein,  we  have  constituted  him  our  king  and  lord,  and 
appointed  him  ruler  by  unanimous  consent  in  our  realm  afore- 
said." They  conclude  by  requesting  the  pope  "mercifully  to 
sanction  their  proceedings,  and  to  prohibit  the  king  of  England 
from  giving  them  further  molestation."  This  memorial  the  pope 
answered  by  sending  it  to  the  English  king,  with  the  admonition 
to  reform  the  evil  ways  of  his  government  in  Ireland,  but  with  no 
threat  of  excommunication  if  he  did  not — the  pope's  lightnings 
being  reserved  for  the  other  party. 

The  pope's  obsequiousness  to  the  most  abominable  laws  by 
which  his  Irish  children  were  robbed  and  destroyed  comes  out  in 
the  statute  of  Kilkenny,  1367,  for  which  eight  of  his  prelates  who 
sat  in  the  Anglo-Irish  parliament  voted,  and  which  they  confirmed 
farther  by  threatening  excommunication  to  all  who  violated  the 
statute.  This  famous  law  was  one  of  the  most  odious  abuses  of 
power  ever  inflicted  on  Ireland  by  England.  It  was  a  THE  STATUTE 
deliberate  attempt  to  outlaw  the  Irish  and  keep  of  kiukbnkt. 
them  beyond  the  pale  of  either  mercy  or  right.  The  Irish  were  to 
be  treated  as  inferior  beings,  to  whom  the  ordinary  principles  that 
affect  human  intercourse  do  not  apply.  The  statute  of  Kilkenny 
(it  was  really  a  series  of  statutes — thirty-four  distinct  acts)  pro- 
vided that  all  relations  to  the  Irish  on  the  part  of  the  Anglo-Irish, 
such  as  marriage,  fosterage,1  gossipred,2  and  traffic,  were  to  be  pun- 
ished as  high  treason  ;  that  if  any  of  the  English  should  use  an  Irish 
name,  or  the  Irish  language,  apparel,  or  custom,  he  should  forfeit 
his  lands  and  horses; 3  that  no  Irishman  should  be  admitted  to  any 

1  Fosterage  was  the  giving  out  of  a  child  to  he  nurtured  hy  another. 

2  Gossipred  was  an  intensification  of  the  Catholic  idea  of  sponsorship.  In 
Ireland  the  sponsor  actually  reared  the  infant,  and  thus  the  parties  came  to 
cherish  toward  each  other  the  feeling  of  parents  and  children.  "  One  Irish 
chief  brought  up  the  offspring  of  another ;  so  that  their  families  were  often 
knit  together  in  indissoluble  friendship."— Killen,  i,  291. 

3  For  instance,  if  an  Englishman  were  to  ride  a  horse  without  a  saddle,  he 
might  be  made  a  pauper. 


484  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

cathedral  or  collegiate  church,  or  to  any  benefice  among  the  Eng- 
lish, and  if  he  ever  was  so  admitted  such  presentation  should  be 
considered  void;  that  no  monastery  among  the  English  in  Ireland 
should  receive  any  Irishman,  and  that  if  it  did  its  temporalities 
should  be  forfeited  to  the  king  ;  and  that  no  Irish  bard,  storyteller, 
piper,  or  mower  should  be  entertained  at  an  Anglo-Irish  home. 
The  pope  never  raised  his  voice  concerning  this  signal  exhibition 
of  Christian  fraternity.  However,  nature  is  stronger  than  arti- 
ficial laws,  and  very  soon  no  attempt  was  made  to  enforce  the  Kil- 
kenny statute.  "  Coyne  and  livery  continued  to  be  exacted  from 
the  colonists  by  the  three  great  earls,  Kildare,  Desmond,  and  Or- 
mond,  and  the  Irish  and  English  went  on  intermarrying,  gossipring, 
fostering,  and  quarreling  on  their  own  account,  just  the  same  as 
before."  '  The  prohibitions  as  to  the  Irish  priests  and  monks,  how- 
ever, were  made  fairly  effective,  though  the  government  had  to 
allow  of  exceptions. 

In  the  fourteenth  century  the  begging  friars  overran  Ireland, 
and  they  were  friars  such  as  Wyclif  knew,  not  as  they  were  in  the 
purity  and  enthusiasm  of  their  first  years.     Eichard  Fitzralph, 
archbishop  of  Armagh  in  1347,  one  of  the  most  enlightened  prel- 
ates of  the  time,  describes  the  shamelessness  of  their 

SHAMELESS  ...  ,,  _.  1n  . 

mendicant  mendicancy.  "  fecarce  could  any  great  or  mean  man 
of  the  clergy  or  laity  eat  his  meat  but  such  kind  of 
beggars  would  be  at  his  elbow — not  like  other  poor  folks,  humbly 
craving  alms  at  the  gate  or  door,  but  without  shame  intruding 
themselves  into  courts  and  houses,  and  lodging  there,  where,  with- 
out inviting  at  all,  they  eat  and  drink  what  they  can  find  among 
them;  and,  not  content  with  that,  they  carry  away  with  them 
either  wheat,  or  meal,  or  bread,  or  flesh,  or  cheeses,  although  there 
were  but  two  in  the  house,  in  a  kind  of  extorting  manner,  there 
being  none  that  can  deny  them,  unless  he  would  cast  away  natural 
shame." 

But  Fitzralph's  chief  objection  to  the  mendicant  orders  was 
fitzraeph's  their  dissolution  of  all  moral  bonds  by  indiscriminate 
£?™£E™  J~ON     absolution.     "  I  have,  as  I  reckon,  in  my  diocese  of 

WITH  THE  '  'J 

fkiars.  Armagh,  two  thousand  subjects  who  have  become  in-' 

volved  in  sentences  of  excommunication  passed  upon  willful  homi- 
cides, public  robbers,  incendiaries,  and  other  such  characters,  out  of 
whom  there  scarcely  came  fourteen  in  the  year  to  me  or  my  peni- 

1  Joyce,  Short  Hist,  of  Ireland,  Lond.,  1893,  p.  320.    The  Kilkenny  statute  is 

published,  with  translation  and  notes  by  James  Hardiman,  M.R.I. A.,  for  the 

Irish  Archeological  Society,  in  Tracts  Relating  to  Ireland,  Dublin,  1847. 
s 


PRELUDE   TO   THE    IRISH   REFORMATION.  485 

tentiaries,  and  all  such  persons  receive  the  sacrament  like  other 
people,  and  are  spoken  of  as  absolved,  and  this  by  none  others 
than  the  friars." '  In  fact,  Fitzralph  went  farther  and  denied  the 
validity  of  mendicancy  at  all  as  a  foundation  of  an  order.  He 
said  that  Christ  did  not  prefer  poverty  for  its  own  sake,  that  he 
never  voluntarily  begged,  that  he  never  taught  his  followers  to  go 
about  as  mendicants,  and  that  no  one  ought  to  devote  himself  to  a 
life  of  perpetual  begging.  He  also  claimed  that  all  who  confessed 
to  these  friars  ought  also  to  confess  the  same  sins  once  a  year  to 
the  parish  priests.  These  teachings  the  friars  could  not  stand,  and 
they  preferred  charges  of  heresy  against  him  before  the  pope  at 
Avignon.  His  opinions  were  condemned,  and  the  man  who  re- 
flected more  credit  on  Irish  Catholicism  than  almost  any  other 
man  of  the  fourteenth  century  was  silenced.  An  interesting  illus- 
tration of  the  intellectual  condition  of  the  times  is  the  sending 
by  Fitzralph  of  three  or  four  of  the  priests  of  his  diocese  to  study 
divinity  at  Oxford,  since  in  the  degradation  of  the  country  they 
could  not  get  an  education  at  home ;  but  the  priests  failed  to  find 
a  Bible  to  purchase,  and  had  to  return  home  in  consequence.2 
It  may  be  that  the  archbishop,  who  confessed  that  "  the  Lord  had 
taught  him,  and  brought  him  out  of  the  profound  vanities  of 
Aristotle's  philosophy  to  the  study  of  the  Scriptures/'  in  his  dis- 
trust of  the  barren  discussions  of  scholasticism,  had  told  his  priests 
that  if  they  could  not  be  instructed  in  Holy  Scripture  they  were 
to  come  back. 

The  clergy  of  Ireland,  both  English  and  native,  were  not  in- 
clined to  exemplify  that  charity  that  suffereth  long  and  is  kind,  or 
that  humility  which  hesitates  at  being  lords  over  God's  heritage. 
The  bishops  scourged,  fined,  imprisoned,  or  even  murdered  those 
who  became  obnoxious  to  them,  and  the  clergy  whipped  the  people 
as  though  they  were  cattle — this  last  a  display  of  force  overbear- 
which  the  Irish  priest,  both  at  home  and  in  America,  ING  CLEKGY- 
still  has  occasion  to  use.  The  bishop  of  Waterford  had  forfeited 
the  good  will  of  Archbishop  Kelly.  The  latter  gathered  a  band  of 
men,  assaulted  him  at  night,  and  "grievously  wounded  him  and 
many  others,  who  were  in  his  company,  and  robbed  him  of  his 
goods."  The  bishop  of  Limerick  assaulted  the  archbishop  of 
Cashel,  and  compelled  him  to  flee  from  Limerick.  This  lordship 
over  the  Gentiles  was  shown  in  the  tithes  which  pre-Reformation 
Ireland  had  to  pay  for  its  spiritual  privileges.      Everything  the 

1  Defensorium  Curatorum,  ed.  1633,  p.  11.     See  Killen,  i,  288,  289. 

2  Olden,  The  Church  in  Ireland,  p.  285. 


486  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

poor  parishioner  had  was  levied  on.  Tithes  must  be  paid  on  milk, 
meadows,  lands,  fisheries,  turbaries,  bees,  game,  ducks  and  other 
fowl,  sheep  and  swine,  trees,  grain  and  vegetables,  and  profits  of 
labor  and  merchandise.  Anyone  who  resisted  was  forbidden  to 
enter  the  church.  The  priest  claimed  also  a  gallon  of  liquor  from 
every  brewing,  a  tenth  of  the  goods  of  all  deceased  persons  when 
their  debts  were  paid,  and  special  offerings  at  baptisms,  church- 
ings,  marriages,  and  confirmations. 

The  doctrinal  unity  of  the  Church  of  Ireland  before  the  Reforma- 
tion was  not  broken.  There  was  no  difference  of  view  between 
the  Anglo-Irish  and  the  Irish  sections  of  the  Church  in  regard  to 
doctrine  or  to  the  papacy.  The  ordinary  accompaniments  of 
mediaeval  Catholicism  were  in  full  evidence  in  Ireland.  The 
hawking  of  indulgences  went  merrily  on.  Superstition  was  rife. 
The  delivery  of  souls  from  purgatory  was  a  large  element  in  the 
doctrinal  clerical  revenue.  This  revenue  and  the  hold  of  the 
churchFinHE  Church  on  the  people  were  increased  by  the  reverence 
Ireland.  for  venerated  names  and  places.  On  the  old  tradition 
that  St.  Patrick  spent  forty  days  and  forty  nights  on  the  mountain 
Croagh  Patrick,  near  Westport,  Mayo,  in  prayer  and  fasting,1 
grew  up  the  practices  of  pilgrimages  to  the  top  of  the  mountain, 
with  the  idea,  says  Jocelyn  (1185),  that  they  would  thus  be  saved 
from  hell,  Patrick  having  obtained  this  privilege  by  his  merits 
and  prayers.  Some  say  they  suffered  terrible  things  during  the 
night,  and  were  purged  from  their  sins,  and  therefore  they  call  it 
St.  Patrick's  purgatory.     So  writes  old  Jocelyn. 

But  why  could  not  the  Anglo-Norman-Irish  have  a  purgatory  of 
their  own?  They  saw  no  reason  why  they  should  not.  They 
therefore  associated  the  name  Patrick  with  a  cave  in  Station 
Island,  Lough  Derg,  County  Donegal,  and  made  it  the  entrance  to 
his  purgatory.  From  the  twelfth  to  the  fourteenth  century  pil- 
grims flocked  in  large  numbers  to  this  sacred  spot,  and  the  Augus- 
tan canons  of  the  adjoining  priory  enjoyed  a  rich  harvest.  The 
lough  derg  penitents  sometimes  spent  fifteen  days  in  fasting  and 
purgatory,  deVotion  before  entering  the  vault,  and  when  inside 
were  sometimes  frightened,  it  was  said,  by  unearthly  terrors.  It 
was  believed  that  at  one  time  there  was  a  subterranean  communi- 
cation between  the  priory  and  the  purgatory,  and  that  the  priests 
sometimes  operated  on  the  terrors  of  the  dupes.  The  whole  atmos- 
phere of  Lough  Derg  lends   itself  to  the  pious  frauds  of  the 

1  This  tradition  is  as  old  as  the  Book  of  Armagh,  807,  and  the  Tripartite 
Life  of  Patrick,  9th  or  10th  century. 


PRELUDE  TO   THE   IRISH   REFORMATION.  487 

manipulators  of  conscience,  the  landscape  being  desolate  and 
somber  in  the  extreme.  It  must  be  said  to  the  credit  of  the 
Church,  however,  that  in  1497  the  purgatory  was  disused,  because 
"it  was  the  occasion  of  shameful  avarice,"  '  and  because  the  peo- * 
pie  came  to  understand  that  "this  was  not  the  purgatory  that  St. 
Patrick  obtained  from  God."2  It  was  afterward  reestablished, 
and  flourished  for  a  long  time.  But  it  became  such  a  moral 
nuisance  that  in  1G32  the  lords  justice  of  Ireland  again  destroyed 
it  and  shut  up  the  priory.  In  the  reign  of  James  II  (1685-88) 
Lough  Derg  purgatory  was  once  more  opened,  and  ever  since  has 
done  a  thriving  business.3 

The  degeneracy  of  pre-Keformation  Ireland  seemed  about  com- 
plete. The  old  learning  had  perished.  Bible  study  was  almost 
unknown.  The  possession  of  a  complete  copy  of  the  Scriptures 
seemed  to  be  so  rare  as  to  occasion  comment.4  Alms  were  freely  be- 
stowed at  death  for  the  repose  of  the  soul.  When  Thady  O'Connor, 
half-king  of  Connaught,  died,  "it  was  difficult  to  account  how 
many  offerings — cows,  horses,  and  moneys — were  bestowed  to  God's 
honor  for  his  soul."  5  Prelates  left  funds  to  endow  priests  to  pray 
for  their  souls,  wanting  to  be  sure  of  heaven  even  if  their  lives  on 
earth  pointed  to  another  destination.  An  archbishop  who  got 
into  a  dispute  with  the  dean  and  chapter  of  the  see  of  A  DEGENER. 
Eaphoe,  then  vacant,  as  to  the  temporalities  of  the  see,  ATE  PERIOD- 
granted  forty  days'  indulgence  to  all  who  should  fall  upon  the 
Eaphoe  ecclesiastics  and  dissipate  their  substance  (1442).  Bishops 
often  led  their  retainers  to  battle,  and  sometimes  were  slain  in  the 
fray.  Fifteenth  century  chroniclers  sometimes  speak  of  the  sons 
of  prelates,  of  clerical  incontinence  and  licentiousness.  Unless 
such  living  became  too  much  of  a  public  scandal,  penance  was  the 
only  penalty,  when  any  penalty  at  all  was  exacted ;  though  when 
the  bishop  of  Down  (1413-41)  lived  openly  for  years  with  another 

1  Bollandists,  March  17,  p.  590. 

2  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters,  A.  D.  1497  (vol.  iv,  p.  1238). 

3  Malone,  Church  Hist,  of  Ireland,  Dublin,  1863,  says  :  "  The  season  for  pil- 
grimage now  opens  by  order  of  the  bishop  on  the  1st  of  June  and  closes  on 
the  15th  of  August.  .  .  .  The  boatman  pays  the  landlord,  as  yearly  rent,  £200 
or  £300.  The  average  number  of  pilgrims  during  the  last  month  is  estimated 
at  one  thousand  daily.'" 

4  In  the  proceedings  of  the  Kilkenny  and  S.  E.  of  Ireland  Archeological 
Society,  new  series,  1864,  pp.  8-12,  there  is  an  account  of  a  manuscript  copy 
of  the  Latin  Bible  written  in  France  about  1350,  and  which  had  been  in  Ire- 
land since  1400. 

5  Annals  of  Ireland,  1443-68,  p.  225. 


488  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

man's  wife  he  was  at  length  deprived  of  his  bishopric.  The  bishop 
of  Eaphoe's  bestowal  of  some  of  his  lands  on  his  concubine  was  also 
resented.  The  great  Bishop  Eichard  O'Hedian  of  Cashel  was 
powerful  and  popular  enough,  however,  to  keep  his  see  in  spite  of 
his  concubine. '  Simony  was  rife.  The  papal  court  had  a  refined 
system  of  extortion  in  the  matter  of  its  appointments.  Some  of 
the  prelates  became  insolvent  in  trying  to  meet  these  simoniacal 
charges — the  pallium  costing  occasionally  £30,000  of  present 
money.8 

Though  the  country  was  poor  and  distracted,  nunneries  and. 
monasteries  sprang  up  everywhere  in  the  fifteenth  century.  Poor 
Ireland  seemed  to  be  on  the  road  to  ruin.  Under  Eoman  Cath- 
olic England  and  Eome  she  had  been  beaten,  robbed,  and  left  half 
dead  by  the  side  of  the  highway  of  the  nations.  "  The  Church  of 
Ireland,  which  once  shone  so  brightly  in  the  spiritual  firmament, 
was  now  blank  as  a  fallen  star.  The  people  were  degraded  and 
demoralized,  and  little  above  the  condition  of  savages.  There  was 
no  truth,  nor  mercy,  nor  knowledge  of  God  in  the  land.  Strangers 
midnight  of  had  entered  into  her  palaces  and  devoured  her  pleasant 
ikeland.  fruits.  Her  chieftains  were  almost  continually  at  war, 
'living  in  malice  and  envy,  hateful  and  hating  one  another.'  Her 
independence  was  gone,  and  her  parliament  was  the  merest  mockery 
of  a  legislature.  It  represented  only  the  English  and  Anglo-Irish 
of  the  Pale ;  and  all  its  acts  were  dictated  by  the  British  govern- 
ment. She  had  now  no  Patrick  to  go  everywhere  throughout  her 
borders  preaching  the  word ;  no  Columbkille  filled  with  the  spirit 
of  missionary  enterprise  ;  no  Columbanus  to  protest  against  the 
errors  of  Eome.  What  could  be  expected  of  the  lower  order  of  her 
clergy  when  so  many  of  her  bishops  wallowed  in  licentiousness  or 
girded  on  the  sword  and  marched  to  the  battlefield  to  fight  for  the 
enslavement  of  the  people  !  Surely  we  have  now  reached  the  very 
midnight  of  Ireland's  history.  As  we  grope  our  way  through  her 
obscure  annals,  and  as  we  see  no  signs  of  a  coming  reformation, 
well  may  we  ask  with  the  prophet,  1 0  Lord,  how  long  ? '  But 
this  darkness  is  not  to  endure  forever.  The  light  of  a  better  day 
shall  at  length  dawn  ;  and  though  a  cloudy  and  tempestuous  morn- 
ing shall  still  hide  the  beams  of  the  great  luminary  from  many  a 
lovely  glen,  all  Ireland  shall  yet  rejoice  in  his  glorious  radiance."  * 

1  On  O'Hedian  see  Harris,  Ware,  i,  535 ;  Killen,  i,  304,  310,  320. 

2  Wordsworth,  Ch.  of  Ireland,  p.  96,  note.  3  Killen,  i,  325,  326. 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   IRELAND.  489 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE  REFORMATION  IN  IRELAND. 

The  Irish  Reformation  was  the  missing  of  a  great  opportunity. 
The  slavery  to  the  English  which  the  pope  first  decreed  and  then 
continually  fostered,  the  taxes  which  went  to  the  papal  courts,  and 
the  indifference  of  the  ecclesiastical  rulers  toward  both  religion 
and  morals,  would  have  made  an  excellent  foundation  on  which  to 
appeal  from  the  pope  to  Christ,  or  even  from  'the  Ireland  of  the 
fourteenth  century  to  that  of  the  sixth.  The  total  and  final  dis- 
ruption of  Ireland  from  the  papacy  ought  to  have  been  the  result, 
even  if  we  could  not  expect  her  evangelization  in  the  A  L0ST  OP_ 
interest  of  the  Gospel.  It  is  one  of  the  saddest  ironies  *"°ktunity. 
of  history  that  in  a  time  when  everything  favored  the  reenthrone- 
ment  of  Christianity  in  the  quondam  "Isle  of  the  Saints,"  the 
methods  of  the  Tudor  Reformation  served  in  the  end  to  bind  the 
papal  chains  more  securely  than  ever  on  the  hapless  inhabitants. 
If  on  the  strength  of  the  English  hand  some  new  St.  Patrick  could 
have  gone  through  the  island,  calling  the  people  to  repentance,  a 
great  and  beneficent  work  might  have  been  accomplished.  But  in 
no  single  European  country  was  the  Reformation  a  return  to  pure 
apostolic  Christianity  ;  how  much  less  in  Ireland,  where,  more  than 
in  England,  it  was  simply  a  fiat  of  kings,  politicians,  and  dragoons. 

In  Ireland,  at  the  opening  of  the  sixteenth  century,  no  change 
could  be  for  the  worse.     Between  the  despotism  of  the  pope,  the 
king,  and  the  local  princes,  the  people  were  indeed  in  a  forlorn 
and  sorry  plight.     In  a    country  without  schools    and  printing 
presses,  superstition  and  ignorance  had  full  sway.     There  was  no 
preaching  except  by  the  begging  friars,  and  theirs  was  about  as 
good  as  none.     In  one  of  Henry  VIII's  state  papers  we  have  the 
following  language  :  "  Some  sayeth  that  the  prelates  of  the  Church 
and  clergy  is  much  cause  of  all  the  misorder  of  the  land  ;  for  there 
is  no  archbishop  ne  bishop,  abbot  ne  prior,  parson  ne  vicar,  ne  any 
other  person   of  the  Church,  high  or  low,  great  or 
small,  English  or  Irish,  that  useth  to  preach  the  word    condition 
of  God  saving  the  poor  friars  beggars.       lhe  pope 
succeeded  in  getting  most  of  the  nominations  to  vacant  benefices 
in  his  own  hands,  and  these  nominations  were  not  given  by  merit, 


490  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

"but  were  bought  at  good  round  sums.  The  terrors  of  the  Church 
were  constantly  used  to  foster  the  English  overlordship.  The 
parliament  at  Dublin  in  1467  knew  it  could  safely  appeal  to  these 
terrors,  for  it  passed  the  following  resolution  :  "  Whereas  our  holy 
Father  Adrian,  pope  of  Eome,  was  possessed  of  all  the  seigniory  of 
Ireland,  in  right  of  his  Church,  which  for  a  certain  rent  he  alien- 
ated to  the  king  of  England  and  his  heirs  forever,  and  by  which 
grant  the  people  of  Ireland  owe  their  obedience  to  the  king  of  Eng- 
land and  his  heirs,  as  their  sovereign  lord — it  is  therefore  ordained 
that  all  archbishops  and  bishops  of  Ireland  shall,  upon  a  monition 
of  forty  days,  proceed  to  the  excommunication  of  all  disobedient 
subjects ;  and  if  such  archbishops  and  bishops  be  remiss  in  dis- 
charging their  duties  in  the  premises,  they  shall  henceforth  be 
liable  to  a  penalty  of  one  hundred  pounds/'1  The  animosity  be- 
tween even  the  Irish  and  English  monks  sometimes  went  to  such 
extremes  that  an  old  writer  records  that  the  Leinster  Irish  burned 
eighty  innocent  souls  in  one  church,  "asking  no  more  but  the  life 
of  their  priest,  then  at  masse,  whom  they  notwithstanding  sticked 
with  their  javelins,  spurned  the  blessed  sacrament,  and  wasted  all 
with  fire  ;  neither  feared  they  the  pope's  interdiction,  nor  any  cen- 
sures ecclesiastical  denounced  against  them."2 

Under  these  conditions  it  is  no  wonder  that  the  Church  of  Ire- 
land was  going  to  ruin.  There  was  not  enough  interest  in  religious 
things  to  keep  the  buildings  in  repair.  The  wind  and  snow  came 
in  through  the  windows  and  roof ;  many  churches  and  monasteries 
were  destroyed  by  warring  chieftains,  and  others  were  left  without 
desolate  divine  service.  The  cathedral  of  Clonmacnois  was  de- 
churches.  scribed  in  1516  as  "in  a  half -ruined  state,  unroofed, 
with  only  one  altar,  covered  with  straw.  Here  mass  is  seldom  cele- 
brated." 3  In  1517  another  report  described  the  diocese  of  Armagh, 
in  terms  far  from  flattering.  "  A  large  proportion  of  the  inhab- 
itants live  with  the  cattle  in  the  fields  and  in  caves ;  almost  all  of 

1  Killen,  Eccl.  Hist,  of  Ireland,  i,  323. 

2  Campion,  i,  129,  Dublin,  1809  ;  Olden,  The  Church  of  Ireland,  p.  288. 

3  Clonmacnois  was  one  of  the  most  famous  abbeys  in  Ireland.  It  was  founded 
in  548  by  St.  Kiernan,  whose  harp  remained  for  centuries  one  of  the  chief  relics 
of  the  place.  Here  Coign  (died  789)  held  forth  as  professor  of  theology — the 
"  Doctor  of  all  the  Scots,"  to  whom  Alcuin  wrote  a  letter  (quoted  in  Ussher, 
Sylloge,  ep.  18).  Here  Tighernach  was  abbot  (d.  1088),  the  author  of  the  valu- 
able Annals  of  Ireland  from  B.  C.  300  to  A.  D.  1088,  which  has  been  a  the- 
saurus for  later  annalists.  When  the  Norwegian  king,  Thorgils,  plundered 
Clonmacnois,  about  840,  his  wife  Ota  gave  oracles  from  the  high  altar  of  the 
principal  church. 


THE  REFORMATION   IN   IRELAND.  491 

them  wear  no  shoes,  and  are  given  up  to  robbery.  ...  In  the 
cathedral  there  is  only  one  altar — indeed  it  is  wholly  exposed  to 
the  air  ;  and  in  it,  by  one  priest  only,  and  that  but  seldom,  mass  is 
celebrated." '  The  moral  ruin  was  as  bad.  If  we  may  believe  the 
report  of  the  royal  commissioners  in  1537,  the  morals  of  many  of  the 
clergy  were  as  dilapidated  as  their  churches.3  Besides  violation  of 
the  vows  of  chastity,  the  clergy  thought  nothing  of  murder.  If  an 
abbot  whom  they  disliked  was  appointed  over  them,  the  Irish 
monks  "threw  themselves  into  the  churches,  mounted  to  the 
belfry,  let  fly  arrows,  and  repelled  all  approach."3  The  bishop  of 
Leighlin  was  murdered  by  the  abbot  of  Deske's  son,  that  the  abbot 
might  enjoy  the  bishopric.4 

Having  reduced  the  Church  in  England  to  his  obedience,  Henry 
VIII  was  determined  to  do  the  same  with  that  in  Ireland.  For 
this  purpose  he  sent  over  George  Browne  as  archbishop  of  Dublin 
in  1535,  who  began  to  preach  that  men  should  cease  to  adore  the 
saints  and  address  their  prayers  to  Christ  alone.  But 
his  efforts  were  opposed  hy  Cromer,  archbishop  of  and 
Armagh,  and  Browne  saw  the  necessity  of  parliamen- 
tary action.  In  May,  1537,  a  parliament  met  in  Dublin,  which, 
under  the  stimulus  of  the  Henrician  whip,  and  as  no  Irishman  sat 
in  it,  soon  passed  the  necessary  laws.  The  authority  of  the  pope 
was  renounced,  and  all  maintainers  of  it  were  made  subject  to 
praemunire  ;  the  first  fruits  of  all  bishoprics,  deaneries,  and  other 
ecclesiastical  offices  were  claimed  by  the  king ;  officials  temporal 
and  ecclesiastical  were  obliged  to  take  the  oath  of  supremacy,  and 
all  who  refused  were  guilty  of  treason ;  no  dispensations,  licenses,  or 
faculties  could  be  procured  from  the  pope  ;  and  many  of  the  mon- 
asteries were  suppressed.     Marriage  and  fosterage  with  the  Irish 

1  Tkeiner,  Vetera  Monumenta,  p.  518.  In  1525  the  earl  of  Kildare  declared 
that  "  all  the  churches  for  the  most  part  in  the  counties  of  Kilkenny  and  Tip- 
perary  are  in  such  extreme  decay  by  reason  that  no  divine  service  is  kept  there." 
A  memorial  of  1543  describes  the  churches  and  monasteries  "  in  utter  ruin  and 
destroyed."  See  Carew  manuscripts,  1515-74,  pp.  33,  55(Lond.,  1867),  quoted 
by  Killen,  i,  336. 

2  The  following  items  from  the  report  reveal  the  situation  :  The  abbot  of 
Inislonaght  is  a  man  ' '  of  odious  life,  taking  yearly  and  daily  men's  wives  and 
daughters,  and  keepeth  no  divine  service. "  The  abbot  of  Innislawenaghte  be- 
side Clonmel  "useth  no  divine  service,  but  has  his  leman  or  harlot  openly," 
and  every  monk  in  the  monastery  has  like  liberty.  The  same  is  true  of  other 
religious  houses  mentioned  in  the  report. — Killen,  i,  336,  note. 

3  Malone,  Church  History  of  Ireland,  p.  376. 

4  Carew  manuscripts,  1515-74,  p.  33. 


492  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

were  forbidden,  as  well  as  the  use  of  the  Irish  language  or  dress  in 
the  Pale.  Thus  was  Ireland  changed  from  Eoman  to  Anglican 
Catholicism  by  the  stroke  of  a  pen.  To  his  credit  it  must  be  said 
that  Browne  visited  some  of  the  towns,  preaching  against  supersti- 
tion and  trying  to  justify  the  new  laws,  and  urging  the  people  to 
trust  in  Christ  rather  than  in  images  and  relics,  which  latter  he 
even  destroyed.  But  it  is  evident,  as  Olden  points  out,  that  there 
was  at  this  time  little  if  any  change  in  doctrine. ' 

The  pope  tried  to  incite  the  Irish  chieftains  and  bishops  to  resist 
the  change.  The  king  of  Ulster,  O'Neill,  did  make  a  show  of  re- 
sistance, but  he  was  soon  overpowered  by  the  English  troops,  and 
the  whole  island  speedily  fell  away  from  Eome.  One  chief  after 
the  other  signed  articles  of  submission.  That  signed  by  O'Neill 
may  be  taken  as  a  specimen :  "I  entirely  renounce  obedience  to 
the  Eoman  pontiff  and  his  usurped  authority,  and  recognize  the 
king  to  be  the  supreme  head  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
submits  to      land  and  Ireland  under  Christ,  and  I  will  compel  all 

hfnry's 

Anglican-  living  under  my  rule  to  do  the  same."  With  hardly  a 
blow  struck,  the  pope  saw  the  whole  country  as  if  by 
magic  transferred  to  another  allegiance.  The  Irish  knew  that  the 
pope  had  always  been  on  the  side  of  their  oppressors,  and  under 
the  horrible  conditions  that  prevailed  from  the  Norman  Conquest 
to  the  Eeformation  the  Irish  had  lost  both  their  religion  and  pa- 
triotism. They  were  therefore  in  no  condition  to  offer  resistance  to 
the  new  Anglicanism,  the  establishment  of  which  called  out  none  of 
that  splendid  heroism  on  the  part  of  both  Eoman  Catholics  and 
Protestants  which  we  have  seen  was  a  part  of  the  history  of  the 
English  Eeformation.  And  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  intolerance 
and  stupid  lack  of  statesmanship  in  Anglican  dealing  with  the  Irish, 
the  latter  would  have  been  forever  lost  to  Eome. 

It  is  a  singular  illustration  of  the  dilemmas  suggested  by  this 
crooked  history  that  the  English  king  had  to  face  the  question, 
Since  you  have  overthrown  the  pope  in  Ireland,  upon  what  basis 
does  your  own  right  to  the  crown  of  that  island  rest  ?  Your  an- 
cestors received  that  sovereignty  from  the  pope,  to  the  pope  they 
appealed  when  it  was  in  danger,  and  they  found  him  always  a 
the  dublin  faithful  defender  of  their  rights.  Now  that  you  have 
parliament.  aenie(j  papal  jurisdiction,  your  own  claim  falls  to  the 
ground.  To  meet  this  argument  of  the  papal  advocates  the  king 
summoned  a  parliament  in  Dublin,  1542 — the  first  national  as- 
sembly, as  in  it  the  Irish  chiefs  sat  along  with  the  Anglo-Irish  and 

1  See  Olden,  The  Church  of  Ireland,  pp.  300,  301. 


THE   REFORMATION  IN  IRELAND.  493 

English  deputies.  By  this  parliament  Henry  was  declared  to  be 
king  of  Ireland,  and  thus  his  right  was  assumed  to  be  placed  be- 
yond dispute.  At  the  bottom,  however,  now  and  previously  the 
English  right  to  Ireland  rested  on  the  sword  alone — that  instru- 
ment which  justifies  so  many  of  the  arrangements  of  history.  In 
1542  the  monasteries  were  suppressed,  the  heads  of  the  houses  and 
many  of  the  monks  receiving  pensions. 

The  end  of  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII  saw  Ireland  legally  cut  off 
from  the  pope,  but  otherwise  still  Catholic.  The  reign  of  Edward 
VI  (1547-53)  made  little  change.  The  two  indispen-  EDWARD  Vi 
sable  adjuncts  of  reformation,  native  literature  and  AND IRELAND- 
native  preaching,  were  lacking.  The  Prayer  Book  of  Edward  VI 
was  printed  in  Dublin  in  1551 — the  first  book  printed  in  Ire- 
land; but  outside  of  a  few  garrison  towns  it  had  no  use  in  the 
churches,  and  so  few  copies  were  published  that  there  is  only  one 
copy  now  in  existence — that  in  the  library  of  Trinity  College, 
Dublin.  The  Latin  mass  was  used  everywhere.  In  fact,  for  the 
people  in  Ireland  as  a  whole  the  English  liturgy  was  useless.  And 
no  effort  was  made  to  minister  to  the  people  in  their  own  tongue. 
The  so-called  Reformation  in  Ireland  was  a  political  arrange- 
ment entirely,  forced  upon  the  people  by  their  conquerors,  which 
touched  neither  their  hearts  nor  intellects. 

There  was,  indeed,  an  ecclesiastic  with  the  true  spirit  of  a  re- 
former, John  Bale,  made  bishop  of  Ossory  in  1552. '  He  was  an 
English   Carmelite,  educated    at    Cambridge,  whose 

.  .,  r\  JOHN  BALE. 

zeal  for  the  Reformation  made  him  an  exile.  On  the 
accession  of  Edward  he  returned  to  England,  and  when  most  Eng- 
lishmen declined  to  serve  in  Ireland  he  accepted  the  bishopric  of 
Ossory.  He  made  a  brave  effort  to  Christianize  his  diocese,  but 
what  could  one  do  among  so  many  ?  "  My  first  proceedings,"  he 
says,  "  were  these  :  I  earnestly  exhorted  the  people  to  repentance 
for  sin,  and  required  them  to  give  credit  to  the  Gospel  of  salva- 
tion ;  to  acknowledge  and  believe  that  there  is  but  one  God,  and 
him  alone,  without  any  other,  sincerely  to  worship  ;  to  confess 
one  Christ  for  an  only  Saviour  and  Eedeemer,  and  to  trust  in  none 
other  man's  prayers,  merits,  nor  yet  deservings,  but  in  his  alone 
for  salvation.  .  .  .  Helpers  I  found  none  among  my  prebendaries 
and  clergy,  but  adversaries  a  great  number.  I  preached  the  Gos- 
pel of  the  knowledge  and  right  invocation  of  God.  But  when  I 
once  sought  to  destroy  the  idolatries  and  dissolve  the  hypocrites' 

1  Ossory  is  that  diocese  in  southern  Ireland  of  which  Kilkenny  is  the  cathe- 
dral city. 


494  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

yokes,  then  followed  angers,  slanders,  conspiracies,  and  in  the  end 
the  slaughter  of  men.  Much  ado  I  had  with  the  priests  ;  for  that 
I  had  said,  among  other,  that  the  white  gods  of  their  making, 
such  as  they  offered  to  the  people  to  be  worshiped,  were  no  gods, 
hut  idols,  and  that  their  prayers  for  the  dead  procured  no  redemp- 
tion to  the  souls  departed,  redemption  of  souls  being  only  in 
Christ,  of  Christ,  and  by  Christ.  I  added  that  their  office,  by 
Christ's  straight  commandment,  was  chiefly  to  preach  and  instruct 
the  people  in  the  doctrine  and  way  of  God,  and  not  to  occupy  so 
much  of  the  time  in  chanting,  piping,  and  singing."  l 

He  tried  also  to  correct  the  licentiousness  of  the  clergy.  When 
he  visited  one  of  the  churches  of  his  diocese  in  1553,  the  parish 
priest  told  him  that  the  last  prior  of  the  suppressed  monastery  in 
that  town  (Knockstopher,  County  Kilkenny)  was  his  father.  "I 
asked  him,"  said  Bale,  "if  that  were  in  marriage  ?  He  made  an- 
swer, No ;  for  that  was,  he  said,  against  his  profession.  Then 
counseled  I  him  that  he  should  never  boast  of  it  more.  '  Why/ 
saith  he,  '  it  is  an  honor  in  this  land  to  have  a  spiritual  man,  as  a 
bishop,  an  abbot,  a  monk,  a  friar,  or  priest,  to  father/  With  that 
I  greatly  marveled,  not  so  much  of  his  unshamefaced  talk,  as  I  did 
that  adultery,  forbidden  of  God  and  by  all  honest  men  detested, 
should  there  have  both  praise  and  preferment,  thinking  in  process 
for  my  part  to  reform  it." 2  One  of  the  means  taken  by  the  zealous 
bishop  to  instruct  the  people  was  the  Miracle  Play.  A  company 
of  young  men  acted  a  "  tragedy  of  God's  promises  in  the  old  law 
at  the  market  cross,  and  a  comedy  of  John  the  Baptist's  preach- 
ing, of  Christ's  baptizing,  and  of  his  temptation  in  the  wilderness, 
to  the  small  contentation  of  the  priests  and  other  papists  there." 
But  on  the  accession  of  Mary  the  godly  and  earnest  Bale  was  com- 
pelled to  leave,  and  the  efforts  of  this  solitary  Protestant  to  really 
reform  his  diocese  came  to  naught.3 

1  Bale,  Vocayon,  p.  342 ;  Killen,  i,  361 ;  Reid,  Hist,  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  Ireland,  i,  39. 

2  Bale,  Vocayon,  ap.  Harleian  Miscellany,  i,  340,  Lond.,  1809;  Reid,  i,  12, 
note  27. 

8  Bale  fled  to  the  Continent,  where  he  remained  until  Elizabeth  came  to  the 
throne,  1558.  He  then  returned  to  England,  and  was  made  prebendary  of 
Canterbury,  1560.  He  died  in  November,  1563.  A  selection  from  his  works, 
though  not  the  most  valuable,  is  published  by  the  Parker  Soc,  Lond.,  1849. 
His  play,  Kynge  Johan,  was  printed  by  the  Camden  Soc.  in  1838.  His  Rlus- 
trium  majoris  Britanniae  Scriptorum  Summarium  was  published  in  1548,  enl. 
ed.,  1547-49.  "We  find  Queen  Elizabeth  writing  to  St.  Leger,  the  lord  deputy 
of  Ireland,  "  to  send  over  the  books  and  writings  of  Bale,  a  man  that  hath  been. 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   IRELAND.  495 

Under  Mary  (1553-58)  the  island  was  received  back  into  the 
Roman  Church.  No  one  suffered  for  heresy  ;  the  leading  men  in 
Church  and  State  trimmed  their  sails  to  suit  the  gale.  Mary  car- 
ried out  the  same  general  policy  as  her  predecessors.  IRFLAXD  UIf_ 
The  monasteries  were  not  reestablished,  and  the  power  of  DER  MARY- 
England  over  the  unfortunate  natives  was  asserted  with,  if  pos- 
sible, even  more  arbitrariness  and  cruelty.  They  were  hunted 
down  like  wild  beasts,  their  villages  were  burnt,  and  they  were  shot 
as  rebels — as  of  old,  Eomanists  against  Eomanists  showing  more 
cruelty  than  the  later  Protestants  did  to  Eomanists.  Mary  was  the 
first  sovereign  to  inaugurate  a  systematic  and  thorough  plan  of 
colonization  or  settlement,  a  method  which  has  since  played  a 
large  part  in  Irish  history.  The  inhabitants  of  what  are  now 
Kings  and  Queens  counties  had  given  much  trouble  to  the  Pale, 
and  the  English  authorities  were  determined  to  close  up  that 
source  of  annoyance.  After  reducing  the  people,  parliament  con- 
fiscated their  entire  territory  and  handed  it  over  to  English  set- 
tlers. All  native  rights,  their  language,  manners,  laws,  were  to 
disappear.  The  territory  was  made  into  two  counties,  named 
after  the  titles  of  the  English  sovereigns,  Kings  and  Queens,  and 
the  county  seats  were  named  Philipstown  and  Maryborough, 
names  which  to  this  day  remind  their  citizens  of  the  reign  of 
terror  under  their  Catholic  forbears.  The  country  was  not  com- 
pletely conquered,  and  the  English  settlers  had  to  fight  for  their 
new  lands.      One  is  reminded  of  the  wars   between  the   North 

studious  in  the  search  for  the  history  and  antiquities  of  this  our  realm,  which 
he  left  behind  him  in  the  time  of  our  late  sister  Queen  Mary,  when  he  was  oc- 
casioned to  depart  out  of  Ireland,  for  the  illustration  and  setting  forth  of  the 
story  of  this  our  realm.1' — Calendar  of  the  Patent  and  Clare  Rolls  of  Chancery 
in  Ireland,  edited  by  Morrin,  Dub.,  1861,  vol.  i,  Pref.  p.  xli,  quoted  by  Killen, 
i,  362,  note.  He  used  the  most  of  his  means  to  buy  books,  and  his  magnificent 
library  at  Kilkenny  was  seized  by  his  enemies,  who  killed  his  servants  and 
would  have  doubtless  killed  Bale  if  he  had  remained.  A  contemporary  epi- 
gram reveals  the  impression  that  he  made  as  a  reformer  : 

Plurima  Lutherus  patefecit,  Platina  multa, 
Quaedam  Vergerius,  cuncta  Balaeus  habet. 

He  even  exceeded  Luther  in  the  length  he  would  go  against  Rome.  He  was  in 
fact  a  Puritan  rather  than  an  Anglican,  and  Benjamin  Brook,  in  his  learned 
Lives  of  the  Puritans,  3  vols.,  Lond.,  1813,  does  well  to  begin  with  him.  In 
Brook  and  in  the  Biographia  Britannica  the  best  life  of  him  will  be  found. 
Bale  was  a  voluminous  author  (see  list  in  Brook,  i,  113,  114),  but  all  of  his  books 
were  placed  in  the  Index  Expurgatorius,  Madrid,  1667,  with  objurgatory  re- 
marks. 


496  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

American  Indians  and  the  Spaniards.  "  Atrocities  were  commit- 
ted which  have  not  yet  been  forgotten.  At  Mullaghmast  the 
English  settlers  by  a  preconcerted  plan  massacred  the  Irish  whom 
they  had  decoyed  to  a  conference.  In  1557  Connal  O'More  was 
executed  with  peculiar  brutality  on  Leighlin  bridge  ;  in  retaliation 
the  natives  robbed,  burned,  and  slew  the  settlers  when  opportunity 
offered.  The  merciless  struggle  went  on  far  into  Elizabeth's  reign 
between  the  natives  and  the  colonists,  until  the  Celtic  tribes,  deci- 
mated and  utterly  savage,  sank  to  the  level  of  banditti  and  ulti- 
mately disappeared." ' 

Before  leaving  the  reign  of  Mary  it  remains  to  speak  of  a  story 
which  is  said  to  rest  on  the  excellent  authority  of  Ussher,  and 
which  is  certainly  typical  enough  to  be  true.  Dr.  Cole  was  com- 
missioned by  Mary  to  proceed  to  Ireland  in  order  to  make  inquisi- 
tion for  heresy,  and  was  straitly  charged  to  bring  delinquents  to 
justice.  On  his  way  he  stopped  at  Chester,  where  he  boasted  to 
his  hostess  that  he  had  a  commission  that  would  lash  the  heretics 
of  Ireland.  During  the  night  the  lady,  fearing  for  her  brother 
in  Dublin  who  was  inclined  to  Protestantism,  managed  to  take 
the  commission  from  the  box,  and  substituted  for  it  another 
package  of  like  appearance.  On  his  arrival  in  Dublin  Dr.  Cole 
appeared  before  the  lord  deputy  and  privy  council,  and  with 
great  ceremony  opened  his  box  to  show  them  his  commission.  To 
his  consternation  he  found  that  the  required  document  had  van- 
ished, and  in  its  place  was  a  pack  of  cards  with  the  knave  of  clubs 
uppermost.2 

In   the  reign  of  Elizabeth   (1558-1603)  there  was  a  decided 

change  in  the  religious  status  of  Ireland,  but  not  much  change  in 

its  religious  life.     The  Anglican   Church  was   once 

beestab-         more  established  by  law ;  statutes  against  heretics  were 

under  repealed;  the  oath  of  supremacy  was  made  obligatory 

ELIZABETH 

on  all  officials  in  State   and  Church,  though  not  ex- 
acted of  all;  the  second  Prayer  Book  of  Edward  VI  was  sanctioned; 

1  Richey,  Lectures  on  the  Hist,  of  Ireland,  2d  series,  Lond.,  1870,  pp.  255, 
256.    The  chief  town  of  Kings  County  now  is  Tullamore,  and  not  Philipstown. 

2  Ware,  Annals,  A.  D.  1558  ;  Killen,  i,  368,  note  4;  Reid,  i,  44,  45  ;  Olden, 
p.  319  ;  Ball,  Reformed  Church  of  Ireland,  app.  K.  The  woman's  name  was 
Elizabeth  Edmonds,  sister  of  John  Edmonds,  who  with  others  went  over  to 
Dublin  to  escape  persecutions  by  the  Catholics  in  England.  Several  Protes- 
tants did  this  during  this  reign,  and  formed  religious  societies  in  some  Irish 
towns.  It  is  said  that  the  lord  deputy  was  pleased  at  the  discovery,  not  being 
of  a  persecuting  turn,  and  laughingly  remarked,  "  Let  us  have  a  new  commis- 
sion, and  we  will  shuffle  the  cards  in  the  meantime." 


THE   REFORMATION  IN  IRELAND.  497 

and  the  first  fruits  of  ecclesiastical  benefices  were  restored  to  the 
crown.  The  men  in  authority  in  the  Pale  easily  conformed  under 
Elizabeth.  The  same  deputy  who  had  established  Catholicism 
under  Mary  established  Anglicanism  under  Elizabeth — a  pliancy 
characteristic  of  many  in  an  age  represented  by  Paulet,  lord  treas- 
urer under  four  reigns,  who,  on  being  asked  how  he  held  his  place 
under  so  many  changes,  said,  "I  sprang  from  the  willow  and  not 
from  the  oak."  l  Curwin  was  archbishop  of  Dublin  under  Henry, 
Mary,  and  Elizabeth,  and  there  were  few  in  Ireland  who  resigned 
their  sees  owing  to  the  accession  of  Elizabeth.  In  fact,  in  large  parts 
of  the  country,  outside  the  range  of  the  English  arm,  the  Roman 
Catholic  religion  (what  there  was  of  it  left,  for  whole  sections  of 
country  had  been  reduced  to  barbarism  and  semi-paganism  by 
civil  dissensions  and  the  wars  consequent  on  the  English  occupa- 
tion) was  not  interfered  with.  Men  still  went  to  Eome  to  seek 
from  the  pope  Irish  benefices.  Irish  bishops  sat  in  the  council  of 
Trent  during  this  reign.  The  statement  of  some  Anglican  his- 
torians,8 that  all  the  Irish  bishops  except  two  conformed,  has  been 
abundantly  disproved.  The  evidence  rather  bears  out  the  showing 
of  Brady,  that  twenty-one  bishops  did  not  conform,  though  a  care- 
ful sifting  might  lessen  these  figures.3  The  Irish  parliament  in 
1571  stated  that  the  dean  and  chapter  of  Armagh  cathedral  "  were 
Irishly  affectioned  and  small  hope  of  their  conformities."  The 
names  of  several  who  remained  true  to  the  pope  are  known, 
though  it  is  also  known  that  there  were  some  who  outwardly  con- 
formed who  were  at  heart  of  the  old  allegiance.4 

Something  was  done  to  disseminate  Bible  knowledge,  but  un- 
fortunately it  did  not  go  far.      Heath,  a  Eoman  arch-     THE  BIBLE 
bishop  of  York,  afterward  deprived,   presented  two     in  Ireland. 
large  English  Bibles  in  1559  to  the  two  cathedrals  in  Dublin.    The 
coming  of  these  Bibles  caused  a  sensation  like  the  appearance  of 

1  Ortus  sum  ex  salice  non  ex  quercu. 

*  Mant,  Hist,  of  the  Church  of  Ireland,  i,  278 ;  Wordsworth,  Hist,  of  the 
Church  of  Ireland,  Lond.,  1869,  p.  209. 

3  See  Brady,  Irish  Reformation,  5th  ed.,  Lond.,  1867.  See  a  resume  of  the 
case  in  Killen,  i,  379-383. 

4  A  question  has  arisen  of  interest  to  sacerdotalists  as  to  the  validity  of  the 
orders  of  the  Irish  Episcopal  clergy,  owing  to  the  lack  of  bishops  to  assist  in 
the  consecrations.  Did  Archbishop  Curwin  have  assistants  ?  There  seems  to 
be  no  decisive  evidence  either  way,  though  it  may  be  assumed  that  he  had. 
To  a  New  Testament  student  the  question  is  an  impertinence,  and  especially 
as  the  apostolic  succession  through  such  a  man  as  Curwin,  even  though  legally 
correct  to  the  sacerdotalist,  has  nothing  to  recommend  it  to  the  Christian. 

34  2 


498  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

a  king  in  state.  Everybody  came  to  see  them  and  hear  them 
read.  They  were  chained,  as  was  the  wont  in  Reformation  times, 
and  readers  would  give  forth  their  truths  to  gaping  crowds.  A 
Dublin  bookseller,  on  the  strength  of  this  interest,  imported  small 
Bibles  in  1566,  and  sold  seven  thousand  in  two  years.  Elizabeth 
was  interested  in  providing  a  Bible  for  the  Irish  in  their  own 
tongue,  and  gave  for  this  purpose  a  printing  press  and  Irish  type. 
A  catechism  and  primer  in  Irish  were  published  in  one  volume  in 
1571,  and  Walsh,  bishop  of  Ossory,  began  a  translation  of  the  New 
Testament  into  Irish,  which  his  assassination  did  not  allow  him  to 
finish.  The  work  was  taken  up  by  others  and  completed  and 
published  in  1608.  The  Book  of  Common  Prayer  was  published 
in  Irish  in  1603.  But  nothing  farther  was  done.  All  well-wishers 
of  Ireland,  like  Sir  Erancis  Bacon,  were  desirous  that  means 
should  be  used  "for  the  recovery  of  the  hearts  of  the  people"  by 
having,  among  other  things,  "  versions  of  the  Bible  and  catechisms 
and  other  books  of  instruction  made  in  the  Irish  language  ;  "  but 
the  ruling  powers  in  Ireland  then,  as  always  before,  cared  for  none 
of  these  things,  if  they  were  not  actually  hostile  to  the  good  work. 
They  even  allowed  the  Irish  types  which  the  queen  had  provided 
to  be  sold  to  the  Jesuits,  who  took  them  to  the  Continent  and  used 
them  to  print  books  against  the  Reformation. 

It  must  be  acknowledged  that  the  Reformation  did  little  for 
Ireland.  No  effort  was  made  either  to  educate  or  christianize  the 
people.  The  Irish  parliament  passed  a  bill  in  1569  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  free  school  under  an  English  master  in  every  diocese 
in  Ireland,  but  this  noble  act  remained  a  dead  letter. 
from  the  The  kind  of  men  inducted  into  ecclesiastical  office 
keforma-  was  little  better  than  the  priests  whom  they  sup- 
planted. Persons  "without  lawfulness  of  birth,  learn- 
ing, English  habit,  or  English  language,  descended  of  unchaste  or 
unmarried  abbots,  priors,  deans,  choristers,  and  obtaining  their 
dignities  by  force,  simony,  or  other  corrupt  means,"  had  been 
admitted  to  office.  Some  of  these,  though  nominally  Protestant, 
were  really  Catholic.  Camden,  a  contemporary,  describes  the 
priests'  sons  as  either  succeeding  to  their  fathers'  offices  or  becom- 
ing notorious  thieves,  and  their  daughters  in  case  of  their  fathers' 
death  either  begging  or  selling  their  bodies.1  The  churches,  as 
might  be  expected,  were  in  ruinous  condition.  The  Irish  lord 
chancellor,  writing  in  1570,  says  that  "churches  and  chapels  are 
so  universally  down  or  decayed,  as  though  there  were  no  God  nor 
1  Ireland,  pp.  144,  145  ;  Killen,  i,  404. 


' 


'• 

a 



01 

8 

THE   REFORMATION   IN  IRELAND.  499 

religion."  In  1576  one  hundred  and  five  of  the  parish  churches  in 
the  diocese  of  Meath,  ' '  then  the  best  peopled  and  best  governed 
part  of  the  country" — that  is,  the  section  most  under  Anglican 
influence — were  in  ruins. 

Sir  Henry  Sidney,  the  excellent  deputy,  says  that  the  clergy 
who  had  charge  of  these  parishes  are  "  very  simple  or  sorry  curates." 
" Only  eighteen/'  he  says,  "were  found  able  to  speak  English,  the 
rest  Irish  priests,  or  rather  Irish  rogues,  having  very  little  Latin, 
less  learning  and  civility.  All  these  live  upon  the  bare  altarages, 
as  they  term  them,  which,  God  knoweth,  are  very  small ;  and  are 
wont  to  live  upon  the  gain  of  masses,  dirges,  shrivings,  and  such 
like  trumpery,  godly  abolished  by  your  majesty.  ...  In  many 
places  the  very  walls  of  the  churches  doWn,  very  few  chancels  cov- 
ered, windows  or  doors  ruined  or  spoiled."  '  The  bishop  of  Water- 
ford  says  that  most  of  the  ineumbents  of  his  diocese  were  "  little 
better  than  wood-kerne"  (wood  robbers).  The  clergy  were  of  ten 
wholly  unfit  for  their  work — illiterate,  mere  boys,  apprentices,  sol- 
diers— and  thrust  into  their  position  by  patrons  without  ordination. 
The  bishop  of  Cork  from  1572  to  1582  acknowledged  that  he  sold 
his  livings  to  horsemen  and  soldiers,  his  poverty  compelling  him  to 
this  simony.  Alas,  unhappy  Erin!  Under  Catholicism  disunited, 
spoiled,  enslaved,  hardly  brighter  is  her  outlook  under  that  nomi- 
nal Protestantism  which  is  the  next  stage  in  her  pathetic  history  ! 

1  State  Papers,  ed.  Brady,  p.  16. 


500  HISTORY   OP   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 


LITERATURE:    THEOLOGICAL    CONTROVERSIES    TO 
THE  FORMULA  OF  CONCORD. 

1.  Heppe,  H.  L.  J.     Geschichte  des  deutschen  Protestantismus  in  den  Jahren 

1555-1581.    4  vols.     Marb.,  1852-58. 

2.  Heppe,  H.  L.  J.     Der  Text  der  Bergischen  Concordien  Formel,  1570-1574. 

Marb.,  1857. 

3.  Entstehung  und  Fortbildung  des  Lntherthums  und  die  kirchliche  Bekennt- 

nisschriften  desselben  von  1548-1576.     Cassel,  1863. 

4.  Calinicb,  R.     Kampf  und  Untergang  des  Melanchthonismus  in  Kursachsen 

in  die  Jahre  1570-1574.     Leipz.,  1866. 

5.  Brandes,  F.     Der  Kanzler  Knll.     Leipz.,  1873. 

6.  Herrlinger.     Die  Theologie  Melanchthons.     Gotha,  1879. 

7.  Seehawer,  J.     Zur  Lebre  von  Braucb  des  Gesetzes  nnd  znr  Gescbicbte  des 

spiiteren  Antinomismus.     Rost.,  1887. 

8.  Wolf,  G.     Gescbicbte  der  deutscben  Protestanten,  1555-59.     Berl.,  1888. 

9.  Lipsius,  K.     Lutbers  Lebre  von  der  Busse.     Braunscbw.,  1892. 

BIOGRAPHIES. 

Matthias  Flacius. 
Lives  by  J.  B.  Ritter,  Frank,  a.  M.,  1725:  A.  D.  C.  Twesten,  Berl.,  1844; 
W.  Preger,  2  vols.,  Erl.,  1859-61  (see  Biblioth.  Sacra,  Jan.,  1862,  226-231).  See 
also  J.  W.  Scbnlte,  Beitrage  zur  Entstebungsgescbicbte  d.  Magdeburger  Cen- 
turien,  Niesse,  1877,  and  arts,  on  bis  Conflict  with  Melancbtbonians  in  Tbeol. 
Stud.  u.  Krit.,  1882,  324  ff.,  and  on  bis  Theology,  Deutsche  f.  Gescb.  Wissen- 
schaft,  1897-98,  203  ff . ;  G.  Kawerau,  art.  in  Realenc.  f .  Prot.  Theol.  u.  Kircbe, 
vi  (1899),  82-92. 

Osiander. 
On  bis  Life  and  Doctrine  see  C.  H.  Wilken,  Stralsund,  1844;  R.  Frank, 
Marb.,  1859  (Satisfac.  Christi) ;  R.  F.  Gran,  Marb.,  1860  (Doctr.) ;  W.  Moller, 
Elb.,  1870  ;  and  K.  Hase,  1879. 

Menius. 
G.  L.  Schmidt,  2  vols.,  Gotha,  1867. 

Hesshusius. 
Lives  by  J.  Leuckfeld,  Quedlinb.,  1716;  K.  v.  Helmott,  Leipz.,  1859;  and 
Wilkens,  Leipz.,  1860. 


THEOLOGICAL   CONTROVERSIES.  501 


PART  III. 

THE  INTERMEDIATE  PERIOD. 


I.    CONTINENTAL    EUROPE. 
CHAPTEE  I. 

THEOLOGICAL  CONTROVERSIES  WITHIN  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH. 

Even  before  the  death  of  Luther  there  were  evidences  of  di- 
vergence of  opinion  among  the  Lutheran  Protestants.  Caspar 
Schwenkfeld,  a  Silesian  nobleman,  refused  to  be  called  a  Lutheran 
because  Luther  held  too  exclusively  to  the  letter  and  failed  to  ac- 
knowledge the  spirit  of  the  Gospel.  Not  only  must  tradition  be 
rejected  and  the  Scriptures  accepted,  but  together  with 
the  external  word  there  must  also  be  the  inner.  Ac-  divergence 
cordingly  the  Lord's  Supper  and  baptism  were  to  be  among 
estimated  only  by  their  spiritual  significance.  Luther 
took  up  the  dispute  against  him,  in  the  course  .of  which  he  wrote 
his  so-called  Short  Confession.  Agricola  also  attacked  Luther  be- 
cause he  continued  to  preach  the  law,  whereas  Agricola  went  en- 
tirely over  to  antinomianism.  Melanchthon,  too,  soon  forsook  the 
strictly  Augustinian  view  of  salvation,  and  taught  that,  so  far 
from  being  the  author  of  sin,  God  held  every  man  responsible. 
Man's  salvation  could  only  be  brought  about  by  his  own  coopera- 
tion. So,  too,  good  works  were  necessary  to  the  believer  in  order 
to  final  salvation,  while  with  reference  to  the  Lord's  Supper  he 
went  over  almost  to  the  view  of  Zwingli.  Partly  because  of  Lu- 
ther's confidence  in  Melanchthon  he  failed  to  notice  these  variations 
from  the  original  Protestant  faith,  and  the  great  reformer  defended 
Melanchthon  against  all  attacks. ' 

It  was  after  the  death  of  Luther,  however,  and  when  it  became 
necessary  to  decide  whether  the  Augsburg  interim  should  be  ac- 
cepted or  rejected,  that  the  principal  and  more  serious  THE  ADI. 
controversies  began.  The  interim  had  indeed  been  contro-STIC 
rejected  by  the  elector  Maurice,  and  he  proceeded  to  versy. 
its  modification,  by  the  aid  of  Melanchthon  and  others,  so  that 
1  Comp.  Moller,  iii,  253,  n.  1. 


502  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

the  Leipzig  interim  was  introduced  in  its  stead.  But  even  this 
allowed  many  objectionable  forms  to  remain,  and  these  were  de- 
clared by  the  elector's  theologians  to  be  matters  indifferent  (adi- 
aphora).  Out  of  this  arose  the  Adiaphoristic  controversy.  Flacius, 
Amsdorf,  Aquila,  Wigand,  Judex,  and  Gallus,  who  had  made 
Magdeburg  their  headquarters  because  of  its  decided  stand  against 
the  interim,  attacked  the  Leipzig  interim  as  a  compromise  with  papal 
institutions  and  disloyalty  to  confessional  obligation.1  Just  in  pro- 
portion as  Maurice  was  held  responsible  for  the  disasters  of  the  Smal- 
cald  war  were  the  Lutheran  masses  aroused  against  any  concessions 
by  him  or  his  theologians.  The  Interimists,  or  Adiaphorists,  were 
attacked  bitterly  by  the  assembled  theologians  of  Magdeburg.  In 
fact,  Melanchthon  himself  regarded  the  ceremonies  to  which  objec- 
tion was  made  as  admissible  only  in  order  to  prevent  the  complete 
annihilation  of  the  evangelical  congregations.  The  effect,  however, 
was  to  divide  the  Lutheran  camp  into  two  distinct  parties,  the  strict 
Lutherans  and  the  Philipists.2 

This  unfortunate  division,  however,  was  destined  to  be  empha- 
sized and  perpetuated  by  events  to  come.  In  1552,  when  the  adi- 
aphoristic controversy  had  about  reached  its  conclusion,  George 
THE  Major,  professor  of  theology  at  Wittenberg,  declared 

contro-TIC  that  good  works  were  necessary  to  salvation.  Amsdorf 
vebsy.  went  so  far  in  his  refutation  as  to  affirm  the  hurtful- 

ness  of  good  works  to  salvation.  Amsdorf  also  involved  Justus 
Menius  in  the  controversy,  now  known  as  the  Majoristic.  Menius 
was  superintendent  of  Gotha.  He  was  anxious  for  peace,  and 
strove  to  satisfy  Amsdorf  of  his  orthodoxy,  but  neither  Amsdorf 
nor  Flacius  would  accept  his  explanations,  and  to  avoid  further 
trouble  he  removed  to  Leipzig.  The  Wittenbergers,  especially 
Melanchthon,  declared  the  position  of  Major  to  be  admissible  al- 
though easily  misunderstood.  Since,  however,  Major  was  not  dis- 
missed from  his  professorship,  all  the  Wittenbergers  were,  by  the 
strict  Lutheran  party,  associated  with  him  in  heresy.  Melanch- 
thon advised  that  the  language  which  had  been  so  offensive  should 

1  These  men,  who  headed  the  so-called  Gnesiolutheran — that  is,  genuine  or 
strict  Lutheran  party — were  more  Lutheran  than  Luther  himself.  One  of  the 
points  he  insisted  upon  against  the  fanatics  in  Wittenberg  was  the  adiaphoris- 
tic character  of  external  forms.  Even  the  elevation  of  the  sacramental  elements 
was  not  abolished  by  him  until  1543. 

2  Baur  gives  a  lucid  account  of  these  parties  and  their  origin. — Geschichte 
der  christlichen  Kirche,  iv,  307-309.  His  entire  treatment  of  the  controversies 
described  in  this  chapter  is  recommended  to  the  student  cf  history. 


THEOLOGICAL   CONTROVERSIES.  503 

be  avoided  and  not  defended.  Major  yielded  in  1558.  In  the  same 
year  Andreas  Musculus,  of  Frankfort-on-the-Oder,  asserted  that 
those  who  preached  the  necessity  of  good  works  to  salvation  belonged 
to  the  devil. 

The  question  at  issue  in  the  adiaphoristic  controversy  was 
whether,  and  under  what  circumstances,  matters  of  religious  faith 
and  practice  may  be  regarded  as  indifferent.  In  the  Majoristic 
controversy  the  dispute  raged  around  the  question  of  obedience  to 
the  law  as  relative  to  salvation  after  justification.  Connected  with 
the  latter,  or  similar  to  it  in  their  attempt  to  modify  the  doctrine 
of  justification  by  faith  alone,  are  two  other  controversies.  The 
first  grew  directly  out  of  the  Majoristic  controversy,  but  was  lim- 
ited to  a  brief  time  and  narrow  locality.  Poach  and  POACH  ^j, 
Antony  Otho,  of  Nordhausen,  in  attacking  the  Major-  otho. 
ites  had  denied  that  the  justified  person  had  any  need  whatever  of 
the  law,  since  he  is  enlightened  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  is  good 
because  of  this  inner  light  and  power.  This  was  opposed  by  Wi- 
gand,  Merlin,  and  others  as  a  suspicious  and  dangerous  form  of 
Mysticism.  The  second  was  the  Osiander  controversy,  which  began 
in  1550  and  continued  until  1566  with  much  bitterness,  involving 
the  entire  Prussian  Church.  Andreas  Osiander  was  one  of  the  op- 
ponents of  the  Philipists,  and,  like  Poach  and  Otho, 

*   ,,    .      .         ,.     -  ..,       ,.  ,     •     ■     t       i!  ^    •-,  OSIANDER. 

fell  into  disfavor  with  the  strict  Lutherans  while' try- 
ing to  defend  their  cause.  Nevertheless,  he  had  attacked  the  doc- 
trine of  imputed  righteousness  as  "  colder  than  ice,"  and  had  tried 
to  give  the  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith  alone  some  warmth 
by  teaching  that  Christ  dwells  in  the  justified  by  faith,  and  thus 
imparts  a  real  divine  righteousness.  Luther  appears  to  have  heard 
this  doctrine  from  Osiander's  lips,  and  to  have  approved  it.  But 
the  Flacianists  were  undoubtedly  more  Lutheran  than  Luther 
himself,  and  they  would  not  tolerate  any  such  modification  of  the 
Lutheran  doctrine  as  they  understood  it.  Osiander's  principal 
opponent  in  this  terrific  strife  was  Joachim  Morlin,  his  colleague 
in  Konigsberg.  At  Osiander's  death  his  son-in-law,  John  Funck, 
became  the  leader  of  the  party,  but  his  favor  with  Duke  Albert  was 
fatal.  When  the  government  fell  into  disfavor  with  the  states, 
Funck,  the  duke's  chief  counselor,  was  executed,  more  from  polit- 
ical than  religious  considerations.  "With  him  died  Osiandrianism.1 
The  so-called  synergistic  controversy  was  in  reality  a  continua- 
tion of  the  Majoristic,  only  that  while  the  latter  emphasized  the 

1  The  reader  who  desires  access  to  the  original  sources  on  this  subject  should 
not  overlook  the  notes  in  Gieseler,  iv,  469-480. 


504  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

works  which  were  necessary  to  salvation,  the  former  considered  the 
agencies  employed.  Pfeffinger,  in  Leipzig,  and  Striegel,  in  Jena, 
had  taught,  in  accordance  with  Melanchthon,  the  cooperation  of 
man's  will  in  human  salvation.  This  was  made  the 
gistic  con-  occasion  of  a  violent  assault  on  the  part  of  Amsdorf 
and  Flacius,  and  as  the  former  in  the  Majoristic  con- 
troversy had  declared  good  works  hurtful  to  salvation,  so  now  the  lat- 
ter, far  from  granting  human  nature  any  power  to  participate  in  its 
own  salvation,  affirmed  that  original  sin  was  the  very  essence  of 
human  nature  since  the  fall. '  Flacius  also  took  occasion  to  assault 
Melanchthon  for  having  introduced  certain  changes  in  the  interest 
of  synergism  into  the  "  Theological  Commonplaces  "  of  1548. 

But  the  unfortunate  series  of  controversies  was  not  ended.  In 
1552  Joachim  Westphal,  of  Hamburg,  assaulted  the  Consensus  Ti- 
gurinus,  by  which  it  had  been  expected  that  the  Swiss  reformers 
would  be  brought  into  practical  harmony  with  one  another.  In 
the  crypto-  doing  so,  however,  Westphal  accused  Melanchthon  of 
calvinists.  agreeing  with  Calvin  concerning  the  sacrament  of  the 
Lord's  Supper.  Melanchthon  did  not  then,  nor  later,  deny  the  ac- 
cusation. Hence  the  Philipists  were  now  called  Crypto-Calvinists. 
The  suspicion  against  Melanchthon  increased  when,  after  a  period 
of  silence,  Calvin  and  Bullinger,  incensed  by  the  refusal  of  Den- 
mark and  northern  Germany  to  admit  the  Calvinist  John  a  Lasco 
and  the  French  Protestants  driven  from  England  under  Mary, 
appealed  to  the  writings  of  Melanchthon,  especially  the  Augsburg 
Confession,  in  support  of  their  agreement  with  the  Lutherans.  The 
dispute  took  another  form  in  Bremen,  where  John  Timann  asserted 
the  settled  character  of  the  doctrine  of  the  ubiquity  of  Christ's 
body.  Such  was  his  influence  that  he  carried  most  of  the  preachers 
of  the  city  with  him.  Albert  Hardenberg,  because  he  would  not 
subscribe  to  the  doctrine,  was  abused  as  a  Crypto-Calvinist.  Still 
later  Tilemann  Hesshusius  was  one  of  the  strongest  and  most 
bigoted  advocates  of  the  ubiquity.  Melanchthon  advised  con- 
stantly against  contentiousness  for  the  truth,  but  his  entire  course 
only  tended  to  increase  the  suspicion  that  he  agreed  with  Calvin 
rather  than  Luther. 

"While  the  theologians  were  so  fiercely  contending  for  the  truth 
as  each  one  conceived  it,  the  princes  felt  the  importance,  from  a 
political  point  of  view,  of  bringing  the  divided  provinces  into  har- 
mony.    A  general  synod  was  proposed,  but  could   not  easily  be 

1  Even  as  late  as  1567  lie  published  a  work  supporting  this  extreme  doctrine. 
See  copious  notes  in  Gieseler,  iv,  460-462,  and  comp.  Moller,  iii,  262. 


THEOLOGICAL   CONTROVERSIES.  505 

secured.  Upon  the  crowning  of  Emperor  Ferdinand  at  Frankfort 
in  1558,  a  number  of  the  princes  came  together  and  agreed  upon  a 
recess,  which,  in  reference  to  the  questions  of  justi-  THE  FEANK. 
fication,  good  works,  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  the  adi-  FOKT  EECESS- 
aphora,  was  quite  Melanchthonian.1  The  articles,  which  proposed 
no  new  confession,  but  claimed  to  be  based  upon  the  chief  confes- 
sions already  in  existence,  were  signed  for  the  electorate  of  Saxony, 
Brandenburg,  the  Palatinate,  Wiirtemberg,  Hesse,  and  some  smaller 
principalities.  They  were  then  sent  to  the  other  evangelical  princes. 
Duke  John  Frederick  of  Saxony  declined  to  coincide  with  the 
views  expressed  in  the  recess  and  called  his  strict  Lutheran  theolo- 
gians together,  and  published  the  Weimar  Confutation  (1559), 
written  by  Flacius.  It  condemned  nine  heresies,  among  them  some 
of  the  views  held  by  the  Philipists,2  and  was  followed  by  the  arrest 
of  such  as  dared  to  contend  against  its  utterances.  John  Fred- 
erick had  been  led  by  his  theologians,  and  partly  by  jealousy 
of  electoral  Saxony,  to  take  the  position  he  did.  It  was  not 
long  until  he  was  compelled  to  drive  out  the  strict  Lutherans 
and  call  Wittenbergers  in  their  place,  to  escape  their  tyranny. 
Before  the  next  important  effort  at  peace  was  consummated 
Melanchthon  passed  away  from  these  scenes  of  strife,  April  19, 
1560. 

Still  the  princes  were  unwilling  to  allow  the  divisions  to  con- 
tinue. Duke  Christopher  of  Wiirtemberg  proposed  a  diet  of  the 
evangelical  princes,  which  met  at  Naumburg,  January  20,  1561. 
Melanchthon  had  favored  this  measure,  and  proposed  that  before- 
hand each  prince  should  consult  his  theologians  as  to  THE  DIET  OF 
the  best  plan  to  follow,  and  bring  with  him  to  the  diet  naumburg. 
some  of  the  theologians  who  would  aid  and  not  hinder  an  understand- 
ing. As  Philip  of  Hesse  alone  of  all  those  who  in  1530  signed  the 
Augsburg  Confession  still  lived,  it  was  proposed  that  the  princes 
should  sign  afresh.  There  were  at  the  diet  the  electors  of  Saxony 
and  the  Palatinate,  Palgrave  Wolfgang,  Dukes  John  Frederick  of 
Saxony,  Christopher  of  Wiirtemberg  and  his  son  Eberhard  of  Meck- 
lenburg, Ernst  of  Braunschweig  and  his  brother  Duke  Philip, 
Margrave  Carl  of  Baden,  and  Count  George  Ernst  of  Henneberg, 
while  the  other  Protestant  princes  were  represented  by  duly  author- 

1  The  substance  of  the  articles  may  be  seen  in  Gieseler,  iv,  444,  445,  n.  33. 

2  Gieseler,  in  a  lengthy  note,  gives  in  Latin  the  principal  points  of  the  Con- 
futation— iv,  445-447.  On  pp.  447-451,  notes  38-40,  may  be  seen  Melanch- 
thon's  opinion  of  the  Confutation,  together  with  much  other  interesting  origi- 
nal matter  from  the  great  theologian. 


506  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

ized  ambassadors.1  After  much  dispute  as  to  which  edition  of  the 
Augsburg  Confession  should  be  adopted  for  signature,  it  was 
agreed  to  choose  that  of  1531,  but  without  rejecting  that  of  1540, 
which  was  described  in  the  preface  as  the  more  explicit.  Against 
this  only  Dukes  John  Frederick  of  Saxony  and  Ulrich  of  Mecklen- 
burg objected.  The  former  declared  that  the  signers  were  at 
heart  Zwinglians,  and  had  driven  from  their  territories  the  truest 
supporters  of  the  Augsburg  Confession ;  that  the  heretics  were 
passed  by  in  silence  in  the  preface,  and  thereby  encouraged,  while 
the  Smalcald  articles,  the  clearest  presentation  of  the  evangelical 
doctrines,  were  not  even  mentioned.  All  effort  to  bring  him  to 
terms  failed.  Once  more  he  had  destroyed  the  hopes  of  peace  in 
the  evangelical  ranks. 

The  action  of  Frederick  III  of  the  Palatinate  in  introducing  a 
Calvinistic  tendency  into  his  territories  was  regarded  as  apostasy. 
His  profession  of  loyalty  to  the  Augsburg  Confession,  the  Apology, 

and  the  recesses  of  Frankfort  and  Naumburg  could 
of  feed-         not  convince  his  accusers.     He  laid  the  blame  of  the 

entire  difficulty  at  the  door  of  the  theologians.  An 
attempt  on  his  part,  in  common  with  Christopher  of  Wiirtemberg, 
to  bring  about  an  understanding  (colloquy  of  Maulbronn)  resulted 
rather  in  increasing  the  bitterness  of  the  strife.  Christopher 
called  upon  all  the  other  dukes  and  princes  to  join  him  in  a 
league  to  prevent  the  spread  of  Zwinglianism,  which  was  rapidly 
encroaching  upon  German  soil.  The  reference  was  particularly 
to  the  Heidelberg  doctrine  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  At  the  diet  of 
Augsburg,  in  1566,  Christopher,  together  with  the  Palgrave  Wolf- 
gang, seriously  strove  to  secure  the  exclusion  of  Frederick  III  and 
the  church  of  the  Palatinate  from  the  benefits  of  the  Eeligious 
Peace  of  Frankfort.  The  emperor  Maximilian  also  proposed  to 
compel  Frederick  to  do  away  with  the  Calvinistic  features  of  church 
order,  and  to  restore  certain  foundations  and  convents  of  which  he 
had  taken  possession.  This  brought  the  other  princes  to  an  agree- 
ment that  they  would  not  tolerate  any  imperial  interference  with 
Frederick,  and  that  they  would  strive  once  more  to  harmonize 
with  him.2 

1  Baur,  iv,  317.     His  treatment  of  this  diet  is  remarkably  clear  and  full. 

2  When  the  emperor  made  his  outrageous  proposition,  Frederick  defended 
himself  with  such  energy  and  earnestness  as  to  impress  emperor  and  princes 
most  favorably.  Elector  Augustus  of  Saxony  slapped  him  on  the  shoulder 
and  said,  "  Fritz,  you  are  more  pious  than  the  rest  of  us."  The  Margrave  of 
Baden  used  similar  language  and  suggested  the  folly  of  opposing  him  farther. 


THEOLOGICAL    CONTROVERSIES.  507 

Upon  the  accession  of  John  William  to  the  duchy  of  Saxony  in 
1567,  the  strife  broke  out  with  intense  bitterness  between  ducal 
and  electoral  Saxony.      The  duke  was  a  strong  supporter  of  the 
strict  Lutheran  party,  and  immediately  dismissed  the 
Philipists  who  had  been  called  to  Jena  by  John  Fred-      between 

-i  rrn  DUCAL  AND 

erick,  and  recalled  those  whom  he  had  deposed.  The  electoral 
cordial  reception  into  electoral  Saxony  of  the  Philipist 
theologians  was  significant  and  led  to  strained  relations,  which  were 
intensified  by  the  confession  issued  from  Jena,  in  which  the  doc- 
trines of  Wittenberg  and  Leipzig  were  plainly  assaulted.  Selnecker 
replied  indignantly.  The  princes  both  declared  their  desire  for 
peace,  and  a  colloquy  was  arranged  at  Altenburg  for  October,  1568. 
The  only  result  was  to  increase  the  partisan  spirit.  The  duke  and 
the  duchy  came  out  more  clearly  than  ever  against  the  Melanch- 
thonian  novelties,  and  the  elector  and  the  electorate  more  posi- 
tively defended  them  and  condemned  the  Flacians.2 

The  conquests  of  the  Philipists  were  now  very  rapid  in  Saxony, 
and  the  emperor  required  abjuration  of  Flacianism.  Upon  the 
death  of  John  William,  Augustus  became  regent  of  ducal  Saxony 
also,  and  deposed  the  extreme  Lutherans  of  Jena.  But  their  suc- 
cesses proved  their  ruin.  They  felt  themselves  so  secure 

r  ~  ALTERNATE 

that    thev  ventured  upon  the  more   open  proclama-  triumphs  op 

i       •  •  -r.  ill  '.      •  PHILIPISTS 

tion  of  their  doctrines.  Perhaps  they  had  not  m-  and  flacian- 
tended  to  deceive,  but  certain  it  is  they  left  upon  the 
elector  the  impression  that  they  were  more  loyal  to  Lutheranism  than 
they  were,  and  as  his  suspicions  were  aroused  they  knew  how  to  allay 
them.3  The  publication  of  the  anonymous  work,  Exegesis  Per- 
spicua  Controversise  de  Coena  Domini,  was  charged  to  the  account 
of  the  Wittenbergers  in  the  ears  of  the  elector  by  the  strict  Lu- 
theran princes.  About  the  same  time  a  letter  of  Stossel's  fell  by 
mistake  into  the  hands  of  the  elector,  in  which  he  had  declared  his 
full  concord  with  Calvinism  as  to  the  Lord's  Supper.  This  was 
too  much.  The  elector  was  enraged  because  he  had  been  deceived. 
He  caused  the  principal  Philipists  to  be  arrested,  and  he  subjected 
to  close  imprisonment  Peucer,  Melanchthcn's  son-in-law,  until 
1586.     Privy  counselor  Cracow,  and  court  preacher  St&ssel,  died 

1  John  William  even  called  to  Jena  the  pugnacious  Hesshufcius. 

2  The  failure  was  due  to  stubbornness  on  both  sides.  The  objections  of  the 
ducal  theologians  to  the  Philipist  opinions  and  alterations  of  the  Augsburg  Con- 
fession are  given  in  detail  by  Gieseler,  iv,  458,  459,  n.  IS. 

3  Especially  by  the  Consensus  Dresdensis  of  Oct.,  1571,  the  substance  of 
•which  is  given  at  length  in  Gieseler's  notes,  iv,  466-46^. 


508  HISTORY   OF    THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

in  prison.  The  Torgau  articles  (1574)  pretended  that  Luther 
and  Melanchthon  agreed,  and  that  only  a  few  Crypto-Calvinists 
had  been  discovered  in  Saxony.1  The  doctrine  of  the  ubiquity  of 
Christ's  body  was  rejected,  but  the  strict  Lutherans'  doctrine  of  the 
Lord's  Supper  was  maintained.  All  theologians  were  required  to 
subscribe  to  these  articles  or  leave  the  country.  The  Philipists 
had  been  overthrown. 

It  will  be  evident  that  the  attempt  to  make  it  appear  that  Lu- 
ther and  Melanchthon  agreed  in  their  doctrine  was  not  pleasing  to 
the  strict  Lutherans.  Nevertheless,  enough  had  been  done  to  pre- 
pare the  way  for  the  more  complete  victory  which  was  secured  by 
means  of  the  Formula  of  Concord.  This  was  early  encouraged  by 
efforts  for  Duke  Christopher  of  Wiirtemberg.  He  was  at  first 
harmony.  aided  by  Duke  Julius  of  Braunschweig  and  Landgrave 
William,  the  eldest  son  of  Philip  of  Hesse.  The  theologian  to 
whom,  more  than  any  other,  the  final  adoption  of  the  Formula  of 
Concord  is  due,  was  Jacob  Andreae.  The  first  efforts  resulted  in 
failure.  In  1574,  however,  Andreas  prepared  what  is  known  as  the 
Tubingen  Book,  or  the  Swabian  Concordia.  The  views  of  the  lower 
Saxon  theologians  were  afterward  incorporated  with  it,  under  the 
name  of  the  Swabian-Saxon  Concordia.  This  was  now  abbreviated 
and  adopted,  under  the  name  of  the  Maulbronn  Formula,  by  the 
theologians  of  Wiirtemberg  and  Baden  in  council  at  Maulbronn, 
January,  1576.  This  work,  which  had  been  undertaken  at  the 
instigation  of  Elector  Augustus,  was  sent  to  him  together  with  the 
Swabian-Saxon  Concordia.  He  called  a  convention  of  theologians 
at  Lichtenberg  in  February,  1576,  and  found  them  ready  to  make 
any  reasonable  concessions  for  the  sake  of  peace. 

A  convention  of  theologians  from  the  electorates  of  Saxony  and 
Brandenburg,  including  Chemnitz,  Selnecker,  Chrytrasus,  Muscu- 
the  torgau  ms>  and  Christopher  Korner,  met  in  Torgau,  and,  with 
book.  £ke  Swabian.gaxon  Concordia  as  a  basis,  produced  the 

Torgau  Book  in  May  and  June,  1576.  The  Concordia  had  mentioned 
Melanchthon  with  honor,  but  in  the  Torgau  Book  this  mention 
was  omitted,  while  the  whole  work  was  more  strictly  Lutheran. 
Few,  however,  were  satisfied.  To  some  it  appeared  too  severe 
against  Melanchthon;  to  others  the  distinction  between  Lutheranism 
and  Philipism  was  objectionable.  Some  wanted  Melanchthon  to 
be  expressly  condemned  ;  others  thought  both  the  Melanchthonians 
and  Flacians  ought  to  be  included  in  the  condemnation.  At  the 
convent  of  Bergen,  near  Magdeburg,  the  Torgau  Book  was  revised 

1  Moller,  iii,  264. 


THEOLOGICAL   CONTROVERSIES.  509 

into  the  Bergen  Book,  more  in  accord  with  criticisms  which  had 
been  made.  This  was  in  March  to  May,  1577.  Andreas  had  made 
an  epitome  of  the  Torgau  Book,  which  the  same  theologians  now 
revised  and  approved.  In  the  Bergen  Book  the  traces  of  Philipism 
almost  totally  disappeared.  It  was  hastily  signed  by  many.  Objec- 
tions which  had  been  made  known  after  the  signatures  THE  formula 
of  such  large  numbers  had  been  attached  could  only  OF  concord. 
be  noticed  in  a  preface,  which  was  prepared  at  the  convention  in 
Smalcald,  in  1578,  and  Jiiterbock  in  January  and  June,  1579.  In 
February,  1580,  the  final  Formula  of  Concord  was  adopted  at  the 
convent  of  Bergen,  and  on  June  25,  1580,  the  fiftieth  anniversary 
of  the  Augsburg  Confession,  it  was  solemnly  published  at  Dresden 
by  Elector  Augustus.  It  had  been  signed  by  fifty-one  princes  and 
lords,  thirty-five  cities,  and  about  nine  thousand  theologians. 

There  were,  however,  many  who  for  various  reasons  declined  to 
subscribe,  including  Schleswig-Holstein,  Hesse,  Pomerania,  An- 
halt,  and  Silesia,  together  with  the  cities  of  Frankfort-on-the- 
Main,  Spires,  Worms,  Magdeburg,  Nuremberg,  Nordhausen,  and 
Strasburg.  Duke  Julius  of  Braunschweig  became  offended  and 
refused  to  sign  because  he  had  been  censured  for  allowing  his  three 
sons  to  receive  emoluments  at  the  hands  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church.  The  king  of  Denmark  refused  to  allow  its  jrablication  in 
his  realm,  and  with  his  own  hand  threw  two  richly-bound  copies,  sent 
him  by  his  sister,  the  electress  of  Saxony,  into  the  chimney  fire. 

The  Formula  of  Concord  became  an  apple  of  discord.  Its  adop- 
tion and  promulgation,  though  enacted  with  good  intentions,  was 
a  high-handed  act.  It  violently  interdicted  free  thought,  and 
gave  the  Lutheran  Church  for  a  long  time  to  come  the  formula 
a  direction  as  truly  dogmatic  and  uncharitable  as  a  misnomer. 
the  Roman  Church  from  which  it  had  sprung.1  But  the  worst 
feature  of  all  was  the  confirmation  of  the  division  between  Calvin- 
ism and  Lutheranism.  The  predestinarianism  of  the  Formula  of 
Concord  and  of  Calvinism  were  but  slightly  different,  but  the 
divergence  was  found  in  the  doctrine  of  the  Lord's  Supper  and  in 
the  practical  features  of  church  life.  Yet  the  Lutherans  openly 
professed  themselves  more  favorable  to  Romanism  than  to  Calvin- 

1  Wilhelm  Kabe,  in  a  recent  small  work,  says  that  the  Reformation  produced 
no  sentiment  in  favor  of  confessional  equality,  and  attributes  the  spirit  of 
tolerance  now  prevalent  to  the  idea  of  natural  right  which  sprang  from  Hu- 
manism.— Ueber  Paritat,  pp.  7,  9.  Such  facts  as  we  have  given  might  seem 
to  substantiate  his  conclusion ;  but  in  the  Reformation  intolerance  was  acci- 
dental, while  in  Romanism  it  was  embodied  as  a  principle. 


510  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

ism.  A  little  later  Nicholas  Krell,  the  jurist,  whom  Elector  Chris- 
tian I  of  Saxony  had  made  chancellor,  was  arrested  under  the 
regency  of  Duke  Frederick  William,  and  charged  with  having  tried 
to  seduce  his  master  to  Calvinism.  Because  he  had  favored  the 
claims  of  Henry  IV  of  Navarre  to  the  French  throne  Krell  was  also 
accused  of  conduct  prejudicial  to  the  emperor,  and  was  beheaded 
in  1601.     Crypto-Calvinism  had  been  completely  stamped  out.1 

Within  the  ranks  of  the  orthodox  Lutherans,  as  judged  by  the 
Formula  of  Concord,  there  was,  however,  not  perfect  peace.  That 
document  had  left  the  question  as  to  reconciliation  between  the 
doctrines  of  particular  election  and  universal  grace  unsolved.  It 
became  customary  to  lay  the  blame  of  perdition  upon  the  soul  it- 
furtheb  self.  A  modification  of  this  view  was  attempted  by 
nakian""  Samuel  Huber,  a  Lutheran  pastor  in  Wittenberg.  He 
disputes.  undertook  to  place  alongside  of  the  doctrine  of  grace 
that  of  universal  election,  and  by  yielding  the  doctrine  of  an 
effectual  call  placed  the  entire  responsibility  of  the  actual  reception 
of  the  benefits  of  this  election  upon  the  believing  or  unbelieving 
spirit  of  the  individual.  In  the  effort  to  refute  this  position  .zEgid- 
ius  Hunnius  was  compelled  to  take  the  view  that  God  decided 
upon  the  election  or  reprobation  of  a  soul,  on  the  ground  of  his 
own  foreknowledge  of  the  individual's  attitude  toward  the  Gospel. 
But  since  the  doctrine  of  original  sin  forbade  the  possibility  that 
an  unconverted  soul  should  in  its  own  strength  put  faith  in  God, 
he  maintained  that  the  soul  was  responsible  merely  for  the  attention 
and  submissiveness  with  which  it  gave  heed  to  the  word  as  declared. 
If  the  sinner  put  no  obstacles  in  the  way  of  the  word,  but  gave 
heed  thereto,  he  would  be  saved.  Hunnius  was  adjudged  correct 
and  Huber  was  deposed.  More  idle  and  more  bitter  was  the  dispute 
between  the  theologians  of  Giessen  and  Tubingen.  The  former 
held  that  in  his  humility  Christ  had  emptied  himself  voluntarily 
of  some  of  his  divine  attributes  (Kenosis)  ;  the  latter  that  he  did 
not  empty  himself  of  them,  but  hid  them  (Krypsis).  By  electoral 
decision  the  former  was  proclaimed  as  essentially  true,  and  this 
doctrine  was  taught  in  Saxony.  In  Hesse-Darmstadt  the  same 
doctrine  was  officially  promulgated.  The  decision  was  reached  in 
1624.  The  progress  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War  overshadowed  the 
protests  of  the  Tiibingenites. 

1  See  an  extensive  account  in  Moller,  who,  however,  evidently  desires  to  apolo- 
gize for  the  severity  of  the  strict  Lutherans — iii,  262-272.  The  account  in  Giese- 
ler,  with  the  usual  invaluable  notes,  should  not  be  overlooked,  iv,  481-483. 


LITERATURE:  PROGRESS  OF  CALVINISM  IN  GERMANY.    511 


LITERATURE:     PROGRESS     OF    CALVINISM    IN 
GERMANY. 

1.  Gobel  M.    Geschichte  des  christlichen  Lebens  in  der  rheinisch-westphalis- 

chen  evangelischen  Kirche.     3  vols.     Coblenz,  1852-62. 

2.  Die  Einfiihrung  der  Verbesserungspunkte,  1604-1610.     Marbg.,  1853. 

3.  Krenkel.     Wie  wurden  Preussens  Fiirsten  reformixt  ?     Leipz.,  1874. 

4.  Heppe,  H.     Kirchengeschichte  beider  Hessen.     2  vols.     Ebd.,  1876-78. 

5.  Keller,    L.     Die   Gegenreformation   in   Westfalen   und    am  Niederrbein, 

1555-1585.     Leipz.,  1881. 

6.  Bezold,    F.   von.     Briefe    des   Pfalzgrafen    Johann    Casimir,   1576-1582. 

Munch.,  1882. 

7.  Duncker,  H.     Anbalts  Bekenntnisstand  vom  1570-1606.     Dessau,  1892. 

8.  Van  Meer.     De  Synode  te  Emden.     Tbe  Hague,  1892. 

9.  Siedersleben,  W.    Gescbicbte  der  Union  in  der  evangeliscben  Landeskirche 

Anbalts.     Dessau,  1894. 
10.  Landwehr,  H.     Die  Kircbenpolitik  Friedricb  Wilbelms  des  grossen  Kur- 
fiirsten.     Berl.,  1894. 

THE   HEIDELBERG   CATECHISM. 

For  text  see  Collections  of  Creeds  by  Niemeyer,  Leipz.,  1840  ;  Heppe,  Elb., 
1860  ;  Scbaff,  N.  Y.,  1877 ;  and  No.  4  below. 

1.  Van  Alpen,  H.  S.     Gescbichte  und  Litteratur  des  Heidelberg  Katecbismus. 

3  vols.     Fxankf.  a.  M.,  1800. 

2.  Nevin,   Jobn  W.     History  and    Genius  of    tbe  Heidelberg    Catecbism. 

Cbambersb.,  Pa.,  1847.     Best  in  Englisb.— Scbaff. 

3.  Champendall,  H.     Examen  critique  des  catech.  de  Lutber,  Calvin,  Heidel- 

berg, etc.     Gen.,  1858. 

4.  Tbe  Heidelberg  Catechism  in  German,  Latin,  and  Englisb,  with  an  his- 

torical introduction.     N.  Y.,  1863. 

5.  Tercentenary  Monument.     In  Commemoration  of  the  Three  Hundredth  An- 

niversary of  the  Heidelberg  Catecbism.    Chambersb.,  Pa.,  1863.    Twenty 
essays  by  eminent  theologians. 

6.  Wolters,  A.     Der  Heidelberger  Katechismus  in  seiner  ursprunglichen  Ge- 

stalt.     Bonn,  1864. 

7.  Bethune,  G.  W.     Expository  Lectures  on  the  Heidelberg  Catechism,  with 

Introd.  and  App.  of  Literature.     2  vols.     N.  Y. ,  1864. 

8.  Koopman,  W.     De  Heidelberger  Catechismus.     Emd.,  1885. 

9.  Miiller,  T.     De  Heidelberger  Catechismus.     Sieg.,  1888. 

10.  Gooszen,  M.  A.  De  Heidelbergsche  Catechismus.  Textus  receptus  met 
toelichtende  Teksten.  Leiden,  1890.  An  able  book,  with  valuable  In- 
troductions and  Commentary.  See  N.  M.  Steffens  in  Presb.  and  Ref.  Rev., 
iii,  350.  De  Heidelbergsche  Catechismus  en  het  Boekje  van  de  breking 
des  broods,  in  het  jaar  1563-1564.  Leyd.,  1893.  See  Presb.  Ref.  Rev., 
v,  711. 


512  HISTORY   OF   THE    CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

The  best  translation  of  Ursinus's  Commentary  is  by  G.  W.  Williard,  Colum- 
bus, 1852,  with  Introd.  by  J.  W.  Nevin.  See  the  Heidelberg  Cat.  in  Mercersburg 
Rev.,  1852  (iv,  by  J.  W.  Nevin);  the  Church  System  and  the  Heid.  Cat.  in 
the  same,  1857  (H.  Harbaugh) ;  the  art.  by  Dr.  Harbaugh  on  the  literature  of  the 
Catechism  in  the  same  for  October,  1860 ;  and  on  its  Formation  and  Introd. 
into  the  Palatinate,  in  the  same,  xi,  47.  See  also  Otto  Thelemann,  Aids  to  the 
Heid.  Cat.,  transl.  Reading,  Pa.,  1896. 

THE   GERMAN  REFORMED   CHURCH. 

1.  Mayer,  Lewis.     History  of  the  German  Reformed  Church.     Phila.,  1851. 

2.  Harbaugh,  H.  and  D.  Y.  Heisler.     The  Fathers  of  the  Reformed  Church  in 

Germany  and  America.     5  vols.     Lancaster  and  Reading,  1857-81. 

3.  Dubbs,  J.  H.    Historical  Manual  of  the  Reformed  Church.     Lancas.,  1885. 
5.  Good,  J.  I.     The  Origin  of  the  Reformed  Church  in  Germany.     Reading, 

Pa.,   1887.      Hist,    of  the  Reformed   Church  of  Germany,    1620-1890. 
Reading,  1894.     Two  of  the  most  valuable  contributions  to  Church  His- 
tory ever  made  by  an  American. 
For  selections  from  the  extensive  lit.  of  the  Hist,  of  the  Reformed  Church 
in  Germany  see  the  first  part  of  J.  H.  Dubbs's  Bibliog.  in  his  Hist,  of  the  Re- 
formed Church,  Germany,  in  the  American  Ch.  Hist.  Series,  vol.  viii,  N.  Y., 
1895,  pp.  214,  215. 


PROGRESS  OF  CALVINISM  IN  GERMANY.  513 


CHAPTER  II. 

PROGRESS   OF   CALVINISM   IN   GERMANY. 

Open  and  avowed  Calvinism,  however,  continued  to  make  rapid 
progress.  This  was  not  a  little  furthered  by  the  accession  of  the 
Philipists,  who,  but  for  the  Formula  of  Concord,  might  have  be- 
come a  means  of  uniting  the  Calvinists  and  Lutheran  branches  of 
the  Church.  Notwithstanding,  the  Reformed  doctrine,  as  it  was 
called  in  distinction  from  the  Lutheran,  made  its  chief  gains  in  the 
western  portions  of  Germany,  where  the  civilization  and  cultivation 
were  of  a  higher  type,  and  among  the  higher  classes  of  the  eastern 
portion.1 

As  long  as  Frederick  III  lived,  the  Palatinate  electorate  was 
Philipist  and  even  Calvinistic  in  sentiment.  Olevianus  and  Ur- 
sinus  prepared  and  published  (1563)  the  Heidelberg  Catechism. 
Yet  while  Frederick  was  so  decidedly  Calvinistic,  MORE  ALTEK. 
chiefly  owing  to  the  excessive  zeal  of  the  extreme  Lu-  ^ ™£s 
therans,  he  favored  a  military  union  of  all  the  Protes-  palatinate. 
tant  States.  His  son,  Louis  VI,  strongly  Lutheran,  deposed  the 
Calvinistic  theologians  and  preachers  to  the  number  of  about  five 
hundred,  and  reintroduced  the  strict  Lutheran  forms  in  connec- 
tion with  the  sacraments  of  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper.  His 
brother,  John  Casimir,  however,  was  a  strong  Calvinist,  and  in  his 
cities  of  Kaiserslautern,  Neustadt,  and  Brockelheim  the  refugees 
found  a  place  of  resort.  Upon  the  death  of  Louis  VI,  in  1583, 
John  Casimir  became  regent  and  guardian  for  his  minor  nephew 
in  the  Palatine.  He  at  first  claimed  a  church  in  Heidelberg  for  the 
Reformed,  and  forbade  the  preachers  to  accuse  each  other  of  heresy 
in  the  pulpit.  His  attempts  to  give  both  parties  a  place  in  his  do- 
mains were  opposed  by  the  Lutherans,  and  as  a  result  he  deposed 
them  and  appointed  only  Reformed  as  members  of  the  ecclesiastical 
council.  A  farcical  colloquy  resulted  in  a  victory  for  the  Reformed 
party.  John  Casimir  now  proceeded  to  depose  about  four  hundred 
ministers.  Upon  his  death,  in  1592,  Frederick  IV,  at  the  age  of 
eighteen,  took  the  government  into  his  own  hands.  He  was  of  the 
Reformed  faith,  which  he  established  in  his  realms.     Like  his 

1  Comp.  Moller,  iii,  273.  The  name  Reformed  soon  came  to  carry  with,  it  the 
implication  that  the  Lutherans  were  not  reformed. 

35  •  2 


514  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

brother,  however,  he  strove,  though  in  vain,  to  unite  the  Protes- 
tant states  of  Germany. 

In  Nassau  it  was  the  wish  both  of  the  rulers,  who  were  inclined 
toward  the  policy  of  Frederick  III  of  the  Palatinate,  and  of  the 
population,  who  were  influenced  by  the  conditions  prevailing  in  the 
Calvinism  Netherlands,  to  preserve  the  Calvinistic  faith  and 
in  nassau.  practice.  The  Philipist  theologians,  Widebram  and 
Pezel,  who  were  driven  from  Wittenberg  in  1574,  found  their  way 
into  Nassau,  where  in  1578  they  prepared  a  confession  decidedly 
opposed  to  the  Formula  of  Concord.  In  the  same  year  the  Ee- 
formed  discipline  and  the  Presbyterian  order  were  introduced,  while 
in  1581,  the  use  of  the  Heidelberg  Catechism  was  legally  permitted. 
Olevian,  who  had  been  deposed  from  Heidelberg  by  Louis  VI,  was 
called  to  Herborn,  where  he,  together  with  Ursinus  and  Piscator, 
became  the  principal  professors  in  the  new  university.  By  the 
general  synod  at  Herborn,  in  1586,  the  Calvinistic  system  was  for- 
mally established.  At  the  same  time  the  counties  of  Wittgenstein, 
Solms-Braunfels,  Sayn,  Isenburg,  and  Wied  joined  with  Nassau  in 
reference  to  their  ecclesiastical  arrangements. ' 

In  Bremen  the  strongest  and  latest  opposition  to  the  Calvinistic 
ideas  was  that  of  Jodocus  Glanaeus,  pastor  of  St.  Ansgar  church. 
The  council  called  Widebram  and  Pezel  to  their  aid,  1580,  but 
glan^us  Glanaeus  refused  to  treat  with  them  because  they  were 
at  bremen.  SUgpects.  Glanaeus  was  deposed  and  Pezel  called  in 
his  place,  and  thus  harmony  was  introduced  between  the  pastor  of 
St.  Ansgar  and  the  Philipist  superintendent,  Mening.  Upon  the 
death  of  the  latter,  1584,  Pezel  was  made  superintendent  of  church 
and  schools  and  professor  of  theology  of  the  lyceum  established  by 
the  mayor,  Daniel  von  Biiren.  He  composed  the  so-called  Bremen 
Catechism,  which,  together  with  the  Heidelberg,  remained  in  use 
until  the  last  century.  He  introduced  the  breaking  of  bread  in  the 
place  of  the  host,  did  away  with  exorcism  in  connection  with  bap- 
tism, and  abolished  "  idols  and  pictures  "  from  the  churches.  Al- 
though Bremen  declined  as  late  as  1590  to  be  called  Calvinistic, 
yet  the  doctrine  was  strongly  predestinarian,  proving  that  the 
city  was  following  Calvin  rather  than  Melanchthon.  Bremen  also 
later  sent  delegates  to  the  council  of  Dort.  Such  Lutherans  as 
remained  were  obliged  to  find  their  church  services  outside  of  the 
city.  But  in  1638  the  cathedral,  which  had  been  closed  for  a  long 
period,  was  opened  to  them. 

We  have  seen  that  Anhalt  refused  to  subscribe  to  the  Formula 
1  Moller,  iii,  276-278  ;  Gieseler,  iv,  494,  495. 


PROGRESS   OF   CALVINISM   IN   GERMANY.  515 

of  Concord.  John  George  I  (1587-1603)  was  the  mainstay  of  Cal- 
vinism during  his  rulership.  This  prince's  father,  Joachim  Ernst, 
had  held  to  Philipistic  rather  than  Calvinistic  ideas.  anhalt 
But  in  1589  John  George  abolished  exorcism  from  the  CALVINISTIC- 
rite  of  baptism,  and  John  Arndt,  because  of  his  opposition  to 
this  measure,  was  driven  from  his  pastorate  at  Badeborn.  While 
the  prince  did  not  regard  this  as  a  religious  innovation,  his  oppo- 
nents recognized  its  Calvinistic  tendency.  The  marriage  of  the 
prince  with  a  daughter  of  Palgrave  John  Casimir  in  1596  led 
naturally  to  many  changes  in  forms  of  worship.  Pictures,  the  burn- 
ing of  candles  at  the  Lord's  Supper,  priestly  garments,  surplices, 
altars,  and  Latin  hymns  were  forbidden,  while  the  breaking  of  bread 
was  substituted  for  the  use  of  the  wafer,  and  the  Heidelberg  Cate- 
chism was  introduced.  The  opposition  was  considerable,  and  as 
late  as  1603  a  recess  of  the  Landtag  declared  that  the  Augsburg 
Confession  was  still  the  confession  of  the  Church.  But  gradually 
the  principality  became  Calvinistic,  with  the  exception  of  Anhalt- 
Zerbst,  which  became  Lutheran  in  1644. 

Philip  of  Hesse,  as  we  have  seen,  was  imbued  with  the  Zwinglian 
doctrine  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  gradually  assumed  still  more  the 
spirit  of  Strasburg  and  Switzerland,  as  distinguished  from  Luther. 
At  his  death  the  territory  was  divided  into  Upper  and  Lower  Hesse, 
of  which  the  former  inclined  rather  to  the  Lutheran, 
the  latter  to  the  Reformed  faith,  although  only  a  part  divided  on 
of  Upper  Hesse  subscribed  to  the  Formula  of  Concord. 
The  strife  between  the  two  territories  became  so  sharp  that  after 
1582  it  was  regarded  unwise  to  bring  the  theologians  together  in  a 
general  synod,  as  had  previously  been  done.  The  division  of 
religious  interests  undoubtedly  made  it  possible  for  the  Landgrave 
Maurice  to  make  changes  in  accordance  with  his  Calvinistic  ideas. 
In  1604  a  part  of  Upper  Hesse  fell  to  him  as  a  result  of  the  death 
of  Landgrave  Louis  IV,  his  uncle.  In  1605  he  announced  three 
points  in  which  the  affairs  of  the  Church  were  to  be  improved. 
These  were :  First,  the  omission  for  the  future  of  the  dangerous 
and  unedifying  disputes  about  the  person  of  Christ.  The  theolo- 
gians were  to  content  themselves  by  asserting  the  omnipresence  of 
Christ,  not  to  contend  for  the  omnipresence  of  his  humanity.  Sec- 
ond, the  Ten  Commandments  were  to  be  taught  as  God  himself 
wrote  them  with  his  own  finger  upon  the  tables  of  stone.  This 
gave  the  commandment  against  graven  images  a  place  by  itself  in 
the  list,  thus  abolishing  pictures  and  images  from  the  churches. 
Third,  the  bread  was  to  be  blessed  and  broken  according  to  the 


516  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

institution  of  the  Lord  himself  in  the  Holy  Supper.  The  con- 
fession of  faith  of  the  synod  of  1607  was  essentially  Calvinistic, 
although  professing  to  accept  the  Augsburg  Confession  and  the 
Apology.1  Meantime  the  Landgrave  Louis  V  had  founded  a  uni- 
versity at  Giessen  as  a  Lutheran  stronghold. 

The  Giessen  divines  affirmed  that  behind  these  points  of  improve- 
ment lay  the  intention  to  introduce  the  Heidelberg  Catechism  and 
other  Reformed  writings  and  practices ;  and  this  ought  logically  to 
have  followed.  The  points  of  improvement  had  met  with  much 
opposition  because  of  the  fear  excited  by  the  Giessen  divines.  In 
order  to  allay  this  alarm  the  theologians  of  Marburg  had  assured  the 
people  that  their  fears  were  groundless.  Hence,  although  the  Mar- 
burgers  preferred  the  Heidelberg  Catechism,  and  did  not  hesitate 
to  declare  their  choice  to  the  Landgrave,  they  advised  him  not  to 
introduce  it  lest  all  the  old  opposition  might  be  aroused  and  in- 
creased. As  a  result  of  the  decidedly  reformed  character  of  the 
religious  innovations  in  Hesse,  that  part  of  Upper  Hesse  which 
Maurice  had  obtained  was  taken  from  him  during  the  Thirty 
Years'  "War  by  the  imperial  council.  The  territory  fell  under 
the  control  of  the  Landgrave  Louis  V  of  Hesse-Darmstadt,  and 
Lutheranism  was  established,  not  to  be  again  overthrown.  But 
the  unfortunate  effect  was  to  place  the  two  Hesses  on  opposite 
sides  during  the  Thirty  Years'  War.  Hesse  Cassel  was  on  the 
side  of  Sweden,  Darmstadt  with  the  emperor.  The  peace  of 
Westphalia  restored  the  lost  territory  to  the  Landgravine  Amelia 
of  Hesse  Cassel,  but  it  remained  Lutheran. 

The  elector  John  Sigismund  of  Brandenburg  had  been  under 
Reformed  influence,  and  as  early  as  Christmas  Day,  1613,  had  re- 
ceived the  Lord's  Supper  according  to  the  Reformed  ceremonial. 
In  doing  this  he  claimed  not  to  propose  the  compulsion  of  others' 
consciences,  but  merely  to  satisfy  his  own.  His  act,  however, 
caused  intense  excitement,  and  the  elector's  liberality  toward  both 
faiths  only  served  to  occasion  increased  bitterness,  so 

TTTF   CON— 

fession  of      that  on  February  24,  1614,  he  was  compelled  to  issue 

SIGISMUND.  1J!U'JJ-  1  J-  J       J 

an  order  forbidding  useless  disputes  and  denuncia- 
tion against  other  churches  from  J„he  pulpits.  In  May,  1614,  he 
published  his  confession  (Confessio  Sigismundi),  which  professed 
to  be  merely  a  copy  of  the  improved  Augsburg  Confession  and  the 
purification  of  Lutheranism  from  the  remains  of  papal  superstition. 
He  did  not  propose  to  compel  the  acceptance  of  his  views  by  the 

1  It  will  be  remembered,  that  Calvin  bad  signed  and  always  maintained  his 
essential  agreement  with  the  Augsburg  Confession  as  a  whole. 


PROGRESS   OF   CALVINISM  IN   GERMANY.  517 

preachers  of  the  Mark,  but  hoped  to  be  able  by  personal  influence 
to  win  the  churches  to  his  views.  In  the  absence  of  compulsion  he 
felt  the  more  justified  in  making  every  effort  to  gain  converts  to 
his  ideas.  He  gave  the  theological  faculty  at  Frankfort-on-the- 
Oder  such  instructions  as  practically  excluded  Lutheranism.  But 
the  churches,  free  to  accept  or  reject  the  preachers,  according  to 
their  faith,  being  mostly  Lutheran,  chose  preachers  educated  at 
Wittenberg.  The  parity  of  the  two  faiths  was  established,  although 
with  much  attendant  friction,  and  with  but  few  and  small  congre- 
gations. Two  important  results  followed — enmity  between  Sax- 
ony and  Brandenburg,  weakening  the  Protestant  cause  during  the 
Thirty  Years'  War,  and  the  establishment  of  the  policy  which  was 
afterward  (1817)  made  the  basis  of  the  union  in  Prussia.1 

The  Corpus  Pliilippicum  was  made  the  standard  of  doctrine  in 
the  Silesian  duchy  of  Brieg  in  1601,  and  in  1619  Duke  John 
Christian  publicly  espoused  Calvinism,  while  on  March  southern 
5,  1620,  King  Frederick  of  Bohemia  granted  the  GEKMANV- 
Eeformed  the  free  exercise  of  their  religious  faith,  which,  however, 
was  lost  during  the  vicissitudes  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War.  Nor 
was  Lutheranism  without  progress  in  Breslau  and  elsewhere.  The 
Calvinistic  advantages  in  Baden  came  to  an  end  with  the  death  of 
Margrave  Ernst  Frederick  in  1604. 

On  the  Lower  Ehine  the  German  Reformed  Church  was  formed 
at  first  by  Walloon  refugees  from  the  persecutions  of  Charles  V  in 
the  Netherlands.     Settling  in  Wesel,  they  became  the 

°  i-i  j.       OKGANIZA- 

germ  of  the  first  Reformed  Church  m  that  part  of  tion  of  the 
Germany.  The  banishment  of  all  evangelical  teach-  reformed 
ers  from  Wesel,  and  the  reestablishment  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  doctrine  and  ceremonial  subsequent  to  the  Smalcald  war, 
did  not  change  the  sentiments  of  the  populace,  which,  though  in 
retirement,  maintained  its  Reformed  faith  and  cherished  its  an- 
tipathy to  Romanism.  Under  Bloody  Mary,  the  Walloon,  French, 
and  English  refugees  found  homes  in  Wesel.  The  attempt  of  the 
Lutherans  to  compel  obedience  to  their  views  was  resisted  by  these 
foreigners,  who  succeeded  also  in  bringing  about  the  abolition  of 
the  compulsory  use  of  exorcism  in  connection  with  baptism.  The 
introduction  of  the  Heidelberg  Catechism  (1564)  marks  the  transi- 
tion to  the  Reformed  faith.  In  1567  another  immigration  of  Hol- 
landers brought  thousands  of  Reformed  believers  into  all  the  cities 
of  the  Lower  Rhine.  They  carried  with  them  their  form  of 
church  government,  and  in  the  national  convention  at  Wesel  in 
1  See  Holler,  iii,  283. 


518  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

1568,  and  the  synod  at  Emden  in  1571,  completed  the  organiza- 
tion begun  in  1566  in  Antwerp.  It  was  the  Dutch  Reformed 
Church  banished  by  Alva  to  western  Germany.  Both  Roman 
Catholics  and  Germans  banished  them  wherever  they  could,  but  in 
other  places  they  were  tolerated,  and  in  Wesel  they  completely 
displaced  Lutheranism.  The  synod  at  Emden  provided  for  three 
provinces  of  exiled  churches,  the  German  and  East  Friesian,  the 
Belgian-Netherland,  and  the  English,  which  was  to  be  organized. 
The  church  constituted  a  free  association  of  congregations  under 
the  Belgic  and  Gallican  confessions,  and  using  the  Genevan  or 
Heidelberg  Catechism.  The  German  Reformed  congregation  of 
Wesel,  followed  by  other  Reformed  congregations  on  the  Lower 
Rhine,  became  part  of  the  Netherland  Church.  The  return  to 
their  native  land  of  a  large  part  of  the  Hollanders  gave  the  Ger- 
mans the  majority,  and  the  German  language  displaced  the  Hol- 
landish,  although  the  congregations  remained  organically  a  part  of 
the  Church  of  the  Netherlands.  This  was  known  as  the  synod  of 
Cleves.  Another,  that  of  Juliers,  was  soon  formed,  including  the 
cities  of  Aachen,  Juliers,  Cologne,  and  Neuss.  The  congregations 
of  Bergen,  whose  history  is  full  of  romance,  joined  in  the  first 
provincial  synod  of  Juliers.  The  first  Bergen  synod,  separately 
held  in  1589,  represented  five  congregations.  It  was  convened  in 
profound  secrecy  for  fear  of  their  persecutors.  In  1610  these  three 
synods  dissolved  their  connection  with  the  Church  of  the  Nether- 
lands, and  held  their  own  independent  synods.  In  Westphalia 
the  Church  generally  was  Lutheran,  in  the  Lower  Saxon  sense ; 
although  under  great  difficulty  congregations  of  the  Reformed 
grew  up  which  attached  themselves  to  the  synods  of  Juliers,  Cleves, 
and  Bergen.1 

1  Moller's  treatment  of  the  Church  on  the  Lower  Rhine  is  particularly  satis- 
factory—iii,  284-287. 


CHRISTIAN  LIFE  OF  THE  PERIOD  OF  PIETISM.  519 


LITERATURE:  CHRISTIAN   LIFE  OF  THE  PERIOD   OF 

PIETISM. 

I.    LITURGICS. 

1.  Jacoby,  J.     Liturgik  der  Reformatoren.      2  vols.     Gotha,  1871-76. 

2.  Gottschick,  J.     Luthers  Anschauung  vom  cliristlichen  Gottesdienst.      Ebd. , 

1887. 

3.  Kostlin,  H.  A.     Geschichte  des  christlichen  Gottesdienstes.     Freibg.  i.  B. , 

1887. 

4.  Caspari,  W.     Die  evangelischen  Konformation.     Erl.,  1890. 

5.  Schubert,  H.  von.     Die  evangelische  Trauung.     Berl.,  1890. 

II.    THE    INFLUENCE    OP   THE   REFORMATION    ON    LITERATURE. 

1.  Soldan,  N.  G.     Geschichte  der  Hexenprozesse.     2  vols.     Stuttg.,  1880. 

2.  Beck,  H.     Die  Erbauungsliteratur  der  evangelischen  Kirche  Deutschlands. 

Vol.  i.     Erl.,  1883. 

3.  Holstein.  H.     Die  Reformation  im  Spiegelbilde  der  dramatischen  Literatur 

des  16  Jahrhunderts.     Halle,  1836. 

4.  Kawerau,  W.     Die  Reformation  und  die  Ehe.     Halle,  1892. 

III.    EDUCATION. 

1.  Schmid,  K.    A.     Geschichte  der  Erziehung  vom  Aufgang  an  bis  auf  unsere 

Zeit.     5  vols.,  1884-92,  not  completed. 

2.  Paulsen,  F.     Geschichte  des  gelehrten  Unterrichts.     Leipz.,  1885. 

3.  Zweynert,  E.     Luthers   Stellung  zur  humanistlschen  Schule  und  Wissen- 

schaft.     Leipz.,  1895. 

rv.    CHARITY. 

1.  Uhlhorn,  C.     Christliche  Liebesthatigkeit.     Vol.  iii. 

2.  Simons,   D.     Die  alteste   evangelische    Gemeindepflege    am    Niederrhein. 

Bonn,  1894. 

V.    HYMNOLOGY. 

1.  Cox,  Frances  E.     Hymns  from  the  German.     Lond.,  1841;  2d  ed.,  1864. 

2.  Wackernagel,  K.  E.  P.     Das  deutsche   Kirchenlied  von  Martin  Luther  bis 

auf  Nicolaus  Herman  und  Ambrosius  Blaurer.     Stuttg.,  1841. 

3.  Borthwick,  Jane.     Hymns  from  the  Land  of  Luther.     Edinb.,  1862. 

4.  Cunz,  F.  A.     Geschichte  des  deutschen   Kirchenliedes  vom  sechszehnten 

Jahrhundert  bis  auf  unsere  Zeit.     Leipz.,  1855. 

5.  Wackernagel,  Philipp.     Das  deutsche  Kirchenlied  von  der  altesten  zeit  bis 

zu  Anfang  das  XVII  Jahrhunderts.     5  vols.     Leipz.,  1864-77.     Completed 
by  his  two  sons.     A  great  work. 

6.  Winkworth,  Catherine.     Christian  Singers  of  Germany.     Lond.,  1869. 

7.  Schaff,  Philip.     Christ  in  Song.     N.  Y.,  1870. 

8.  Fischer,  A.  F.  W.     Kirchenlieder  Lexicon.     2  vols.     Gotha,  1878-79. 

9.  Elson,  Louis  C.     The  History  of  German  Song.     Bost.,  1888. 


520  HISTORY   OP   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

10.  Rietschel,  G.     Die  Aufgabe  der  Orgel  in  Gottesdienste  bis  in  das  18  Jabr- 
hundert.     Leipz.,  1891. 

VI.    JACOB  BOHME. 

1.  Taylor,  Edward.     Jacob  Bobme's  Tbeosopbic  Philosophy.     Lond.,  1691. 

2.  Hamberger,  J.     Die  Lebre  des  deutschen  Philosophen  J.  Bohme.    Munich, 

1844. 

3.  Fecbner,  Hermann  A.      Jacob  Bobme :    sein  Leben  nnd  seine  Scbrif  ten. 

Gorlitz,  1857. 

4.  Harless.     Jacob  Bohme  und  die  Alchymisten.     Berl.,  1870. 

5.  Martensen,   H.  L.     Jacob  Bobme.      Copenb.,  1882.      Transl.  into  Eng.  by 

T.  R.  Evans,  Lond.,  1885.  An  able  and  satisfactory  work  ;  contains  also 
a  discussion  of  tbe  problems  raised  by  tbeosopby. 

6.  Claassen,   J.     Jacob   Bobme,  sein   Leben    und  sein  Tbeosopb.  Werke.     2 

vols.     Stuttg.,  1885. 

7.  Hartmann,  F.     Life  and  Doctrine  of  Jacob  Bobme.     Lond.,  1891.     Written 

by  a  Tbeosopbist. 

8.  Whyte,  Alex.     Jacob  Bebmen.     Edinb.,  1894.     An  interesting,  brief  appre- 

ciation. 

9.  Tbougbts  of  tbe  Spiritual  Life.     Transl.  from  German  of  Bobme.     Edinb.,, 

1896. 


CHRISTIAN   LIFE    OF  THE   PERIOD   OF   PIETISM.  521 


CHAPTEE  III. 

CHRISTIAN    LIFE    OF    THE    PERIOD    OF    PIETISM. 

One  who  overlooks  the  factors  which  most  contributed  to 
"bring  about  the  Eeformation  will  not  be  able  to  judge  rightly  of 
its  effects  upon  the  life  of  its  adherents.  The  doctrine  of  justifi- 
cation by  faith  alone  was  not  so  much  directed  toward  the  sancti- 
fication  of  the  life  as  toward  the  pacification  of  the 
conscience.  To  one  who  was  religiously  and  morally  antinomian 
earnest  this  would  prove  no  detriment,  but  to  the  care-  the  refor- 
less,  or  those  who  desired  an  easy  way  of  settling  their 
accounts  with  God,  it  would  open  the  door  to  great  moral  irregu- 
larity. That  this  was  exactly  the  effect  it  did  produce  in  many  no 
one  will  deny  who  knows  the  facts.  Not  only  did  enemies  and 
critics  of  the  Reformation,  as  Erasmus,  declare  that  the  evangel- 
icals were  no  better,  and  in  some  cases  were  worse,  than  the  Ro- 
manists in  practical  life,  but  Luther  himself  affirmed  that  many  of 
those  who  lived  in  the  clear  light  of  the  Gospel  were  morally  worse, 
at  least  in  some  particulars,  than  those  who  were  in  papal  dark- 
ness.1 Luther  often  reminded  the  Lutherans  that  they  must  com- 
mend themselves  by  something  better  than  denunciations  of  the 
papacy,  and  it  was  common  to  distinguish  between  an  evangelical 
Christian  and  those  who  called  themselves  Lutherans.2  This  moral 
degeneration  was  not,  indeed,  a  necessary  result  of  the  Reformation 
doctrine,  but  it  was  a  natural  result. 

The  excessive  stress  which  soon  came  to  be  placed  upon  doctrine 
in  the  Lutheran  Church  led  almost  inevitably  to  the  same  conse- 
quences. Luther  even  comforted  himself  with  the  thought  that  if 
the  people  did  not  live  as  they  ought,  their  correctness  of  faith  and 
doctrine  was  more  than  a  compensation.3  In  the  nature  of  the 
case,  the  release  of  an  ignorant  and  passionate  man  from  the  con- 
stant oversight  of  the  Church,  and  the  requirement  that  he  should 

1  He  says,  "  The  devil  is  found  among  the  people  to  snch  an  extent  that  under 
the  clear  light  of  the  Gospel  they  are  more  covetous,  treacherous,  prejudiced, 
unmerciful,  undisciplined,  impudent,  and  vexatious,  than  under  the  papacy." 
— Hauspostille  (Walch),  xiii,  19. 

8  So  Hans  Sachs,  "  Gesprach  eines  evangelischen  Christen  mit  einem  Luther- 
ischen."  3M611er,  iii,  389. 


522  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

take  the  conduct  of  his  own  moral  life  into  his  own  hands,  would 
result  at  first  in  a  degeneration;  for  in  the  absence  of  external  regu- 
lation a  high  degree  of  moral  and  religious  earnestness  is  necessary. 
This  was  not  produced.  The  adherents  of  the  Eeformation,  so 
far  as  the  masses  were  concerned,  did  not  join  the  ranks  of  the 
evangelicals  because  they  were  impressed  with  its  positive  truth,  but 
because  they  deeply  sympathized  with  its  negations. 
perils  If  they  were  not  moved  by  convictions  of  positive  duty, 

ATTENDING  . 

the  refok-  much  less  were  they  controlled  in  their  lives  by  the 
high  Christian  principle  of  love — the  most  powerful  of 
motives,  but  one  of  the  last  to  take  effect  upon  human  hearts.  The 
Eeformation  made  the  entire  period  one  of  dissolution,  and  when 
the  time  of  reconstruction  set  in  it  was  unfortunately  one  of  doc- 
trinal, divorced  from  practical,  emphasis.  The  masses,  set  free  from 
Eomanism,  did  not  know  what  was  expected  of  them,  and  confu- 
sion was  the  result.  Against  all  these  influences  there  was  no  ade- 
quate provision.  Many  of  the  clergy  were  ignorant  and  only  in 
part  emancipated  from  the  Eoman  ideals.  It  was  to  take  many 
decades  for  a  new  race  of  preachers  with  genuine  Christian  zeal  to 
be  raised  up.  Then,  to  offset  the  motive  of  merit  and  reward  for 
good  works,  there  was  the  more  spiritual  motive  of  Protestantism, 
which  could  not  possibly  be  felt  in  all  its  force  at  once.  Geneva 
exhibited  the  value  of  a  strict  church  discipline  in  the  development 
of  a  high  moral  life  ;  and  had  this  been  exercised  with  a  firm  hand 
in  Germany  the  results  would  have  been  different.  But  it  was  im- 
possible from  the  standpoint  of  German  civil  law  to  exercise  such  a 
discipline.  Besides,  it  was  entirely  contrary  to  the  German  con- 
ception of  Christian  freedom,  and  even  the  hopes  of  a  better  result 
in  the  second  generation  were  thwarted  by  the  excessively  dogmatic 
interests  which  were  subserved  by  catechetical  instruction. 

It  would  be  erroneous,  however,  to  suppose  that  even  at  this 

early  stage  some  of  the  benefits  of  the  evangelical  ideas  were  not 

apparent.     In  the  abolition  of  compulsory  celibacy  there  resulted  a 

pure  and  beneficent  home  life.     Domestic  and  public 

MORAL  IM-  \  .  i  -i         • 

provement     decency  grew  in  favor.     Begging  was  no  longer  a  legit- 

FOLLOWING  .  J    &  &fc>     _&  &  & 

the  refor-     imate  occupation.    Secret  marriages  were  less  common. 

MATION.  \  . i  .. 

Vergerius,  in  1562,  compared  the  situation  in  papal 
Eome,  where  even  the  popes  tolerated  and  drew  revenues  from 
licensed  unchastity,  with  Protestant  Germany,  to  the  decided  ad- 
vantage of  the  latter.  The  frightful  procedures  against  witches 
were  based  upon  doctrines  which  Eomanism  had  not  contradicted 
in  the  long  course  of  its  history,  and  which  were  held  by  Eoman- 


CHRISTIAN  LIFE   OF   THE   PERIOD   OF   PIETISM.  523 

ists  as  well  as  Protestants.1  The  church  life  of  Protestantism 
gradually  came  to  be  far  more  the  result  of  inner  conviction  than 
was  possible  in  Romanism.  The  germs  of  the  true  Protestant  con- 
ception of  Christian  life,  privilege,  and  duty  were  there.  They  only 
needed  sufficient  time  and  opportunity  to  demonstrate  their  su- 
perior power  and  character.  If  charity  was  neglected  at  first,  it 
was  only  to  bloom  out  with  the  greater  charm  of  absolute  unself- 
ishness when  it  began  to  appear.  Time  is  needed  to  form  char- 
acter. Literal  obedience  to  external  rules  may  be  promptly  ren- 
dered. Until  character  is  produced  the  Romanist  may,  therefore, 
appear  to  better  advantage,  but  in  the  course  of  the  centuries  both 
truth  and  results  have  spoken  for  Protestantism. 

The  effect  of  the  Reformation  upon  culture  has  been  variously 
estimated.2  That  its  first  effects  were  dangerous,  if  not  disastrous, 
to  the  Humanistic  culture,  is  unquestionable.  The  minds  of  men 
were  powerfully  attracted  toward  religious  and  ecclesiastical  topics. 
The  interests  involved  were  so  weighty  that  in  their  effect  of 
contemplation  the  less  practical  concerns  of  literary  mation  on" 
and  social  culture  were  neglected.  This,  and  not  a 
necessary  nor  even  actual  antagonism  of  the  Reformation  to  cul- 
ture, caused  the  paths  of  the  two  movements  to  diverge.  But  so 
far  as  the  Reformation  hindered  the  progress  of  Humanism  it 
worked  a  real  benefit  in  the  end ;  for  the  Humanism  of  the  times 
was  strongly  tinged  with  heathen  elements,  and  led  to  the  subor- 
dination of  the  religious  to  the  intellectual  life.  The  culture 
which  resulted  from  the  principles  of  the  Reformation  was  no  less 
complete  than  that  of  Romanism,  while  it  gave  it  its  true  place  of 
subordination  to  religion. 

The  Protestant  is  the  true  Christian  principle,  that  the  religious 
life  is  to  include,  coordinate,  and  harmonize  every  other  depart- 
ment of  legitimate  activity.     If  Protestantism  sometimes  stood  in 

1  For  details  see  Moller,  iii,  393.  See  also  Die  Teufellitteratur  des  XVI 
Jahrhunderts,  by  Max  Osborn.  Berlin,  1893.  In  Die  Jahrbiicher  der  Jesuiten 
zu  Schlettstadt  und  Rupach,  1615-1765,  we  find  (p.  380)  that  in  Schlettstadt 
ninety-one  persons  were  burned  as  witches  from  1629  to  1642,  or  at  the  rate  of 
about  seven  per  year  in  a  comparatively  small  population.  Vol.  i,  reaching  to 
1713,  Strasburg,  1895.  According  to  page  91,  forty-six  devils  were  cast  out  of 
one  girl  by  exorcism. 

2  Even  Professor  Paulsen,  Geschichte  des  gelehrten  Unterrichts,  pp.  129  ff., 
139  ff.,  agrees  with  Janssen,  Geschichte  des  deutschen  Volkes,  ii,  293  ff.,  iv, 
86  ff . ,  that  the  Reformation  led  to  the  decadence  of  a  thriving  intellectual 
life.  Zweynert,  however,  argues  throughout  to  the  contrary.  See  his  Luthers 
Stellung. 


524  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

the  way  of  scientific  investigation,  it  was  the  result  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  remnant  remaining  in  it,  and  contrary  to  its  own  true 
educational  principles.  From  the  very  first  Luther  insisted  upon 
therefor-  public  instruction  for  children.  Pastors  and  sacris- 
mation.  tang  were  ^Q  teach  the  catechism  and  song.     Wiirtem- 

berg  provided  as  early  as  1559  for  a  German  school  in  every  village, 
and  in  1619  Weimar  introduced  the  principle  of  universal  education 
for  boys  and  girls  alike.1  On  the  other  hand,  Bavaria  under  the 
Jesuits  did  all  it  could  to  prevent  the  spread  of  intelligence  among 
the  masses."  In  the  evangelical  States  numberless  higher  institu- 
tions were  put  into  operation,  while  universities  which  have  been 
an  untold  power  in  the  life  of  the  intellectual  world  were  organized 
under  reformatory  influences :  in  Marburg  (1527),  Strasburg 
(1538),  Konigsberg  in  Prussia  (1544),  Jena  (1557),  Altorf  (1575), 
Helmstadt  (1576),  Giessen  (1607),  Rinteln  (1619),  Zurich,  the  col- 
legium carolinum  (1521),  Lausanne,  the  theological  academy 
(1537),  Geneva  (1558),  Leyden  (1575),  Franeker  (1585),  Har- 
dewyk  (1600),  Groningen  (1614),  Utrecht  (1636).  In  France  acad- 
emies were  established  in  Montauban  (1562),  Sedan  (1562),  Sau- 
mur  (1601);  while  between  1578  and  1685  thirty-two  colleges  were 
established  throughout  the  kingdom  by  Protestants.  These  insti- 
tutions provided  courses  of  study  extending  over  a  period  of  seven 
years  each.3  While  at  first  the  number  of  those  who  were  suitably 
educated  for  the  evangelical  ministry  was  small,  and  the  clergy  had 
to  be  drawn  generally  from  the  artisan  class,  and  many  unworthy 
persons  were  ordained,  the  number  of  students  at  the  universities 
increased  until  there  was  no  difficulty  in  securing  an  educated 
ministry. 

The  important  parts  of  the  public  services  in  the  Lutheran 
Church  were  the  preaching  and  the  sacraments,  but  the  Lord's 
public  Supper  was  considered  necessary  to  a  complete  reli- 

Xthe  gious  service.      The  pericopes  were  retained  because 

sabbath.  there  were  so  many  untrained  pastors,  notwithstanding 
Luther  saw  great  defects  in  the  selection  and  arrangement.  Altars, 
lights,  pictures,  organs,  and  priestly  garments  were  held  to  have  an 
educating  influence,  both  religiously  and  aesthetically.  Sunday  was 
not  at  first  based  upon  the  fourth  commandment,  although  the 

1  Zweynert  rightly  denies  to  Luther  the  praise  of  having  been  the  herald  of 
compulsory  education. — Luthers  Stellung,  p.  19. 

2  See  Moller,  iii,  392. 

3  Bulletin  de  la  societe  de  l'histoire  du  protestantisme  francais,  1856,  pp. 
497-511,  582-595.     See  also  Gieseler,  iv,  561,  562. 


CHRISTIAN  LIFE   OF   THE   PERIOD   OF   PIETISM.  525 

keeping  of  it  was  regarded  as  necessary  from  both  the  religious 

and  social  standpoint.     But  the  abuses  of  freedom  which  followed, 

to  the  great  detriment  of  the  religious  services  of  the  Lord's  Day, 

occasioned  the  ecclesiastical  legalization  of  the  day  before  the  close 

of  the  sixteenth  century. 

The  Lutheran  Church,  preserving  as  it  did  the  singing  of  hymns 

by  the  congregation,   raised  up   a  large  number   of       Lutheran 

hymn  writers  and  produced  a  rich  hymnody.     Luther       hymnists. 

set  the  example,  but  he  was  followed  by  many  others  only  less 

able  than  himself.     Nicolas  Hovesch  (Decius)  wrote  the  German 

Gloria, 

"  To  God  alone  be  glory  in  the  highest," 

and  the  German  Agnus  Dei, 

"  O  spotless  Lamb  of  God." 

Michael  Weysse  wrote 

"  Let  us  now  the  body  bury," 

and  translated  and  published  a  collection  of  one  hundred  and  fifty- 
five  hymns  of  the  Bohemian  Brothers  (1531).  John  Poliander 
(f  1541)  wrote  the  hymn, 

"  My  soul  now  praises  God  ;  " 

Lazarus  Spengler,  of  Nuremberg  (fl534), 

' '  Our  ruin  is  complete  by  Adam's  fall ; " 

and  Paul  Speratus  (fl551), 

"  Salvation  to  us  now  hath  come." 

During  the  bitter  strifes  of  the  theologians  in  the  last  half  of  the 
sixteenth  century  the  spirit  of  religious  song  maintained  its  exist- 
ence and  produced  some  of  the  best  of  the  German  hymns.  Bar- 
tholomew Eingwaldt  (j-1598)  wrote 

"  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  thou  Highest  Good;" 

Nicolaus  Selnecker  (f  1598), 

"  Let  me  be  thine  and  thine  remain ; " 

Hans  Sachs,  the  master  singer  of  Nuremberg  (f  1576), 

"  O  thou  my  heart,  who  so  disturbed  ? " 

and  Melissander  (f  1591), 

"  Send  me,  0  Lord,  whate'er  thou  wilt." 


526  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

In  the  first  half  of  the  seventeenth  century,  in  part  under  the 
terrors  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  Philip  Xicolai  (fl608)  wrote 

"  'Awake,'  so  calleth  us  the  voice," 

and 

"  How  brightly  shines  the  morning  star  !  " 

Valerius  Herherger  (fl627), 

"  Farewell  will  I  to  thee  now  give  ; " 

J.  N.  Meyfart  (fl642), 

"  Jerusalem,  thou  city  on  the  heights  ; " 

and  Johann  Heermann  (fl643), 

"  Zion  groans  with  pain  and  woe," 
"  0  God,  thou  perfect  God," 
and 

"  Dear  Jesus,  what  hast  thou  done  amiss  ?  " 

Paul  Fleming  also,  although  a  lyric  poet,  deserves  mention  among 
the  hymn  writers  for  his 

"  In  all  my  deeds." 

The  profound  interest  in  dogmatic  themes  which  distinguished 
very  many  of  the  Lutherans  in  the  latter  part  of  the  sixteenth  and 
valentine  early  part  of  the  seventeenth  century  was  not  uni- 
weigel.  versal.      Partly  in  revolt  from  this   dogmatism,  but 

chiefly  as  a  result  of  the  need  of  an  inner  experience  of  the  truths 
of  religion,  arose  the  mystical  writings  of  such  men  as  Weigel, 
Bohme,  and  others.  Valentine  Weigel,  pastor  in  Zschoppau,  Meis- 
sen, where  he  died  in  1588,  held  many  ideas  which  he  did  not  make 
known  during  his  lifetime,  but  whose  publication  after  his  death 
aroused  immense  excitement.  By  subscription  to  the  Formula  of 
Concord  he  had  escaped  the  inevitable  assault  for  himself.1  He 
distinguished  mystically  between  the  outer  and  the  inner  man, 
was  a  Quietist,  taught  the  fundamentally  divine  nature  of  man, 
and  thereby  prepared  the  way  for  a  complete  overthrow  of  histori- 
cal Christianity.  The  posthumous  publication  of  his  writings  led 
to  the  name  Weigelism,  by  which  all  those  were  characterized  who 
held  to  these  mystical  and  theosophical  opinions. 

Jacob  Bohme,  philosophus  teutonicus,  the  philosophic  shoe- 
maker of  Gorlitz  (f  1634),  wrote  independently  of  Weigel,  but  was 

1  He  complained  of  the  necessity  of  subscription,  and  said  that  he  complied 
because  the  formula  intended  to  express  the  doctrines  of  the  Apostles'  Creed, 
but  that  the  theologians  of  the  schools  did  not  know  Christ. 


CHRISTIAN   LIFE   OF   THE   PERIOD   OF   PIETISM.  52? 

influenced  both  by  Paracelsus '  and  Schwenkfeld.  Speculatively 
and  devotionally  he  was  richer  than  Weigel.  His  Aurora,  or  the 
Eising  Dawn,  was  circulated   at   first  in   manuscript  jacob 

(after    1612),    but    was    printed    in    1G34.      Having  bGhmb. 

been  forbidden  to  write  other  works  he  kept  silence,  from  1612  to 
1619,  when  he  again  began  his  literary  activity,  and  after  much 
difficulty  was  finally  acquitted  in  Dresden.  In  his  works  he  gave 
expression  to  the  longings  of  the  heart  after  the  inner  satisfaction 
which  the  theology  of  the  schools  could  not  give.  He  taught  the 
doctrine  of  the  inner  light,  but  coupled  his  theories  with  gnostic 
speculations  and  unfortunately  confused  piety  with  the  esoteric 
and  miraculous,  while  he  believed  in  the  power  of  the  philosopher's 
stone  and  the  secrets  of  alchemy. 

In  1614  appeared  at  Cassel  a  work  entitled  The  Universal  and 
General  Reformation  of  the  Whole  World,  together  with  the  Fama 
Fraternitatis  of  the  Praiseworthy  Order  of  Rosi- 
crucians :  in  1615  the  Confession  of  the  Fraternity  valentink 
of  Rosicrucians  ;  and  m  1616  the  Chymical  Wedding 
of  Christian  Rosenkreuz,  anno  1459.  They  excited  immense  in- 
terest. They  were  in  part,  at  least,  the  work  of  Johann  Valentine 
Andreas,  who  was  born  in  1586,  became  deacon  of  Vaihingen 
1614,  superintendent  at  Calw  1620,  court  preacher  and  consistorial 
councilor  at  Stuttgart  1639,  abbot  of  Bebenhausen  1650,  and  of 
Adelberg  1654,  where  he  died  in  the  same  year.  He  was  a  man  of 
large  outlook,  who  had  no  sympathy  with  the  dead  orthodoxy  and 
formality  of  his  time.  Comprehensive  and  multifarious  studies 
had  not  destroyed  in  him  the  feeling  of  the  necessity  for  a  religious 
and  moral  awakening  in  the  Church.  He  declared  that  all  his 
efforts  to  bring  about  a  rejuvenation  were  met  with  hindrances  in- 
surmountable.2 Yet  if  Herder's  opinion  is  correct  that  these  works 
were  written  to  ridicule  the  credulity  of  the  mystics,  he  was  as 
little  in  sympathy  with  them  as  with  the  scholastics.  Although 
the  Order  of  Rosicrucians  was  but  a  myth,  yet  many  there  were 
who  took  it  for  a  reality  and  organized  accordingly,  while  others 
combined  to  carry  out  in  fact  the  pleasantry.3 

1  Paracelsus,  a  mystic  who  died  in  Salzburg,  1541,  was  a  physician  whose 
ideas  were  first  applied  by  his  followers  in  the  practice  of  medicine,  but  which 
were  afterward  wrought  out  in  opposition  to  the  Protestant  scholasticism  of 
the  seventeenth  century. 

2  He  said  that  anyone  who  undertook  to  lead  a  correct  life  was  sure  to  be 
called  an  enthusiast,  a  Schwenkfeldian,  or  an  Anabaptist. 

3  There  is  a  lodge  of  the  Order  of  Rosicrucians  in  Boston,  Mass. 


528  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Johann  Arndt,  pastor  in  Badeborn  in  Anhalt,  in  Quedlinburg, 

Braunschweig,  and  Eisleben,  and  superintendent  in  Celle,  where  he 

died  in  1621,  was  also  destined  to  bear  the  abuse  of 

ARNDT  S 

true  chris-     the    scholastics.      His   work    on    True    Christianity 

TIA.NITY. 

taught  the  necessity  of  sanctification,  the  ideal  of 
personal  Christian  perfection,  and  the  cultivation  of  fellowship 
with  God.  These  ideas  were  attacked  as  detrimental  to  the  doc- 
trine of  justification  by  faith  and  as  fanatical  enthusiasm. 

The  Eef ormed  Church  was  ever  willing  to  effect  a  union  with  the 
Lutherans,  and  although  the  latter  were  generally  bitter  in  their 
opposition  to  such  a  union  there  were  enough  of  a  contrary  mind 
to  mark  a  distinct  phase  in  the  church  life  of  the  period. 

In  the  same  way  it  was  that  from  the  Palatinate  in  which  the 
Keformed  tendency  prevailed  came  efforts  at  union.  Francis 
Junius  favored  the  cessation  of  strife  about  points  which  had 
been  sufficiently  discussed,  particularly  because  of  the  dangers  to 
which  the  Protestants  were  exposed  (1592  and  1606).  Still  later 
(1614)  David  Pareus,  professor  in  Heidelberg,  declared  that  nothing 
should  be  held  obligatory  which  did  not  necessarily  proceed  from 
the  Bible,  and  that  in  fundamentals  the  two  communions  agreed. 
In  1628,  under  the  pseudonym  of  Eupertus,  Mildenius  called  at- 
tention to  the  losses  which  Protestantism  was  sustaining  on  ac- 
count of  theological  strifes.  This  writer  was  probably  the  first  to 
employ  the  expression,  "  In  essentials  unity  ;  in  nonessentials 
liberty;  in  both  charity."1  But  it  was  of  no  avail.  The  Lu- 
therans refused  these  offers  of  peace. 

The  colloquy  at  Leipzig  in  1631,  in  which  Saxon,  Brandenburg, 
and  Hessian  theologians  discussed  the  question  as  to  how  far  the 
two  communions  agreed,  accomplished  nothing.  And  the  efforts 
of  the  Scotchman,  John  Dury  (Duraeus),  who  strove  to  the  end 
of  his  life  for  union,  were  also  fruitless,  except  that  he  aroused  the 
cooperation  of  George  Calixtus,2  professor  at  the  University  of 
dury  and  Helmstedt.  His  studies  in  church  history  had  wid- 
calixtus.  ened  his  intellectual  horizon  until  he  was  ready  to 
include  Eomanists,  Eeformed,  and  Lutherans  in  one  great  Chris- 
tian community.  But  his  irenic  spirit  suggested  a  syncretism 
which  the  dogmatism  of  the  period  would  not  tolerate.  He  was  no 
more  successful  in  bringing  about  a  union  than  others  had  been. 

1  In  necessariis  unitas,  in  non  necessariis  libertas,  in  utrisque  caritas.     See 
a  lengthy  and  valuable  note  on  these  words  in  Schaff,  vi,  650-653. 
8  Born  1586,  died  1656. 


LITERATURE:  THE  COUNTER-REFORMATION.  529 


LITERATURE:    THE    COUNTER-REFORMATION. 

1.  Gugenheim,  S.  Geschichte  der  Jesuiten  in  Deutschland,  1540-1773.  2  vols. 

Frankft.  a.  M.,  1847-48. 

2.  Pescheck,  C.  A.     Gesch.  der  Gegenref .  in  Bohmen.     2  vols.    Leipz.,  1850. 

3.  Tholuck,  J.     Das  kirchliche  Leben  des  17  Jahrhunderts.     Berl.,  1862. 

4.  Ziegler,  H.     Die  Gegenref ormation  in  Schlesien.     Halle,  1888. 

5.  Ward,  A.  W.     The  Counter-Kef  ormation.     Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1889. 

6.  Hase,  K.  v.     Reformation  und  Gegenref  ormation.     Leipz.,  1891. 

7.  Droysen,  G.     Geschichte  d.  Gegenref  ormation.     Berl.,  1892.     Part  of  W. 

Oncken's  allg.    Gesch.  in  Einzeldarstelmng. 

8.  Gindely,  A.  Gesch.  d.  Gegenref.  in  Bohmen,  hrsg.  v.  T.  Tupetz.  Leipz.,  1894. 

9.  Gothein,  E.     Loyola  und  d.  Gegenref  ormation.     Halle,  1895. 

10.  Keller,    L.      Die  Gegenreformation   in  Westfalen  und    am  Niederrhein. 

Leipz.,  1895.     See  Th.  Litz.,  1896,  No.  14. 

11.  Ludwig,    Karl.     Die   Gegenreformation    in   Karlsbad.     Prag,    1897.     See 

Amer.  Journal  of  Theol.,  Oct.,  1898,  p.  951. 

12.  Pennington,  A.  R.    The  Counter-Reformation  in  Europe.    Lond.,  1899.  Fur- 

nishesnew  and  importantevidence  of  England's  influence  on  the  Continent. 
t 

COUNCIL  OF  TRENT. 

Sources. 

1.  Lettres  et  memoires  de  Francois  de  Vargas,  de  Pierre  de  Malvenda,  et  de 

quelques  eveques  d'Espagne,  touchant  le  cone,  de  Trent.      Paris,  1654. 

2.  Le  Plat,  J.     Monumentorum  ad  Hist.  Concil.  Trid.  Spectantium  Amplissima 

Collectio.     7  vols.  Louv. ,  1781.      Le  Plat  was  professor  of  Eoman  Law  at 
the  Univ.  of  Louvain,  and  his  collection  of  documents  is  of  great  value. 

3.  Canones  et  Decreta  Cone.  Trid.  juxta  Exemplar  authentic.     Romas  editum, 

ed.  Le  Plat.     Madrid,  1786  ;  new  ed.,  Leipz.,  1853. 

4.  Planck,  G.J.    Anecdota  ad  Hist.  Cone.  Trid.  Pertinentia.     Gott.,  1791-1818. 

5.  Libri  Symb.  Eccles.   Cathol.  ed.  Streitwold  und  Klener.    2  vols.    Gott., 1838. 

6.  Acta   Cone.   Trid.  Ann.  1562,  1563,  a   Cardinale  Paleotto  descripta.      Ed. 

J.  Mendham.     Lond.,  1842. 

7.  Mendham,  Jos.  Memoirs  of  the  Council  of  Trent.  Lond.,  1844.  First  ed.,  1834. 

8.  Sickel,  T.     Zur  Geschichte  d.  Concile  von  Trient  ;  Actenstiicke  aus  Oester- 

reichischen  Archiven.     Vienna,  1872. 

T7ie  Decrees. 

1.  Waterworth,  J.     Canons  and  Decrees  of  the  Council  of  Trent.     Lond.,  1848. 

2.  Buckley,  T.  A.  The  Canons  and  Decrees  of  the  Council  of  Trent.  Lond.,  1851. 

3.  Brownlee,    W.    C.     The  Doctrinal  Decrees  and  Canons  of  the  Council   of 

Trent.     N.  Y.,  1857. 

Histories. 
1.  Sarpi,  Paolo.     Istoria   del  Cone.  Trident.     Lond.,  1619.     Eng.  by  Brent. 
Lond.,  1676  ;   French,  with  notes  by  Le  Courayer,  2  vols.,  Lond.,  1736  ; 
best  ed.  by  Barbera  and  Bianchi,  4  vols.,  Florence,  1858,  which  also  con- 
tains Courayer's  notes. 

36  2 


530  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

This  the  most  celebrated  history  of  the  council  has  been  much  discussed. 
Ranke  gives  an  elaborate  examination  in  Appendix  3  to  his  History  of  the 
Popes,  and  concludes  that,  though  not  always  trustworthy,  it  is  a  most  valuable 
and  important  work.  There  is  no  falsification  of  evidence,  though  it  is  at 
times  colored  and  suppressed.  It  is  rather  a  controversial  narrative  than  a 
simple  history,  written  with  an  anti-Roman  bias.  A  new  critical  English  edi- 
tion is  needed.  Sarpi  was  a  liberal  Catholic  Venetian  patriot,  who  suffered 
from  Roman  persecution.  Ranke  says  :  "I  rank  him  immediately  after  Machia- 
velli."  On  Sarpi  see  the  literature  appended  to  articles  in  Encyclopaedias,  also 
A.  Robertson,  Fra  Paolo  Sarpi,  2d  ed,  Lond.,  1895,  and  H.  F.  Brown,  in  Scot- 
tish Review,  Oct.,  1897. 

2.  Pallavicino,  Sforza.    Istoria  del  Cone,  di  Trento,  2  vols.     Roma,  1656,  1657. 

2d  ed.,  3  vols.,  1665  ;  Latin,  Rome  and  Antw.,  1672;  4th  ed.  revised  by 
the  author,  Rome,  1666  ;  French,  3  vols  ,  Paris,  1864  ;  Montrouge,  1844. 
Written  to  offset  Sarpi  ;  corrects  in  some  places,  confirms  in  others. 

3.  Courayer,  P.     Discours  hist,  sur  la  reception  du  concile  de  Trente.  Amst., 

1756.     Appendix  to  Sarpi. 

4.  Biografia  di  Fra  Paolo  Sarpi  di  Bianchi-Giovini.     2  vols.     Zur.,  1836. 

5.  Wessenberg,  I.  H.  C.  F.     Die  grossen  Kirchenversammlungen  der  15  und 

16Jahrh.     Const.,  1840. 

6.  Brischar,  J.  N.     Beurtheil.  der  Controversen  Sarpis  und  Pallavicinis  in  der 

Gesch.  des  Trienter  Concils.     2  vols.     Tub.,  1844. 

7.  Danz,  J.  T.  L.     Geschichte  der  Trident  Concils.     Jena,  1846. 

8.  Buckley,  T.  A.     A  History  of  the  Council  of  Trent.     Lond.,  1852. 

9.  Bungener,  Felix.     Histoire  du  concile  de  Trente.    2  vols.    Paris,  1853  ;  2d 

ed.,  1854  ;  Germ,  tr.,  1861  ;  Eng.,  Lond.,  1854 ;  N.  Y.  (ed.  by  J.  McClin- 
tock),  1855. 

10.  Nampon,  R.  P.     De  la  doctrine  catholique  dans  le  concile  de  Trente.  2  vols. 

Brux.,  1853  ;  German  trans.,  Regensb.,  1854;  Eng.  trans.,  Phil.,  1869. 

11.  Dollinger,  J.  von.  Sammlung  von  Urkunden  zur  Geschichte  des  Concils  von 

Trent.     2  vols.     Ndrdl.,  1876.     See  Church  Quar.  Rev.,  iii,  517-519. 

12.  Littledale,  R.  F.     Short  Hist,  of  the  Council  of  Trent.     Lond.,  1888.    Con- 

tains an  extensive  bibliography. 

13.  Evans,  T.  Rhys.     The  Council  of  Trent.     Lond. ,  1888. 

14.  Vermeulen.     Die  Verlegung  des  Konzils  von  Trient.     Regensb.,  1890. 

15.  Midler,  T.     Das  Conclave  Pius  IV,  1559.     Gotha,  1890. 

16.  Froude,  J.  A.    Lectures  on  the  Council  of  Trent.     Lond.,  1896.  See  Presb. 

and  R.  Rev.,  vii,  353  ;  New  World,  v,  368  (E.  Emerton) ;  Dial,  June  16, 

1896,  363;  Nation,  May  31,  1896,  401. 
Preaching  at  the  Council  of  Trent,  in  Church  Quar.  Rev.,  Lond.,  April, 
1878,  162  ff.  An  interesting  and  important  book  is  De  l'influence  du  concile 
de  Trente  sur  la  litterature  et  les  beaux-arts  chez  les  peuples  catholiques, 
par  Charles  Dejob,  Paris,  1884.  It  is  a  study  of  efforts  made  by  Roman  Catholic 
men  of  letters  and  theologians  to  conquer  the  field  of  literature  for  the 
Church  and  to  exorcise  the  pagan  Renaissance  spirit.  It  is  sad  to  notice  that 
the  spirit  of  pusillanimity  and  suspicion  at  Rome  largely  thwarted  the  noble 
efforts  of  many.     See  the  same,  xxi,  482  -483. 


THE   COUNTER-REFORMATION.  531 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE    COUNTER-REFORMATION-THE    COUNCIL    OF    TRENT. 

When  the  Reformation  broke  out  almost  simultaneously  and 
with  tremendous  energy  in  very  many  countries,  the  Church  was 
apparently  stupefied  by  what  was  going  on.  The  far-reaching 
significance  of  these  movements  did  not  appear  at  first  magnitude 
sight.  Time  was  required  in  which  to  study  their  di-  ?Fon*notMA" 
rection,  velocity,  scope,  and  spirit.  Until  they  were  KECOGNIZED- 
clearly  understood  no  concerted  and  effectual  efforts  could  be  put 
forth  to  check  them.  This  on  the  one  side,  and  the  political  situ- 
ation on  the  other,  gave  the  Reformation  time  to  establish  itself 
before  any  serious  attempt  to  stay  its  progress  could  be  made. 

The  secular  authorities,  particularly  in  Germany,  were  shut  up 
to  thoughts  of  concession  and  reunion.  This  was  the  almost  uni- 
form policy,  however  it  crossed  the  wish  of  Charles  V.  After  his 
abdication  in  1558,  and  the  accession  of  his  brother 

CON  C'KKS  IONS 

Ferdinand  in  the  same  year,  the  new  emperor  main-  to  protes- 

TANTS. 

tained  his  rights  against  Pope  Paul  IV,  and  thus  found 
it  necessary  to  deal  gently  with  the  Protestants.  In  Austria  and 
Bavaria  it  was  necessary  to  concede  the  right  of  communion  in 
both  kinds,  and  the  marriage  of  the  priests,  in  order  to  prevent 
the  complete  secession  of  the  masses  from  the  Church.  These 
concessions  were  made  by  consent  of  the  emperor,  the  princes, 
prelates,  and  even  of  Pius  IV  (April  1G,  1564),  although  Pius  V 
withdrew  the  right  of  the  cup  upon  his  accession  in  1565.  Under 
Maximilian  (1564-1576)  the  situation  was,  owing  to  the  emperor's 
personal  leanings,  still  more  favorable  to  Protestantism,  and  the 
Reformation  spread  in  many  directions.  Attempts  at  reunion  at 
the  religious  colloquy  of  Worms,  1557,  and  at  the  diet  of  Augs- 
burg, 1566,  as  well  as  propositions  to  the  same  effect  made  by  vari- 
ous irenically  disposed  Roman  Catholics,  utterly  failed  and  were 
finally  given  up.  Disputations  held  with  the  Jesuits  generally 
ended  in  the  reconversion  of  Protestants  to  Rome,  and  the  order  in 
all  its  approaches  toward  Lutheranism  seemed  to  be  actuated  by 
the  motive  of  aggravating  the  division  between  the  Lutherans 
and  the  Reformed  Church. 

But  while  all  these  facts  deserve  mention  as  preliminaries,  they 


532  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

were  not  the  counter-reformation  itself.  The  movement  known 
by  this  name  continued  until  the  close  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War 

a  threefold  in  1648>  and  had  for  its  objects,  first,  a  gen- 
movement.  ujne  practical  reformation  of  the  Eoman  Catholic 
Church  which  should  meet  the  demands  of  those  who  were 
discontented ;  second,  the  blocking  up  of  the  progress  of  the 
Protestant  Reformation ;  and,  third,  the  reconquest  of  the  ter- 
ritories and  peoples  already  lost  to  the  Church.  The  records 
of  these  movements  will  include  the  council  of  Trent,  the  rise 
and  progress  of  the  counter-reformation  orders,  particularly  the 
Jesuits,  together  with  the  peaceable  and  forcible  recovery  of  Prot- 
estant lands.1 

The  council  of  Trent  was  called  by  Paul  III  to  be  opened  at 
Trent,  May  22,  1542.  The  Germans  wished  to  have  the  assembly 
the  council  held  on  German  soil.  But  though  the  pope  recognized 
of  trent.  f-^g  necessity  of  a  council  which  should  institute  real 
reforms,  he  was  too  jealous  of  the  influence  of  the  emperor  to 
allow  it  to  convene  outside  of  Italy.  It  was  pretended  that  the 
proximity  of  Trent  to  German  territory  was  a  sufficient  guaran- 
tee of  its  impartiality.  Upon  the  opening  of  the  council  it  was 
found  that  the  war  between  Charles  and  Francis  I  had  greatly 
reduced  the  attendance.  It  was  therefore  postponed  until  July 
6,  1543,  and  later  again  until  March  15,  1545.  By  the  latter 
part  of  May  of  that  year  twenty  bishops  had  arrived.  The 
council  really  opened  December  13,  1545.  There  were  present 
twenty-five  bishops,  one  of  whom  was  a  German.  The  pope, 
by  special  grants  of  funds  to  some  of  the  poorer  Italian  bishops, 
thus  making  their  presence  at  the  council  possible,  and  by  other 
means,  secured  the  requisite  number  to  assure  the  execution  of 
his  wishes.2 

It  had  been  the  wish  of  the  emperor  that  the  council  should 
first  take  up  and  pass  necessary  reforms,  upon  which  he  would 
attempted  coerce  the  Protestants  into  attendance.  The  pope, 
councilLtoF  on  the  other  hand,  wished  to  pass  hasty  acts  against 
bologna.  ^-ne  protestant  doctrines  and  then  to  execute  the  con- 
ciliary  decrees  by  war.     It  was  finally  agreed  that  both  dogmatic 

1  The  view  here  taken  differs  somewhat  from  that  set  forth  by  Ward,  The 
Counter-Reformation,  pp.  vii-x. 

2  In  order  to  secure  the  performance  of  the  pope's  desires,  the  method  of 
voting  by  nations,  which  had  been  employed  at  Constance  and  Basel,  was  abol- 
ished, and  the  vote  was  by  individuals.  This  made  it  necessary  for  the  pope 
to  look  after  the  personnel  of  the  council. 


THE    COUNTER-REFORMATION.  533 

and  reform  measures  should  be  considered  at  the  same  time.1  The 
real  work  of  the  council  was  performed  in  three  assemblies  simul- 
taneously convened  each  day  and  presided  over  by  papal  legates. 
By  thus  dividing  the  members  of  the  council  into  three  parts  it 
was  easy  to  secure  obedience,  especially  as  no  proposition  could  be 
brought  before  the  assemblies  or  congregations  except  by  the  legates. 
From  the  question  of  the  relative  powers  of  council  and  pope 
the  legates  held  aloof.  The  sessions  of  the  council  had  nothing  to 
do  but  to  accept  what  had  been  prearranged  in  the  congregations. 
It  was  also  distinctly  understood  that  the  pope  reserved  the  right 
to  judge  of  the  expediency  of  any  measures  which  proposed  the 
correction  of  ecclesiastical  abuses.  Eight  sessions  were  held,  and 
then,  under  the  pretense  of  fear  of  an  epidemic  which  was  threat- 
ened, the  pope  removed  the  council  to  Bologna,  March  11,  1547. 
His  real  motive,  as  it  afterward  appeared,  was  to  get  it  more  com- 
pletely under  his  control  or  even  to  do  away  with  it  altogether. 
At  the  command  of  the  emperor  the  Spanish  bishops  remained  at 
Trent,  but  undertook  no  conciliary  acts.  The  emperor's  demand 
that  the  council  should  be  returned  to  Trent  was  refused.2  The 
bishops  at  Bologna  decided  to  postpone  further  labors,  and  on  Sep- 
tember 17,  1549,  the  pope  dismissed  the  bishops  and  sought  to 
perform  such  work  as  was  pleasing  to  him  by  means  of  conferences 
held  at  Rome.  The  Spanish  and  French  bishops  refused  to  attend 
these  conferences,  since  they  did  not  represent  the  Church. 

The  death  of  Paul  III,  November  10,  1549,  brought  to  the  papal 
chair  Julius  III,  who,  seeking  the  imperial  cooperation,  called  the 
council  together  at  Trent  in  May,  1551.  France,  on  account  of 
the  friendliness  of  the  pope  for  Charles,  refused  to  send  bishops. 
Nothing  was  accomplished,  however,  and  on  April  JULIUS  In 
28,  1552,  the  council  was  suspended  for  two  years.  AND  PAUL  IV- 
Paul  IV  (1555-1559)  was  a  brutal  and  passionate  man  who, 
though  as  Cardinal  Caraffa  he  had  proposed  certain  emendations 
in  the  Church,  now  placed  the  work  in  which  these  propositions 
had  been  made  by  himself  in  the  Index,  and  declared  in  a  bull  of 
1559  that  all  persons  who  had  apostatized,  whether  priests  or  lay- 
men, rulers  or  subjects,  had  forfeited  and  were  deprived  by  him  of 

1  This  was  practically  impossible,  and  resulted  in  giving  the  dogmatic  prob- 
lems the  preference,  thus  destroying  all  hope  that  the  Protestants  might  be 
persuaded  to  participate. 

2  A  full  and  vivid  account  of  the  antagonisms  between  tbe  emperor  and  the 
popes  during  and  in  reference  to  the  council,  as,  indeed,  of  the  council  itself, 
is  found  in  Ward,  The  Counter-Reformation,  pp.  58-100. 


534  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

all  dignities  and  rights,  and  gave  any  and  every  Roman  Catholic 
the  right  to  execute  this  sentence.  His  nepotism  and  hatred  of 
the  house  of  Hapsburg  did  the  Church  untold  harm.  He  refused 
to  recognize  the  imperial  rights  of  Ferdinand,  chosen  by  the 
heretical  electors,  and,  because  he  wished  to  employ  the  Inquisition 
rather  than  reforms  to  check  the  growth  of  Protestantism,  pre- 
vented the  meeting  of  the  council  during  his  reign,  and  attempted 
pretended  reforms  from  Eome.  Pius  IV  (1559-1565)  followed  in 
the  nepotistic  footsteps  of  his  predecessor  and  placed  his  youthful 

nephew,  Carl  Borromeo,  in  the  highest  positions  of 

Church  and  State.  As  cardinal  archbishop  of  Milan 
he  brought  about  reforms  in  the  convents  and  among  the  priests, 
but  by  his  Jesuitical  principles  he  was  able  to  work  the  destruc- 
tion of  evangelism  in  his  spiritual  realm.  When  the  council  met  at 
the  call  of  Pius  IV  on  January  18,  1562,  ten  years  after  its  post- 
ponement by  Julius  III,  there  were  many  more  bishops  present, 
but  the  Italians  were  still  in  decided  majority.  The  refusal  of  the 
Protestants  to  accept  the  invitation  to  the  council  gave  it  a  purely 
Roman  Catholic  aspect  and  made  it  nonrepresentative  of  the  West- 
ern Christian  world.  The  council  was  finally  closed  on  December 
4,  1563. 

The  doctrinal  questions  taken  up  and  settled  by  the  council 
were  such  as  in  one  way  or  another  touched  upon  the  Reformation. 
In  the  main,  whatever  the  Reformation  taught  was  condemned,  and 

the  dogmatic  statements  of  the  council  were  intended 
decrees  of     to    correct    or    contradict   those   of  the    Reformers. 

Against  the  doctrine  of  the  sole  authority  of  the 
Scriptures  it  was  decreed  that  tradition  was  of  equal  value,1  while 
the  apocryphal  writings  of  the  Old  Testament  were  also  declared 
canonical.  The  Vulgate,  which  was  to  be  improved  by  the  pope, 
was  made  the  only  authentic  recension  of  the  Scriptures,  and  the 
Church  alone  had  the  right  to  interpret  the  Bible.  The  decrees 
concerning  original  sin  and  justification  were  so  framed  as  to  form 
a  clear  contradiction  to  the  view  of  Protestantism.  The  freedom 
of  the  will  was  regarded  as  injured  by  sin  ;  salvation  was  the  prod- 
uct of  divine  grace  and  human  effort ;  the  concupiscence  remain- 
ing in  the  baptized  was  declared  to  be  not  of  the  nature  of  sin ; 
faith  was  in  reality  only  intellectual  belief  in  the  divine  revelation 
and  brought  about  initial  justification  ;  the  evangelical  ideas  of 

1  Buckley,  History  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  p.  121  f .  Buckley  gives  the 
substance  of  the  debates  in  readable  form  with  reference  to  all  the  points 
taken  up  by  the  council. 


THE   COUNTER-REFORMATION.  535 

faith  as  confidence  in  forgiving  grace,  grace  as  divine  love,  justifi- 
cation as  the  forgiveness  of  sins,  and  assurance,  were  all  rejected. 
Justification  is  an  act  of  God  which  is  wrought  in  baptism,  and  is 
repeated  for  every  subsequent  mortal  sin  in  the  sacrament  of  pen- 
ance. Pardon  and  sanctification  are  produced  by  the  influx  of  divine 
grace  upon  condition  of  proper  effort  on  the  part  of  man,  including 
essential  acceptance  of  the  teachings  of  the  Church,  while  the 
process  of  justification  is  regarded  as  lifelong,  man  meriting 
eternal  life  by  his  good  works,  although  this  merit  must  also  be 
considered  as  the  gift  of  God.  Thus  the  merit  of  good  works  as 
against  justification  by  faith  alone  is  asserted. 

The  seven  sacraments  of  the  Church  are  declared  to  have  been 
established  by  Christ.  They  accomplish  the  will  or  purpose  of  the 
ministering  priest,  since  they  are  themselves  the  vehicles  of  grace. 
In  reference  to  all  these  decrees  the  council  spoke  its  condemna- 
tion of  the  Protestants.  The  Lord's  Supper  was  so  defined  as 
to  support  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation  with  all  its  concomi- 
tant ceremonies  and  superstitions.  The  council  also  strove  to  give 
a  dogmatic  foundation  to  the  denial  of  the  cup  to  the  laity, 
although,  in  view  of  the  situation  in  Germany,  the  granting  of  the 
cup  was  to  be  permitted  by  the  pope  under  some  circumstances 
and  was  therefore  not  authoritatively  condemned.  Masses  both 
for  the  living  and  the  dead  were  approved  ;  but  the  imperfect 
form  of  repentance  which  arose  from  fear  or  other  such  motives 
was  now  condemned,  although  it  had  been  one  of  the  principal 
causes  leading  to  the  Reformation,  and  true  repentance  was  re- 
quired. The  priests  not  only  spoke  but  imparted  absolution.  In- 
dulgences were  still  admitted,  though  it  was  confessed  they  had 
been  abused,  and  no  attempt  was  made  to  give  the  practice  a  dog- 
matic foundation.  The  doctrine  of  purgatory  and  the  practice  of 
venerating  saints,  relics,  and  images  were  retained.  Priestly  mar- 
riage was  anathematized. 

With  reference  to  practical  reforms  very  little  was  accomplished. 
Bishops  were  to  do  their  own  preaching  or  provide  capable  sub- 
stitutes ;  the  pastors  were  to  see  that  the  doctrines  of  religion  were 
duly  presented  on  Sundays  and  holidays  ;  monks  were  slight 
allowed  to  preach  under  certain  restrictions,  mendi-  reform  ac- 
cant  monks  not  at  all.  The  clergy,  including  the  complished. 
bishops,  were  forbidden  to  remain  long  away  from  their  charges, 
although  the  pope  had  power  under  certain  circumstances  to  re- 
lease them  from  this  decree.  The  corruptions  of  the  lower  clergy 
and  monks  were  to  be  severely  punished,  and  the  churches  dili- 


536  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

gently  visited  by  the  bishops.  Diocesan  synods  were  to  be  held  an- 
nually and  provincial  synods  once  in  every  three  years.  Bishops 
were  to  be  chosen  only  after  careful  testing  of  their  intelligence 
and  morals,  and  the  inheritance  of  benefices  was  to  cease. 

The  decrees  were  signed  by  4  papal  legates,  2  cardinals,  3  patri- 
archs, 25  archbishops,  168  bishops,  39  ambassadors,  7  abbots,  and 
7  vicars  general.1  They  brought  about  the  final  division  of  the 
western  Church,  although  from  the  beginning  it  had  been  the  hope 
of  those  who  most  favored  the  calling  of  the  council  that  precisely 
the  opposite  results  might  ensue. 

With  all  its  efforts  to  destroy  Protestantism,  the  council  could 
not  go  so  far  as  it  would.  To  the  protest  of  the  princes  it  is  due 
that  a  confession  to  be  sworn  both  by  the  clergy  and  the  civil 
officers  was  not  proclaimed.  But  in  its  stead  Pius  IV 
results  of  issued  in  1564  a  bull  containing  the  so-called  Triden- 
tine  Profession  of  Faith,4  which  was  composed  of  the 
Nicene  Creed,  the  contents  of  the  decrees  of  Trent,  and  an  appendix 
on  the  Eoman  primacy,  which  was  to  be  subscribed  by  all  ecclesi- 
astical officials  and  by  university  teachers.  In  addition,  the  Cate- 
chismus  Eomanus  was  published  in  1566  as  a  work  begun,  but  not 
completed  by  the  council.  The  council  had  also  begun,  and  the 
pope  completed,  by  a  congregation  instituted  for  that  purpose  in 
1571,  the  Index  Librorum  Prohibitorum.  In  order  to  regulate  and 
to  render  uniform  the  ceremonial  of  the  Church  in  all  lands,  the 
Eoman  Breviary  was  published  in  1568,  and  the  Missal  in  1570. 
The  Vulgate,  which  was  to  be  prepared  for  the  Church  by  the  pope, 
was  issued  by  Sixtus  V  in  1590.  It  omitted  third  and  fourth  Ezra 
and  third  Maccabees,  together  with  the  prayer  of  Manasseh.  But 
Pope  Gregory  XIV,  yielding  to  the  many  criticisms,  instituted  a 
new  commission  for  the  revision.  Clement  VIII  bought  up  all 
the  copies  of  the  Sixtine  edition  and  in  1592  issued  another,  includ- 
ing third  and  fourth  Ezra  and  the  prayer  of  Manasseh.  One  infal- 
lible pope  had  corrected  the  mistakes  of  his  infallible  predecessor. 

The  results  of  the  council  were  beneficial  to  Eoman  Catholicism 
and  injurious  to  Protestantism.  Calvin  and  others,  by  their  criti- 
cisms, destroyed  the  influence  of  the  decrees  among  genuine  Protes- 
tants, but  the  Eoman  Catholic  Church  started  out  on  a  new  prop- 
aganda with  new  enthusiasm.  The  absolute  monarchy  which  had 
been  confirmed  by  the  council  deprived  men  of  the  right  of  free 

1  Baur,  iv,  182. 

2  See  a  translation  of  the  creed  in  Buckley,  History  of  the  Council  of  Trent, 
pp.  519-521,  and  in  Schaff,  Creeds  of  Christendom,  i,  98,  99. 


THE    COUNTER-REFORMATION.  537 

thought,  but  it  secured  unity.  The  pope  declared  himself  to  be 
the  sole  interpreter  of  the  decrees  (January  26,  1564),  which  had  in 
some  instances  been  purposely  left  vague.  The  de- 
crees were  to  be  in  force  after  May  1.  Italy  (including  European 
Venice),  Poland,  and  Portugal,  at  once  accepted  the  toward  the 
decrees.  In  Spain,  Naples,  and  the  Netherlands  the  de- 
crees were  accepted,  but  with  the  reservation  of  the  right  to  modify 
them  when  they  came  into  conflict  with  the  interests  of  the  secular 
authorities.  In  France  the  clergy  adopted  the  decrees,  while  the 
secular  authorities,  though  agreeing  with  them  in  substance,  re- 
fused to  publish  them  because  they  appeared  to  limit  the  freedom 
of  the  Gallican  Church.  By  conceding  the  cup  to  the  laity  the 
pope  won  Ferdinand  and  Maximilian  in  Germany  to  the  acceptance 
of  the  decrees.  But  both  in  Germany  and  Hungary  the  authori- 
ties refused  to  make  them  the  law  of  the  realm,  and  they  were 
held  subject  to  legislative  modification. 

1  Compare  Buckley,  History  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  pp.  507-509  ;  Baur,  iv, 
185  ;  Moller,  iii,  224. 


538  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 


LITERATUKE:    THE    ORDER   OF   JESUITS. 

I.    LOYOLA. 

1.  Ribadeneira,  P.     Vita  Ignatii  Loiolse.     Naples,  1572  ;  also  in  Acta  Sancto- 

rum, July  31. 

2.  Maffei,  J.  P.     Vita  Ignatii  Loyolse.     Rome,  1585. 

3.  Bartoli,  D.D.     Comp.   de  J.  :   Histoire  de  St.  Ignace  de  Loyola.     Rome, 

1659.     2  vols.     Brux.,  1852.     In  English,  N.  Y.,  1876. 

4.  Dewora.     Ignaz  von  Loyal  und  Franz  von  Xavier.   Hadem.,  1816. 

5.  Briihl,  M.     Geschichte  des  h.  Ignatius  von  Loyola.     Wiirzb. ,  1845. 

6.  Genelli,  Chr.    Das  Leben  des  h.  Ignatius  von  Loyola.    Innsbr.,  1848;  new 
ed.,  N.  Y.,  1889. 

7.  Taylor,  Isaac.     Loyola  and  Jesuitism  in  its  Rudiments.     Lond.,  1849. 

8.  Rose,  Stewart.     Ignatius  Loyola  and  the  Early  Jesuits.     Lond.,  1871 ;  new 

ed.,  1891. 

9.  Stephen,  Sir  James.     Essays  in  Ecclesiastical  Biography.     Lond.,  1875. 

10.  Lawrence,  Eugene.     Historical  Studies.     N.  Y.,  1876. 

11.  Spuller.     Ignace  de  Loyola  et  la  compagnie  de  Jesus.     Paris,  1876. 

12.  Rietschel,  G.  C.     Luther  und  Loyola.     Wittenb.,  1879. 

13.  Drussel,  A.  von.     Ignatius  von  Loyola  der  Romischen  Curie.     Munch., 
1879. 

14.  Baumgarten,  H.     Ignatius  von  Loyola.     Strasb.,  1880. 

15.  Pise,  C.  C.     Lives  of  St.  Ignatius  and  his  First  Companions.     N.  Y,  1885. 

Roman  Catholic. 

16.  Gothein,  E.     Ignatius  von  Loyola  und  die  Gegenreformation.     Halle,  1895. 

H.    BIBLIOGRAPHY   OF  THE   ORDER. 

Vallee  gives  fifteen  bibliographies  of  the  Jesuits.  The  most  important  and 
complete  is  that  of  A.  de  Backer,  Bibliotheque  des  ecrivains  de  la  compa- 
gnie de  Jesus,  ou  notices  bibliographiques,  le,  des  tous  les  ouvrages  publies  par 
les  membres  de  la  compagnie  de  Jesus,  depuis  la  fondation  de  l'ordre  jusqu'a. 
nos  jours  ;  2e,  des  apologies,  des  controverses  religieuses,  des  critiques  litteraires 
et  scientifiques  suscitees  a  leur  sujet.  7  vols.  Liege,  1853-61.  See  also  A. 
Carayon,  Bibliographie  historique  de  la  compagnie  de  Jesus.     Paris,  1864. 

in.   HISTORIES. 

1.  The  earlier  histories  are  by  Gretser,  1584 ;   Hasenmuller,  1588  ;   Lucius, 

Basel,  1626  ;  Hospinian,  1679  ;  Harenberg,  1760 ;  Goudrette,  1760. 

2.  Dallas,  R.  C.     A  New  Conspiracy  against  the  Jesuits.    2  vols.    Lond.,  1816. 

3.  Liskenne,  Ch.     Resume  de  l'histoire  des  Jesuites.     Paris,  1825. 

4.  Cretineau-Joly.      Histoire   de   la   compagnie   de  Jesus.      6  vols.      Paris, 

1844-46  ;  3d  ed.,  1859.     The  most  important  history  on  their  side. 

5.  Steinmetz,  Andrew.     The  History  of  the  Jesuits.     3  vols.     Lond.,  1848. 

The  author  was  a  German-English  Jesuit  in  their  institution  at  Stony- 
hurst,  but  became  a  Protestant.     He  writes  in  a  spirit  of  fairness. 


LITERATURE:   THE   ORDER    OF   JESUITS.  539 

6.  Julius,  Gustav.     Die  Jesuiten.     3  vols.     Leipz.,  1848. 

7.  Stoger,  J.  N.     Historiographi  soc.  Jesu.     Ebd.,  1851. 

8.  Buss,  F.  J.     Die  Gesellschaft  Jesu.     2  vols.     Mainz,  1853. 

9.  Nicolini,  G.  B.     Hist,  of  the  Jesuits.     Transl.     Lond.,  1854  (Bonn's  Libr.). 

10.  Huber,  F.     Les  Jesuites.     Trad  par  Marchand.     2  vols.     Paris,  1875. 

11.  Wylie,  J.  A.     Rise  and  Progress  of  Jesuitism.     Lond.,  1877. 

12.  Daurignac,  J.  W.     History  of  the  Society  of  Jesus.     2d  ed.,  Bait.,  1878. 

Catholic. 

13.  Feval,P.    The  Jesuits.    Tr.  by  A.  L.  Sadlier.   N.Y.,1878.   Roman  Catholic. 

14.  Griesinger,  Th.     The  Jesuits  :  history  of  their  open  and  secret  proceedings, 

told  to  the  German  people.  Transl.  2  vols.  Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1883.  An 
historical  indictment.  In  the  preface  to  the  2d  ed.  the  author  says  :  ' '  The 
new  edition  of  my  History  of  the  Jesuits  is  the  best  proof  that  the  book 
has  done  its  work.  It  has  found  thousands  of  readers,  and  no  one  has 
put  it  aside  without  having  obtained  a  proper  idea  of  this  society,  so 
worthy  of  condemnation.  And  seeing,  now,  that  the  imperial  govern- 
ment has  ranged  itself  on  our  side,  let  us  hope  that  the  accursed  ban  by 
which,  through  the  influence  of  the  Jesuits,  the  spiritual  resurrection  of 
our  fatherland  has  been  restrained  will  now  be  removed  from  Germany. 
Firstly,  the  crushing  of  the  empire's  enemies,  and  now  the  attack  on  the 
foes  of  light !  When  was  there  ever  for  Germany  a  greater  epoch  ? 
Stuttgart,  July,  1872."  The  author  is  a  literary  man  of  some  celebrity  in 
Germany.  His  important  work,  Mysterien  desVaticans,  1861,  was  transl. 
Lond.  (Allen),  1864. 

15.  Wilmot,  A.     History  of  the  Jesuits.     N.  Y.,  1884. 

16.  Austin,  B.  F.     The  Jesuits.     Lond.,  Ont.,  1890. 

17.  Merrick,  D.  A.     Sketch  of  the  Society  of  Jesus.     N.  Y.,  1891. 

18.  Parkman,  F.  Jesuits  in  North  America.  New  ed.,  Bost.,  1893  ;  1st  pub.  1867. 

19.  Thompson,  R.  W.     Footprints  of  the  Jesuits.     Cine,  1894.     The  author 

was  secretary  of  the  navy  under  President  Hayes.  He  has  given  much 
study  to  matters  relating  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  and  published 
his  able  Papacy  and  the  Civil  Power  in  1876.  His  standpoint  is  similar 
to  Griesinger's. 

20.  Jenkins,  R.  C.     The  Jesuits  in  China  and  the  Legation  of  Cardinal  Tour- 
non.     Lond.,  1894.     An  admirable  historical  study. 

IV.    SYSTEM   OF  EDUCATION. 

1.  Steinmetz,  Andrew.     The  Novitiate  ;  or,  The  Jesuit  in  Training.     2d  ed. 

Lond.,  1847  ;  N.  Y.,  1862.  An  account  of  his  own  experiences  in  the 
Jesuit  house  at  Stonyhurst.  Comp.  R.  F.  Clarke  (S.  J.),  The  Training  of 
a  Jesuit,  in  Nineteenth  Cent.,  August,  1896,  and  Mag.  of  Chr.  Lit.,  Septem- 
ber, 1896. 

2.  Hughes,  Thomas  (S.  J.).    Loyola  and  the  Educational  System  of  the  Jesuits. 

N.  Y.  and  Lond.,  1892. 

V.    PRINCIPLES. 

1.  Dalton,  H.     The  Jesuits  ;  their  Principles  and  Acts.     Lond.,  1843. 

2.  Paroissen,  C.     Principles  of  the  Jesuits.     Lond.,  1860. 

3.  Cartwright,   W.    C.      The    Jesuits  ;    their   Constitution   and    Teachings. 

Loni,  1«76. 


540  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

4.  The  Secret  Instructions  of  the  Jesuits  in  Latin  and  English,  with  an  his- 

torical sketch  by  W.  C.  Brownlee.  New  ed.,  Bost.,1888.  A  celebrated 
but  spurious  book  first  printed  in  Cracow,  1612,  which  has  been  con- 
demned by  Rome  as  well  as  by  the  Society. 

5.  Gury,  J.  P.     Doctrines  of  the  Jesuits.    From  the  French  by  P.  Bert.  Chic, 

1889. 

6.  Henn  am  Rhyn,  Otto.     The  Jesuits;  their  History,  Constitution,  Moral 

Teaching,  Political  Principles,  Religion,  and  Science.  Transl.,  N.  Y. 
1895.     Best  brief  conspectus. 

VI.    MORALS. 

1.  Pascal,  Blaise.     Lettres  escrites  a  un  provincial  par  un  de  ses  amis  sur  la 

doctrine  des  Jesuits.  (No  place),  1656.  For  the  next  ed.  the  title  was 
changed  :  Les  Provinciales,  ou  les  lettres  escrites  par  Louis  de  Montalte. 
Cologne,  1657,  and  innumerable  eds.  since.  The  first  English  trans,  was  by 
Royston,  1657,  and  there  are  others  by  McCrie,  1846,  many  eds.,  and  Pearce, 
1849.  The  best  ed.  of  the  original  for  the  English  student  is  by  J.  De  Soyres, 
with  excellent  English  Introd.  and  notes.  Lond.,  1880.  The  Provincial 
Letters  are  perhaps  the  most  effective  piece  of  controversial  writing  in  all 
literature,  with  their  brilliant  and,  on  the  whole,  accurate  analysis  of 
Jesuit  moral  writings,  their  inimitable  raillery  and  keen  wit,  and  their 
magnificent  moral  indignation. 

2.  Huber,  F.     Jesuitenmoral,  aus  den  Quellen  dargestellt.     Bern,  1870. 

3.  Doctrina  Moralis  Jesuitarum.     Die  Moral  d.  Jesuiten  quellenmassig  nach- 

geweisen  von  einem  Katholiken.     Celle,  1874. 

4.  Dollinger,  J.  von,  and   Reusch.      Geschichte  der   moralstreitigkeiten   in 

der  romisch-katholischen  Kirchzeit  dem  16  Jahrhundert,  mit  Beitragen 
zur  Geschichte  und  Characteristic  des  Jesuitordens.  2  vols,  in  one. 
Nord.,  1889.  Invaluable  for  its  collection  of  documents  as  well  as  for  its 
history.  See  arts,  in  Church  Quar.  Rev.,  Lond.,  xxviii,  341,  and  Meth. 
Rev.,  lxxi,  536  (W.  Arthur). 

5.  Braunsberger,    H.     Entstehung  und   Entwicklung   der  Katechismen   des 

seligen  Petrus  Canisius.     Freib.  i.  B.,  1893. 

6.  Reusch,  G.     Beitrage  zur  Geschichte  des  Jesuitenordens.     Miin.,  1894. 
See  A.  Plummer  in  Crit  Rev.,  iv,  241  ff.     Able  discussions  of  special  points  : 

Bee  Quar.  Rev.,  January,  1875,  and  C.  C.  Starbuck,  Jesuit  Ethics,  in  Andover 
Rev.,  xi,  370  ff. 


THE   ORDER  OP   JESUITS.  541 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE   ORDER   OF   JESUITS. 

Although  the  period  of  the  Reformation  witnessed  the  rise  of 
a  number  of  orders,  as  the  Capuchins,  the  Theatines,  and  the 
Barnabites,  all  of  which,  especially  the  Theatines,  wrought  with 
tremendous  zeal  against  Protestantism,  the  only  order  that  needs 
fuller  mention  is  that  of  the  Jesuits.  It  was  founded  by  Ignatius 
Loyola,  a  scion  of  the  Spanish  nobility.  He  was  born  in  the  year 
1491,  and  reared  as  a  page  at  the  court  of  Ferdinand  ignatius 
the  Catholic.  There  he  imbibed  the  knightly  ideas  Loyola. 
which  characterized  his  whole  subsequent  life.  Entering  the 
army,  he  was  wounded  in  the  siege  of  Pampelona  (1521),  and  dur- 
ing the  long  period  of  his  convalescence  he  read  lives  of  saints 
where  the  heroism  and  self-denial  of  men  in  the  interests  of  the 
Church  were  made  known  to  him.  The  thought  occurred  to  him 
that  he,  too,  might  perform  such  deeds  as  Saint  Francis  or  Saint 
Dominic.  He  determined  to  break  away  from  his  past  life,  and 
he  consecrated  himself  to  knighthood  in  the .  interest  of  the 
immaculate  Virgin.  In  1522  he  made  a  pilgrimage  to  Montserrat, 
near  Barcelona,  where,  at  the  shrine  of  the  miraculous  image  of 
Mary,  he  laid  off  the  garments  of  knighthood  and  assumed  those 
of  the  hermit.  Immediately  thereafter  he  entered  the  Dominican 
convent  at  Manresa,  where  he  lived  the  life  of  an  ascetic  in  prayer 
and  penance.  He  has  been  compared  to  Luther,  yet  in  the  mo- 
tives which  actuated  the  two  men  they  were  far  apart.  Luther 
was  seeking  to  be  free  from  sin.  Loyola's  inward  look  never 
revealed  to  him  any  profound  depths  of  depravity,  and  his  repent- 
ance for  his  past  life  was  always  superficial. 

Nevertheless  his  efforts  were  bent  toward  self-discipline,  as  is 
shown  by  the  exercitia  spiritualia  which  he  here  in-  LOyola's 
vented  and  began  to  practice,  and  subsequently  re-  education. 
quired  of  every  member  of  the  order. '  In  1523  he  started  to  carry 
out  his  original  purpose  to  spend  his  life  in  the  service  of  God  at 
Jerusalem.  The  Franciscan  authorities  of  the  Church  there,  find- 
ing him  unfit  for  their  needs,  rejected  his  offers  of  assistance.     Re- 

1  These  spiritual  exercises  may  be  found  described  in  Huber,  Der  Jesuiten- 
orden,  p.  14  ff.,  and  in  Janssen,  iv,  375  ff. 


542  HISTORY  OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

turning  to  his  native  land,  he  determined  to  secure  a  thorough 
education  as  a  necessity  of  the  times.  He  studied  successively  at 
Barcelona,  Alcala,  Salamanca,  and  Paris.  At  all  of  these  places 
he  found  the  greatest  difficulty  in  mastering  the  studies  which  he 
pursued,  which  may  be  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  he  was  thirty 
years  of  age  when  he  began  to  seek  a  higher  training.  He  was 
also  hindered  by  the  religious  ecstasy  which  he  then  took  for  an 
inspiration  of  the  devil.1  By  diligence  and  effort,  however,  he 
overcame  these  obstacles  in  the  end. 

His  course  at  Salamanca  got  him  into  trouble  with  the  Inqui- 
sition, and  he  forsook  that  university  and  went  to  Paris.  He  here 
found  as  students  and  won  to  himself  Peter  Faber,  Francis  Xavier, 
loyola's  Jacob  Lainez,  Alphonso  Salmeron,  Nicolas  Bobadilla, 
companions.  an(j  Simon  Rodrigues.  These  young  men  he  filled 
with  his  conception  of  a  spiritual  knighthood,  and  together  they 
took  an  oath  in  the  Church  of  Mary  on  Montmartre  (1534)  to  spend 
their  lives  in  the  service  of  the  Church  at  Jerusalem  ;  or,  if  that 
should  become  impossible,  to  place  themselves  at  the  disposal  of 
the  pope  for  any  other  work.  Having  been  ordained,  they  met  in 
1536  at  Venice,  to  start  on  their  mission  to  the  Holy  Land.  But 
the  naval  war  between  Turkey  and  Venice  hindered  their  plans. 
They  were  inspired  by  contact  with  the  Theatines  in  Venice  with 
the  idea  of  a  mission  at  home.  They  gave  themselves  up  to  the 
care  of  the  sick,  to  street  preaching,  and  to  the  instruction  of  chil- 
dren. With  a  definite  purpose  the  military  designation,  "  Com- 
pany of  Jesus,"  was  chosen.  The  discipline  was  to  be  severely 
military ;  the  spiritual  exercises  were  the  "  drill  "  of  the  order, 
devoted  to  a  spiritual  warfare  in  the  interest  of  the  Church  against 
heresy.  The  objection  to  the  rise  of  new  orders  delayed  the  papal 
sanction  until,  having  proved  itself  eminently  useful  to  the  Church, 
the  pope,  in  1540,  finally  issued  the  bull,  Regimini  milUantis 
ecclesice,  by  which,  although  with  some  limitations,  the  order  was 
authoritatively  established. 

As  early  as  1538  Loyola  had  begun  to  advise  with  his  friends  as 
to  the  constitution  of  the  order,"  which  provides  for  six  grades  or 
grades  of  classes.  First  are  the  novices,  who  must  be  at  least 
the  order,  fourteen  years  of  age  before  applying  for  admission. 
During  a  month  prior  to  their  reception  into  the  novitiate  they  go 

1  Comp.  Baur,  iv,  187. 

2  The  constitution,  though  begun  by  Loyola,  was  brought  into  its  complete 
form  by  Lainez,  the  second  general  of  the  order.  Its  provisions  were  for  a  long 
time  kept  secret,  even  from  Jesuits  of  the  lower  grades.     See  Baur,  iv,  189. 


THE   ORDER   OF   JESUITS.  543 

the  round  of  the  spiritual  exercises  and  make  a  general  confession 
of  their  past  lives.  They  then  enter  upon  a  novitiate  of  two  years, 
spent  in  study,  teaching,  and  in  hospital  attendance.  Being  ap- 
proved, they  enter  the  grade  of  scholastics.  The  scholastic  first 
studies  about  five  years  in  the  arts,  and  then,  while  he  continues 
to  study,  combines  therewith  the  duties  of  teaching  in  the  junior 
classes  for  a  period  of  five  or  six  years.  Then  follows  another  year 
of  novitiate,  and  upon  this  from  four  to  six  years'  farther  study. 
He  may  next  be  admitted  to  the  grade  of  coadjutors,  of  whom  there 
are  two  classes,  the  temporal  and  spiritual.  The  former  receive 
no  ordination,  and  are  confined  to  the  functions  of  lay  brothers. 
If  the  candidate  is  admitted  to  the  class  of  spiritual  coadjutors  he 
now  receives  priestly  ordination,  which,  however,  confers  no  gov- 
ernmental power  in  the  society  nor  eligibility  to  its  official  posi- 
tions. The  coadjutor 1  may  now  enter  the  grade  of  the  professed, 
which  is  divided  into  two  classes,  the  professed  of  three  vows,  and 
the  professed  of  four  vows. 

The  first  class  of  professed  take  the  vows  of  poverty,  chastity, 
and  obedience.  The  poverty  sworn  is  individual  ;  the  society,  as 
such,  may  possess  any  amount  of  property.     The  obe- 

.         ,    .        ,  ,...,.  „  THE  PKO- 

dience  required  is,  however,  the  distinguishing  feature  fessed  of 
of  this  class.  It  is  not  merely  the  ordinary  obedience 
to  superiors  demanded  by  other  orders,  but  it  is  an  obedience 
based  on  the  theory  that  the  member  is  to  see  in  the  general  the 
Lord  himself,  so  that  his  commands  are  the  Lord's  commands,  and 
carried  to  such  an  extent  as  that  the  member  is  to  have  no  will  of 
his  own,  but  that  in  inward  sympathy,  as  in  outward  act,  the  will 
of  the  general  is  his  will.  The  spiritual  exercises  which  are  to 
be  frequently  passed  through  are  so  framed  as  to  accomplish  this 
annihilation  of  the  individuality  of  the  candidate.  In  his  submis- 
sion to  the  general  he  "  ought  to  be  like  a  corpse,  which  has  neither 
will  nor  understanding,  or  like  a  small  crucifix,  which  is  turned 
about  at  the  will  of  him  that  holds  it ;  or  like  a  staff  in  the  hands 
of  an  old  man,  who  uses  it  as  it  may  best  assist  or  please  him." 

The  professed  of  the  second  class  take  a  fourth  vow,  that  of  obe- 
dience to  the  pope.  But  it  is  understood  herein  that  the  will  of 
the  general  is  to  be  obeyed  if  it  in  any  way  conflicts 

TFIF   PRO— 

with  that  of  the  pope.     For  example,  no  Jesuit  can     fessed  of 
become  a  cardinal,  a  bishop,  an  abbot,  or  accept  any 
papal  office  or  duty  without  the  consent  of  the  general.     The  only 
exception  is  that  of  a  missionary  bishopric,  and  even  in  this  the 
1  The  temporal  coadjutor  must  wait  ten  years. 


544  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

general  may  recall  at  will.  Having  taken  this  fourth  vow,  which 
cannot  be  taken,  unless  in  exceptional  cases,  until  the  age  of  for- 
ty-five, the  member  has  entered  the  inner  circle  of  those  who  are 
eligible  to  office.  One  beginning  his  novitiate  at  the  age  of  four- 
teen would  spend  thirty-one  years  in  connection  with  the  order 
before  reaching  the  highest  class  of  the  highest  grade.  * 

The  general  is  elected  for  life  by  the   general  congregation, 

which  body  can  remove  him  for  cause.3     He  is  to  reside  in  Rome 

rt„    and  have  about  him  assistants,  monitors,  and  a  father 

OFFICERS    OF  ... 

the  order,  confessor,  who  has  the  right  to  bring  him  to  account 
before  the  general  congregation.  He  is  therefore  not  free  from  su- 
pervision, though  clothed  with  an  absoluteness  of  monarchical  power 
unthought  of  by  any  other  earthly  ruler.  In  turn,  however,  he 
watches  over  the  deeds  of  every  member.  The  provinces  into 
which  the  territories  included  in  the  labors  of  the  order  are  divided 
are  presided  over  by  provincials,  the  educational  institutions  by  rec- 
tors, and  the  houses  in  which  the  professed  who  are  not  on  mis- 
sions live  by  superiors.  These  are  appointed  by  the  general,  usu- 
ally for  a  term  of  three  years  each.  The  provincials  receive  reports 
from  the  officials  under  them  once  a  week  with  reference  to  every- 
thing pertaining  to  the  persons  or  duties  under  their  care.  Mis- 
sionaries may,  however,  report  at  longer  intervals.  The  provin- 
cial sends  a  summary  of  these  reports  once  a  month  to  the  general. 
But  in  addition  to  this  the  provincial's  inferiors  must  report  to  the 
general  directly  once  every  three  or  six  months.  Such  a  reportorial 
system  enables  the  general  to  know  and  stamp  out  at  once  any 
rising  danger,  and  to  discover  the  needs  of  each  field  and  to  judge 
of  the  man  best  suited  to  it. 

Besides  this  monarchical  and  military  ideal  the  order  aims  to 
withdraw  its  forces  from  the  retirement  which  the  members  of 
T,™™^  ™  other  orders  regard  as  essential  to  holiness,   and  to 

PUKPOoJib    Or  ° 

the jesuits.  piaCe  them  in  the  midst  of  the  activities  of  men; 
to  so  train  its  members  that  all  nations  and  localities  shall  be 
alike  to  them  ;  and,  instead  of  making  the  spiritual  improvement 
of  the  individual  the  end,  as  with  other  orders,  to  make  each 
individual  the  active  agent  in  the  furtherance  of  the  interests  of 
the  order,  thus  reversing  all  previous  theories.  The  benefits  of 
the  older  orders  accrued  to  the  advantage  of  the  members ;  with 
the  Jesuits  the  abilities  of  the  members  accrue  to  the  benefit  of 

1  There  are  really  but  four  grades  with,  six  classes,  the  grades  of  coadjutors 
and  professed  each  having  two  classes. 

4  Loyola  was  chosen  as  the  first  general,  April  4,  1541. 


THE   ORDER   OF    JESUITS.  545 

the  order,  which  in  turn  is  for  the  benefit  of  the  Church.  They 
are  the  most  active  propagators  of  education  wherever  the  general 
cause  can  be  advanced  thereby ;  and  they  have  been  among  the 
foremost  foreign  missionaries  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.1 
Their  labors  have  been  unselfish,  but  characterized  by  the  unscru- 
pulousness  which  distinguishes  the  order  in  all  its  departments. 

One  of  the  chief  sources  of  complaint  against  the  Jesuits  is  the 
morality  which  they  have  developed.8  This  is  conditioned  by  its 
view  of  the  Church,  which  is  the  highest  end  and  the  MORAIiITy  0F 
goal  of  all  effort — the  Roman  Catholic  Church  as  his-  THE  Si'STEM- 
torically  perfect.  It  is  the  embodiment  of  the  good.  Whatever  ad- 
vances its  interests  must  be  good.  In  this  is  contained  the  doc- 
trine that  the  end  justifies  the  means,  a  doctrine  not  stated  by 
the  Jesuits  in  so  many  words,  but  which  is  actually  made  the 
rule  of  practice.  Similar  to  this  is  the  methodus  dirigendi  inten- 
tionem,  according  to  which  one  may  do  any  evil  act  whatsoever,  if 
it  is  not  evil  which  he  intends  to  do,  but  something  permissible 
or  useful  accompanying  it.  Jesuitism  does  not  directly  teach 
that  sin  is  something  indifferent,  but  rather  that  what  we  gen- 
erally regard  as  sin  is,  properly  understood,  not  sin.  Before  one 
calls  anything  sinful  he  must  have  a  correct  conception  of  the 
sinful.  It  provides  for  such  a  refinement  of  distinction  as  to  the 
amount  of  knowledge  necessary  to  make  an  act  sinful,  as  to  how 
clearly  conceived  the  exact  ethical  nature  of  the  act  must  be,  and 
as  to  the  intention  involved,  that  it  would  be  almost  impossible  to 
convict  any  of  sin.  If  one  is  driven  by  passion,  or  acts  thought- 
lessly, or  even  if  conscious  that  an  act  is  wrong,  yet  does  not  do  it 
merely  in  order  to  do  wrong,  it  is  not  sinful.3 

Among  the  means  by  which  the  order  proposes  to  make  it  possi- 
ble to  do  whatever  one  will  without  the  consciousness  of  sin,  is 
the  doctrine  of  probabilism.  Although  not  original 
with  them,4  it  was  quickly  and  eagerly  adopted  by  the 
Jesuits.  According  to  this  method  of  judging  the  moral  character 
of  an  act  one  is  about  to  do  or  has  done,  it  is  unnecessary  to  follow 
one's  own  moral  judgment.     If  any  single  respected  authority  has 

1  Francis  Xavier  resisted  the  wish  of  the  king  of  Portugal  to  retain  him  in 
honorable  home  service  and  went  as  a  missionary  to  India. 

2  Antonio  Ballerini,  S.  J.,  published  in  1893  the  seventh  and  last  volume  of 
the  greatest  Jesuitical  work  of  this  country  on  moral  theology,  in  the  work 
entitled  Opus  Theologicum  Morale. 

3  Baur,  iv,  199-202  ;  Moller,  iii,  242,  243. 

4  It  was  first  stated  in  1577  by  the  Dominican,  Bartholomew  de  Medina. 


546  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

ever  defended  an  act,  we  may  assume  that  it  may  possibly  be  allow- 
able and  give  our  passions,  not  our  conscience,  the  benefit  of  the 
doubt.  The  question  has  been  much  debated  whether  the  obedience 
required  of  the  members  of  the  order  would  demand  the  perform- 
ance of  a  sinful  act  if  ordered  by  the  general.1  Obedience  is  not, 
indeed,  demanded  to  this  extent.  But  on  the  ground  of  the  doc- 
trine of  probabilism  the  scruple  could  be  easily  set  aside,  since  the 
general  is  authority  against  the  doubter.  It  is  distinctly  provided 
that  if  a  member  regards  an  act  as  sinful  he  must  yield  his  judg- 
ment to  that  of  his  superior,  or  at  least  to  that  of  two  or  three  be- 
fore whom  he  may  lay  his  scruples. 

Another  method  of  doing  a  wrong  act  without  any  qualm  of 
conscience  is  found  in  the  doctrine  of  the  mental  reservation.  If 
mental  res-  a  g°°&  en(^  *s  t°  De  achieved  one  may  speak,  promise,  or 
ervation.  swear  in  language  which  to  the  hearer  means  what  it 
says,  but  which  is  secretly  warped  by  the  speaker  into  some  other 
or  narrower  significance.  If  at  the  time  of  the  promise  or  oath 
this  secret  mental  reservation,  or  perversion  of  the  natural  meaning 
of  the  words  used,  is  before  the  mind  of  the  speaker,  the  deception 
is  not  sinful.  In  the  same  way  the  intentional  use  of  words  in  an 
ambiguous  sense  is  regarded  as  permissible. 

Easy  sinning  had  its  further  encouragement  in  the  Jesuitical 
confessional.  Here  all  that  was  required  was  to  confess  such  sins 
the  con-  as  occurred  to  the  penitent  at  the  time.  One  need 
fessional.  noi  give  himself  toe  great  pains  in  trying  to  think  of 
all  the  sins  he  had  committed.3  The  intention  to  confess  was  suf- 
ficient. It  was  not  necessary  to  confess  what  was  supposed  to  be  a 
sin  if  he  was  not  and  could  not  be  certain  that  it  was  sin,  or  if  one 
feared  that  the  father  confessor  would  be  angered  by  it.  If  one 
professed  to  make  a  general  confession  and  yet  confessed  only  a 
part,  he  did  not  lie,  since  the  father  confessor  knew  perfectly  that 
in  a  general  confession  not  every  sin  is  confessed  ;  and  even  if  he 
did  lie  it  was  of  no  consequence  unless  the  sin  omitted  touched 
some  point  absolutely  necessary  to  absolution.  Penance  also  was 
made  as  easy  as  possible.  If  one  only  felt  that  a  guilty  conscience 
was  a  punishment  of  God,  the  repentance  was  sufficient,  and  even 
the  fear  of  punishment  is  sufficient  repentance  for  the  worst  sins. 

The  motives  which  prompted  all  these  marvelous  concessions  to 
the  sinful  nature  of  man  were  the  desires  to  excuse  their  own  deeds, 

1  Ranke,  Fiirsten  u.  Volker  Siideuropas,  ii,  22,  affirms ;  Moller,  Gieseler,  and 
Banr  deny. 

2  It  ie  declared  that  in  this  respect  "  moderate  diligence  "  only  is  required. 


THE  ORDER   OF   JESUITS.  547 

which  were  often  in  open  violation  of  the  moral  sense  of  mankind, 
and  to  win  favor  among  a  rude  and  passionful  generation.  They 
themselves   were   charmed    with   the   frequency  and 

*        ,  .  CONCESSIONS 

readiness  with  which  the  masses  nocked  to  them  for    to  sinful 

.  NATURE. 

confession,  not  perceiving,  or  rather  not  caring,  that 
it  was  through  them  "  God  had  made  the  way  to  salvation  so  per- 
fectly easy."     These  concessions  and  perversions  were  the  logical 
consequence  of  the  Eoman    Catholic  idea  that  salvation  is  abso- 
lutely dependent  upon  the  Church. 

This  society  grew  rapidly  in  numbers  and  influence.  It  was  a 
natural  vent  for  all  the  intense  devotion  which  had  grown  up  in 
the  minds  of  the  faithful  toward  the  Church  during  the  aggres- 
sions of  the  Eeformation.  Its  influence  was  due  to  the  fact  that, 
while  it  fairly  represented  to  the  Roman  Catholic  masses  the  high- 
est ideal  of  piety  known  to  Romanists,  it  relaxed  by  its  casuistry, 
without  seeming  to  do  so,  the  moral  code.  Men  could  sin  as  they 
pleased  and  yet  have  no  consciousness  of  guilt,  but  by  following 
the  rules  of  the  order  or  accepting  its  fathers  as  confessors  have 
the  consciousness  of  the  greatest  consecration.  An  English  Order 
of  Female  Jesuits  was  founded  by  Mary  Ward  in  the  beginning 
of  the  seventeenth  century.     Abuses  followed  of  such  female 

character  that  Urban  VIII  dissolved  it  in  1631 ;  but  jesuits. 
its  members,  as  "  English  governesses/'  found  plenty  to  do  in  the 
instruction  of  females,  and  in  1703  received  papal  sanction. 1 

One  of  the  principal  means  which  the  Jesuits  employed  against 
the  Reformation  was  the  school.  They  were  soon  recognized  as 
among  the    best   of  instructors.      Even    Protestants  jesuit 

frequently  sent  their  sons  to  the  Jesuit  schools  for  schools. 

education.  Their  tact  in  handling  youth  gave  them  a  religious 
influence  over  the  developing  minds  under  their  care  which  was 
almost  sure  to  result  in  loyalty  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 
If  any  escaped  this  consequence  the  least  result  was  that  opposition 
to  Romanism  and  its  abuses  was  enfeebled.  Especially  did  they 
strive  to  win  the  sons  of  the  noble  families,  because  among  them 
were  the  seats  of  political  influence.  In  every  possible  way  it  was 
undertaken  to  outdo  the  Protestant  schools  and  universities  in  the 
educational  field.  The  real  results  of  their  instruction  were  doubt- 
less often  overrated.  The  same  method  in  another  form  led  them 
to  seek  everywhere  positions  as  fathers  confessor,  especially  among 
the  nobility  and  the  wealthy  classes,  thereby  not  only  molding 
religious  opinion,  but  gaining  great  political  influence. 

1  Moller,  iii,  214. 


548  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Their  doctrine  concerning  veracity  enabled  them  to  enter  into 
political  and  other  intrigues  while  apparently  entirely  innocent. 
political  Just  how  far  the  Jesuits  have  been  connected  with  the 
intrigue.  many  plots  and  murders  laid  at  their  door  we  shall 
probably  never  know.  But  where  the  principles  of  an  order  are  so 
well  known,  and  the  events  which  transpired  so  uniformly  followed 
where  Jesuits  are  known  to  have  been,  the  suspicion  is  of  neces- 
sity strong.  The  Jesuit  Mariana  expressly  justified  the  murder  of 
Henry  III  as  a  monimentum  nohile,  and  to  him  the  murderer  was 
ceternum  Gallice  decus.1 

The  entire  doctrine  of  the  Jesuits  concerning  Church  and  State 
will  shed  light  on  the  suspicions  which  have  been  cherished  against 
the  order.  They  maintain  the  highest  claims  of  power,  even  in 
secular  affairs,  which  the  Middle  Ages  ever  raised,  while  they 
deny  the  Middle  Age  doctrine  of  the  divine  right  of  kings.  The 
State  is  a  purely  human  arrangement,  which  is  of  neces- 
of  church      sity,  therefore,  to  be  subjected  to  the  spiritual  power. 

AND  STATE  m  m 

Had  this  conclusion  not  been  drawn,  the  doctrine  of 
the  State  might  not  be  so  objectionable  now  as  then  ;  for  they  as- 
serted that  the  people  have  the  right  to  determine  or  even  to  re- 
model the  form  of  government.  But  while  granting  this  authority 
to  the  people  the  doctrine  plainly  taught  the  right  of  the  pope  to 
dispose  of  the  property  of  all  Christians,  to  change  rulers,  and  to 
sanction  or  abrogate  civil  laws,  if  the  welfare  of  the  souls  of  men 
required  it.2  The  pope  is  the  divinely  appointed  shepherd  of  the 
whole  Church.  Emperors  and  kings  are  shepherds'  dogs,  who,  if 
they  are  incapable  or  untrustworthy,  may  be  set  aside  by  the  shep- 
herd.3 Mariana,  in  1599,  taught  the  permissibility  of  the  murder 
of  tyrants."  Aquaviva,  the  fifth  general  of  the  order,  was  much 
perplexed  in  regard  to  this  utterance.     His  instructions  appeared 

1  Reusch,  Beitrage  zur  Geschichte  des  Jesuitenordens,  3,  quoted  from  Huber, 
who  quotes  it  from  the  original. 

2  So  Cardinal  Bellarmine,  one  of  the  ablest  defenders  of  Jesuitism,  in  his  De 
potestate  summi  pontificis  in  temporalibus  (1610).  Dollinger  gives  a  letter 
of  Bellarmine  on  the  infallibility  of  the  pope. — Beitriige  zur  polit.  Geschichte, 
iii,  84  ff.    Comp.  Moller,  iii,  239,  n.  1. 

3  Quoted  in  Muller,  iii,  239,  n.  3,  from  Reusch,  Der  Index,  ii,  346.  Reusch 
takes  it  from  Controversia  anglicana  de  potestate  regis  et  pontificis  pro  defen- 
sione  Card.  Bellarmini  (Mayence,  1612).  The  work  is  by  Martinus  Becanus. 
See  Reusch,  Beitrage  zur  Geschichte  des  Jesuitenordens,  32. 

4  In  De  rege  et  regis  institutione.  In  1610  his  book  was  burned  in  Paris  by 
order  of  parliament.  The  work  is  finely  characterized  by  Huber,  Der  Jesuiten- 
orden,  246. 


■■ 
a. a 


10  ZJTAT2 


THE    ORDER    OF    JESUITS.  549 

to  the  public  to  deny  the  Jesuitical  character  of  the  doctrine.  But 
Mariana's  book  was  never  indexed,  and  the  doctrine  continued  to 
be  taught.1 

As  a  result  of  the  determination  which  seized  upon  the  Church 
to  save  itself  from  the  impending  ruin,  and  also  as  a 

OTHFR 

result  of  the  new  hopes  created  by  the  council  of  Trent  orders 
and  the  activities  of  the  Jesuits,  a  number  of  orders 
sprang  into  being.2  The  Order  of  the  Fathers  of  the  Oratorium 
was  founded  by  Philip  Neri,  in  Florence  (1548).  Its  members 
took  no  vow,  but  gave  themselves  to  works  of  charity  and  devo- 
tional reading.  Similar  thereto  was  the  French  Oratorium,  or 
Order  of  Jesus,  founded  by  Pierre  de  Berulle  (1611). s  In  1612  the 
Ursulines  adopted  a  conventual  order  and  gave  themselves  to  the 
education  of  females.4  Francis  de  Sales,  through  the  agency  of 
Francisca  of  Chantal,  established  the  Ordo  de  Visitatione  Mariae 
Virginis  (1610-1618),  sometimes  called  the  Salesians.  The  Span- 
iard Colasanza  (fl648)  founded  in  Home  the  Piarists,  who  imitated 
the  Jesuits  in  their  zeal  for  pious  instruction.  The  Order  of 
Brothers  of  Mercy  was  started  by  the  Portuguesan  John  di  Dio 
(John  of  God),  although  it  did  not  take  this  form  until  after  his 
death.  They  gave  themselves  to  the  care  of  the  sick,  regardless  of 
confession.  A  Gascon,  Vincent  de  Paul,  founded  the  Priests  of 
the  Mission,  or  Lazarists,  to  care  for  the  interests  of  the  neglected 
among  the  common  people,  and  through  Madame  Le  Gras,  whose 
confessor  he  was,  the  Sisters  of  Mercy,  or  Charity.  They  were  es- 
pecially active  in  caring  for  the  poor  and  the  sick  in  addition  to 
their  zeal  in  winning  back  heretics  to  the  Church.  All  these 
orders,  differing  from  the  more  ancient,  and  having  the  same  prin- 
ciple of  active  work  among  the  people  which  characterized  the  Jes- 
uits, were  powerful  agents  in  the  Roman  Catholic  reaction. 

1  See  Reusch,  Beitriige  zur  Gesch.  des  Jesuitenord.,  1-58.  He  gives  a  clear 
presentation  of  the  whole  history  of  the  doctrine  and  the  relation  of  Jesuits 
thereto. 

5  See  them  mentioned  and  described  in  Hase,  Kirchengesch.,  11  Aufl.,  468  f. 

3  They  had  an  immense  number  of  celebrated  names,  as  Richard  Simon, 
Malebranche,  and  Massillon. 

*  The  order  was  originally  established  by  Angela  of  Brescia  (f  1540)  in  honor 
of  St.  Ursula. 


550  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


LITERAT17KE :  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'  WAR. 

1.  Spanheim,  F.     Le  soldat  suedois  ou  hist,  veritable  de  ce   qui  s'est  passe 

depuis  l'avenue  du  Roy  de  Seude  en  Allemagne  jusque  a  sa  mort.  Rouen, 
1633. 

2.  Schiller,  Fr.     Geschichte  d.    dreyssigjahr.  Kriegs.    2  vols.    Leipz.,  1792. 

Many  eds.  and  transls.  The  poet's  historical  ' '  productions  are  not,  of 
course,  the  outcome  of  a  prolonged  or  exhaustive  course  of  special  studies 
[though  they  represent  the  result  of  much  original  research]  ;  but  they 
rank  high  among  German  historical  writings  by  virtue  of  their  great 
merits  of  style,  the  warm  human  interest  the  writer  has  breathed  into 
them,  and  the  broad  philosophic  ideas  that  form  their  life  and  substance." 
— J.  T.  Bealby,  in  Chambers's  Encyc,  new  ed.,  1893,  ix,  208. 

3.  Barthold,  F.  W.   Geschichte  des  grossen  deutschen  Kriegs  vom  Tode  Gustav 

Adolf  m.  bes.  Riicksicht  auf  Frankreich.     2  vols.     Stuttg.,  1842-43. 

4.  Solte,  J.  M.     Der  Religionskrieg  in  Deutschland.     3  vols.     Hamb.,  1850. 

5.  Villermont,  A.  Ch.  H.  de.     Tilly  ou  la  guerre  de  30  ans  de  1618  a  1632.     2 

vols.     Tournai,  1860. 

6.  Lossen.     Donauworth  und  Herz  Maximilian.     Munch.,  1866. 

7.  Reuss,  R.     La  destruction  du  protestantisme  en  Boheme.     Episode  de  la 

guerre  de  30  ans.     Strassb.,  1868. 

8.  Trench,  R.  C.     Gustavus  Adolphus  and  other  lectures  on  the  Thirty  Years' 

War.     N.  Y.,  1872. 

9.  Gardiner,  S.  R.     The  Thirty  Years'  War,  1618-48.     N.  Y.,  1874. 

10.  Stieve,  F.     Der  Ursprung  d.  30  jahr.  Krieges,  1607-19.     Der  Kampf  um 

Donauworth.     Munch.,  1875. 

11.  Ditfurth,  F.  W.  von.     Die  historisch-polit.  Volkslieder  d.  30  jahr.  Krieges. 

Heidelb.,  1882. 

12.  Brockhaus,  H.     Der  Kurfiirstentag  zu  Nurnb.,  1640.    Leipz.,  1883. 

13.  Gindely,  A.    History  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War.     Transl.  by  Andrew  Ten 

Brook.  2  vols.  N.  Y.,  1884.  The  author  planned  and  published  three 
vols,  of  a  larger  work  on  too  extensive  a  scale  ever  to  be  finished. 

14.  Irmer,  G.     Die  Verhandlungen  Schwedens  und  s.  Verbundeten  mit  Wal- 

lenstein  und  d.  Kaiser  1631-34.     2  vols.     Leipz.,  1888. 

15.  Lammert,  G.     Geschichte  d.  Seuchen,  Hungers  und  Kriegsnoth  zur  Zeit 

d.  30  jahr.  Krieges.     Wiesb.,  1890. 

16.  Lorentzen,  Th.     Die  Schwedische  Armee  im  30  jahr.  Kriege  und  ihre  Ab- 

dankung.     Leipz.,  1894. 
See  also  Putter,  Geist  des  Westfalischen  Friedens,  Gott.,  1795  ;  K.  F.  Hau- 
ser,  Deutschland  nach  dem  30  jahr.  Kriege,  Leipz.,  1862;  Koch,  Gesch. 
des  deutschen  Reichs  unter  Ferdinand  IH,  Vienna,  1865. 


THE   THIRTY  YEARS'   WAR.  551 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE    THIRTY    YEARS'    WAR. 

Although  generally  spoken  of  as  one,  the  Thirty  Years'  War 
was  in  reality  four  wars  so  connected  as  to  constitute  a  unity.  It 
was  so  related  to  the  religious  conditions  of  the  times  as  to 
spring  directly  out  of  them  and  to  have  seriously  af-  m  fact 
fected  their  future,  and  yet  there  was  such  a  multitude  FO0R  WAES- 
of  other  interests  involved  as  to  render  impossible  the  understanding 
of  the  war  if  they  are  left  entirely  out  of  account.  The  best  compre- 
hension of  the  whole  matter  may  be  had  by  continually  keeping  in 
mind  the  changing  causes,  personalities,  interests,  localities,  and 
issues  until  in  utter  exhaustion  all  parties  were  glad  to  arrange  a 
peace. 

Toward  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century  the  results  of  Jesuit- 
ical zeal  began  to  be  felt  among  the  Protestants.     The  attempts  at 
the  conversion  of  Protestant  princes  to  Eome  finally  succeeded  in 
the  case  of  Jacob,  Margrave  of  Baden,  a  victory  which 
Pope   Sixtus  V   celebrated  in  Rome  by  a  procession  successes  of 

TFSTTITS 

which  he  accompanied  barefooted.  Archduke  Ferdi- 
nand, trained  by  the  Jesuits,  and  full  of  zeal  for  the  restoration  of 
Roman  Catholicism,  had  pledged  himself  in  the  most  solemn  man- 
ner to  reintroduce  the  reign  of  the  pope  at  all  hazards  in  his  own 
domains.  In  Steiermark,  Karnthen,  and  Krain  he  drove  out  nu- 
merous Protestants,  burned  their  Bibles,  destroyed  their  churches 
and  schools,  and  banished  all  who  refused  to  attend  mass.  In  Ba- 
varia Duke  Maximilian  I,  also  trained  by  the  Jesuits,  undertook 
the  conversion  of  the  Palgrave  Philip  Ludwig  of  Neuberg,  by  a 
religious  colloquy  at  Regensburg  (1601).  It  was  conducted  by  the 
Jesuits  Gretser  and  Tanner  on  the  Roman  Catholic,  and  by  Heil- 
brunner  and  Hunnius  on  the  Protestant  side.  The  Jesuits  were 
being  beaten,  and  Maximilian,  in  order  to  save  the  day,  pretended 
that  he  would  not  allow  the  colloquy  to  proceed  because  the  Prot- 
estants had  maligned  the  pope.  The  only  result,  therefore,  was  an 
increase  of  bitterness  between  the  two  parties. 

The  imperial  city  of  Donauworth,  in  Bavaria,  was  Lutheran,  and 
the  existence  of  the  Roman  Catholic  convents  was  only  tolerated. 
It  was  a  part  of  the  arrangement  that  monkish  processions  within 


552  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

the  city  should  carry  their  banners  low.  A  strife  between  the  city 
authorities  and  the  abbot  of  the  Holy  Cross  led  the  people  to  in- 
sult a  procession  of  monks.  The  emperor  immediately 
at  noNAu-  placed  the  city  under  the  ban  and  charged  Maximilian 
with  the  duty  of  its  execution.  In  so  doing  Maximil- 
ian unnecessarily  violated  the  Keligious  Peace,  and  proceeded,  also, 
to  rob  the  city  of  its  evangelical  services  (1607).  At  the  diet  of 
Regensburg  (1608)  the  emperor  deputized  Ferdinand  to  assure  the 
Protestants  of  Donauworth  that  the  Religious  Peace  would  be  ob- 
served, but  by  the  machinations  of  the  Jesuits  he  was  prevented 
from  carrying  out  his  orders.  The  Jesuits  were  determined  to  force 
the  issue.  It  was  openly  taught  that  the  provisions  of  the  Reli- 
gious Peace  were  not  binding,  since,  being  inimical  to  Christendom, 
the  pope  could  dispense  with  them. 

These  Jesuitical  theories  and  the  practice  of  the  Jesuitically 
trained  rulers  were  in  such  accord  as  naturally  to  awaken  the  ut- 
most alarm  among  Protestants.1  As  a  result  an  assembly  of  Prot- 
the  protes-  estant  princes  which  met  at  Anhausen,  May  4,  1608, 
tant  union.  formeci  ^he  Protestant  Union.  It  was  unfortunately 
opposed  by  Saxony,  and  this  electorate,  together  with  other  princi- 
palities, refused  cooperation.  But  while  the  union  princes  were 
comparatively  few,  they  were  of  both  the  Lutheran  and  Reformed 
confessions,  among  them  being  Elector  Frederick  IV  of  the  Palat- 
inate, who  was  at  the  head  of  the  union ;  Duke  John  Frederick  of 
Wiirtemberg,  the  Frankish  Margraves,  and  Palgrave  Philip  Lud- 
wig  of  Neuberg.  The  object  of  the  union  was  mutual  protection 
against  the  assaults  of  the  Roman  Catholic  aggressors.  The  Prot- 
estants were  once  more  both  united  and  divided.  The  division  was 
to  be  emphasized  by  the  strife  between  the  Saxon  electorate,  on  the 
one  side,  favored  by  the  emperor,  and  Brandenburg  and  the  Pa- 
latinate-Neuberg,  on  the  other,  as  to  the  succession  to  the  possession 
of  Juliers-Cleves.  Maximilian  of  Bavaria,  on  the  other  hand, 
united  the  spiritual  electorates  of  Mayence,  Treves,  and  Cologne, 
together  with  the  bishoprics  of  Wurzburg,  Regensburg,  and  Augs- 
burg in  the  Catholic  League,  with  himself  at  its  head. 

The  incapacity  of  the  Emperor  Rudolph  II  caused  the  estates  of 
Austria  and  Hungary  to  commit  the  conduct  of  their  affairs  into 
the  hands  of  his  older  brother,  Matthias.  In  order  to  strengthen 
himself  he  granted  the  citizens  the  unhindered  exercise  of  their 

1  The  immediate  occasion  of  the  formation  of  the  union  and  the  league  was 
the  dispute  concerning  the  points  just  mentioned  at  the  diet  of  Regensburg, 
1608. 


THE    THIRTY    YEARS'    WAR.  553 

religious  preference  and  made  other  concessions  to  the  Protestants. 
Kudolph  was  able  to  maintain  himself  in  Bohemia  by  the  issuing 
of  the  letters  patent,  in  which  he  granted  the  Utra-  friction  in 
quists  and  Lutherans  religious  freedom  and  equality  hungaryand 
with  the  Roman  Catholics,  as  also  authorized  defend-  B0HEMIA- 
ers  for  their  protection.  The  emperor  was  soon  obliged,  how- 
ever, to  yield  even  Bohemia,  preserving  only  the  imperial  title. 
Ferdinand  was  made  ruler  of  Austria,  Hungary,  and  Bohemia. 
The  Protestant  Bohemians  were  naturally  anxious  as  to  their  re- 
ligious future.  Events  soon  proved  their  fears  well  grounded.  In 
the  domains  of  the  abbot  of  Braunau  the  Protestants  were  erect- 
ing two  churches.  One  was  torn  down,  the  other  closed  on  the  plea 
that  no  evangelical  church  could  be  built  within  Roman  Catholic 
spiritual  territory.  The  defenders  saw  in  this  act  a  breach  of  the 
letters  patent  of  1609.  Their  appeal  to  the  emperor  resulted  in 
their  severe  rebuke  and  the  confirmation  of  the  act  of  those  who 
had  forbidden  the  erection  of  the  churches.  The  Protestants  were 
angered,  and  resorted  to  violence  ;  but  they  were  as  unsuccessful 
with  Ferdinand  as  they  had  been  with  the  emperor. 

These  events  were  the  preliminaries  which  led  up  to  the  Bohe- 
mian war,  the  first  act  in  the  great  tragedy.  In  1619  the  Archduke 
Ferdinand  took  the  imperial  throne  as  Ferdinand  II.  THE  BOHE. 
But  even  before  he  was  crowned  Bohemia  and  Mo-  MIAN  WAR" 
ravia,  actuated  by  their  religious  fears,  chose  Elector  Frederick  V 
of  the  Palatinate  as  their  king.  Urged  by  his  ambition  and 
supported  by  his  wife  and  court  preacher,  the  Calvinist  Scultetus, 
he  accepted.  As  head  of  the  Protestant  Union  he  naturally  en- 
listed the  enmity  of  Maximilian  of  Bavaria,  the  head  of  the  Catho- 
lic League,  who  joined  with  Ferdinand,  giving  Tilly,  his  skillful 
Dutch  commander,  charge  of  the  army.  Tilly  invaded  Bohemia, 
and  in  the  battle  of  Weissenberg  completely  overthrew  the  weak 
Frederick  V.  The  territories  of  the  Upper  Palatinate  fell  to  Ba- 
varia as  a  reward,  together  with  the  electoral  dignity.  Thus  the 
Palatinate  was  once  more  in  the  hands  of  Romanists.  The  vio- 
lence of  the  victors  drove  many  into  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 
Jesuits  followed  the  army  to  complete  the  work  of  conversion.  In 
a  few  decades  Roman  Catholicism  completely  re  won  Bohemia  to 
itself. 

Ferdinand  II  had  meantime  lost  none  of  his  purpose  to  restore 
Roman  Catholicism  and  to  suppress  Protestantism.  His  attitude 
caused  such  apprehension  that  England,  Holland,  and  Denmark 
afforded  the   Protestants    aid    against    the    emperor.     Ernst   of 


554  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Mansfeld,  Christian  of  Braunschweig,  George  Frederick,  Margrave 
of  Baden,  and  Christian  IV,  king  of  Denmark,  appeared  in  the  field 
victory  of  against  the  imperial  aggressor.  He  now  released 
™o£™ern  himself  from  the  Catholic  League  and  accepted  the 
Germain  0^er  0f  Wallenstein  (1625)  to  furnish  and  maintain  an 
army  of  fifty  thousand  men  in  the  emperor's  service  if  he  could 
have  command  and  be  recompensed  from  the  spoils  of  the  war. 
The  emperor  elevated  "Wallenstein  to  the  position  of  an  imperial 
prince,  and  the  army  invaded  northern  Germany.  Maximilian 
sent  his  Catholic  League  army  under  Tilly,  and  soon  over- 
came the  Protestants.  The  Evangelicals  were  now  to  feel  the 
power  of  the  triumphant  Eomanists.  In  1629  Ferdinand  issued 
the  Edict  of  Eestitution,  according  to  which  the  foundations  and 
spiritual  lands  of  which  the  Protestants  had  taken  possession  were 
to  be  restored,  the  Roman  Catholic  spiritual  lords  were  no  longer 
to  be  hindered  from  converting  their  Protestant  subjects,  and  the 
Calvinists  were  excluded  from  the  benefits  of  the  Religious  Peace. 
This  meant  nothing  less  than  the  complete  destruction  of  Prot- 
estantism, and  prepared  the  way  for  the  next  and  most  interesting 

phase  of  the  conflict.  At  the  behest  of  Maximilian  Fer- 
adolphu's  to  dinand  had  dismissed  Wallenstein,  and  the  command 

once  more  fell  upon  Tilly  (1630).  The  Protestants  of 
Germany  were  doing  nothing  worthy  of  the  situation.  In  fact,  they 
were  overawed  by  the  power  of  the  emperor.  At  this  juncture 
Gustavus  Adolphus  of  Sweden,  moved  probably  by  the  combined 
motives  of  political  interest  and  religious  sympathy  with  the  Ger- 
man Protestants,  entered  upon  the  scene  of  action  and  saved  Protes- 
tantism in  the  empire  from  destruction.  Cardinal  Richelieu,  the 
farsighted  French  minister,  jealous  of  the  growing  might  of  the 
Hapsburgs,  and  even  the  pope,  furnished  assistance.1  The  fear  that 
the  emperor  would  take  revenge  held  back  the  electors  of  Branden- 
burg and  Saxony  from  adding  their  forces  also,  although  later  Sax- 
ony was  glad  to  avail  itself  of  the  help  of  Gustavus.  "While  they 
were  hesitating  Tilly  completely  destroyed  Magdeburg.  In  the 
battles  of  Leipzig  and  Breitenfeld  (1631)  the  allied  imperial  and 
league  troops  were  defeated,  and  in  the  campaigns  which  followed 
Gustavus  was  everywhere  victorious,  while  Tilly  lost  his  life.  On 
November  6,  1632,  was  fought  the  decisive  battle  of  Lutzen.     "Wal- 

1  The  pope's  part  in  the  matter  was  occasioned  by  the  dispute  concerning  the 
succession  in  Mantua.  Gustavus  pledged  himself  not  to  interfere  with  the 
Roman  Catholic  religion  where  he  found  it  in  vogue,  and  to  govern  himself  in 
religious  concerns  according  to  the  regulations  acknowledged  in  the  empire. 


THE    THIRTY    YEARS'    WAR.  555 

lenstein,  who  had  meanwhile  been  again  called  to  the  command, 
was  obliged  to  retreat  to  Bohemia.  But  Gustavus  had  fallen  in  the 
midst  of  the  battle.  He  was  the  exact  opposite  of  Wallenstein  in 
personal  character  and  as  a  warrior.  The  former  was  a  true  noble- 
man, who  held  his  troops  under  strict  discipline,  and  would  not  take 
unnecessary  revenge  on  his  subdued  enemies.  The  latter  was  in- 
stigated by  personal  ambition  and  the  love  of  power,  and  his  troops 
wrought  devastation  everywhere.  The  most  tragic  event  in  the 
Thirty  Years'  War  was  the  death  of  the  noble  hero  Gustavus 
Adolphus  in  defense  of  the  liberties  of  his  brothers  in  the  faith.1 

Upon  the  death  of  Gustavus  his  chancellor,  Axel  Oxenstiern, 
became  commander-in-chief.  He  succeeded  in  securing  the  co- 
operation of  a  number  of  evangelical  princes  and  BATTLEOF 
cities,  but  he  was  unable  to  restrain  his  soldiers,  and  nordljngen. 
the  war  became  one  of  plunder.  Wallenstein,  disgraced  in  the 
eyes  of  his  own  countrymen  and  allies,  and  distrusted  by  Jesuits, 
monks,  and  emperor,  was  deposed  once  more,  and  in  1634  assassin- 
ated. This  phase  of  the  war  was  brought  to  an  end  by  the  bat- 
tle of  Nordlingen,  in  which  the  imperial  troops  were  victorious, 
and  as  a  result  of  which  Saxony  and  other  German  principalities 
made  the  treaty  of  Prague  with  the  emperor. 

The  remainder  of  the  estates  now  continued  the  struggle  in  the 
fourth  and  last  phase  of  the  war.  The  country  was  so  exhausted 
that  all  parties  were  ready  for  peace,  which  was  settled  peace  of 
by  the  treaty  of  Westphalia,  October  24,  1648.  The  WESTPHALIA- 
result  was  favorable  to  Protestantism.  After  thirty  years  of  blood- 
shed and  devastation  the  Eoman  Catholics  were  compelled  to  grant 
what  they  should  have  granted  at  the  outset.  The  treaty  provided 
for  the  absolute  equality  of  the  Romanists  and  Protestants,  the 
latter  to  include,  also,  the  Reformed.2 

Henceforth  majorities  were  not  to  rule  the  consciences  of  others, 
but  religious  questions  were  to  be  settled  by  treaty  between  the 
Romanist  and  Protestant  estates.  So  far  from  the  fulfillment  of  the 

1  The  late  Professor  Heinrich  von  Treitschke  (of  Berlin)  held  that  the  death  of 
Gustavus  occurred  just  at  the  time  when  he  must  have  become  inimical  to  the 
welfare  of  Germany,  and  that  his  purpose  to  preserve  the  Religious  Peace  would 
have  threatened  the  political  future  of  the  Fatherland. — Gustav  Adolf  und 
Deutschlands  Freiheit,  Leipzig,  1895. 

2  This  was  due  chiefly  to  the  efforts  of  Elector  Frederick  Wilhelm  of  Bran- 
denburg, whom  the  Prussians  fondly  call  the  Great  Elector.  He  did  not,  how- 
ever, as  some  have  supposed,  aim  at  union  between  Reformed  and  Lutheran, 
but  merely  at  equality  of  rights.  See  Landwehr,  Die  Kirchenpolitik  Fried- 
rich  Wilhelms. 


556  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Koman  Catholic  demand  that  all  spiritual  lands  and  other  proper- 
ties taken  from  Rome  since  the  treaty  of  Passau  should  be  returned 
to  the  Church,  provision  was  made  for  the  secularization  of  spir- 
itual territories  in  order  to  compensate  the  princes  who  had  carried 
on  the  war.  But  it  was  agreed  that  in  no  case  should  ecclesiastical 
property  be  possessed  otherwise  than  it  was  in  the  year  1624. 
The  authorities  of  the  provinces  were  granted  the  so-called  right  of 
Reformation,  by  which  they  might  forbid  those  of  other  confessions 
than  their  own  to  remain  in  the  country.  But  here,  also,  the  secular 
authorities  were  held  in  check  by  the  proviso  that  no  one  should 
be  oppressed  on  account  of  his  religious  faith  if  he  had  been  in  the 
enjoyment  of  it  at  any  time  during  the  year  1624.  The  relations 
existing  between  the  Reformed  and  Lutheran  parties  were  also  de- 
termined. They  were  to  remain  as  at  the  time  of  the  conclusion  of 
the  peace. 

The  protest  of  Pope  Innocent  X,  who  declared  the  treaty  invalid 
because  concluded  without  his  approval,  and  who  condemned  its 
articles  and  declared  them  to  be  without  binding  force  even  upon 

those  who  had  sworn  to  them,  was  without  avail. 
to  protes-     The  treaty  had  provided  against  just  such  a  protest 

by  making  it  a  part  of  its  provisions  that  no  objection 
to  the  treaty  from  whatever  side  should  be  heeded.  The  emperor, 
indeed,  failed  to  carry  out  the  provisions  of  the  peace  in  his  Aus- 
trian hereditary  lands.  But  the  last  violent  effort  for  the  suppres- 
sion of  Protestantism  had  been  made  and  lost.  The  effect  upon 
the  social  and  religious  condition  of  Germany  of  such  a  war  was 
terrible.  Freedom  to  worship  God  according  to  conscience  had, 
however,  been  won.  The  Protestants  were  not  to  blame  for  the 
war.     But  had  they  been,  the  gain  would  have  been  worth  the  cost. 


SMALLER    NON-ROMAN    CATHOLIC    BODIES.  557 


LITEEATUEE:  SMALLEE  NON-EOMAN  CATHOLIC 

BODIES. 

I.    THE   BOHEMIAN  AND   MORAVIAN   BRETHREN. 

1.  Crantz,  David.     Ancient  and  Modern  History  of  the  Brethren.     Transl. 

Lond.,  1780. 

2.  Palaeky,  Fr.     Geschichte  Bohmens.     5  vols.     Prag,  1836-68.     Standard. 

3.  Croeger,  E.  W.    Geschichte  der  alten  Briiderkirche.   Gnadau,  1866.   Gesch. 

der  erneuerten  Briiderkirche.    1852. 

4.  Peschek,  C.     Geschichte  d.  Gegenreformation  in  Bohmen.     2  vols.     1850. 

5.  Burckhardt,  G.     Zinzendorf  u.  d.  Briider  Gemeinde.     Gotha,  1865. 

6.  Czerwenka,  B.      Gesch.  der   evangelischen   Kirche  in  Bohmen.      2  vols. 

Bielef.  u.  Leipz.,  1869-70.     Excellent. 

7.  Goll,  Jaroslav.     Quellen  nnd  Untersuchungen  zur  Gesch.  der  bbhmischen 

Briider.    Prag,  1878;  new  ed.,  1880;  second  part,  1882.     Very  valuable. 

8.  Szalatanay,  J.  G.  A.    Bilder  aus  der  Tolerans-Zeit  im  Konigreich  Bohmen. 

Barmen,  1890.     Interesting  account  of  the  revival  of  Protestantism  in 

Bohemia  after  the  Edict  of  Toleration  in  1781. 
On  the  Moravian  Brethren  in  England  see  Daniel  Benham,  Memoirs  of  James 
Hutton,  Lond.,  1856,  and  The  Moravian  Brethren  in  Lond.  Quar.  Rev.,  viii, 
238-269.  On  Moravian  Missions  see  Shawe,  The  Third  Jubilee  of  Moravian 
Missions,  Lond.,  1882,  and  A.  C.  Thompson,  Moravian  Missions,  N.  Y.,  1882. 
On  the  Hist,  of  Bohemia  and  the  Brethren  see  above,  pp.  63,  64.  On  some 
Present  Aspects  of  the  Brethren  see  Mrs.  C.  V.  English,  in  Mag.  of  Ch.  Lit., 
May,  1891,  107.  See  also  Francis  von  Lutzow,  Hist,  of  Bohemian  Literature, 
Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1899. 

n.    ANABAPTISTS. 

There  is  an  extensive  bibliography  of  the  continental  Anabaptists  in  Pro- 
fessor Newman's  admirable  History  of  Antipedobaptism,  pp.  395  ff.  We  give 
here  a  selection  of  recent  titles. 

1.  Bouterwoek,  K.  W.    ZurLiteratur  u.  Gesch.  d.  Wiedertaufer,  besonders  in 

den  Rheinlanden.     Bonn,  1864. 

2.  Egli,  E.    Die  Ziir.  Wiedertaufer.    Zurich,  1878.    Actensammlung  zur  Gesch. 

d.  Ziir.  Reformation.    Ziir.,  1879.    Die  St.  Galler  Tiiufer.    Ziir.,  1887. 

3.  Burrage,  H.  S.      Hist,    of  the  Anabaptists  of  Switzerland.      Phil.,  1881. 

Baptist  Hymn  Writers.  Phil.,  1888.  The  Anabaptists  of  the  Sixteenth 
Century,  in  Papers  of  Amer.  Soc.  of  Church  Hist.,  iii,  145  ff.  Excellent 
works  by  a  competent  scholar. 

4.  Keller,  Ludwig.      Ein  Apostel  der  Wiedertaufer  (Joh.  Denck).      Leipz., 

1822.  Transl.  by  H.  S.  Burrage  in  Baptist  Rev.,  Jan.,  1885,  pp.  28  ff. 
Gesch.  d.  Wiedertaufer  u.  ihres  Reichs  zu  Minister.  Miinster,  1880.  Kel- 
ler is  an  indefatigable  worker,  and  his  books  are  of  great  value. 

5.  Beck,  J.     Geschichtsbucher  d.  Wiedertaufer   in  Oesterreich-Ungarn  von 

1526  bis  1785.  Wien,  1883.  Gesch.  der  Wiedertaufer  in  Karnten,  in 
Arehiv.  d.  Hist.  Yereins,  xi.     See  Newman,  p.  395. 


558  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

6.  Brons,  A.     Ursprung,  Entwiekelung,  und  Schicksale  der  Taufgesinnten 

oder  Mennoniten.     Norden,  1884. 

7.  Loserth,  J.     Anabaptismus  in  Tirol.     2  vols.     Wien,  1892.     Has  valuable 

documents.  Balthasar  Hubmaier.  Briinn,  1893.  The  best  book  on  Hub- 
maier.  See  Newman,  p.  402.  On  his  Communismus  der  Mahrischen 
Wiedertaufer,  Wien,  1894,  see  Bossert  in  Th.  Lit.-blatt.,  Aug.  20, 1895,  and 
Sept.  13,  1895. 

8.  Zur  Linden,  F.  O.     Melchior  Hofmann.     Leipz.,  1885. 

9.  Heath,  R.     Anabaptism  from  its  Rise  at  Zwickau  to  its  Fall  at  Miinster, 

1521-36.     Lond.,  1895.     The  same  writer  has  a  series  of  arts,  in  Contemp. 
Rev.  :    Early  Anabaptism,    April,    1895 ;    Denck,   Dec,   1892 ;    Anabap- 
tists and  their  English  Descendants,  Mar.,  1891  ;    The  Communism  of 
the  Anabaptists,  Aug.,  1896,  and  Archetype  of  Pilgrim's  Progress,  lxx,  541. 
10.  Newman,  A.  H.     Hist,  of  Antipedobaptism  from  its  Rise  to  1609.     Phil., 
1897.     The  best  book  on  the  subject  in  the  language — scholarly,  candid, 
and  full  of  the  results  of  research.     The  Moravian  Baptists,  in  Baptist 
Quar.  Rev.,  Jan.,  1887,  and  the  Peasants'  War,  in  the  same,  Jan.,  1889. 
See  also  K.  Pearson,  The  Kingdom  of  God  in  Munster,  in  Mod.  Rev. ,  Jan.  and 
April,  1884 ;  P.  Schaff ,  The  Anabaptists  of  Switzerland,  in  Baptist  Rev. ,  July, 
1889;  W.  E.  Griffis,  The  Anabaptists,  in  New  World,  iv,  647  ff.;  D.  H.  Liide- 
mann,  Reformation  und   Taufertum   in   ihrem  Verhaltniss  zum  christlichen 
Princip.,  Bern,  1896  (see  Th.  Litz.,  1897,  No.  9),  shows  that  the  Baptists  were 
the  true  reformers;  J.  Lehmann,    Gesch.    der   deutschen   Baptisten,  Hamb., 
1896 ;  P.  Burckhardt,  Die  Basler  Taufer,  Basel,  1898. 

m.    UNITARIANS    AND    SOCINIANS. 

On  Servetus  see  above,  p.  278.     Some  modern  works  are  : 

1.  Bock,  F.  S,    Historia  Antitrinitariorum.    Regiomonti  et  Lipsiae,  1774. 

2.  Trechsel,  F.    Die  Protest.  Antitrinitarier  vor  F.  Socinus.    2  vols.    1839-44. 

3.  Turner,  W.,  Jr.     Lives  of  Eminent  Unitarians.     2  vols.     Lond.,  1840-43. 

4.  Fock,  O.     Der  Socinianismus.     Kiel,  1847. 

5.  Wallace,  W.     Antitrinitarian  Biography.     3  vols.     Lond. ,  1850. 

6.  Bonet  Maury,  G.    Des  origines  du  Christianisme  Unitaire  chez  les  Anglais. 

Paris,  1881.  Transl.  Lond.,  1884.  See  C.  A.  Briggs,  in  Presb.  Rev.,  ii,  190. 

7.  Origin  and  Hist,  of  Unitarianism.     By  various  authors.     Bost.,  1890. 

8.  Burnat,  Eugene.     Lselio  Socin.     Vevey,  1894. 

9.  Gordon,  Alex.     Heads  of  English  Unitarian  History,  with  Lects.  on  Bax- 

ter and  Priestley.     Lond.,  1895. 

IV.    MENNONITES. 

Besides  the  works  mentioned  under  Anabaptists,  see  the  works  of  Menno 
Simons  and  Dirk  Philips  ;  the  Mennonitische  Blatter  ;  the  Doopsgezinde  Bijd- 
ragen  ;  H.  Schyn,  Historia  Mennonitarum,  1723 ;  Starck,  Gesch.  der  Taufe 
und  Taufgesinnten,  1789 ;  Blupot  ten  Cate,  Geschiedenis  d.  Doopsgesinde, 
5  vols.,  Leeuwarden,  1839-47;  B.  K.  Roosen,  Menno  Simons,  Leipz.,  1848;  J. 
C.  Van  Slee,  De  Rijnsburger  Collegiantem,  Haarlem,  1895;  D.  K.  Cassel, 
Geschichte  der  Mennoniten,  Phila.,  1892;  H.  G.  Mannhardt,  Festschrift  zu 
Menno  Simons  400  jahr.  Geburtstagsfeier  d.  6.  Nov.,  1892,  2d  ed.,  Danz.,  1892. 
For  a  list  of  the  works  of  De  Hoop  Scheffer  (author  of  article  on  Mennonites 
in  Herzog-Plitt),  see  Newman,  Hist,  of  Antipedobaptism,  p.  397. 


SMALLER   NON-ROMAN   CATHOLIC   BODIES.  559 


CHAPTER  VII. 

SMALLER    NON-ROMAN    CATHOLIC    BODIES. 

The  Waldenses  were  influenced  in  turn  by  the  Husite,  the 
Zwinglian,  the  Lutheran,  and  the  Calvinistic  movements.  Espe- 
cially were  the  Waldenses  of  Piedmont  influenced  by  THE  WAL_ 
Germany.  In  1530  the  Waldensians  George  Morel  denses. 
and  Peter  Masson  visited  CEcolampadius  and  Bucer.  Masson  did 
not  live  to  reach  home,  but  Morel  carried  instructions  to  the 
brethren  of  Provence  and  Dauphiny  who  had  sent  him  out.  The 
French  Waldenses  secured  the  convening  of  a  synod  at  Chanforans 
in  1532,  in  which  it  was  determined  to  break  off  all  connection 
with  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  thereby  preparing  the  way  for 
the  complete  introduction  of  evangelical  ideas,  which  were  finally 
adopted  in  the  second  synod  in  1533,  and,  after  unavoidable  delays, 
carried  out.  In  the  persecution  which  was  waged  against  them  in 
Provence  by  Francis  I  (1545)  about  four  thousand  were  killed  or 
deported  into  the  galleys  and  twenty-two  of  their  villages  reduced 
to  ashes.  In  Dauphiny  and  Piedmont  the  progress  was  slower  and 
the  persecutions  later.  The  Union  of  the  Valleys  (1571)  gave  them 
the  complete  victory. 

The  Bohemian  Utraquists,1  at  first  influenced  by  the  Lutherans, 
found  themselves  unable  to  withstand  the  opposition  and  to  over- 
come the  obstacles  placed  in  the  way  of  their  progress,  and  were 
finally  displaced  by  the  Lutherans,  and,  after  the  battle  of  Weissen- 
berg,  came  to  an  end.  The  United  Bohemian  and  Moravian 
Brothers  had  a  varied  history,  looking  first  to  the  Wal-  THE  BOHe- 
denses,  then  to  Erasmus,  and  then  to  Luther  for  rec-  Moravian 
ognition  and  assistance.  Lucas  of  Prague,  however,  brothers. 
persistently  opposed  the  modifications  of  doctrine  and  practice 
suggested  by  Luther,  and  the  hope  of  encouragement  from  that 
source  was  therefore  broken  off.  After  his  death  came  a  period  in 
which  the  Brothers  approached  nearer  to  Lutheranism.  The  stu- 
dents who  had  gone  to  Wittenberg  had  at  first  brought  back 
unfavorable  reports  of  the  results  of  Luther's  doctrine  of  religious 

1  Compare  on  the  above  and  also  on  the  Utraquists  and  the  Bohemian- 
Moravian  Brethren,  Kawerau,  in  Moller,  iii,  394-401.  His  account  is  full  and 
accurate. 


560  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

freedom,  and  this  had  influenced  Lucas  against  him.  But  later  the 
students  came  to  prize  his  work  more  highly,  and  under  the  leader- 
ship of  Johann  Horn  and  Benedict  Baworinsky  the  celibacy  of  the 
clergy  was  given  up  and  doctrinal  changes  were  agreed  to  which 
were  more  in  the  spirit  of  Luther.  Johann  Augusta  carried  the 
relationship  still  farther,  and  the  Brothers  declared  themselves 
adherents  of  the  Augsburg  Confession.  Gradually,  however,  they 
came  nearer  to  the  Calvinists,  especially  after  Luther's  death. 
Canisius,  the  Jesuit,  and  others  of  the  society  made  such  inroads 
upon  them  after  1555  that  in  1575  they  combined  with  the  Luther- 
ans. But  after  1580  they  were  once  more  compelled  to  recognize 
in  the  Eeformed  as  distinguished  from  the  adherents  of  the  For- 
mula of  Concord  their  nearest  companions  in  faith.  Persecution 
and  exile  divided  and  scattered  them  until  they  lost  their  power 
in  the  nation,  though  they  never  died  out.  Bishop  Amos  Comenius 
was  one  of  their  most  celebrated  representatives.  Their  Bible 
translation  is  a  most  creditable  work  and  their  hymnology  very  rich. 

The  Anabaptists  labored  under  the  prejudice  which  arose  from 
the  disturbance  at  Minister,  which  involved  nothing  less  than  the 
the  anabap-  complete  overthrow  of  all  ordinary  social,  political, 
tists.  an(j  religious  ideas  common  to  Christendom.1     It  is 

certain,  however,  that  the  masses  of  them  were  in  nowise  infected 
with  the  revolutionary  ideas  which  had  prevailed  in  certain  quar- 
ters. Philip  of  Hesse  saw  the  distinction  and  treated  them  accord- 
ingly. In  Jena,  on  the  other  hand,  three  of  them  were  beheaded 
after  failing  to  be  convinced  in  a  disputation  which  Melanchthon 
conducted  with  them  (1536).  They  suffered,  also,  from  lack  of  a 
connectional  organization,  scattered  as  they  were  in  many  lands.2 

The  efforts  at  organization  put  forth  by  Menno  Simons  were 
measurably  successful  (after  1536).  He  had  been  a  Roman  Catho- 
lic pastor  in  Witmarsum,  in  the  Netherlands.  His  journeys  were 
the  mennon-  extensive,  and  his  labors  unremitting  until  his  death, 
at  Holstein  in  1561.  His  followers  were  known  as 
Mennonites,  and  held,  with  him,  to  essentially  Lutheran  doctrines 
of  redemption  and  justification,  but  with  a  very  peculiar  doctrine 
concerning  the  relation  of  the  body  of  Jesus  to  the  Virgin  Mary.3 

1  See  details  in  Gieseler,  iv,  164,  n.  13  ;  Baur,  iv,  441-446,  and  Mtiller,  iii, 
114-117. 

2  Comp.  Kawerau,  in  Moller,  iii,  402,  403. 

3  He  taught  that  the  body  of  Jesus  was  formed  within  the  womb  of  the  Vir- 
gin by  a  miracle  as  great  as  the  conception,  namely,  by  God  directly  without 
any  ordinary  functional  connection  of  Mary's  body  with  his  growth. 


SMALLER    NON- ROMAN    CATHOLIC    BODIES.  561 

They  rejected  infant  baptism,  oaths,  military  and  even  civil  service,1 
every  kind  and  degree  of  revenge,  and  tolerated  divorce  only  on 
account  of  adultery.  Their  doctrine  and  practice  of  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per were  Zwinglian.  The  strictness  of  discipline  was  carried  to  such 
extremes  that  in  1554  and  later  the  Mennonites  were  divided  into 
numerous  parties,  the  two  principal  of  which  were  the  Waterland- 
ers  and  the  Flemings  (the  refugees  from  Flanders),  otherwise  distin- 
guished as  the  coarse  and  the  fine  Mennonites.  They  differed,  also, 
somewhat  as  to  doctrinal  affairs ;  although  one  of  their  chief  princi- 
ples was  to  avoid  such  disputes,  they  were  divided  with  reference 
to  the  Kemonstrants.  The  practical  question  of  the  use  of  buttons 
on  the  clothing,  and  whether  the  pockets  should  be  on  the  inside 
or  the  outside  of  the  garment,  together  with  the  permissibility  of 
the  use  of  tobacco,  were  the  points  about  which  they  were  divided. 
Gradually  these  matters  were  less  emphasized,  while  at  the  same 
time  they  lost  their  first  zeal.  Their  early  history  is  one  of  suffer- 
ing with  but  little  cessation  or  amelioration. 

The  Antitrinitarians  were  not  all  of  Italian  origin.  Ludwig  Het- 
zer,  who  wrote  a  work  against  the  Godhead  of  Christ,  whose  publica- 
tion was  hindered  by  Zwingli,  was  a  Swiss.  Johann  Denk,  a  travel- 
ing companion  and  sympathizer  with  Hetzer,  was  a 

TTTF    A  !N"T  I- 

native  of  the  Upper  Palatinate.  Johann  Campanus,  trinitari- 
who,  though  he  had  been  a  resident  of  Wittenberg  and 
under  Luther's  influence,  denied  the  personality  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
and  held  the  Arian  doctrine  of  Christ,  was  a  native  of  the  duchy 
of  Juliers,  while  Michael  Servetus  was  a  Spaniard.  In  Antwerp, 
East  Friesland,  Nuremberg,  and  elsewhere  the  Antitrinitarian  doc- 
trines were  held  by  limited  numbers.  Many  of  the  Anabaptists 
seem  to  have  been  Antitrinitarians,  and  their  relative  indifference 
to  doctrinal  disputes  opened  the  way  for  those  who  could  not 
agree  with  the  Roman  or  Protestant  Churches  to  go  over  to  them.2 
But  from  Italy  came  the  most  and  the  most  important  of  the  An- 
titrinitarians. They  were  incited  to  their  doubts  concerning  the 
Trinity  by  the  critical  spirit  of  the  Renaissance,  their  rationalism, 
and   their  desire  to  negative   whatever  the  papacy  maintained. 

1  Moller,  iii,  406. 

2  It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  in  Italy,  the  home  of  Antitrinitarianism,  an 
Anabaptist  council  was  secretly  held  at  Venice  in  1550,  participated  in  by 
sixty  deputies,  who  agreed  to  these  doctrines :  Christ  is  not  God,  but  man,  be- 
gotten by  Joseph  and  Mary,  but  full  of  divine  power  ;  he  died  in  order  to 
attain  to  the  righteousness  of  God — that  is,  the  pinnacle  of  his  goodness  and 
mercy.     Comp.  Moller,  iii,  416. 

38  2 


562  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

Among  the  chief  of  those  not  already  mentioned  were  Alciati, 
of  Milan  ;  Gentile,  of  Naples  ;  Gribaldo,  of  Padua,  and  Blandrata 
of  Saluzzo.  In  the  Grisons  they  early  aroused  contro- 
ANTiTRiNi-  versies,  some  of  them,  as  Calaber,  denying  the  distinc- 
tion between  good  and  evil  and  the  merit  of  Christ's  suf- 
ferings. The  Italian  refugees  were  so  commonly  tainted  with  heresy 
that  caution  in  recommending  them  had  to  be  exercised,  especially 
with  reference  to  the  doctrines  of  God,  original  sin,  the  atonement, 
predestination,  and  the  life  of  the  spirit  after  death.  Laelius  Soci- 
nus,  of  Siena,  spent  much  of  his  life  in  traveling  from  place  to 
place.  He  carefully  concealed  his  true  opinions,  putting  them  in 
the  form  of  inquiries  rather  than  assertions.  Although  he  is  gen- 
erally regarded  as  the  founder  of  the  Socinian  party,  his  nephew, 
Faustus  Socinus,  was  in  reality  the  one  who  gave  form  to  that 
faith. 

Poland  and  Transylvania  became  the  refuge  of  the  Antitrinita- 
rians  after  their  retirement  from  Geneva  in  1558  was  made  neces- 
sary in  order  to  escape  subscription  to  the  confession  prepared  for 
faustus  them  by  Calvin.     Hither,  then,  Faustus  came,  settling 

finally  in  Poland.  At  first  he  was  not  favorably  re- 
ceived even  by  his  brethren  of  like  faith,  because  he  refused  to  be 
rebaptized.  But  time  proved  how  valuable  he  was  to  become  to 
the  Unitarians,  who  under  his  leadership  became  an  organized  body 
called  Socinians.  He  had  fallen  heir  to  the  writings  of  his  uncle 
Laelius,  by  whom  he  had  been  directed  in  his  studies  of  theology. 
The  Kacovian  Catechism  was  begun  by  him  and  his  friend  Peter 
Statorius.  After  their  death  it  was  completed  and  published  in 
1605  by  Jerome  Moscorovius  and  Valentine  Schmalz.1  Socinus 
accepted  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament  as  the 
source  of  authority  in  religion.  The  principal  doctrine  of  the  Bible 
is  the  existence  and  righteousness  of  God.  It  is  demanded  that  we 
shall  know  God  and  Christ  and  live  a  pious  life.  Christ  was  be- 
gotten of  man  by  a  miracle,  clothed  with  divine  wisdom  and  power, 
raised  from  the  dead,  and  elevated  to  equal  might  with  God,  and 
therefore  worthy  to  be  approached  in  prayer.  Christ's  death  was 
not  to  be  regarded  as  a  satisfaction  for  sin.  The  judgment  of 
Kawerau  concerning  the  doctrine  of  Socinus  is  that  "  in  spite  of  the 
biblical  coloring  of  the  ideas,  the  doctrine  of  Socinus  resolves  re- 
ligion into  mere  rational  knowledge  of  God,  and  morality." 

1  See  its  points  fully  developed  in  the  original  Latin  in  Gieseler,  iv,  367-370. 
Kawerau  gives  a  clear  outline  and  judgment  of  the  Socinian  doctrines. — Moller, 
iii,  420-422. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  ROMAN  CATHOLIC  CHURCH.     563 


LITERATURE :  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  ROMAN 
CATHOLIC  CHURCH  TO  1648. 

I.  THE    QUTETTSTS. 

1.  Recoil  des  di verses  pieces  concernants  le  quietisme.     Paris,  1688. 

2.  Scharling,  G.     Mystikeren  Molinos.     Copenh.,  1852.     Transl.  into  German 

1854. 

3.  Heppe,  H.     Geschichte  der  Quietischen  Mystik.     Berl.,  1875. 

4.  Bigelow,  John.     Molinos  the  Quietist.     N.  Y.,  1882. 

5.  Shorthouse,  J.  H.     Golden  Thoughts  from  the  Spiritual  Guide  of  Molinos. 

Lond.,  1884. 

H.   THE   JANSENISTS. 

1.  Leydecker,  U.     Historia  Jansenismi.     Utr.,  1695. 

2.  Breve  Istoria  delle  variazioni  del  Giansenismo  della  sua  origine  sino  al  pre- 

sente  alia  santita  di  N.  Signore  Papa  Benedetto  XIV.     Roma,  1745. 

3.  Gerbert,  M.     Jansenisticarum  Controversarium  ex  doctr.  S.  Augustini  re- 

tractatio  S.  Blasii.     1791. 

4.  Colonia.     Diet,  des  Livres  Jensenistes,  Declaration  des  Eveques  de  Hol- 

lande.     Paris,  1827. 

5.  Schimmelpennick,    Mrs.  M.   A.     Select  Memoirs   of  Port  Royal.     2  vols. 

Lond.,  1835. 

6.  Reuchlin,  H.     Geschichte  von  Port  Royal,  der  Kampf  des  ref  ormirten  und 

des  Jesuitischen  Katholicismus  unter  Ludwig  XHI  und  XIV.     2  vols. 
Leipz.,  1839-44. 

7.  Sainte-Beuve,  C.  A.     Port  Royal.     5  vols.     Paris,  1840. 

8.  Tregelles,  S.  P.     The  Jansenists ;  their  Rise,  Persecutions  by  the  Jesuits 

and  existing  Remnants.     Lond.,  1851. 

9.  Neale,  J.  M.     History  of  the  so-called  Jansenist  Church  in  Holland.    Oxfd., 

1858. 

10.  Beard,  Charles.     Port  Royal.     2  vols.     Lond.,  1861;   new  ed.  1873.     The 

best  in  English. 

11.  Rapin,  M.    Histoire  de  Jansenisme.  Edit,  by  Domenech.   Paris,  1861.    Writ- 

ten by  a  Jesuit. 

12.  Bouvier,  M.     Etude  critique  sur  le  Jansenisme.     Strassb.,  1871. 

13.  Fuzet.     Les  Jansenistes  du  XVIP  siecle.     Paris,  1877. 

14.  Vandenpeereboom,  Alph.     Cornelius  Jansenius,  eveque  septieme  d'Ypres, 

sa  mort,  son  testament,  ses  epitaphs.  Bruges,  1882. 
See  also  Paul  Chetelet,  Etude  sur  Du  Guet,  suivie  d'une  correspondance 
(lettres  inedites)  avec  la  Duchesse  d'Eperna.  Paris,  1879.  A  valuable  study 
from  the  archives  at  Troyes.  Msgr.  Ricard,  Les  premiers  Jansenistes  et  Port 
Royal.  Paris,  1883.  A  violent  Catholic  denunciation  of  everything  connected 
with  Jansenism,  founded  on  Rapin's  one-sided  memoirs.  See  Church  Quar. 
Rev.,  xix,  242.     Albert  Le  Roy,  La  France  et  Rome  de  1700  a  1715.    Paris,  1892. 


564  HISTORY   OF    THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Scholarly  and  impartial.  Guillaume  Dall,  La  Mere  Angelique,  abbess  de  Port 
Royal.  Paris,  1893.  Interesting  and  accurate.  [Anonymous],  French  Jansen- 
ists.  Lond.,  1893.  C.  Callewaert,  Jansenius,  eveque  d'Ypres.  Louvain,  1893. 
A  Roman  Catholic  writer  who  proves  his  submission  to  the  holy  see  from  in- 
edited  documents.  M.  Schwann,  Jannsen  u.  Gesch.  des  deutschen  Reform. 
Munich,  1893.  A.  P.  Ingold,  Bossuet  et  le  Jansenism.  Paris,  1897.  F.  Cadet, 
Port  Royal  Education.  Trans.  Lond  and  N.  Y.,  1898.  See  also  Jansen  and 
Qnesnel  in  Princeton,  1856,  132  ;  John  Hunt,  Jansenists  and  Old  Catholic 
Church  of  Utrecht,  in  Essays,  395  ;  The  Port  Royalists,  in  Stephen,  Essays  in 
Eccl.  Biog.  279  ;  The  Later  Jansenists,  in  The  Quar.  Rev.,  July,  1891. 

HI.    ROMAN   CATHOLIC   MISSIONS. 

1.  Hough,  James.     History  of  Christianity  in  India.     5  vols.     Lond.,  1849-60. 

2.  Caddell,   Celia   M.    History  of  R.  C.  Missions  in  Japan  and  Paraguay. 

Lond.,  1856. 

3.  Carrayon,  P.  S.     Relations  inedites  des  missions  de  la  Compagnie  de  Jesus  a, 

Constantinople  et  dans  le  Levant  au  XVIT  siecle.     Paris,  1864. 

4.  Strickland,   W.     Catholic  Missions  in  Southern  India  to  1865.     Lond., 

1865. 

5.  Kalkar,  C.  A.  H.    Gesehichte  der  Romischen-Catholischen  Missionen.   Erl., 

1867. 

6.  Washburn,  G  A.     The  History  of  Paraguay.     2  vols.     Bost.,  1871. 

7.  Jenkins,  R.  C.     The  Jesuits  in  China  and  the  Legation  of  Cardinal  Tournon. 

Lond.,  1894. 
For  fuller  bibliography  see  Eev.  Samuel  Macauley  Jackson  in  Bliss,  Encyclo- 
paedia of  Missions,  vol.  i,  Appendix  A 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  ROMAN  CATHOLIC  CHURCH.      565 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  ROMAN  CATHOLIC   CHURCH  TO    1648. 

From  the  Middle  Ages  date  the  efforts  in  France  to  secure  a  degree 
of  liberty  for  the  National  Church,  inconsistent  with  papal  absolu- 
tism.    This  movement,  which  is  technically  known  as 

'  J  GALLICANISM. 

Gallicanism,  was  strengthened  by  the  pragmatic  sanc- 
tion of  Bourges  (1438),  and  still  further  recognized  by  the  con- 
cordat of  1516.  The  crown  of  France  had  secured  its  power  over 
the  French  hierarchy  in  spite  of  the  demands  of  the  pope.  The 
Reformation  in  France  made  the  Roman  Catholic  clergy  more 
than  ever  dependent  upon  the  king,  since  they  must  have  his  sanc- 
tion in  order  to  suppress  heresy.  All  efforts  to  secure  the  acceptance 
of  the  decrees  of  Trent  by  the  parliament  proved  fruitless.  The 
pope  was  obliged  to  submit  to  the  crowning  of  Henry  IV.  Pierre 
Pithou  wrote  in  1594  his  Libertes  de  l'eglise  gallicane,  in  which 
it  was  openly  proclaimed  that  the  pope  had  no  power  in  secular 
and  political  affairs,  while  his  authority  even  in  spiritual  things 
was  limited  by  the  canons  of  the  old  synods  recognized  in  France ; 
and,  although  councils  may  not  be  called  without  the  authority  of 
the  pope,  yet  his  holiness  is  bound  by  the  decisions  of  the  councils. 
The  Jesuits,  by  their  doctrine  of  the  justifiability  of  the  murder  of 
tyrants,  brought  about  a  still  more  intense  hatred  of  papal  rule.  Even 
the  Sorbonne  took  sides  against  the  doctrines  that  in  faith  and 
morals  the  pope  cannot  err,  that  a  council  is  in  no  case  superior  to 
the  pope,  and  that  the  pope  has  the  right  to  lay  doubtful  questions 
before  the  council,  but  to  reserve  the  final  decision  of  them  to  him- 
self.1 But  under  Richelieu,  owing  to  political  necessities,  Galli- 
canism lost  much  of  its  hold,  although  there  were  always  those  who 
maintained  the  rights  of  the  National  Church  as  against  the  pope.3 
In  France  and  Spain,  subsequent  to  the  council  of  Trent,  a  form 
of  mysticism  manifested  itself  which  was  in  fact  a  protest  partly 
against  the  ordinary  forms  of  piety  and  partly  against  the  Refor- 
mation.    Duns  Scotus  had  taught  that  the  ideal  of  blessedness 

1  These  were  propositions  which  the  Dominicans  had  offered  for  disputation 
in  1611.  Richer,  syndic  of  the  Sorbonne,  opposed  them,  bnt  was  compelled  to 
yield,  while  those  who  accepted  his  views  were  subsequently  persecuted. 

*  Comp.  Moller,  iii,  236-239. 


566  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

was  that  in  the  love  of  God  the  will  should  find  its  perfect  rest. 

"With  this  Quietism  was  often  combined  a  refined  asceticism  which 

destroyed  the  idea  of  mystical  rest  in  the  interest  of 

Spanish  mys-  ecstasy.     Peter   of  Alcantara  and  Francis  of  Osuna 

TIC1 1  SAT 

worked  out  the  idea  of  mental  prayer  according  to 
these  mystical  conceptions.  Teresa  de  Jesus,  of  Avila,  and  John  of 
the  Cross  prayed  in  spirit  without  the  use  of  words,  and  in  connec- 
tion with  due  subjection  of  themselves  to  pain  attained  to  the 
enjoyment  of  ecstatic  visions. 

In  1520  the  Illuminati  appeared  in  Spain.  Their  wordless  pray- 
ers made  the  prayers  of  the  Church  worthless,  while  their  essential 
the  illumi-  union  with  God,  made  possible  by  the  lifting  of  their 
nati.  souls  above  mere  belief  into  perfection,  made  the  sac- 

raments unnecessary,  as  did  also  the  sinless  condition  to  which 
they  had  attained.  This  mystical  form  of  piety  was  recognized  by 
the  Church  as  an  offset  to  the  piety  of  the  Protestant  Church, 
and  its  most  active  propagators  were  canonized  or  beatified.  It 
found  favor  with  all  classes  of  people,  Romanists  and  Evangelicals, 
and  the  manuals  of  devotion  which  it  produced  had  thousands  of 
readers.  While  it  was  generally  connected  with  those  who  were  loyal 
to  ecclesiastical  forms,  yet  in  fact  it  was  inconsistent  with  their  use.1 

The  Reformation  had  drawn  off  from  the  Church  about  all  the 
elements  which  could  in  any  way  disturb  the  unity  of  its  faith.2 
Nevertheless  there  were  unsettled  questions  within  Romanism 
which  caused  difficulty  notwithstanding  all  the  definitions  and  de- 
cisions which  had  been  authoritatively  given  out.  To  the  teach- 
michael  ings  of  the  Jesuits  it  was  owing  that  the  doctrines  of 

bajus.  Augustine,  which  had   been   made   fundamental  in 

Protestantism,  were  completely  eradicated  from  Roman  Catholic 
thinking.3  Michael  Bajus,  professor  in  the  Louvain  University, 
had  held  the  Augustinian  doctrines.  The  Scotist  Franciscans  took 
up  the  dispute  against  Bajanism  and  induced  Pope  Pius  V  to  con- 
demn seventy-six  of  the  propositions  which  it  taught.  But  this 
did  not  end  the  strife,  and  in  1587  the  faculty  of  Louvain,  still 
holding  fast  to  their  Augustinian  views,  condemned  thirty-four 
propositions  of  the  Jesuit  teachers  of  the  city.  This  aroused  the 
Jesuits,  and  in  1589  Ludwig  Molina,4  professor  of  theology  at 
Evora,  in  Portugal,  taught  that  the  doctrine  of  irresistible  grace 
was  to  be  understood  only  in  such  a  sense  as  would  admit  that 
the  responsibility  of  human  salvation  rested  upon  each  individual 

1  Moller,  iii,  244,  245.  a  Baur,  iv,  256.  3  Moller,  iii,  234. 

4  Not  to  be  confused  with  Michael  Molinos,  who  lived  nearly  a  century  later. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  ROMAN  CATHOLIC  CHURCH.  567 

man  supported  by  the  grace  of  God.  Some  of  the  Jesuits  them- 
selves thought  Molina  had  gone  too  far,  while  the  Do-  LUdWiG  mo- 
minicans  unitedly  rose  up  against  his  doctrines.  The  LINA> 
settlement  of  the  dispute  was  left  to  the  pope.  But  he  was  unwilling 
to  take  the  responsibility  of  deciding,1  and  established  the  so-called 
Congregationes  de  auxiliis  gratise.  The  question  was  not  settled, 
however,  and  in  1611  the  disputants  were  required  to  desist  from 
further  strife,  which,  however,  continued  for  more  than  a  century, 
although  in  a  somewhat  different  form. 

The  controversy  was  renewed  in  this  way :  Cornelius  Jansen, 
professor  at  Louvain  University  from  1G30  to  1636  and  from  1636 
to  his  death  in  1638  bishop  of  Ypres,  had  gathered 

-    ,   ,  rn.  .  .  °  JANSENISM. 

together  the  results  of  his  studies  m  a  work  which  was 
published  after  his  death  under  the  title  of  Augustinus  s.  doctrina 
S.  Augustini  de  humanse  naturae  sanitate.  His  doctrines,  like 
those  of  Bajus,  were  strongly  Augustinian,  and  while  not  directed 
immediately  at  the  Molinists,  were  so  framed  as  diametrically  to 
oppose  them.  He  taught  the  incapacity  of  fallen  man  to  do  good, 
and  asserted  that  the  scholastic  theology  had  taught  the  superior- 
ity of  the  reason  at  the  expense  of  the  doctrine  of  the  ruin  wrought 
by  sin.  The  Jesuits  felt  called  upon  to  defend  their  position,  and 
Molinists  and  Jansenists  entered  into  a  long  struggle.  In  1641 
the  book  of  Jansen  was  placed  in  the  Index.  The  university  at 
Louvain  and  many  of  the  bishops  of  the  Netherlands  refused  to 
publish  the  bull  of  condemnation  because  it  condemned  doctrines 
taught  verbally  by  Augustine.  The  strife  spread  to  France,  where 
the  Jesuits  secured  the  cooperation  of  the  court,  the  parliament,  the 
higher  clergy,  and  the  universities,  with  the  exception  of  the  fac- 
ulty of  the  Sorbonne,  which  under  the  leadership  of  Anton  Arnauld 
upheld  the  Jansenist  doctrines.  In  1653  Innocent  X  condemned 
five  propositions  of  Jansen,  and  because  the  Jansenists  claimed 
that  Jansen  had  not  taught  these  doctrines  in  a  heretical  manner 
Alexander  VII  cut  off  all  further  controversy  by  asserting  that  the 
pope  had  condemned  the  propositions  in  the  sense  in  which  Jansen 
had  meant  them  to  be  taken  (1656). 

The  recluses  of  Port  Eoyal  were  the  strongest  defenders  of  Jan- 
sen's  book,  Augustinus,  and  in  consequence  they  drew  the  fiercest 
opposition  from  the  Jesuits  of  which  that  order  was  capable.  Louis 
XIV,  spurred  on  by  Jesuitical  misrepresentations  of  the  purposes 

1  So  Baur,  iii,  257.  Moller  says  that  he  was  about  to  decide  against  the 
Jesuits,  when  he  suddenly  died,  according  to  the  prophecy  of  the  Jesuit  Bellar- 
mine. — iii,  235. 


568  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

and  convictions  of  the  scholarly  and  conscientious  Port  Royalists, 
brought  the  civil  authorities  into  array  by  the  side  of  these  ecclesi- 
astical persecutors.  Not  satisfied  with  the  imprisonment  of  hun- 
dreds who  for  conscience  sake  refused  to  sign  the  formula  condemn- 
ing the  five  propositions,  the  enemies  of  Arnauld  secured  in  1656 
the  expulsion  of  that  noble  spirit  and  of  sixty  others  who  agreed 
with  him  from  the  theological  faculty  of  the  Sorbonne,  and  a  little 
later  an  order  from  the  civil  magistrates  that  every  scholar  and 
novice  should  be  sent  away  from  the  monastery  at  Port  Royal. 

This  brought  to  the  rescue  Blaise  Pascal,  who  had 
provincial     recently,  though  without  assuming  any  vows,  taken  up 

his  abode  in  the  convent.  The  sharpest  and  most 
effectual  defense  of  the  Jansenists  and  the  wittiest  and  most  stun- 
ning attack  upon  the  moral  system  of  the  Jesuits  soon  appeared  in 
his  celebrated  Provincial  Letters.1 

Many  years  elapsed  after  the  Reformation  began  before  there 
arose  in  Roman  Catholicism  any  writers  who  were  able  successfully 
to  combat  the  Protestant  doctrines.  When  they  did  appear  they 
sprang  chiefly  from  the  ranks  of  the  Jesuits.  Peter  Canisius  pub- 
lished in  1555  his  larger  catechism,  which  was  followed  in  1556  by 
literary  a  smallest,  and  in  1558  or  1559  by  his  smaller  cate- 
of'roman3  chism.2  These,  together  with  his  other  works,  were 
Catholicism.  &jj  ajme(j  a^  ^e  catechetical  works  of  the  Reformation. 
The  Jesuit  cardinal  Bellarmine  produced,  through  his  lectures 
in  the  Jesuit  college  in  Rome,  a  work  entitled  Disputationes  de 
Controversiis  Christianas  Fidei  adversus  huius  temporis  hsereticos, 
in  which  he  defended  the  Roman  Catholic  doctrine  against  the 
Protestant.  Caesar  Baronius  wrote  his  Annales  Ecclesiastici  in 
twelve  volumes  in  order  to  meet  the  Magdeburg  Centuries,  written 
in  the  interest  of  Protestantism,  by  Flacius  at  Magdeburg.  The 
Acta  Sanctorum  of  the  Bollandists  were  also  called  forth  by  the 
Centuries,  as  also  the  Roma  Sotteranea  (1632)  of  A.  Bosio,  in  which 
he  strove  to  prove  the  very  early  existence  of  the  doctrines  and 
rites  of  the  Church.  Dionysius  Petavius  took  up  the  history  of 
dogma  in  his  De  Theologicis  Dogmatibus.  Maldonatus  and  Estius 
wrote  commentaries  respectively  on  the  gospels  and  epistles  of  the 
New  Testament.  Cornelius  a  Lapide  also  wrote  commentaries  rich 
in  patristic  materials  and  widely  read,  but  lacking  in  the  sobriety 
displayed  by  Maldonatus  and  Estius.3 

1  See  above,  p.  544. 

2  So  Braunsberger,  Entstehung  u.  erste  Entwickelung  der  Katechismen  des 
eeligen  Petrus  Canisius.  3  Comp.  Moller,  iii,  232,  233. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  ROMAN  CATHOLIC  CHURCH.  569 

As  the  principal  literary  activity  of  the  Church  against  Protes- 
tantism was  the  product  of  Jesuitism,  and  the  chief  influences  lead- 
ing to  the  overthrow  of  the  Eeformation  in  several 
countries  were  exerted  by  Jesuits,  so  also  they  were  the  olic  mission- 
leaders  in  missionary  endeavor  abroad.     But  the  Do-  north  amer- 

ICA. 

minicans  and  Franciscans,  following  the  tracks  of  the 
explorers  in  America,  found  fields  of  activity  suited  to  their  zeal. 
Las  Casas  spent  fifty  years  in  the  labors  of  proving  by  actual  results 
the  capability  of  the  American  Indians  for  conversion  and  in  the 
attempt  to  soften  the  treatment  which  they  received  from  the 
conquerors.  The  Franciscans  claimed  in  1535  to  have  converted 
one  million  two  hundred  thousand  Indians.1 

Among  the  Jesuits  perhaps  the  most  celebrated  missionary  is 
Francis  Xavier.  He  landed  in  Goa,  the  Portuguese  capital  of  East 
India,  in  1542,  accompanied  by  two  brothers  of  his  francis 

order,  and  with  the  authority  and  title  of  Apostolic  xavier. 

Delegate.  The  Franciscans  had  been  there  before  him,  but 
Xavier  got  control  of  the  seminary  which  had  there  been  erected 
for  the  education  of  young  natives  as  missionaries  among  their 
own  people ;  and  by  the  generosity  of  the  king  of  Portugal  soon 
developed  it  into  a  flourishing  Jesuit  college.  From  Goa  he 
traveled  to  the  Pearl  Coast,  Travancor,  Malacca,  and  Ceylon. 
Although  he  labored  under  the  difficulty  of  ignorance  of  the 
native  languages,  he  claimed  to  have  baptized  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands,3 not,  however,  without  the  use  of  force  in  the  abolition  of 
idols  from  Goa.  In  1549  he  went  to  Japan,  where  the  external 
forms  of  religion  were  not  unlike  those  of  Eomanism,  but  whose 
priests,  the  Bonzes,  gave  him  much  trouble.  In  the  different  por- 
tions of  Japan  his  success  varied  ;  but  on  the  whole  he  claimed 
large  results,  and,  partly  in  order  to  convince  the  Bonzes  of  the 
truth  of  Christianity  by  the  conversion  of  the  Chinese,  started  for 
China.3  He  died  in  1552,  before  reaching  his  destination.  The 
work  was  carried  forward  with  good  success  by  other  Jesuits.  But 
at  length  the  Bonzes  convinced  the  authorities  that  it  was  a  politi- 
cal rather  than  a  religious  interest  which  lent  the  Jesuits  so  much 
zeal,  and  the  order  was  banished  from  the  realm.  Persecutions  at 
the   hands  of  the   authorities    followed.      After  much  suffering 

1  Moller,  iii,  248. 

2  He  gave  his  limited  instructions  by  means  of  a  small  catechism  in  the  na- 
tive tongue,  which  he  had  committed  to  memory. 

3  The  Bonzes  had  often  declared  that  the  acceptance  of  Christianity  by  the 
Chinese  would  be  a  proof  of  its  truthfulness. 


570  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Christianity  disappeared  entirely  in  1649,  one  hundred  years  after 
its  introduction  by  Xavier.1 

While  Xavier  had  failed  to  reach  China,  Matthaus  Ricci  was  suc- 
cessful in  building  up  a  mission  there.  As  a  means  of  becoming 
acquainted  with  the  language,  learning,  and  customs  of  the  Chi- 
bicci  in  nese   ne  spent  seven  years  among  the  Bonzes.     His 

china.  method  of  procedure  was  that  of  "  accommodation  " 

to  the  beliefs  and  customs  of  the  country.  He  fused  Christianity 
and  Confucianism  in  his  teachings  in  order  to  make  the  former  as 
acceptable  as  possible.  The  "  Chinese  rites''  which  he  made  a  part 
of  Christianity  became  a  source  of  serious  controversy  in  later 
times.  But  by  these  concessions,  and  by  the  skill  which  he  and 
his  coadjutors  and  successors  manifested  in  mathematics,  the 
favorite  science  of  the  Chinese,  he  was  able  to  gain  the  favor  of 
the  emperor  and  to  win  many  of  the  nobility.  The  provinces  and 
even  the  capital  witnessed  the  erection  of  the  temples  of  the  new 
religion.  Upon  the  death  of  Eicci,  in  1610,  Adam  Schall  took  up 
the  work  and  carried  it  on  with  great  ability.  He  had  the  good 
will  of  the  emperor,  who  permitted  the  erection  in  Peking  of 
two  churches.  The  enemies  of  Christianity  succeeded  in  bringing 
about  temporary  persecution,  but  by  the  end  of  the  seventeenth 
century  there  were  hundreds  of  thousands  of  professed  Christians 
and  hundreds  of  churches,  while  Christianity  was  legally  recognized 
and  granted  perfect  freedom. 

In  Siam,  also,  during  the  seventeenth  century,  a  beginning  was 
made  by  Constantius.  Robert  Nobili,  a  Jesuit,  founded  a  mission 
missions  in  Malabar  in  1636.     In  the  West  Indies  and  in  Brazil 

south*  amer-  Jesuits  made  some  converts,  as  also  in  Paraguay,  where, 
in  1586,  they  took  up  the  work  begun  by  the  Francis- 
cans in  1580.  In  1610  they  established  a  Christian  State  by  special 
permission  of  the  Spanish  king,  Philip  III,  from  which  all  Span- 
iards and  other  foreigners  were  excluded  except  such  as  the  Jesuits 
saw  fit  to  receive.  The  plan  was  to  keep  the  natives  in  ignorance 
under  the  paternal  rule  of  the  Jesuits,  who  gave  their  converts  such 
supplies  as  they  needed. 

In  order  to  give  proper  direction  and  outlet  for  the  intense  mis- 
sionary activity  of  the  period  Pope  Gregory  XV  established,  in 
1622,  the  Congregation  de  Fide  Catholica  Propaganda.    It  was  com- 

1  It  is  impossible  to  discover  the  exact  truth  concerning  the  alleged  machina- 
tions of  the  Dutch,  who  are  accused  of  having  forged  a  letter  iu  the  Portuguese 
language  containing  a  record  of  a  supposed  uprising  of  the  Christians  against 
the  Japanese.     See  Baur,  iv,  466,  467. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  ROMAN  CATHOLIC  CHURCH.  571 

posed  of  thirteen  cardinals,  three  prelates,  and  a  private  secretary, 
and  assembled  once  a  month  in  Rome  to  consider  the  interests 
of  the  missionary  work  in  foreign  lands.  All  mission-  congrega- 
aries  were  to  be  nominated  by  this  congregation  and  to  cath<m?icaDE 
be  subject  to  its  control.  They  formed  apostolic  pre-  PR0PAGANDA- 
fectures,  including  the  missions  in  various  countries  ;  the  prefects 
developed  into  apostolic  vicars,  and  these  and  their  domains  into 
bishops  and  bishoprics.  In  1627  Urban  VIII  established  the  Col- 
legium de  Propaganda  Fide,  otherwise  called  the  Collegium  Ur- 
banum,  which  he  made  subject  to  the  congregation  in  1641.  The 
college  was  devoted  especially  to  the  training  of  young  men  from 
all  parts  of  the  world  for  missionary  work. 


572  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


LITERATURE:    PIETISM. 

1.  Goebel,  M.     Geschichte  des  christlichen  Lebens  in  der  Reinisch-westpha- 

lisehen  Evangelischen  Kirche.     3  vols.     Coblenz,  1852-62. 

2.  Schmid,  H.     Gescbicbte  des  Pietismus.     NSrdl.,  1863. 

3.  Hurst,  J.  F.     History  of  Rationalism.     N.  Y.,  1866.     Chap,  i-iii. 

4.  Heppe,  H.     Geschichte  der  Evangelische  Kirche  Rheinl.  und  "Westphalens. 

2  vols.     Iserl,  1870. 

5.  Ritschl,  A.     Geschichte   des   Pietismns.      3   vols.      Bonn,    1880-86.     See 

H.  M.  Scott  in  Cur.  Dis.  in  Theol.,  iii,  183,  v,  219  ;  C.  A.  Briggs,  in  Presb. 
Rev.,  1886,  182. 

6.  Nippold,  F.  W.  F.     Neueste  Kirchengeschichte.     3  vols.     Berl.,  1889-96. 

7.  Beck,  G.     Die  religiose  Volkslitteratur  der  Evangelischen  Kirche  in  einem 

Abriss  ihrer  Geschichte.     Berl.,  1891. 
See  alsoSachsse,  Ursprung  u.  Wesen  des  Pietismns,  Wiesb.,  1884  ;  Frank  in 
Historisches  Taschenbuch,  Leipz.,  1887  (strongly  condemnatory  of   19th  cent. 
Pietism) ;  P.  G.  Hauck,  Pietismus  u.   Orthodoxie  in  Baden,  in   I.    T.    Beck, 
Gegenwart  u.  Zukunft  d.  Kirche,  Buhl,  1894. 

PHILIP  JACOB   SPENER. 

1.  Hossbach,  W.     Phil.  Jak.  Spener  und  seine  Zeit.     Berl.,  1828  ;  3d  ed.,  1861. 

2.  Knapp,  G.  E.  Leben  und  Character  einiger  frommen  Manner  des  vorigen 

Jahrhunderts.     Leipz.,  1829. 

3.  Thilo,  W.     Spener  als  Katechet.     Berl.,  1840. 

4.  Wildenhahn,  A.     P.  J.  Spener  Lebensbild.     3  vols.     Leipz.,  1858.     Transl. 

into  English  by  G.  A.  Wenzel.     Phila.,  1881. 

5.  Horning,  "W.     Philipp  Jacob  Spener  in  Rappoltsweiler,  Colmar,  und  Strass- 

burg.     Strass.,  1883. 

6.  Griinberg,  W.     Philipp  Jacob  Spener.     Gotting.,  1893.     See  Meth.  Rev., 

N.Y.,1896,  808. 

7.  Walrond,  F.  F.     Philip  Jacob  Spener.     Lond.,  1893. 

See  also  Walch,  Streitigkeiten  innerhalb.  der  luth.  Kirche,  vols,  i,  ii,  iv,  v, 
1730-39 ;  Canstein,  Lebensbeschreibung  Speners,  1740 ;  Steinmetz  in  his 
ed.  of  Spener's  Minor  Works,  1746  ;  F.  Koltzsch,  Die  Reformatoren  d.  Zukunft : 
als  Beitr.  z.  Biographie  Spener's  Fest  Vortrag,  Dresd.,  1893  ;  M.  Rade,  Spener 
in  Frankfurt,  Frankf.  a.  M.,  1893  ;  J.  Lenz,  Spener,  u.  d.  Pietismus,  Rev., 
1895  ;  M.  E.  Richards,  P.  J.  Spener,  Phila.,  1897. 


PIETISM.  573 


CHAPTER   IX. 

PIETISM. 

A  proper  understanding  of  the  Pietistic  movement  can  be  had 
only  in  connection  with  a  statement  of  the  factors  of  ecclesiastical 
life  against  which  Pietism  was  a  protest. 

The  relation  between  the  secular  authorities  and  the  clergy  was 
such  that  the  former  not  only  could  but,  as  a  rule,  did  stand  in 
the  way  of  all  right-minded  preachers,  not  helping,  as  A  deficient 
was  their  duty  according  to  the  constitution  of  the  CLEKGY- 
Church,  but  hindering  the  exercise  of  discipline.  When  we  turn 
to  the  clergy  themselves  we  find  that  the  examinations  at  the  begin- 
ning of  a  ministerial  career  were  inadequate,  the  superintendence 
provided  for  was  neglected,  and  university  life  was  in  general  de- 
moralizing to  youth.  The  clergy  fell  far  below  the  true  standard, 
even  for  their  time,  in  point  of  morals,  while  their  insistence  upon 
the  exact  form  of  faith  held  by  Lutheranism  was  so  strenuous  as 
to  overshadow  all  other  considerations.  At  the  gymnasia  and  uni- 
versities the  methods  of  instruction  were  mechanical  and  ill  adapted 
to  a  fruitful  study  of  theology. 

Unfortunately,  to  this  must  be  added  the  lack  of  discipline, 
which  made  possible  the  commission  of  all  manner  of  offenses  by 
the  students  and  the  total  want  of  moral  sentiment  in 
the  universities.  In  regard  to  doctrinal  theology  it  crowded  out 
must  be  confessed  that,  while  the  zeal  of  the  Church 
for  uniformity  and  purity  of  doctrine  was  commendable,  this  zeal 
was  carried  to  such  an  extent  as  to  deprive  the  masses  of  a 
proper  estimate  of  other  important  elements  of  ecclesiastical  life. 
Polemics  became  the  order  of  the  day.  A  new  scholasticism 
arose  which  lost  itself  in  subtleties,  the  lay  element  in  the  Church 
was  repressed,  and  the  Church  became  the  institution  of  the 
theologians. 

The  ecclesiastical  life  corresponded  to  the  emphasis  of  doctrine. 
Preaching  was  almost  wholly  didactic  and  polemic,  and  was  em- 
phasized to  the  exclusion  of  interest  in  other  parts 

e      ,i  •  mi  .  ,,.  .  THE    LACK 

oi   the  service.      Ihe   morning  public  services  were     of  spiritu- 

well,  the  evening  poorly,  attended.     So  far  as  the 

preaching  was  not  doctrinal  it  was  undignified  and  unscholarly. 


574  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Outside  the  pulpit  religious  instruction  was  neglected,  while  what 
catechization  was  practiced  was  adapted  to  fill  the  memory,  but  not 
to  enrich  the  understanding  or  move  the  heart.  The  Lord's  Sup- 
per was  not  neglected,  but  it  was  supposed  to  be  mechanically 
effective,  and  preparation  for  its  reception  was  not  earnest.  Bap- 
tism was  regarded  as  a  mysteriously  operative  rite,  whose  chief 
office  in  the  popular  mind  was  to  prevent  the  infant  from  becoming 
the  victim  of  demons  and  witches.  Penitence  was  imposed  for 
offenses  very  much  in  the  spirit  of  Romanism.  The  one  great 
means  of  discipline  became  exclusion  from  the  holy  communion. 

Such  a  state  of  affairs  was  sure  to  produce  a  reaction.  Grunberg, 
in  his  life  of  Spener,  names  four  phases  which  this  reaction  as- 
sumed. The  first  was  the  mystical.  The  second  was  a  practical 
phase,  which  clearly  discerned  the  public  evils  in 
of  the  keac-  Church,  school,  civil,  social,  and  moral  life,  and  strove 
by  practical  measures  to  correct  them  and  to  intro- 
duce the  Christian  ideal.  Among  the  chief  representatives  of  this 
tendency  are  Meisner,  Andrea,  Schupp,  and  Grossgebauer.  The 
third  was  a  theological  phase,  which  strove  to  secure  progress  in 
the  formulation  of  doctrine,  but  chiefly  with  a  view  to  practical 
results.  Among  its  representatives  are  Konrad  Hornejus,  Johann 
Musaus,  and  Johann  Durey.  The  fourth  was  a  phase  led  by  those 
who  accepted  the  doctrines  of  the  Church,  but  who  were  moved 
by  the  desire  to  promote  personal  piety  in  the  Church.  This  was 
represented  by  Herberger,  Liitkemann,  Mliller,  Scriver,  Gerhardt, 
and  others.  These  phases  of  the  reaction,  together  with  the  fact 
that  in  England  and  Holland  a  somewhat  similar  movement  was 
in  progress,  show  that  the  time  was  ripe  for  change.  The  old 
order  had  reached  its  extreme  ;  a  new  order  must  follow.  The 
leader,  the  systematizer,  the  champion,  rather  than  the  originator 
of  the  same,  was  Philip  Jacob  Spener. ' 

He  was  the  fourth  child  and  eldest  son2  of  Johann  Philip  and 
Agatha  (nee  Saltzmann)  Spener,  and  was  born  January  13,  1635, 
in  Rappoltsweiler,  Alsace.  His  parents  did  their  utmost  to  train 
philip  jacob  him  up  in  a  religious  life,  and  their  intimate  relations 
with  the  families  of  the  lords  of  Rappoltsweiler  gave 
him  many  advantages  not  afforded  the  majority  of  the  youth  of  his 
time.    To  the  constant  early  association  with  nobility  may  be  traced 

1  Spener  did  not  regard  himself,  but  Arndt,  as  the  originator  of  the  move- 
ment.    See  his  Wahrhaftigen  Erzahhmgen,  and  Ritschl,  Pietismus,  ii,  98,  163. 

2  Besides  his  three  sisters,  all  older,  there  were  four  brothers,  all  younger 
than  himself. 


PIETISM.  575 

his  knowledge  of  heraldry  and  fondness  for  genealogical  studies,  in 
both  of  which  he  became  a  recognized  authority.  He  was  skillful 
in  his  ntercourse  with  the  ruling  classes.1 

Among  those  who  profoundly  influenced  his  earlier  religious  life 
were  his  godmother,  Agatha,  countess  of   Kappoltstein,  and  his 
preceptor,  the  court  preacher,  Joachim  Stoll.      The 
religion  of  the  countess  was  ascetic  and  quietistic.        early 

&  ,.       .  .    ,  ,  .  TRAINING. 

Stoll,  however,  was  distinguished  by  strength,  sobri- 
ety, and  decision  of  character,  and  skill,  wisdom,  and  success  in 
all  the  intricate  and  multifarious  duties  of  the  pulpit  and  pastorate. 
Spener  declares  that  to  him  he  was  indebted  for  the  first  small 
flame  of  true  Christianity.2 

During  his  early  life  Spener  was  also  greatly  influenced  by  certain 
mystical  works  which  were  widely  read  by  Germans  of  his  day. 
Among  them  were  German  works  such  as  Arndt's  True  Christian- 
ity, and  Hunnius's  Epitome  Credendorum,  and  English 

SPENER  S 

works  in  German  translations  by  Bayly,  Dyke,  and         eakly 

J  J    J  J  READING. 

Baxter.     Some  of  these,  especially  those  of  Dyke  and 

Baxter,  he  seems  not  to  have  met  until  his  student  life  was  well-nigh 

completed.     Particularly  was  he  edified  by  Bayly's  Praxis  Pietatis. 

Following  his  university  life  in  Strasburg,  during  which  he  held 
aloof  from  the  vices  common  among  students,  he  observed  the  cus- 
tom of  the  times  and  began  his  academic  journeys.  He  went  to 
Basel,  Solothurn,  Berne,  Lausanne,  and  Geneva,  in  the  last  of 
which  cities  he  spent  some  months,  and  studied,  along 
with  other  things,  the  church  life  of  the  Reformed  early 
congregations.  He  also  went  to  Lyons,  Freiburg,  and 
Tubingen.  From  1663  to  1666  he  was  Freiprediger  in  Strasburg. 
During  this  time  he  lectured  at  the  university  on  the  possibility  of 
the  loss  of  the  grace  of  regeneration,  and  the  necessity  of  its  recep- 
tion anew,  and  also  set  forward  his  theological  studies.  Even  in 
this  early  period  his  ministry  was  distinguished  by  a  clear  percep- 
tion of  the  sermon  as  a  means  of  religious  edification  ;  the  idea  that 
all  the  articles  of  faith  should  be  used  for  practical  purposes  ;  the 
attempt  to  base  the  unity  of  the  faith  upon  essentials ;  a  sense  of 
the  high  responsibility  of  the  ministerial  office ;  complaints  against 
the  theologians  who  were  mighty  in  polemics,  but  who  lacked  the 
Spirit  and  the  Life  ;  a  high  estimate  of  the  domestic  exercise  of  the 
spiritual  priesthood ;  complaints  on  account  of  the  defects  of  the 
practice  of  confession,  and  study  of  the  causes  and  relief  of  poverty. 
All  these  were  his  peculiar  marks,  also,  in  later  life. 

1  Griinberg,  Spener,  i,  128,  129.  2 Ibid.,  i,  129,  130. 

2 


576  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

From  1666  to  1674  he  was  pastor  in  Frankfort-on-the-Main.   One 

of  his  first  experiences  there  was  to  be  charged  with  too  great 

leaning  to  the  side  of  the  Keformed,    on  account  of   which  he 

preached  against  that  confession — an  action  which  he 

BPENER  XN  ■*■ 

fkankfort.  regretted  even  before  he  left  Frankfort.  It  was  a  con- 
viction with  him  that  if  a  select  company  of  friends  could  gather 
together  on  Saturday  afternoon,  and,  instead  of  drinking  and  play- 
ing cards,  would  read  together  for  edification,  converse  about  divine 
things,  and  build  each  other  up,  it  would  introduce  a  new  and  im- 
proved condition  into  the  Church.  He  felt  that  if  the  preachers 
are  to  do  their  best,  they  need  the  assistance  of  those  in  the  congre- 
gation who  are  capable  of  helping  in  the  work.  In  1669  he  uttered 
these  thoughts  in  the  pulpit,  but  not  until  he  had  preached  against 
the  security  felt  by  those  who  had  but  an  intellectual  faith.  These 
sermons  bore  fruit.  During  1670  a  number  of  his  hearers  came  to 
him  to  complain  that  they  seldom  heard  in  society  any  but  idle  and 
wicked  conversation,  and  expressed  the  wish  to  have  provided  essen- 
tially such  meetings  as  he  had  spoken  of.  Thus  arose  the  cele- 
brated collegia  pietatis.1  From  1670  to  1675  they  met  twice  a 
week  in  Spener's  home,  and  discussed  such  works  as  Liitkemann's 
Foretaste  of  Divine  Goodness  and  Bayly's  Praxis  Pietatis.  From 
1675  onward  they  used  only  the  Bible  in  these  assemblies. 

By  preaching  and  by  personal  effort  Spener  strove  to  recommend 
and  secure  a  living  Christianity  and  to  introduce  stricter  morality 
and  discipline,  and  himself  took  charge  of  the  religious  instruction 
of  the  children  of  the  parishioners,  on  account  of  which  those  who 
thought  such  labor  beneath  the  dignity  of  a  clergyman  said  that  a 
pia  deside-  minister  had  been  called,  but  instead  they  had  gotten 
a  schoolmaster.  In  1675  he  published  a  work  which 
was  destined  to  exert  a  profound  influence.  It  was  his  Pia  Desi- 
deria,  or  earnest  desires  for  such  an  improvement  of  the  True 
Evangelical  Church  as  will  be  pleasing  in  G-od's  sight,  together 
with  some  simple  Christian  propositions  tending  to  that  end.  He 
had  laid  the  work  before  his  colleagues  and  had  obtained  their 
sanction  to  its  publication.  Nevertheless,  it  became  a  rock  of  of- 
fense to  many.  In  the  first  part  of  the  work  he  describes  the  de- 
moralized condition  of  the  evangelical  Church  in  respect  to  the 
secular  authorities,  the  clergy,  and  domestic  life.     In  the  second 

1  Gobel  asserts  that  Spener  followed  Labadie  in  the  organization  of  these 
conventicles. — Geschichte  des  christlichen  Lebens,  ii,  560.  Ritschl  regards  this 
assertion  as  unfounded. — Geschichte  des  Pietismus,  ii,  138.  In  this  opinion 
he  seems  to  be  supported  by  Grimberg,  Spener,  i,  177  n. 


PIETISM.  577 

part  he  shows  that  a  better  condition  of  things  is  possible  and  to  be 
expected.  In  the  third  part  he  proposes  as  remedies  a  better 
knowledge  of  the  Bible  to  be  secured  by  its  study  in  private  assem- 
blies, a  more  diligent  employment  of  the  lay  element  as  mutual  aid 
in  private  association,  an  enforcement  of  the  truth  that  Christianity 
does  not  consist  in  knowing,  but  in  deed — especially  in  love — the 
conduct  of  the  strife  among  the  confessions  in  the  spirit  of  truth 
and  love,  a  more  suitable  education  for  the  future  preachers,  lead- 
ing to  true  piety  as  well  as  scholarship,  and  such  preaching  as  will 
place  rhetoric  and  pedantry  in  the  background  and  bring  into 
prominence  those  elements  which  tend  to  edification. 

Although  many  approved  and  were  benefited  by  these  sugges- 
tions, the  work  soon  gave  occasion  to  criticisms  of  the  collegia, 
which  had  now  appeared  elsewhere  than  in  Frankfort,  and  to  accu- 
sations of  heresy  against  Spener.  -  The  literary  strife  which  followed, 
however,  turned  out  to  the  benefit  of  Spener  and  Pietism.  Unfor- 
tunately some  of  those  who  belonged  to  the  collegia,  dissatisfied 
with  the  Church,  separated  from  it,  much  to  the  distress  of  Spener 
and  the  injury  of  his  cause.1 

"We  may  pass  over  the  residence  and  labors  of  Spener  in  Dresden, 
and  in  Berlin,  where  he  died  on  February  5, 1705,  since  these  belong 
rather  to  his  biography  than  to  a  history  of  Pietism.  spener's 
An  estimate  of  his  theology  must,  however,  be  given.  theology. 
It  was  his  firm  belief  that  the  doctrine  of  the  Lutheran  Church 
was  absolutely  true  to  the  Scripture.  But  he  also  held  to  a  dis- 
tinction between  the  weighty  and  the  less  weighty  portions  of 
Christian  doctrine,  and  he  so  emphasized  and  combined  certain 
doctrines  as  to  give  them  a  practically  different  meaning  from  that 
generally  held.  There  was,  besides,  both  a  mystical  and  a  ration- 
alistic element  in  his  theology.  In  fact,  he  was  chiefly  distinguished 
from  his  brethren  by  the  importance  he  attached  to  the  results 
which  might  follow  from  the  enforcement  of  any  given  dogma. 
With  him  the  great  question  was  how  to  make  the  doctrines 
and  institutions  of  the  Church,  including  the  Bible,  useful  to 
believers. 

About  the  time  that  Spener  entered  upon  his  duties,  in  1686,  in 
Dresden,  three  masters  of  art  of  the  University  of  Leipzig  founded 

1  Ritschl  says  that  the  separation  of  certain  of  Spener's  followers  from  the 
Chnrch  was  evidently  a  spontaneous  movement,  which  Spener  regretted  and 
which  he  attributed  to  lack  of  patience. — Pietismus,  ii,  155.  Loescher  dis- 
tinguished these  separatists  from  the  Halle  Pietists  as  coarse  (grob)  and  fine 
(subtil). 

39  2 


578  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

a  so-called  collegium  philobiblicum — that  is,  an  association  of  mas- 
ters for  the  cultivation  of  biblical  exegesis.  Although  Spener  had 
not  directly  suggested  the  society,  his  Pia  Desideria 
Hermann  had  probably  prepared  the  way  for  it,  and  he  soon  suc- 
ceeded in  giving  it  a  practical  rather  than  that  purely 
scholastic  trend  which  was  its  original  purpose.1  The  soul  of  the 
movement  was  August  Hermann  Francke.2  After  many  difficul- 
ties, prepared  for  him  chiefly  by  the  faculty  of  the  university, 
Francke  finally  forsook  Leipzig,  not,  however,  until  he  had  become 
a  confirmed  adherent,  as  he  was  destined  soon  to  be  a  leader,  of 
the  Pietistic  movement.  In  1691,  at  the  suggestion  of  Spener, 
Francke  was  called  from  Erfurt  to  a  professorship  in  the  newly 
founded  university  in  Halle.  Spener  was  not  the  founder  of  the 
university,  although  he  succeeded  in  securing  as  its  first  professors 
halle  uni-  men  who  were  in  sympathy  with  his  idea  of  making 
veksity.  ^e  universities  tributary  to  the  piety  as  well  as  to 
the  scholarship  of  the  students.  Up  to  this  time,  Grunberg 3  says, 
the  prominent  features  of  the  Pietistic  movement  were  "  emphasis 
upon  a  more  intense  personal  Christianity,  with  relatively  low  esti- 
mate of  the  objective  ecclesiastical  institutions,  while  Christianity 
was  to  be  outwardly  manifested  in  a  more  or  less  evident  retreat 
from  the  world  and  in  ascetic  practices  ;  mild  contempt  for  exist- 
ing forms  of  Church  doctrine  and  symbolic  statements  ;  the  study 
of  the  Bible  in  the  universities,  even  at  the  cost  of  those  branches 
which  had  theretofore  held  chief  place ;  higher  demands  upon 
the  Christian  character  of  the  ministry ;  insistence  upon  the 
rights  of  the  laity ;  and  the  effort  to  satisfy  the  new  religious 
demands  by  means  of  the  free  societies  otherwise  known  as  collegia 
pietatis." 

But  after  1691  certain  chiliastic  and  fanatical  phenomena  began 
to  manifest  themselves,  which  greatly  detracted  from  the  dignity 

and    the   effectiveness  for   good   of  the  movement.4 
later  pie-  ; P  . 

tistic  his-       Spener  was  diligent  with  voice  and  pen  m  the  effort 

TORY 

to  hold  the  movement  in  proper  bounds,  and  to  de- 
fend it  against  unjust  assaults,  of  which  there  were  many.     At 

1  Spener  did  not  wish  the  collegia  to  discuss  what  they  read,  but  to  put  it  at 
once  into  practice.— Ritschl,  Pietismus,  ii,  142. 

2  For  a  full  estimate  of  Francke,  see  Ritschl,  Pietismus,  ii,  244-294  ;  and  for 
the  origin  of  the  Pietistic  movement  in  Leipzig  and  Hamburg,  ibid.,  168  f., 
and  Grunberg,  Spener,  i,  230-248.  3  Spener,  i,  267,  268. 

4  In  his  great  work  on  Pietism,  Ritschl  describes  at  length  these  ecstatic  and 
pseudo-prophetical  phenomena. — ii,  183-190. 


PIETISM.  579 

Halle,  also,  Francke  had  a  struggle  with  the  ministers  of  the  city 
as  well  as  with  many  of  the  laity,  who  regarded  him  as  unneces- 
sarily strict  and  severe.  In  1695  the  founding  of  the  orphanage 
at  Halle  by  Francke  was  an  event  of  chief  importance  as  an  evi- 
dence of  the  Christlike  spirit  which  dwelt  in  the  leaders  of  Pietism. 
Francke,  while  he  respected  Spener,  was  unwilling  to  be  held  in 
check  by  what  he  regarded  as  Spener's  fears  of  innovation,  and  he, 
together  with  Schade,  introduced  many  novelties.  Girls  of  eleven 
to  thirteen  years  of  age  were  trained  to  utter  from  the  heart  prayers 
of  the  most  touching  kind,  continuing  as  much  as  seven  or  eight 
minutes.  Especially  was  Schade  opposed  to  the  private  confession, 
and  he  thus  brought  himself  and  the  whole  movement  into  disrepute 
with  the  more  conservative.  For  lying  he  punished  two  fourteen- 
year-old  girls  by  whipping  their  naked  bodies  with  rods,  thus 
arousing  both  enmity  and  scandal.  The  polemics  of  the  move- 
ment, aside  from  Spener,  were  conducted  chiefly  for  the  Pietists 
by  Joachim  Lange,  professor  at  Halle,  and  for  their  opponents  by 
Valentine  Ernst  Loescher,  superintendent  in  Dresden.  The  courts 
of  Brandenburg  and  Saxony  at  length  interfered  to  end  the  bitter 
dispute  which  had  been  carried  on.1  Against  Wolff,  the  cele- 
brated professor  of  philosophy  in  Halle,  also,  the  Pietists  agitated 
until  they  secured  his  removal  from  that  university. 

The  principal  services  of  the  Pietistic  movement  to  the  Lutheran 
Church  were  the  awakening  of  the  spirit  of  Bible  study,  the 
founding  of  theology  once  more  upon  a  scriptural  basis,  and  the 
making  of  religion  a  matter  of  the  heart  and  will  instead  of  a  con- 
cern of  the  understanding.  That  some  evil  results  KESULTS  Gp 
followed,  such  as  pretended  piety  where  it  did  not  exist,  pietism. 
self-conceit,  indifference  to  public  religious  services,  and  the  like, 
cannot  be  denied.  Had  the  Lutheran  Church  been  more  receptive 
to  the  beneficial  elements  of  Pietism,  however,  its  history  might 
have  been  far  more  fruitful  of  good  and  much  less  rent  with  theo- 
logical strife.8 

1  Nippold  has  some  excellent  remarks  on  the  strife  which  was  thus  waged. 
— Neueste  Kirchengeschichte,  i,  121-124. 

'  Nippold  gives  a  valuable  estimate  of  the  effects  of  the  Pietistic  movement 
on  the  development  of  German  culture. — i,  147-161. 


580  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


LITERATURE:    COUNT    ZINZENDORF. 

For  a  complete  Bibliography  of  Zinzendorf's  life,  writings,  and  controver- 
sies, see  Catalogue  of  books  relating  to  or  illustrating  the  history  of  the  Unitas 
Fratrum,  or  United  Brethren.  Phila.,  1881,  pp.  64-84.  The  most  important 
and  later  lives  follow. 

1.  Spangenberg,  M.  A.     Leben  des  Herrn  Nicolaus  Ludwig,  Graf  en  und  Herrn 

von  Zinzendorf  und  Pottendorf .   3  vols.    Barby,  1772-75.    Transl.   Lond., 
1838. 

2.  Bovet,  Felix.     Le  Comte   de  Zinzendorf.     Paris,    1860;    12th   ed.,  1865. 

Transl.    Lond.,  1865;  new  abd.  tr.,  Lond.,  1896. 

3.  Becker,  B.     Zinzendorf    im  Verhaltniss   zu   Philosophic  und  Kirchentum 

seine  Zeit.     Leipz.,  1886.     Important.     See  H.  M.  Scott  in  Cur.  Dis.  in. 
Theol.,  iv,  188  ;  C.  A.  Briggs  inPresb.  Rev.,  1887. 

4.  Ostertag,  K.    Graf  von  Zinzendorf.    Einsied.,  1888. 

5.  Tietzen,  H.     Zinzendorf,  Giitersl.,  1888. 

See  also  H.  Roy,  Zinzendorfs  Anweisgn.  f.  d.  Missionsarbeit,  Giitersl., 
1893  ;  G.  E.  v.  Natzmer,  Die  Jugend  Zinzendorfs  im  Lichte  ganz  neuer  Quellen. 
Eisenach,  1894.  Shows  the  great  influence  of  his  mother.  Zinzendorf  and  the 
Moravians  in  Unit.  Rev.,  Jan.,  1886  (by  F.  H.  Hedge). 


THE    MORAVIANS.  581 


CHAPTER   X. 
THE    MORAVIANS. 

The  community  of  Herrnhut,  still  the  denominational  center  of 
the  Moravians,  was  incidentally  founded  and  purposefully  molded 
by  Nicolas  Lewis  (or  Louis),  Count  Zinzendorf,  who 
was  born  in  Dresden,  Saxony,  on  May  28,  1700.  of  zinzen- 
Zinzendorf  was  descended  from  an  ancient  Austrian 
family  whose  head  in  1662  had  been  raised  to  the  rank  of  imperial 
count.  His  ancestors  had  adopted  the  principles  of  the  Refor- 
mation, as  a  result  of  which  his  grandfather  had  been  obliged 
to  forsake  his  native  land.  Zinzendorf's  father  was  a  court  min- 
ister of  electoral  Saxony.1  His  family  were  adherents  of  Spener's 
ideas,  and  at  the  age  of  ten  the  boy  was  sent  to  Halle,  where  he 
was  under  the  direct  influence  of  Francke  for  six  years.  Prior 
to  this  he  had  been  trained  in  accordance  with  Spener's  concep- 
tion of  education  by  his  aunt  and  a  tutor  of  like  mind.  His  na- 
ture and  training  combined  to  develop  in  him  a  precocious  piety. 
But  he  was  equally  precocious  intellectually,  and  resolves  formed 
in  his  childish  mind  remained  to  the  end  the  principles  of  his  life. 
In  the  dilapidated  castle  of  Gross-Hennersdorf,  where  he  lived  with 
his  grandmother,  the  Baroness  von  Gersdorf,  is  still  shown  the 
window  from  which  the  four-year-old  count  was  accustomed  to 
throw  letters  he  had  written  to  the  Saviour,  expecting  thereby  to 
communicate  to  his  Lord  his  feelings  of  love.  At  Halle  all  these 
feelings  of  intense  devotion  were  nurtured  to  such  a  degree  that 
his  guardian,  who  wished  him  to  follow  a  secular  career,  removed 
him  at  the  age  of  sixteen  to  Wittenberg,  where  the  university  was 
opposed  to  the  Pietism  of  Halle,  and  where  his  religious  feelings 
and  sympathies  would  receive  less  encouragement.  But  though  so 
profoundly  devotional  he  had  not  neglected  the  pursuit  of  learning, 
and  upon  his  departure  from  Halle  he  was  able  to  compose  Greek 
orations  and  converse  in  Latin. 

At  Wittenberg  his  chief  study  was  law.  Still  he  did  not  wholly 
forsake  theology,  and  he  abated  none  of  his  religious  fervor,  though 
he    modified,  without    abandoning,   some  of  his  opinions   as    to 

1  Piper,  Lives  of  the  Leaders  of  our  Church  Universal,  translated  by  H.  M. 
Maccracken,  New  York  and  Cincinnati,  1879,  p.  472  f. 


582  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

doctrine  and  practice.     As  Wittenberg  appeared  not   sufficiently- 
removed  from  Halle,  either  geographically  or  religiously,  he  was 
sent  to  the  university  of  Utrecht.     But  the  thought 

ZINZENDORF  »     -n  x     .         t    •  .       -.       7 

at  witten-  of  Jesus  was  so  powerfully  present  to  his  mind  that 
utbe'cht,  changes  of  locality  or  surroundings  could  not  seriously 
affect  his  spiritual  ardor.  Indeed,  certain  events  of  his 
journey  to  Utrecht  rather  stimulated  than  slackened  his  zeal.1  In 
pursuit  of  the  custom  of  the  time  he  continued  his  travels  to 
Paris,  where  he  escaped  the  worldliness  and  vice  to  which  many  fell 
victims,  and,  true  to  his  deepest  feelings,  sought  out  the  pious 
even  among  the  Eoman  Catholics,  avoiding  the  brilliant  company 
of  those  with  whom  his  rank  entitled  him  to  mingle.  Even  at 
this  period  of  young  manhood  he  could  have  said  as  truly  as  he 
did  later  in  a  sermon  at  Herrnhut,  "  I  have  but  one  passion  ;  it  is 
He,  only  He.  "a 

Upon  his  return  from  Paris  to  Halle,  soon  after  his  twenty-first 

birthday,  the  management  of  the  first  Bible  Society  ever  established 

was  offered  to  him.     This  was  altogether  to  his  mind, 

ZINZENDORF  ° 

at  halle  and  as  he  saw  how  effectively  he  could  carry  on  the  proc- 
lamation of  the  Gospel  in  such  a  position.  However, 
being  opposed  by  his  family,  who  wished  him  to  enter  upon  a  po- 
litical career,  he  became  aulic  councilor  and  justiciary  at  the  court 
of  Augustus  in  Dresden.  Here,  while  neglecting  none  of  his  official 
duties,  he  did  not  forget  the  greater  aims  of  saving  his  own  soul 
and  of  proclaiming  Christ  to  others.  Every  Sunday  he  held  re- 
ligious services  in  his  own  house,  and  he  edited  a  weekly  paper  de- 
voted to  the  cause  of  religion  and  morality.3  His  unquenchable  zeal 
displayed  itself  undiminished,  notwithstanding  all  that  had  been 
done  to  divert  him  from  his  cherished  purpose.  In  the  spring  of 
1722  he  purchased  Berthelsdorf,  in  Upper  Lusatia,  from  his  grand- 
motherland  prepared  to  take  up  his  residence  there  and  to  devote 
himself,  first,  to  the  religious  welfare  of  those  who  inhabited  his  do- 
main, and,  second,  to  the  propagation  of  true  religion  everywhere.* 

1  For  example,  he  saw  at  Diisseldorf  an  Eece  Homo  with  the  inscription  in 
Latin,  "This  I  have  done  for  thee  ;  what  hast  thou  done  for  me?"  which 
made  a  profound  impression  upon  him. 

2  The  saintly  Professor  Tholuck  made  this  his  motto.  Comp.  A.  C.  Thomp- 
son, Moravian  Missions,  New  York,  1882,  p.  66. 

3  Baur,  Geschichte  der  christlichen  Kirche,  iv,  p.  622. 

4  He  did  not,  however,  resign  his  office  in  Dresden  until  1727.  Comp.  A 
History  of  the  Reformed  Church,  Dutch,  the  Reformed  Church,  German,  and 
the  Moravian  Church  in  the  United  States,  by  E.  T.  Corwin,  J.  H.  Dubbs,  and 
J.  T.  Hamilton,  New  York,  1895,  p.  437. 


THE  MORAVIANS.  583 

A  strange  and  unexpected  series  of  events  led  to  the  establish- 
ment of  Herrnhut.  After  the  long  and  bitter  persecutions  which 
had  apparently  annihilated  those  followers  of  John  herrnhut 
Hus  who  had  had  so  promising  a  history  in  Moravia  tSmraiD* 
and  elsewhere  under  the  name  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum,  brethren. 
or  United  Brethren,  there  still  lingered  the  "  hidden  seed/'  un- 
molested because  unknown.  Secretly,  if  at  all,  the  Brethren  had 
been  compelled  to  enjoy  their  apostolic  worship  and  the  communion 
of  saints.  Says  Thompson  : '  "  Here  and  there  was  a  Bible,  in  a 
cellar,  in  a  hole  in  the  wall,  in  a  hollow  log,  or  in  a  space  beneath 
the  dog  kennel— a  secret  which  the  head  of  the  family  would  dare 
to  make  known,  even  to  his  children,  only  on  his  deathbed." 

In  1715  a  religious  revival  gave  these  oppressed  remnants  of  the 
Unitas  Fratrum  new  courage  and  a  new  purpose.  The  result  of 
the  former  was  a  somewhat  more  open  propagation  and  profession 
of  their  faith,  resulting  in  the  conversion  to  their  views  and  ex- 
perience of  Christian  David,  a  Eoman  Catholic  who  up  to  his 
twentieth  year  had  never  seen  a  Bible.  The  new  pur-  christian 
pose,  which  was  confined  to  a  few  who  were  destined  david. 
to  originate  a  magnificent  history,  was  to  find  an  asylum  where  they 
might  worship  God  in  freedom.  For  this  they  willingly  forsook 
their  native  land,  their  friends,  and  their  property.  Through  the 
efforts  of  Christian  David  they  received  permission  from  Zinzen- 
dorf  to  settle  on  his  newly  purchased  estate  of  Berthelsdorf.  At 
first  there  were  but  ten  persons,  three  of  whom  were  little  chil- 
dren,3 that  sought  refuge  at  what  was  later  called  Herrnhut,  the 
Lord's  Protection.  Leaving  their  homes  secretly  on  the  night  of 
May  27,  1722,  they  journeyed  on  foot,  reaching  their  destination 
in  time  to  begin  building  on  June  17,  in  a  wild  forest  which  they 
and  those  who  afterward  joined  them  turned  into  a  garden. 

Originally  Zinzendorf  had  entertained  no  thought  of  espousing 
their  cause  further  than  to  give  them  at  best  a  temporary  home. 
But  by  1724  he  had  become  so  interested  in  them  that  CxRowth  op 
he  and  some  friends  began  to  build  at  Herrnhut  a  col-  n?tyCatMIT' 
lege  to  be  conducted  on  the  pietistic  principles  in  herrnhut. 
vogue  at  Halle.  The  corner  stone  was  laid  on  May  12,  and  on  the 
same  day  five  young  men  arrived  at  Herrnhut,  who,  though  their 

1  Moravian  Missions,  p.  31. 

'2  The  company  consisted  of  the  families  of  Augustin  and  Jacob  Neisser  and 
two  other  persons.  See  E.  de  Schweinitz,  The  History  of  the  Church  known 
as  the  Unitas  Fratrum,  Bethlehem  (Pa.),  1885,  p.  645  f.  This  work  is  very- 
valuable  to  the  student  of  the  original  Unitas  Fratrum. 


584  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

original  purpose  was  a  mere  passing  visit,  became  a  permanent 
part  of  the  community.  They  were  zealous  and  intelligent  Mo- 
ravian Brethren,  and  they  gave  Zinzendorf  his  first  real  knowledge 
of  the  Unitas  Fratrum.  Other  refugees  joined  and  swelled  the 
numbers  at  Herrnhut  from  time  to  time,  some  of  them  being  of 
other  faiths  than  that  of  the  first  settlers.1  For  a  time  this  com- 
mingling of  colonists,  whose  views  had  been  tempered  in  the  fires 
of  persecution,  endangered  the  primitive  harmony.  Had  there  been 
at  the  head  of  the  community  a  man  of  different  spirit  from  that 
of  Zinzendorf,  the  prospects  of  a  rejuvenated  Moravian  Church 
might  have  been  blighted  in  the  bud.  But  while  Zinzendorf  held 
well-defined  views  on  questions  of  theology,  he  had  persistently 
refused  to  make  those  views  a  condition  of  fellowship  with  other 
Christians.  At  the  age  of  eighteen,  while  at  Wittenberg,  he  had 
proposed  a  union  between  the  university  there  and  that  at  Halle. 
When  in  Paris  he  had  associated  with  Roman  Catholic  priests,  par- 
ticularly the  cardinal  archbishop,  Noailles,  on  the  basis  of  a  com- 
mon love  of  Christ.  This  spirit  continued  to  animate  him.  In 
1738  he  wrote  : 2  "  Moreover,  I  cherish  and  highly  esteem,  accord- 
ing to  my  way,  all  who  love  Jesus.  I  would  consider  myself  very 
unhappy  to  be  counted  an  alien  by  any  Catholic  who  loves  Christ, 
although  in  many  points  I  differ  wholly  from  their  opinions."  In 
this  spirit  he  strove  to  quell  the  doctrinal  discussions  of  the  young 
community.  On  August  13,  1727,  during  the  celebration  of  the 
Lord's  Supper,  the  spirit  of  brotherly  love  was  so  profoundly  ex- 
perienced by  all  present  that  from  that  day  forward  they  agreed  to 
disregard  doctrinal  differences  and  to  work  together  as  brethren  in 
the  Lord.  So  complete  was  their  mutual  tolerance  of  divergent 
opinions  that  arrangements  were  made  for  the  celebration  of  the 
Lord's  Supper  according  to  the  forms  of  the  Moravian,  the  Lu- 
theran, and  the  Reformed  faiths.3 

This  emphasis  upon  the  more  practical  aspects  of  the  Christian 
faith,  while  it  served  to  unite  the  Herrnhuters,  aroused  the  enmity 
of  those  without  who  felt  the  importance  of  Lutheran  doctrine. 
As  early  as  1732  a  commission  was  sent  to  Herrnhut  to  investigate 

1  The  Schwenkfelders  who  arrived  at  Herrnhut  were  but  temporarily  mem- 
bers of  the  community.     They  were  afterward  sent  to  the  United  States. 

2  See  Piper,  Lives  of  the  Leaders  of  our  Church  Universal,  article  Zinzen- 
dorf, p.  476. 

3Comp.  Baur,  iv,  p.  625.  On  the  difficulties  which  Zinzendorf  overcame  in 
securing  peace  among  the  adherents  of  the  divergent  beliefs,  comp.  Ritschl^ 
Pietismus,  iii,  357. 


THE   MORAVIANS.  585 

the  doctrine  and  constitution  of  the  community.  They  found, 
however,  nothing  to  censure.  A  second  commission  in  1736  made 
a  similar  report.     False  accusations  led,  nevertheless, 

.  .  CRITICISM 

in  1738,  to  the  banishment  of  Zinzendorf  from  Sax-  and  perse- 
ony  for  ten  years.  In  1749  a  third  commission  com- 
pletely exonerated  and  vindicated  Zinzendorf  and  the  Moravians 
from  the  unjust  accusations  brought  against  them.  The  university 
at  Tubingen  had  affirmed  in  1733  that  the  Moravian  Brethren 
might  adhere  to  their  ancient  Church  order  without  detriment  to 
their  standing  in  the  Evangelical  Church,  though  later  this  was 
withdrawn.  These  facts  afford  some  idea  of  the  opposition  which 
the  community  encountered.  But  besides  all  this  the  Austrian 
government  protested  to  the  Saxon  against  the  reception  at  Herrn- 
hut  of  Austrians  who  left  their  native  land  on  account  of  perse- 
cution. Then  the  theologians  of  the  German  Evangelical  Church 
could  not  endure  the  "  theology  of  blood  "  and  of  the  cross,  which 
found  such  fantastic  expression  especially  in  the  hymns  of  Zinzen- 
dorf and  the  Moravians.  They  were  still  more  offended  by  Zinzen- 
dorf's  assumption  that  his  doctrine  of  Christ  and  redemption  was 
superior  to  that  current  among  the  theologians.  Such  a  claim 
led,  as  might  have  been  expected,  to  the  counter-assertion  that  the 
Moravians  were  not  evangelical  at  all,  since  they  confessedly  be- 
longed to  the  old  Church  of  the  Bohemians  and  Moravians.  No 
signature  of  the  Augsburg  Confession,  and  no  assertions  of  his 
orthodoxy,  however  vigorous,  could  serve  to  quiet  the  assaults  of 
Zinzendorf's  opposers.  It  was  in  order  to  satisfy  the  clamors  of 
these  enemies  that  the  arrangement  was  made  providing  for  wor- 
ship according  to  the  forms  of  the  three  confessions  before  men- 
tioned. 

Notwithstanding  all  these  sources  of  opposition  the  affairs  of 
Herrnhut  steadily  developed.  By  the  advice  of  Zinzendorf  the 
episcopal  form  of  government  was  adopted  in  1735,  in 
accordance  with  the  ancient  form  of  the  Unitas  Fra-  form  of  pol- 
trum,1  two  of  whose  bishops  were  still  living — David 
Ernst  Jablonski,  court  preacher  in  Berlin,  and  Christian  Sitkovius, 
superintendent  of  the  Eeformed  congregations  in  Poland.  With 
the  consent  of  the  latter  Jablonski  ordained  David  Nitschmann  to 
the  episcopacy,  and  two  years  later  Zinzendorf  himself  was  ordained 
bishop  by  Jablonski  and  Nitschmann.      This  was  done  by  the 

1  De  Sclrweinitz  says  it  was  while  reading  the  Eatio  Discipline,  which  Bishop 
Conienius  had  dedicated  to  the  Anglican  Church,  that  Zinzendorf  determined 
to  revive  the  Unitas  Fratrum — p.  605. 


586  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN    CHURCH. 

advice  of  Frederick  William  I  of  Prussia  and  John  Potter,  arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury.  The  English  Church  fully  recognizes  the 
validity  of  episcopal  orders  among  the  Moravians.  But  while  the 
government  was  episcopal  in  form  it  was  not  so  in  fact.  The  gov- 
ernment was  lodged  in  twelve  elders,  at  whose  head  stood  Zinzen- 
dorf  during  his  lifetime,  and  afterward  the  more  soberminded 
Spangenberg.  Besides  the  elders  there  were  various  superintend- 
ents and  other  officers,  whose  business  it  was,  not  to  rule,  but  to 
serve  the  community.1  In  general  the  laity,  which  received  such 
scanty  recognition  and  opportunity  for  religious  work  among  the 
Lutherans,  found  among  the  Herrnhuters  abundant  encourage- 
ment to  engage  in  the  task  of  saving  and  edifying  their  fellow-men. 
The  whole  religious  life  of  the  community  was  pietistic,  sometimes 
closely  bordering  on  fanaticism.  Zinzendorf  looked  upon  his  people 
as  a  church  within  the  church,  whose  distinction  was  a  more 
earnest  and  practical  piety  than  prevailed  among  the  masses  of 
Christians.  In  return  for  this  superior  devotion  God  granted 
a  richer  manifestation  of  himself,  both  in  fellowship  and  guidance.2 
Some  of  the  regulations  of  the  community  strongly  remind  the 
student  of  the  somewhat  mechanical  methods  of  monasticism. 
Especially  is  this  true  of  the  division  of  the  brothers  and  sisters 
into  companies,  each  with  its  own  particular  period  for  prayer, 
the  periods  following  each  other  without  intermission,  so  that 
prayer  constantly  ascended  to  the  throne  of  grace.  Another  pecul- 
iar measure  provided  for  the  formation  of  bands,  afterward  called 
choirs,  whose  members  were  selected  according  to  their  supposed 
mutual  sympathies,  those  of  the  same  sex  and  age  being  thus  asso- 
ciated for  religious  purposes. 

As  early  as  1739  a  theological  seminary  was  established  in  Mari- 
enburg.  The  demand  for  teachers  and  preachers  from  the  Mora- 
the  mission-  yian  institutions  of  learning  became  so  great  that  in  a 
art  impulse,  g^t  time  the  influences  going  out  from  the  original 
sect  began  to  be  felt  abroad.  But  this  is  not  the  secret  of  the  pro- 
found and  far-reaching  activity  of  the  Moravians  in  missionary  work. 
Far  back  in  the  boyhood  of  Zinzendorf  the  springs  of  that  pecul- 
iarity of  the  Unitas  Fratrum  will  be  found.  While  in  the  Pseda- 
gogium  at  Halle,  Zinzendorf  had  occasional  opportunity  to  come  into 
contact  with   missionaries.     This  may  have  awakened,  or  it  may 

1  Ritschl  says  that  Zinzendorf  provided  many  offices,  in  order  to  afford  partici- 
pation of  large  numbers  of  the  community  in  the  work  of  the  Church. — Pietis- 
mus,  iii,  381. 

2  On  the  use  of  the  lot  in  Herrnhut,  see  Ritschl,  Pietismus,  iii,  392. 


THE    MORAVIANS.  587 

merely  have  strengthened  within  him,  the  missionary  purpose  and 
impulse.  However  that  may  be,  soon  after  his  arrival  in  Halle  he 
organized  the  Order  of  the  Grain  of  Mustard  Seed  (Senfkorn-Orden) 
among  the  boys  of  the  Pasdagogium,  the  avowed  object  of  the  order 
being  the  spread  of  the  Gospel  in  its  purity.  That  this  early  im- 
pulse never  forsook  him  is  evinced  by  the  compact  he  made  with  his 
bride  on  their  wedding  day,  to  the  effect  that  they  would  stand 
ready  at  a  moment's  notice  from  the  Lord  to  take  up  their  pil- 
grimage to  heathen  lands,  there  to  preach  Jesus  as  the  Saviour.1 

Evangelistic  tours  into  Turkey  and  Africa  were  made  in  1728  ; 
but  the  first  real  foreign  mission  of  the  Moravians  was  that  to  the 
island  of  St.  Thomas,  in  the  Danish  West  Indies.  It  Moravian 
was  undertaken  by  two  young  Moravians,  Leonhard 
Dober  and  David  Nitschmann  (afterward  bishop),  who  had  heard 
Zinzendorf  tell  of  the  needs  of  the  negro  slaves  on  the  island. 
They  were  plain  laboring  men,8  but  their  hearts  were  aflame  with 
true  Moravian  zeal,  and  by  heroic  efforts  they  reached  the  island  in 
1732,  and  began  the  work.  They  were  soon  imprisoned,  but  through 
the  influence  of  Zinzendorf  they  were  released,  with  permission 
to  continue  their  self-sacrificing  labors,  which  were  carried  on 
by  them  and  their  successors  with  remarkable  results.  After- 
ward missions  were  established  also  in  the  islands  of  St.  Croix,  St. 
John,  Jamaica,  St.  Christophers,  Antigua,  Barbadoes,  and  Tobago. 
Flourishing  missions  were  early  established  also  in  South  and 
Central  America,  Greenland,  Labrador,  and  South  Africa,  as  well  as 
among  the  North  American  Indians.  The  secret  of  the  missionary 
success  of  the  Moravians  has  been  the  zeal  and  self-sacrifice  of  the 
missionaries,  which  prompted  them  to  labor  for  the  temporal  and 
moral  elevation  of  all  classes,  however  unpleasant  the  task  or  en- 
vironment. Moravian  history,  particularly  its  missionary  history, 
affords  one  of  the  brightest  and  most  picturesque  pages  in  the 
records  of  the  Christian  Church.3 

1  Comp.  Thompson,  Moravian  Missions,  p.  70. 

2  Dober  was  a  potter,  Nitschmann  a  carpenter. 

3  For  a  full  and  sympathetic  account  of  Moravian  Missions,  see  the  work  of 
that  mane  by  A.  C.  Thompson. 


588  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 


LITERATURE:    SPANISH  CATHOLICISM. 

See  above,  i,  837,  838,  II. 

1.  Le  memoir  de   la  tyrannie  espagnole  perpetree  aux  Indes  Occidentals. 

Amst.,  1620. 

2.  Florez,  H.     Espana  Sagresder.     50  vols.    Madr.,  1747-1866. 

3.  Botteri,  Bernardino.    Orazione  funebre  in  lode  di  Don  Carlo  HI.     Parma, 

1789. 

4.  Coxe,  William.     Memoirs  of  the  Kings  of  Spain  of  the  House  of  Bourbon. 

3  vols.     Lond.,  1813. 

5.  Casas,  Bartolome  de  las,  Bishop  of  Chiapas.     CEuvres,  avec  vie  et  notes  par 

J.  A.  Llorente.    Paris,  1822. 

6.  Prescott,  W.  H.     History  of  the  Reign  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella.    3  vols. 

Bost.,  1838.     (Many  later  eds.)     See  also  other  works  of  Prescott. 

7.  Borrow,  George.     The  Bible  in  Spain.     3  vols.     Lond.,   1843.     Best  ed. 

by  W.  R.  Burke,  with  notes  and  glossary.     Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1896. 

8.  Hef  ele,  Carl  J.     Der  Cardinal  Ximenes  und  die  kirchlichen  Zustande  Span- 

iens  amende des  16  Jahrhunderts.     Tub.,  1851.     Transl.     Lond.,  1860. 

9.  Helps,  Arthur.     The  Life  of  Las  Casas.     Lond.,  1868.      On  Las  Casas  see 

also  C.  C.  Starbuck,  in  New  World,  v,  305  ff . 

10.  Ranke,  F.  Leopold  von.  Die  Osmanen  und  die  spanische  Monarchie  im  16 

und  17  Jahrhundert.     Leipz.,  1877. 

11.  Meyrick,  F.     The  Church  in  Spain.     N.  Y.,  1891. 

For  the  literature  in  Spanish  the  reader  is  referred  to  Hidalgo  D.  Dionisio, 
Diccionario  General  de  Bibliografla  Espanola.     7  vols.     Madrid,  1864-81. 


INTENSITY   OF   SPANISH   CATHOLICISM.  589 


CHAPTEE  XI. 

INTENSITY    OF    SPANISH    CATHOLICISM-THE    INQUISITION. 

Rothe  has  said  that  sometimes  a  nation  nearly  perishes  in  ren- 
dering some  great  service  to  mankind.  The  Reformation  was  so 
emphatically  the  deed  of  Germany  that  she  nearly  SPAIN  LONG. 
lost  her  life  blood  over  it  in  the  Thirty  Years' War.  ££^™T 
Spain  during  the  long  vigil  of  guarding  European  TElfDOM- 
Christendom  from  being  crushed  by  Islam,  when  Europe  was  barbar- 
ous and  Islam  was  at  its  height  of  power,  developed  both  a  fervor 
and  a  fanaticism  of  Christian  devotion  in  its  Roman  Catholic  form, 
which,  when  the  Moors  were  at  last  driven  out,  left  her  the  great 
apostle  of  reaction.  When  the  last  Moorish  kingdom  in  Spain, 
Granada,  was  about  falling,  and  under  the  same  sovereigns,  the 
Spanish  Inquisition  arose. 

In  an  important  sense  the  Inquisition  is  coeval  with  Christianity. 
This,  almost  alone  among  religions,  lays  a  profound  emphasis  upon 
the  apprehension  of  truth  as  the  only  sure  foundation  of  right  feel- 
ing and  right  action.  The  promise  given  by  a  bishop  at  his  conse- 
cration, "  to  banish  and  drive  away  from  the  Church  erroneous  and 
strange  doctrine  contrary  to  God's  word,"  expresses  the  essential 
temper  of  Christianity,  to  which  that  noblest  of  Gentile  religions, 
Zoroastrianism,  comes  nearest. 

Thus  every  bishop  and  presbyter  was  from  the  beginning,  in  a 
legitimate  sense,  an  "  inquisitor  of  heretical  pravity."  The  forms 
in  which  he  might  manifest  his  opposition  to  error  had,  of  them- 
selves, nothing  to  do  with  this  fundamental  function.  Fenelon, 
though  not  untouched  with  the  stain  of  general  French  persecu- 
tion, yet  would  not  suffer  heretics  in  his  own  diocese  to  be  mo- 
lested, and  hardly  even  alluded  to  heresy  in  the  pulpit.  He  re- 
lied almost  wholly  on  the  diligent  exposition  of  truth,  and  was 
not  accused,  even  by  his  enemies,  of  neglecting  his  episcopal  oath 
that  he  would  "follow  up  "false  teachers.  In  antiquity,  when 
such  men  as  Origen,  Dionysius  of  Alexandria,  the  earlier  Augus- 
tine, and  Athanasius  himself  distinguished  themselves  by  holding 
many  disputations  against  error,  by  their  calmness  and  cogency 
they  brought  back  great  multitudes  of  wanderers,  and  all  allowed 
that  they  were  discharging   their   inquisitorial   function  in   the 


590  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

noblest  manner.     Dominic  himself  seems    to  have  contemplated 
no  other  way  of  uprooting  heresy.     No  trace  appears  through  his 

whole  life  of  any  other  remedies  against  heresy  used 
Sdpbuu?  by  himself  except  preaching  and  catechizing.  In  this 
tLi'n'm.  aTlv    work  his  less  learned  helpers  often  used  the  aid  of  the 

Waldenses  on  account  of  their  scriptural  knowledge. 
To  expect,  however,  that  Christianity  could  go  through  all  the 
turbulent  and  barbarous  ages  that  lay  before  it,  without  pro- 
foundly diverging  from  this  ideal,  would  be  to  look  for  the  im- 
possible. In  barbarous  times  religion  itself,  however  sincere  and 
vigorous,  becomes  largely  barbarous.  Harnack  says  the  breaking 
up  of  the  classic  world  threw  out  of  credit  the  classical  temperate- 

ness  of  treatment.      Barbarous  elements,  even  from 

BARBARISM  ,         ,  .  n  ,      .  -,-,. 

felt  even       the  beginning  of  the  Gospel,  intruded  into  the  empire 
and  into  the  Church,  and  could  not  fail  to  exhibit 
their  barbarian  characteristics  of  intemperate  vehemence  and  even 
ferocity. 

It  was  much  worse,  of  course,  when  the  emperors  began  to  visit 
religious  divergence  with  civil  penalties.     This  was  not  originally 
at  the  instance  of  the  Church,  and  she  hesitated  long  before  ap- 
proving it.     The  emperors  were  chiefly  guided  by  a  wish  to  secure 
civil  through  spiritual  unity.     At  no  time  has  this 

ACTION  .  or  .  .  ,.    . 

of  the  motive  ceased  to  be  prominent  in  religious  persecution. 

Without  the  social  disturbances  caused  by  religious 
dissensions,  governments  could  hardly  be  moved  to  take  note  of 
the  latter.  Many  of  the  doctrinal  vagaries  of  the  Spanish  Alum- 
brados  were  absolutely  monstrous,  but  were  passed  over  on  account 
of  their  social  inoffensiveness.  The  bitterest  early  persecutions  by 
Christians  were  those  of  the  heretics  against  the  orthodox.  The 
Arian  emperors  were  much  more  cruel  against  the  Catholics  than 
the  Catholic  emperors  against  the  Arians.  So,  too,  the  African 
Catholics,  though  by  no  means  guiltless  of  intolerance  toward  the 
Donatists,  were  much  more  forbearing  and  magnanimous  than  the 
latter  toward  them.  Augustine's  misinterpretation  of  the  Coge 
Intrare,  which  brings  Voltaire  himself  into  the  lists  for  the  vindi- 
cation of  Christ's  true  meaning,  was,  as  is  abundantly 

AUGUSTINE  °'  . 

and  the  shown  by  Pouioulat,  by  no  means  so  unreasonable  in 

DONATISTS.  .  ».  ...  ,. 

its  immediate  occasion  as  in  its  subsequent  application. 
The  fiery  Punic  sectaries,  especially  the  Circumcellions,  left  no  as- 
surance of  life  or  limb  or  property  even  to  peaceable  people  of  their 
own  party.  The  course  of  the  Middle  Ages  would  hardly  have  been 
very  widely  different,  even  if  St.  Augustine  had  never  misinterpreted 


INTENSITY   OF   SPANISH   CATHOLICISM.  591 

"compel  them  to  come  in."  Indeed,  the  Roman  see,  with  some 
crusading  mediaeval  lapses,  has  always  protested  against  the  com- 
pulsory baptism  of  non-Christians.  Illogically,  but  firmly,  she 
has  confined  this  Scripture  to  the  reclaiming  of  the  baptized  from 
heresy.  Even  schism  has  been  only  intermittingly  punished  by  the 
law,  if  not  complicated  with  doctrinal  error.  Rome  really  abhors 
schism  more  than  heresy,  but  from  its  very  nature  is  afraid  of  be- 
ing too  severe  against  it. 

When  barbarism  had  not  only  infected  the  empire,  but  had 
broken  it  up,  we  might  have  expected  a  general  outbreak  of  re- 
ligious fierceness.  Yet,  saving  the  fearful  cruelties  of  the  Arian 
vandals  in  Spain  and  Africa,  this  was  not  the  case.  The  Teutonic 
conquerors,  in  their  congenital  individualism,  were,  as  they  always 
have  been  as  a  whole,  jealous  for  their  own  spiritual  freedom  and 
respectful  toward  the  belief  of  others.  Besides,  for  five  or  six  cen- 
turies there  was  such  universal  confusion,  that  reli-  PEKSECUTI0N 
gious  confusion  appeared  simply  as  one  of  its  inevitable  ^™SRT 
forms.  The  earliest  Visigothic  legislation  in  Spain,  negative. 
it  is  true,  was  religiously  harsh,  and  there  was  a  large  measure  of 
religious  harshness  almost  everywhere,  at  least  in  the  Latin  world. 
Yet  this  took  rather  the  negative  form  of  nonintercourse  with  the 
excommunicated  than  of  positive  infliction.  And  this  noninter- 
course, resting  on  the  old  Druidic  religion,  wrought  such  disorgani- 
zation that  Gregory  VII  himself  was  obliged  greatly  to  restrain  it. 

It  was  not  until  this  same  Hildebrand  had  begun  to  transform 
western  Europe  into  a  great  theocratic  commonwealth,  in  which 
heresy  was  the  most  aggravated  form  of  treason,  that  a  current  of 
tendency  set  in  which  ultimately  issued  in  a  policy  of  settled  reli- 
gious restraint  by  means  of  civil  penalties.  Even  this  required  two 
centuries  for  its  full  devolopment.  About  a  hundred  years  after  the 
time  of  Gregory  VII  various  councils  began  to  call  for  repressive 
measures  against  the  Albigenses  and  other  errorists, 

i  -,     -,  i        i       • ,  i    i     i  i  •  j.1      •  THE INQUISI- 

on  the  ground  that,  not  content  with  holding  their  own  tion  first 
evil  opinions,  they  were  continually  browbeating  and  and  then 
outraging    peaceable   Catholics  and  interfering  with 
their  worship.     The  Waldenses  are   not  included  in  these  com- 
plaints.    The  first  inquisitorial  measures  appear,  therefore,  as  de- 
fensive.    After  the  great  crusade,  about  1200,  which  exterminated 
Albigensianism  from  southern  France,  the  papal  legates  and  the 
bishops  were  clothed  with  extensive  inquisitorial  powers,  to  pro- 
vide against  the  revival  of  the  Manichasan  heresy,  which  undoubt- 
edly aimed  at  overthrowing  historical  Christianity.     This  was  the 


592  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Inquisition  proper,  in  its  earliest  form,  the  episcopal  Inquisition. 
In  1229,  however,  under  Gregory  IX,  the  stern  pope  who  led  the 
way  in  the  destruction  of  the  magnificent  Hohenstaufen  dynasty, 
and  who  ruined  the  original  spirituality  of  Franciscanism,  the 
Inquisition  received  its  definite  institution.  He  preferred  the 
zealous  Dominicans  to  the  bishops,  and  the  Dominicans  were 
definitively  confirmed  by  Innocent  IV,  in  1254,  in  this  privilege. 
Thus  the  Dominican  Inquisition  largely  superseded  or  controlled 
the  episcopal. 

This  odious  tribunal  never  gained  any  fixed  footing  except  in 

the  Latin  countries.     Even  in  France  it  died  out  with  the  fear  of 

the  Albigenses.     In  Italy   itself  it  was  much  circum- 

RANGE  .....  •  i  • 

of  the  scribed  in  operation  by  a  certain  irreligious  indiffer- 

ence of  the  Italian  temper,  and  still  more  by  the  un- 
willingness of  the  popes  to  frighten  strangers  away  from  Eome.  In 
Germany  and  Hungary  it  had  but  little  hold,  and  none,  we  judge, 
in  Scandinavia.  Into  England  it  never  obtained  admittance.  All 
the  English  executions  for  heresy  taken  together,  down  to  the 
burning  of  the  Unitarian  legate  in  1612  under  James  I,  were 
doubtless  trifling  in  number  compared  with  the  South.  Few  also 
seem  to  have  been  found  to  burn  in  Scotland.  The  Irish  were 
always  much  averse  to  visiting  religious  offenses  with  death.  It  is 
said  that  no  witch  has  ever  suffered  in  Ireland.  Two  heretics  are 
known  to  have  been  burned,  but  the  bishop  who  burned  them  was 
immediately  deposed  by  his  archbishop  on  the  ground  of  criminal 
precipitancy. 

Even  in  Spain  the  Dominican  Inquisition  gradually  declined  in 
vigor.     The  unbaptized  Jews  and  Moors  were,  of  course,  not  sub- 
ject to  it,  and  they  seem  to  have  had  a  tacit  understanding  with 
their  nominally  Christian  brethren  to  discourage  its 
influence      proceedings.     Secret  adherents  of  Islam  or  Judaism, 

IN  SPAIN 

especially  the  latter,  found  their  way  into  the  royal 
households,  the  ministries  of  state,  the  tribunals,  the  priesthood, 
and  even  the  episcopate.  No  doubt  various  inquisitors  were  Jews 
at  heart.  The  Holy  Office  therefore  died  down  into  innocuousness 
in  Aragon,  and  in  Castile  became  extinct.  By  1450,  if  not  even 
earlier,  there  was  no  longer  a  Dominican  Inquisition  in  the  chief 
Spanish  kingdom. 

The  subsequent  rise  in  Spain,  in  terrible  effectiveness,  of  the 
Royal  Inquisition  seems  to  have  been  mainly  due  to  the  dangers 
resulting  from  the  rapidity  of  the  Christian  victories.  It  became 
evident  to  the  Jews  and  Moors  that  they  were  likely  soon  to  have  to 


INTENSITY   OF   SPANISH   CATHOLICISM.  593 

face  the  alternatives  of  baptism  or  exile.  The  Church  forbade  their 
compulsory  conversion,  but  the  question  of  their  banishment  was 
not  within  her  jurisdiction.  Throughout  Christendom 
the  unbaptized  were  aliens,  and  no  one  disputed  the  Spanish  in- 
right  of  a  prince  to  expel  aliens  from  his  territory. 
Great  numbers  of  Jews  and  Mohammedans  had  already  professed 
Christianity,  and  now  still  greater  numbers  hastened  into  the 
Church.  Everybody  knew  that  this  was  not  from  conviction,  but 
to  keep  a  place  in  Spain.  The  old  Christians,  therefore,  the  true 
Spaniards,  became  much  alarmed.  They  feared  to  see  Spanish 
nationality  and  religion  overwhelmed  under  a  mongrel  and  unbe- 
lieving flood,  or  corrupted  into  worthlessness.  There  was  there- 
fore an  irresistible  popular  impulse  to  secure  the  protective  offices 
of  the  Inquisition  in  a  vigor  and  compactness  never  before  known. 

Isabella  was  a  woman,  but  she  was  also  a  Spaniard,  a  Catholic, 
and  the  reigning  queen  of  the  great  central  Spanish  kingdom.  On 
her  rested  the  chief  responsibility  of  saving  the  Spanish  Church  and 
nation.  Her  husband  and  her  confessor  importuned  her  to  yield, 
and  she  would  probably  have  yielded  without  them.  Besides,  she 
was  fully  bent  on  crushing  the  turbulence  of  the  Castilian  nobil- 
ity and  on  reducing  the  semi-independence  of  the  THe  inquisi- 
bishops.  The  crown  had  already  secured  the  right  of  "mbleto 
appointing  to  the  episcopal  sees.  It  also  annexed  to  THECKOWN- 
itself  the  grand  masterships  of  the  military  orders,  with  their  great 
possessions  and  wide  jurisdiction.  And  now  that  the  rising  tide  of 
old  Christian  feeling  in  Castile  tended  to  a  renewal  of  the  Inqui- 
sition, the  sovereigns,  while  yielding  to  the  feeling  and  themselves 
controlled  by  it,  astutely  gave  the  new  tribunal  such  a  constitution 
as  made  the  crown  more  thoroughly  absolute  than  ever.  Before 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  Inquisition  all  exemptions  of  dignity  ceased. 
The  bishops  and  nobles  were  of  almost  inviolable  rank,  but  in  the 
face  of  the  Holy  Office  they  were  helpless.  The  archbishop  of 
Toledo  was  accounted  second  only  to  the  pope,  yet  when  he  was 
taken  out  of  his  bed  at  midnight  by  the  familiars  of  the  Inquisition 
and  carried  off  to  prison,  everyone  was  dumb.  When  Charles  V 
wished  to  crush  refractory  prelates  or  magistrates,  guilty  only  of 
political  offenses,  he  brought  them  before  the  Inquisition.  Indeed, 
there  was  one  continual  series  of  skirmishes  going  on  between  the 
Holy  Office  and  the  Spanish  episcopate. 

The  Inquisition,  besides  its  religious  functions,  served  these  po- 
litical ends  of  the  crown  by  its  complete  dependence  on  it.     The 

grand  inquisitor  was  appointed  by  the  pope  out  of  three  candidates 

40  « 


594  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

submitted  by  the  sovereign.  The  crown  could  not  depose  him, 
but  it  could  suspend  him  indefinitely.  In  all  matters  he  was  bound 
the  crown  to  consult  his  council,  and  in  everything  not  strictly 
thkTappoint-  religious  to  follow  its  decisions,  and  the  council  was 
mbntb.  named  and  changed  at  the  royal  pleasure.     So  also 

were  all  local  inquisitors  and  their  functionaries.  The  rules  of 
procedure  were  drawn  up  and  modified  by  the  crown.  The  acts  of 
the  Inquisition  were  liable  to  revision  by  the  minister  of  justice. 
Ultimately  not  even  an  arrest  could  take  place  without  a  royal  or- 
der.1 The  jurisdiction  of  the  tribunal  was  enlarged  or  restricted 
very  much  as  the  sovereign  pleased.  Thus  Ferdinand  and  Isabella 
did  not  for  some  years  suffer  the  Moriscoes,  or  baptized  Moors  of 
Granada,  to  come  under  its  control,  and  when  they  did  they  did 
not  suffer  it  to  give  sentence  of  death,  even  against  open  apostates, 
or  to  divert  their  estates  from  their  heirs.  Elsewhere  in  Spain  the 
land  and  goods  of  the  condemned  went  to  the  crown,  which  was 
bound  to  see  if  widows  and  children  were  not  reduced  entirely  out 
of  their  proper  rank.  Whenever,  in  the  next  centuries,  Spain  was 
courting  the  favor  of  a  Protestant  power,  the  king  would  check  in- 
quisitorial proceedings  against  foreign  Protestant  merchants ;  oth- 
erwise he  would  let  them  go  on.  A  king  who  should  so  have  cut 
short  the  Inquisition  as  to  incur  suspicion  of  heresy  could  not  have 
kept  his  place  on  the  throne.  Within  this  limit  the  crown  had  the 
Holy  Office  very  much  at  its  disposal.  The  disgusted  tribunal  was 
even  compelled  by  the  king  to  try  an  offense  so  wholly  incongru- 
ous with  its  functions  as  smuggling  contraband  of  war.* 

Why  now  were  the  popes,  notwithstanding  the  formal  sanction 
which  they  were  coerced  by  actual  violence  on  the  part  of  the  sov- 
ereigns into  giving  to  the  Spanish  Inquisition,  so  hostile  to  it  that 
for  many  years,  and  even  for  generations,  they  kept  up  an  incessant 

volley  of  remonstrances  and  threats  against  its  pro- 
bitio'nof         ceedings,  until  at  last  they  were  fairly  wearied  into 

silence  before  the  slow  persistency  of  the  Spanish  tri- 
bunal ?  Sixtus  IV,  when  it  was  first  proposed,  threw  the  Spanish 
ambassador  into  prison,  and  did  not  yield  until  the  sovereigns  did 
the  same  by  his,  and  until  Ferdinand  recalled  all  the  Aragonese  out 
of  Eome.  The  fear  of  a  schism  has  always  been  the  great  weapon 
of  monarchs  to  bring  Eome  to  terms,  and  the  fear  of  a  schism 

1  This  was  not  until  late  in  the  eighteenth  century. 

5  It  is  not  certain  that  this  was  not  originally  an  encroachment  of  the  Inqui- 
sition. However,  complaint  was  made  by  grand  inquisitors  that  secular  mat- 
ters were  put  upon  them. 


INTENSITY   OF   SPANISH   CATHOLICISM.  595 

with  the  Catholic  kings  was  more  than  Sixtus,  who  had  no  moral 
fiber,  could  withstand.  Yet  the  year  after  issuing  the  confirmatory 
bull  he  addressed  a  letter  to  the  inquisitors  of  Seville  (then  the 
only  tribunal),  bitterly  complaining  of  the  way  in  which  the  bull 
was  extorted,  and  threatening  to  depose  them.  He  addressed  ai 
half-complimentary,  half-sarcastic  letter  to  Isabella,  expressing  his 
delight  in  her  pious  zeal,  and  hoping  she  would  show  it  was  piety, 
not  avarice,  that  moved  her,  by  remitting  all  confiscations  to  the 
heirs  of  the  condemned.  To  this  she  and  her  husband  refused  to 
bind  themselves,  although  they  often  did  make  such  remissions  in 
fact.  Sixtus  was  also  much  discontented  that  for  his  judge  of  ap- 
peal the  sovereigns  substituted  a  civil  functionary.  In  the  next 
generation  Leo  X  went  so  far  as  to  excommunicate  at  once  three  or 
four  leading  inquisitors  as  contumaciously  disobedient.  Cardinal 
Ximenes,  himself  grand  inquisitor,  though  a  temperate  one,  in  a 
letter  to  Prince  Charles  describes  as  the  two  great  enemies  of  the 
Holy  Office  the  Aragonese  nation  and  the  pope.  At  last,  after  his 
wife's  death  and  his  daughter's  lunacy,  Ferdinand,  now  regent  of 
Castile,  lost  patience,  and  in  1509  issued  a  decree  denouncing  death 
against  anyone  who  should  procure  from  the  pope  a  protection 
against  the  Inquisition.  Many  protections  had  been  already  given 
out  by  Eome,  of  which  some  were  observed,  but  more,  apparently, 
disregarded. 

Had  the  sovereigns  merely  asked  for  a  revival,  with  some  modi- 
fications, of  the  old  Dominican  Inquisition,  undoubtedly  the  pope 
would  have  gladly  complied.  Doubtless  the  popes,  as  compared 
with  the  Church  at  large,  were  not  much  inclined  to  persecute,  ex- 
cept where  their  own  immediate  authority  was  at  stake.  Eome 
fears  a  little  schism  more  than  a  great  deal  of  heresy. 

°  .    .     J  REASONS 

Hers  is  quite  the  reverse  of  the  Covenanter  disposition,     of  papal 

DISCONTENT 

Yet  no  one  then  doubted  that  the  good  old  Dominican 
Inquisition,  with  its  comfortable  cruelties  and  long  somnolences, 
was  a  very  meritorious  institute.  This,  however,  was  a  very  differ- 
ent thing  from  the  Eoyal  Inquisition,  which  put  everything  under 
control  of  the  crown.  So  long  as  the  king  of  Spain  remained 
Catholic  in  doctrine  the  concordat  and  the  Inquisition  made  him 
almost  as  complete  master  of  the  bishops,  and  of  the  clergy  through- 
out, as  the  king  of  France,  or,  after  the  Eeformation,  the  king  of 
England.  This  could  not  be  other  than  exceedingly  displeasing 
to  the  pope. 

Why,  however,  should  the  popes  have  brought  such  charges  of 
cruelty  and  harshness  against  the  Spanish  tribunal  ?    Its  modes  of 


596  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

procedure  were  harsher,  doubtless,  than  those  of  the  Roman  Inqui- 
sition. But  this  was  a  later  and,  though  harsh  enough  in  all  con- 
science, a  mitigated  copy  of  the  Spanish.  On  the  other  hand, 
Italians  \nd  the  Iberian  tribunal  was  decidedly  milder  than  most 
Spaniards.  0f  j-hg  seCniar  courts  of  Europe.  Torture  was  used 
everywhere  except  in  England  to  extort  evidence,  but  in  Spain 
was  subject  to  certain  restrictions  unknown  elsewhere.  When 
torture  was  disused  in  other  courts  it  was  also  discontinued  in  the 
Inquisition.  Llorente  describes  the  prisons  of  the  Holy  Office  as 
light  and  roomy  chambers,  at  a  time  when  elsewhere  they  were 
dens  of  darkness,  filth,  and  fever.  The  prisoners  were  well  fed 
and  carefully  tended  in  sickness.  There  were  many  shameful 
abuses,  but  the  prisoners  were  encouraged  to  denounce  them.  For 
the  capitally  condemned,  burning  alive,  commonly  commuted  into 
previous  strangling,  was  the  mode  of  death,  a  penalty  then  uni- 
versal throughout  Europe  for  various  offenses ;  but  the  other  com- 
mon punishments  of  burying  alive,  drawing  and  quartering,  tear- 
ing with  hot  pincers,  and  breaking  on  the  wheel  were  unknown  in 
Spain.  The  current  account  of  the  "  Virgin  of  Madrid,"  with  her 
hidden  knives  and  deadly  embrace,  is  shown  by  comparison  with 
Llorente  to  be  an  unscrupulous  fiction,  drawn  up  by  a  Polish  ad- 
venturer trading  on  American  credulity.  Had  the  accused  a  wit- 
ness to  produce,  though  from  the  depths  of  the  American  forests, 
he  was  safe,  says  Llorente,  until  the  royal  messenger  had  brought 
the  witness  to  Spain.  Why  should  the  popes  then  have  been  so 
aghast  at  the  cruelty  of  the  Holy  Office  in  Spain  ? 

It  was  not,  apparently,  the  methods  of  the  Inquisition  which 
they  censured  so  much  as  the  universal  Spanish  suspiciousness  to- 
ward the  baptized  Moors  and  Jews,  especially  the  Jews,  leading  to 
such  inordinately  numerous  arrests  and  frequent  punishments. 
The  Italians  had  never,  like  the  Spaniards,  known  the  stress  of  an 
unintermitted  conflict  of  seven  centuries  for  their  nationality  and 
their  religion,  against  two  numerous  and  powerful  races.  There- 
fore they  could  not  comprehend  the  Castilian  feeling  which  sur- 
mised in  every  baptized  Moor  and  Jew  a  hidden  plotter  against  re- 
ligion and  country.  They  denounced  as  intolerable  cruelty  what 
the  Spaniards  held  to  be  simple  self-preservation.  The  popes  did, 
indeed,  succeed  in  saving  innumerable  lives,  and  the  estates  and 
honor  of  innumerable  families.  Yet  in  great  part  the  Holy  Office 
went  on  in  silent  contempt  of  their  intervention  in  its  policy  of 
persecution.  Spain  is  so  intensely  orthodox  that  she  has  often  al- 
lowed herself  strange  liberties  toward  the  holy  see. 


INTENSITY   OF    SPANISH   CATHOLICISM.  597 

As  Hefele  and  Prescott  show,  Llorente's  statistics1  are  utterly 
untrustworthy.  Yet,  as  we  possess  no  better,  we  use  them.  From 
1481  to  1820,  or  thereabouts,  he  makes  out  the  Spanish  Inquisition 
to  have  put  to  death  thirty  thousand  persons  for  heresy,  statistics  of 
witchcraft,  sacrilege,  unnatural  vice,  smuggling  con- 
traband of  war,  and  some  other  offenses.  Protestantism  was  easily 
rooted  out,  so  that  most  of  the  deaths  for  heresy  must  have  been 
for  crypto-Judaism.  Llorente's  numbers  give  an  annual  death 
rate,  for  all  Spain,  of  about  eighty-one.  The  small  rate,  as  com- 
pared with  the  innumerable  burnings  of  witches  alone,  in  Scotland 
and  Germany,  must  have  been  governed  by  the  excessive  circum- 
spection of  the  Holy  Office,2  which  disliked  to  kill,  but  kept  Spain 
under  perpetual  dread.  It  was  this  overhanging  dread,  much  more 
than  the  actual  destruction  of  life  which,  even  as  limited,  was 
mostly  for  offenses  independent  of  heresy,  that  made  the  Inqui- 
sition so  deadening  a  force  to  the  intellectual  and  moral  life  of 
Spain.  The  exaltation  of  the  Moorish  wars  and  of  the  American 
discoveries,  it  is  true,  secured  to  Spain  a  century  of  splendid  litera- 
ture. But  she  then  began  to  feel  the  cold  paralysis  of  the  Holy 
Office,  which  at  last  brought  everything  to  a  stay. 

Far  more  numerous  than  the  executions  were  the  lesser  punish- 
ments, imprisonments,  fines,  and,  chiefly,  church  penances  light 
and  heavy.  These  Llorente  estimates  at  some  three  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand.  For  the  last  fifty  or  seventy  years,  says  Llorente, 
the  Holy  Office  hardly  inflicted  any  other  punishments  than  these 
penances.     They  did  not,  even  the  heavier,  prevent  a 

r  J  ,t  t«    1  PENANCES. 

man  from  being  subsequently  advanced  to  a  bishopric 
or  intermarried  with  royalty.  Yet  the  frequent  interpositions  of 
the  popes  for  the  mitigation  of  them  show  that  they  must  have 
been  felt  as  a  lowering  discomfort  throughout  Spain.  An  auto-de-fe 
(Portuguese,  auto-da-fe)  had  that  name  indifferently,  whether  there 
were  executions  or  not.  Not  unfrequently  an  auto-de-fe  might  have 
even  nine  hundred  culprits,  yet  no  one  of  them  would  suffer  death. 
From  1538  on,  by  royal  decree,  all  American  Indians  were  exempt 
from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Inquisition.  The  remains  exemption 
of  imagined  walled-up  victims  appear  to  be  those  of  OF  INDIAN8- 
friars,  v/ho,  according  to  common  use,  had  after  death  received 
intramural  interment.  This  usage  may  have  been  Mexican,  or  it 
may  have  come  from  Europe,  as  there  appear  to  be  some  traces  of 
the  same  practice  there. 

1  These  citations  from  Llorente  are  from  Hefele's  Life  of  Cardinal  Ximenes. 

2  Lea  gives  some  droll  instances  of  its  long  hesitations  in  making  arrests. 


598  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

BOURBON  REFORMS. 

Boukbon  and  reform  seem  a  contradiction  in  terms.  Yet 
Spain  was  so  thoroughly  mediaeval  that  influences  which  elsewhere 
were  reactionary  became  in  Spain  actually  progressive. 

Of  the  history  of  Spain  for  the  last  four  hundred  years  half  be- 
longs to  the  house  of  Austria,  half  to  the  house  of  Bourbon.  By 
bourbons  the  marriage  of  Isabella,  queen  of  Castile  and  Leon, 
reformers  with  her  cousin  Ferdinand,  king  of  Aragon  and  Va- 
lencia and  by  his  own  subsequent  usurpation  king 
of  Navarre,  and  by  the  later  conquest  of  Granada,  six  of  the  seven 
kingdoms  of  the  peninsula  were  united  under  one  crown.  By  the 
death  of  the  male  heir,  Don  John,  this  multiple  diadem  ultimately 
descended  on  the  head  of  Donna  Joanna,  eldest  daughter  of  Ferdi- 
nand and  Isabella.  She  had  been  married  to  Philip  the  Handsome,1 
archduke  of  Austria,  eldest  son  of  the  emperor  Maximilian  and  of 
his  first  wife  Mary,  daughter  and  heiress  of  Duke  Charles  the  Bold 
of  Burgundy.  By  this  marriage  Joanna  had  two  sons,  Charles 
and  Ferdinand,  in  succession  emperors. 

On  the  death  of  Isabella,  in  1504,  her  husband,  who  had  no 
authority  in  Castile  except  in  the  right  of  his  wife,  was  forced  to 
withdraw  into  his  own  kingdom  of  Aragon,  in  the  northeast,  while 
Philip  and  Joanna  came  on  from  the  Netherlands,  the  rich  inher- 
itance of  the  former  from  his  mother  Mary,  to  govern  their  new 
kingdom.  Philip  at  once  arrogated  the  full  regal  authority  to 
himself,  with  no  protest  from  his  wife,  who  had  already  begun  to 
show  signs  of  the  gloomy  madness  under  which  she  continued  dur- 
ing the  fifty  remaining  years  of  her  life.  But  in  a  few  months  the 
Flemish  prince  was  carried  off  by  one  of  the  sudden  fevers  of  the 
Castilian  plateau,  and  as  Joanna  obstinately  refused  to  take  up 
regency  of  the  reins,  and  Ferdinand  refused  to  return,  in  resent- 
ment of  his  expulsion  by  the  grandees,  the  great  Car- 
dinal Ximenes  was  forced  to  assume  the  regency.  Finding  the  no- 
bility too  turbulent  for  him,  Ximenes  at  last,  in  1506,  persuaded 
the  king  of  Aragon  to  swallow  his  resentment  and  to  reassume  the 
government  of  Castile,  which  he  then  conducted  with  full  authority 

1  This  may  remind  of  Philip  the  Fair,  king  of  France. 


BOURBON  REFORMS.  599 

in  his  daughter's  name   during  the  ten  remaining  years  of   his 
life.1 

At  the  death  of  Ferdinand,  in  1516,  his  grandson  Charles,  who 
was  then  sixteen,  soon  came  on  from  Brussels  and  assumed  the 
government  and  also  the  regal  title,  consentiug,  however,  to  place 
Donna  Joanna's  name  first  in  all  public  acts.  It  is  the  mother 
and  son,  thus  jointly  reigning,  though  not  jointly  governing,  who 
form  "The  Sovereigns"  who  now  and  then  meet  us  in  the  pages 
of  Prescott.  Joanna  lived  until  within  two  years  of  her  son's  abdi- 
cation, dying  about  1553.  Her  lunacy  showed  itself  especially 
intractable  in  two  points — an  utter  unwillingness  to  sign  any  paper, 
and  a  great  aversion  to  the  offices  of  the  Church.  The  latter  does 
not   appear  to  have   been  any  token  of  heresy,  but 

rr  .  J  .  .  LONG  INSAN- 

merely  one  of  the  freakish  humors  of   insanity.      It  ity  of  queen 
is  known  that  on  the   night  of  her   death   she  was 
tortured  to  compel  her  to  receive  the  communion,  until  the  screams 
of  the  wretched  creature  were  heard  in  the  town  below  the  castle 
in  which  she  was  confined. 

Her  son  became  Charles  I  of  Spain ;  but  when,  in  1519,  on  the 
death  of  his  paternal  grandfather,  the  emperor  Maximilian,  the 
young  king  was  himself  chosen  emperor,  as  Charles  V,  the  higher 
title  mostly  absorbed  the  lower.  Charles  was  a  true  Fleming, 
short,  somewhat  stout  in  figure,  a  blonde,  phlegmatic  and  con- 
siderate, and  not  unamiable  in  temper.  Even  in  Spanish  affairs 
he  listened  more  to  Flemings  than  to  Castilians,  to  the  great  dis- 
content of  the  latter.  His  influence  placed  in  the  papal  chair 
Adrian  VI,  the  solitary  Dutch  pope.  Yet  he  was  not  in  the  least 
degree  affected  by  the  new  doctrines  prevailing  in  the  Nether- 
lands. Indeed,  he  was  already  in  Spain  when  the  Eef- 
ormation  broke  out.  He  always  remained  thoroughly 
attached  to  the  elder  system  in  Church  and  State,  to  which,  in- 
deed, his  double  dignity  of  Eoman  emperor  and  king  of  Spain 
seemed  to  devote  him.  He  is  said  at  the  very  least  in  forty  years 
to  have  caused  the  death  of  fifty  thousand  persons  in  the  Low 
Countries  for  sacrilege  and  heresy  alone,  almost  twice  as  many  as  the 
Spanish  Inquisition  put  to  death  on  every  ground  in  three  centuries. 
His  government  of  the  Netherlands  awakens  less  horror  than  that 
of  his  son  chiefly  because  he  did  not  let  loose  war  upon  them  and 
did  not  interfere  with  their  traditional  civil  rights.  He  some- 
times, it  is  true,  remitted  more  or  less  of  his  opposition  against  the 
Protestants  of  Germany  in  order  to  coerce  the  popes  in  Italy  (a 
1  Hefele,  Leben  von  Cardinal  Ximenes,  passim. 


600  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

policy  in  which  the  popes  were  fully  his  match)  ;  but  he  never  lost 
out  of  aim  and  hope  the  full  restoration  of  Catholicism.  His  hu- 
manity, which  was  by  nature  large,  seems  to  have  spent  itself 
almost  wholly  in  endeavors  to  second  Las  Casas  in  America. 

Charles  had  naturally  no  small  amount  of  magnanimity,  which 
ever  and  anon  crossed  both  his  policy  and  his  bigotry.  Of  this  his 
son  Philip  showed  not  a  trace.  Even  the  comparative  breadth  of 
view  involved  in  his  father's  familiarity  with  various  lands  was  not 
found  in  him.  Except  about  a  year  in  England  as  the  husband  of 
the  bigoted  Mary  Tudor,  and  a  little  time  in  the  Neth- 
erlands spent  in  plotting  their  ruin,  he  passed  the 
whole  of  his  seventy  years,  the  whole  forty  years  of  his  reign,  se- 
cluded in  the  heart  of  Castile,  a  Spaniard  of  the  Spaniards.  His 
whole  soul  was  absorbed  in  the  endeavor  to  render  the  absolute 
Spanish  monarchy  supreme  over  the  nations  politically  and  the 
papacy  supreme  spiritually.  These  two  objects  were  so  thoroughly 
fused  in  his  mind  that  it  is  often  hard  to  say  which  of  the  two  he 
had  immediately  in  view.  Like  a  true  Spaniard,  he  accounted 
himself  more  unequivocally  Catholic  than  the  pope,  and  expected 
Home  rather  to  receive  than  to  communicate  the  impulses  of  genu- 
ine orthodoxy.  He  did  not  love  the  new  Jesuit  order,  though 
Spanish,  because  its  range  of  view  was  too  broad  for  him,  and  be- 
cause it  more  or  less  disturbed  the  workings  of  the  Inquisition. 
When  he  found  his  son  and  heir  disinclined  to  continue  his  policy 
he,  whether  directly  or  indirectly  is  not  known,  brought  about  his 
death.  For  forty  years  he  hung  as  a  lowering  and  threatening 
cloud  over  England,  Scotland,  Holland,  Switzerland,  Germany, 
France,  and  all  Europe.  For  his  impracticable  aims  of  universal 
monarchy,  spiritual  and  temporal,  he  exhausted  the  resources  of  his 
wealthy  realms,  and  left  Spain  almost  ruined. 

His  son  and  successor,  Philip  III,  was  amiable  but  weak.     He 
desired  peace,   but  was  forced   by   the  rising   Catholic   reaction 
throughout  Europe  to  continue  in  his  father's  course.     In  the  ter- 
rible Thirty  Years'  "War  the  double  house  of  Austria, 

PHILIP  III.  #  J  t  * 

the  elder  line  from  Madrid,  the  younger  from  Vienna, 
sustained  the  Catholic  strength,  as  Sweden  and  France,  under  Gus- 
tavus  Adolphus  and  Cardinal  Eichelieu,  the  Protestant,  until  at  last, 
after  losing  more  than  half  her  population,  Germany  settled  into  the 
condition  of  religious  parity  under  which  she  has  since  continued. 

In  one  particular  Philip  III  did  worse  than  his  father.  Eelent- 
less  persecutor  as  Philip  II  was,  he  had  a  strong  hand,  and  held 
even  the  Inquisition  within  bounds  prescribed  by  himself.     But 


BOURBON   REFORMS.  601 

under  his  weaker  son  the  Holy  Office,  although  the  time  of  its 
greatest  cruelties  had  gone  by,  began  to  display  that  intractability 
which  for  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  rendered  it  hardly  manageable 
by  king,  pope,  or  even  the  grand  inquisitor  himself,  kevolt  and 
The  Moriscoes  of  Granada,  though  baptized,  were  still  ofPmor!s-N 
as  much  Mohammedans  as  ever.  Under  the  emperor  C0ES* 
and  his  son  we  judge  the  Inquisition  to  have  been  still  held  within 
certain  bounds  toward  them,  as  it  had  been  under  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella.  Now,  however,  its  interferences  became  so  exasperating 
that  they  burst  out  into  a  flame  of  open  revolt,  and  appealed  to 
their  brother  Moslems  of  Africa  and  Turkey  for  help  to  overthrow 
the  Spanish  monarchy.  The  danger  was  really  great,  and  the  ex- 
pulsion of  the  Moriscoes,  after  they  were  finally  worsted,  may  have 
been  inevitable  ;  yet  the  withdrawal  of  several  hundred  thousands 
of  the  most  industrious  cultivators  of  Spain  was  another  deep  drain 
of  her  very  lifeblood. 

Philip  IV  was  a  somewhat  stronger  man  than  his  father.  He 
finally  abdicated  all  pretensions  to  European  supremacy  and  all 
hopes  of  suppressing  Protestantism.  Spain,  however,  was  too  far 
exhausted  by  the  long  strain  of  the  previous  reigns  to  have  been 
easily  restored  even  by  a  much  greater  king.  Moreover,  their 
eight  centuries  of  warfare,  in  Spain  with  the  Moors,  and  out  of 
it  with  the  Protestants,  had  deeply  disinclined  the  Castilians,  and 
in  some  measure  even  the  Aragonese,  to  that  steady 

.,  «  j  .  T  PHILIP   IV. 

labor  on  which  the  prosperity  of  a  nation  rests,  and 
which  only  the  expelled  Moors  had  not  disdained.  The  wealth 
also  gained  by  multitudes  of  freebooting  adventurers  in  the  Ameri- 
cas aggravated  this  impatience  of  honest  work,  which  the  inordi- 
nate numbers  of  the  clergy  and  of  the  mendicant  friars  certainly 
did  nothing  to  correct.  A  leading  Eoman  Catholic  journal  of 
this  country  has  very  pertinently  raised  the  question  whether  in 
Spain  and  Italy  the  appliances  of  religion  have  not  been  multiplied 
to  a  degree  that  is  dangerously  near  the  point  of  suffocating  reli- 
gion itself.  The  Preface  which  long  stood  prefixed  to  the  Roman 
Breviary  and  is  now  prefixed  to  the  English  Prayer  Book  makes  very 
much  the  same  complaint.  The  counter-reformation  unquestion- 
ably did  much  to  deepen  spiritual  life  in  the  two  Latin  peninsulas. 
Yet  it  has  been  unable  to  deliver  them  from  the  smothering 
weight  of  excessive  ritual  observance.  The  Jesuits  freed  them- 
selves from  it,  but  not  the  Church.  Any  serious  efforts  of  this 
kind  in  Spain  would  have  had  to  face  the  danger  of  an  auto-de-fe. 
Ignatius  Loyola  and  St.  Theresa  herself  seemed  for  a  while  not 


602  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

unlikely  to  sink  under  the  jealousy  of  the  Holy  Office.  At  last  it 
became  a  perilous  matter  for  anyone  to  be  in  any  way  noted  for 
unusual  devoutness  or  benevolence.  Italy  at  its  worst  may  be 
inquisition  called  free  and  evangelical  compared  with  the  later 
an  incubus.  Spam^  as  middle  and  northern  Italy  are  incomparably 
more  industrious.  The  cruelties  of  the  Spanish  Inquisition  may 
have  been  exaggerated,  but  its  deadening  force  on  the  moral,  intel- 
lectual, and  spiritual  life  of  the  nation,  and  mediately  on  its  general 
prosperity,  has  doubtless  been  underestimated. 

With  Philip  IV's  son,  Charles  II,  the  elder  and  Spanish  line  of 
the  house  of  Austria  becomes  extinct.  This  unhappy  prince,  the 
offspring  of  too  many  ancestral  marriages  between  near  kindred, 
was  bodily  and  mental  weakness  itself.  Lord  Macaulay,  after  his 
wont,  exaggerates  his  portrait  of  Charles.  Yet  even  the  accurate 
representation  of  Ranke  only  mitigates  without  essentially  chang- 
ing the  picture.  The  perfect  mediaeval  Spaniard  appears  in  the  poor 
chakles  ii,  king's  perplexity  as  to  how  he  shall  entertain  his  bril- 
spanishT  liant  young  French  wife.  He  first  invites  her  to  go 
hapsbukg.  with  him  to  see  two  or  three  horses  disemboweled  in 
the  bull  ring,  but  is  dismayed  to  find  that  he  has  frightened  in- 
stead of  amusing  her.  Gallantly  determined  to  do  his  very  best, 
he  then  asks  her  to  accompany  him  to  an  auto-de-fe,  at  which 
some  relapsed  Jews  are  to  be  burnt.  But  after  she  has  sat  a  few 
hours  with  him  enveloped  in  the  smoke  and  stench  from  the  burning 
piles,  what  is  his  disappointment  on  turning  at  last  from  his  own 
absorbed  enjoyment  of  this  pious  and  edifying  spectacle,  to  find 
that  the  young  queen  is  more  frightened  than  ever.  His  two  chief 
efforts  to  make  life  in  Spain  pass  pleasantly  to  her  had  failed. 

The  mind  of  poor  Charles,  now  that  he  was  the  last  male  heir 
of  the  great  emperor,  was  greatly  perplexed  as  to  his  successor. 
Should  he  designate  a  Hapsburg  from  Germany,  or  a  Bourbon 
from  France,  his  eldest  sister's  grandchild  ?  A  Hapsburg  himself, 
he  would  have  preferred  the  former.  Yet  seniority  of  descent 
spoke  for  the  latter.  Besides,  there  were  entangling  questions  as 
to  validity  or  invalidity  of  renunciations  of  claim.  Moreover, 
bequest  on  either  alternative  Europe  was  ready  to  rise  against 
crown  to  ^ne  resulting  combination  of  two  great  monarchies. 
a  bourbon.  At  lagt^  un(jer  papal  advice,  the  king  determined  for 
a  Bourbon.  He  bequeathed  his  crowns  of  Spain,  Sicily,  Naples, 
Milan,  Belgium,  and  the  Indies  to  the  young  duke  of  Anjou, 
grandson  of  the  elder  Infanta  and  of  Louis  XIV,  and  uncle  of  the 
yet  unborn  Louis  XV  of  France.     In  1700  Anjou,  as  Philip  V, 


BOURBON   REFORMS.  603 

entered  his  new  kingdom,  in  which,  with  some  later  interruptions, 
his  Bourbon  descendants  have  reigned  to  this  day.  There  ensued 
the  ten  or  twelve  years'  war  of  the  Spanish  Succession  in  favor  of 
the  disappointed  Austrian  claimant,  but  the  Castilians  held  un- 
waveringly to  their  young  French  king,  whose  nearer  claim  of 
birth  was  incontestable,  and  at  last  wearied  out  all  opposition. 

Anjou  was  only  a  few  degrees  less  weak  a  king  than  his  unhappy 
great-uncle,  so  that  no  Bourbon  reforms  proceeded  directly  from 
him.  Yet  the  simple  fact  that  a  French  family  now  came  to  the 
Spanish  throne  opened  the  mediseval  seclusion  of  Spain  to  an  irre- 
sistible flood  of  enlightening  influences.  As  Louis  XIV  said,  in 
taking  leave  of  his  grandson  at  the  border,  "  The  Pyrenees  are  no 
more."  The  Spain  of  Philip  II  was  plainly  doomed  to  a  slow  but 
certain  death.     This  fact  appeared  in  full  evidence 

rr  CHARLES   III, 

under  Aniou's  third  son,  Charles  III,  who,  after  the    the  great 

■  ,  '  .  REFORMER. 

brief  reigns  of  his  brothers  Louis  and  Ferdinand,  came 
to  the  throne  in  1716  and  reigned  until  1788.  Charles  had  a  great 
advantage  in  the  intensely  Catholic  kingdom  in  being  of  so  ex- 
tremely ascetic  and  devotional  a  temper  that  men  said  he  was 
almost  as  much  a  monk  as  a  king.  This  high  repute  of  religious- 
ness and  orthodoxy,  united  with  a  very  noble  personal  character, 
cleared  the  way  for  his  measures  of  reform,  commercial,  adminis- 
trative, educational,  and  ecclesiastical.  It  was  he  that  led  in  the 
abrogation  of  the  Jesuit  order.  This  may  have  been  a  doubtful 
benefit  to  Spain,  in  which  country  Blanco  White  judges  the  Jesuits 
to  have  wrought  for  enlightenment  and  spiritual  religion,  but  it 
certainly  has  made  Charles  III  a  benefactor  to  the  world  at 
large.  Even  as  revived,  the  order  is  much  less  to  be  dreaded  than 
before  the  dissolution  ;  and  in  Spain  itself  the  king  had  no  alterna- 
tive. Whatever  good  the  Jesuits  may  have  been  doing  for  the 
people,  they  were  stubbornly  intractable — we  may  say,  openly  rebel- 
lious— against  the  government. 

Charles  also,  at  one  stroke,  destroyed  the  vast  papal  patronage  in 
Spain.     Of  twelve  thousand  Spanish  benefices  in  the  gift  of  the  pope 
he  left  him  a  bare  fifty-two.     By  admitting  the  enlightening  influ- 
ences of  modern  jurisprudence  he  brought  all  the  Spanish  courts, 
the  Inquisition  among  them,  to  abandon  the  use  of 
torture.     The  Holy  Office,  although  its  pernicious  in-   and  pope 
fluence  was  still  felt  everywhere,  checking  thought  and 
action  and  chilling  social  and  domestic  confidence,  ceased  almost 
entirely  to  condemn  to  death.     Indeed,  it  could  not  now  even 
make  an  arrest  without  a  specific  royal  warrant.     The  Spanish 


604  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Church,  no  doubt  encouraged  by  the  king,  was  even  on  the  point 
of  publishing  a  vernacular  translation  of  the  Bible,  when  the  ex- 
cesses of  the  French  Kevolution  frightened  it  into  a  long  reaction. 

This  good  had  its  deep  shadow  of  evil.  From  France  came  en- 
lightenment and  humanity,  and  from  France  came  also  a  flood  of 
deism  and  atheism.  The  effect  of  this,  though  it  did  not  in  Spain 
reach  the  point  of  a  revolutionary  overturn,  as  in  France,  was  the 
worse  in  that  this  new  unbelief  was  poured  into  the  forms  of  a 
stern  and  persecuting  orthodoxy.  For  two  or  three 
french  in-  generations  most  of  the  high  ecclesiastics  of  Spain 
were  absolute  infidels,  yet  the  Spanish  Church  pre- 
sented as  high  and  haughty  a  front  of  apparent  orthodoxy  as  ever. 
Grand  inquisitors  themselves  were  known  to  be  adepts  of  Illumin- 
ism.  The  very  last  execution  for  heresy  in  Spain,  which  was  in 
1812,  illustrates  this.  The  victim,  not  a  Protestant,  but  a  sort  of 
Christian  theist,  was  privately  assured  by  the  inquisitors  that  he 
might  hold  his  opinions  in  peace  if  only  he  would  make  a  formal 
Catholic  profession.  As  his  conscience  would  not  permit  this  he 
was  hanged  and  his  body  burnt.  "  How  peaceful  his  face  looks  ! " 
exclaimed  the  crowd  before  the  gallows.  "  Can  it  be  that,  though 
a  heretic,  he  has  gone  to  paradise  ?  " 

The  Bonapartist  intrusion  broke  up  most  of  the  monasteries. 
Llorente  showed  himself  as  serviceable  in  this  as  he  had  been  to 
Godoy  or  his  predecessor  in  attacking  the  immemorial  liberties  of 
the  Basque  provinces.  Yet  the  peculations  and  violences  of  such 
men  must  not  cause  us  to  forget  what  a  blessing  it  is  that  one  third 
of  the  lands  of  Spain  has  been  withdrawn  from  the  dead  hand. 

Thus  the  reforms  and  disintegrations  of  the  Bourbon  era  have 

gradually  conducted  to  the  tomb  that  later  mediaeval  Spain  which, 

inaugurated  magnificently  under  Ferdinand  and  Isa- 

HAPPY  OMENS 

for  the  bella,  and  illustrated,  for  good  or  evil,  by  Columbus, 

Ximenes,  Las  Casas,  Torquemada,  Cortez,  Pizarro, 
Loyola,  Mariana,  Cervantes,  Calderon,  Lope  de  Vega,  St.  Theresa, 
and  St.  John  of  the  Crops,  long  seemed  likely  to  crush  everything 
at  variance  with  itself,  and,  failing  of  this,  lapsed  into  a  creep- 
ing paralysis,  illustrated  and  sealed  in  the  death,  in  1700,  of  the 
last  Spanish  Hapsburg.  It  has  taken  two  hundred  years  of  his 
Bourbon  successors  to  teach  Spain  that  she  is  not  contemporary 
with  Don  Quixote.  Yet  the  undisturbed  consecration  of  a  Prot- 
estant bishop,  not  far  from  the  old  Quemadero,  or  burning  place 
of  Madrid,  is  a  blessed  omen  that  at  least  the  old  ideals  are  here- 
after to  be  realized  in  saner  and  milder  forms. 


LITERATURE  :    POST-REFORMATION   ENGLAND.  605 


LITERATURE:    POST-REFORMATION    ENGLAND. 

A  complete  list  of  books  on  the  history  of  religion  in  post-Reformation  Eng- 
land would  fill  a  volume,  or  several  volumes.  The  late  Dr.  Henry  Martyn 
Dexter  gives  a  partial  list  in  an  appendix  to  his  Congregationalism  as  seen  in 
its  Literature  of  books  pub.  1546-1879,  and  includes  7,250  titles.  The  list  is 
entitled,  Collections  toward  a  Bibliography  of  Congregationalism,  though  it 
mentions  many  that  have  only  very  indirect  and  remote  reference  to  Congrega- 
tionalism. A  brief  selection  is  all  that  can  be  given  here.  The  student  will  find 
handy  collections  of  contemporary  documents  in  S.  R.  Gardiner,  Constitutional 
Documents  of  the  Puritan  Revolution,  1628-60,  Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1889  ;  in  G.W. 
Prothero,  Select  Statutes  and  Documents  of  the  Reigns  of  Elizabeth  and  James  I, 
Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1894  ;  and  in  Gee  and  Hardy,  Documents  illustrative  of  Eng- 
lish Church  History,  Lond.,  1896.  The  older  collection  of  Wilkins,  Cardwell, 
Haddan,  and  Stubbs,  must  be  remembered.  In  the  fifth  vol.  of  Neal,  Hist, 
of  the  Puritans,  various  lengthy  texts  are  printed.  The  secular  histories  are 
indispensable,  such  a3  Macaulay,  Froude,  Green,  Ranke,  and  Gardiner,  as  are 
the  old  Church  historians  like  Heylyn,  Strype,  Fuller,  and  Collier.  We  give 
here  a  few  modern  books. 

I.    CHURCH   OF   ENGLAND. 

See  above  pp.  364-368.  Also  G.  G.  Perry,  Hist,  of  the  Church  of  England 
from  the  death  of  Elizabeth  to  the  Present  Time.  Lond. ,  1861-64  (to  be  distin- 
guished from  his  Church  History  of  England  from  596-1884,  3  vols.,  1881-86  ; 
6th  ed.,  1895  [Student  Series]).  A.  H.  Hore,  The  Church  in  England  from 
William  III  to  Victoria.  2  vols.  Lond.,  1886.  Both  Perry  and  Hore  are  High 
Church,  but  the  former  is  the  more  scholarly  and  reliable.  H.  M.  Luckock, 
The  Bishop  in  the  Tower :  a  Record  of  Events  from  the  Restoration  to  the 
Revolution.  Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1887.  M.  Fowler,  Some  Notable  Archbishops 
of  Canterbury.  Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1895  (includes  Parker,  Laud,  and  Sancroft). 
F.  O.  White,  Lives  of  the  Elizabethan  Bishops.    Lond.,  1898.    Excellent. 

II.    PURITANISM. 

1.  Neal,  Daniel.  Hist,  of  the  Puritans  or  Protestant  Nonconformists  from 
1516  to  1688.  4  vols.  Lond.,  1732-38  ;  new  ed.,  rev.  and  enl.  by  J.  Toul- 
min,  5  vols.,  Taunton,  1796,  of  ten  reprinted  ;  exc.  ed.,  Lond.,  1822.  The 
fifth  vol.  contains  a  History  of  the  Baptists  ab'd  from  Crosby  and  a  Hist, 
of  the  Quakers  ab'd  from  Gough,  also  numerous  documents,  including  all 
the  official  directories  of  the  Westminster  Assembly.  Neal  was  ans.  by 
Zachary  Grey,  Examination  of  Neal's  Hist,  of  the  Puritans,  3  vols., 
Lond.,  1736-39,  and  by  Isaac  Maddox,  Reflections  on  Neal's  Hist,  of  the 
Puritans,  Lond.,  1733.  Neal,  who  was  a  London  Congregational  divine 
(d.  1743),  writes  from  the  standpoint  of  hearty  appreciation,  yet  in  an  im- 
partial spirit,  and  with  carefulness  as  to  facts.  His  book  remains  one  of 
the  greatest  historical  works  of  the  18th  century.    Mullinger,  in  Introd,  to 


606  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

the  Study  of  Eng.  Hist.,  p.  321,  says  that  the  numerous  attacks  upon  it 
have  not  shown  that  it  contains  any  grave  misstatements  of  facts. 

2.  Wilson  Walter.    Hist,  and  Antiquities  of  Dissenting  Churches  in  London, 

Westminster,  and  Southwark,  including  Lives  of  their  Ministers  from  Rise 
of  Nonconformity  to  Present.    4  vols.     Lond. ,  1808-14.     Invaluable. 

3.  Bogue,  David,  and  Bennett,  Jas.    Hist,  of  Dissenters  from  Revolution  to 

1808.  4  vols.  Lond.,  1808  ;  2d  ed.,  arr.  in  two  vols,  by  J.  Bennett,  1833. 
Excellent  for  the  later  history. 

4.  Brook,  Benjamin.     Lives  of  the  Puritans  from  Queen  Elizabeth  to  1662. 

3  vols.    Lond.,  1813.     A  mine  of  information  diligently  explored. 

5.  Stowell,  W.  H.     The  Puritans  in  England.     Lond.,  1837.     The  author  was 

Prof,  in  Rotherham  Cong'l  Coll. ,  and  later  in  Cheshunt  Coll.  This  book 
is  bound,  N.  Y.,  1888,  with  D.  Wilson,  The  Pilgrim  Fathers,  Lond., 
1845. 

6.  Marsden,  J.  B.     Hist,  of  the  Early  Puritans.    Lond.,  1850;  2d  ed.,  1852. 

Hist,  of  the  Later  Puritans  (to  1662).  Lond.,  1852.  Written  in  fair  spirit 
by  a  moderate  Church  of  England  man. 

7.  Coleridge,  S.  T.   Notes  on  English  Divines.    2  vols.   Lond.,  1852-53.    Pene- 

trating observations,  esp.  on  theology. 

8.  Hopkins,  Samuel.    The  Puritans  ;  or,  the  Church,  Court,  and  Parliament  of 

England  during  the  Reigns  of  Edward  VI  and  Elizabeth.  3  vols.  Bost. , 
1859-61.  A  valuable  work,  based  on  extensive  studies  and  written  in  a 
strong  and  interesting  way,  though  occasionally  spoiled  by  using  the 
story  or  novel  form  of  narrative.  The  notes  are  full  of  material  and 
references. 

9.  Vaughan,  Robert.     English  Nonconformity.    Lond.,  1862.     An  historical 

sketch  treated  in  a  large  and  learned  way. 

10.  Davids,  T.  W.     Annals  of  Evangelical  Nonconformity  in  Essex  from  1380 

to  1660,  with  Memorials  of  Essex  Ministers  who  were  ejected  in  1660-62. 
Lond. ,  1863.  Embodies  the  results  of  exhaustive  research  in  out-of-the-way 
fields, — an  admirable  example  of  what  a  faithful  pastor  can  do  by  a 
wise  investment  of  odd  hours. 

11.  Halley,  Robt.     Lancashire  :  its  Puritanism  and  Nonconformity.     2  vols. 

Manchester  and  Lond.,  1869.     Important. 

12.  Hunt,  John.    Religious  Thought  in  England  from  the  Reformation  to  end 

of  Eighteenth  century.  3  vols.  Lond.,  1870-73.  An  impartial  survey 
well  done. 

13.  Curteis,  G.  H.     Dissent  in  its  Relation  to  the  Church  of  England.     Lond. 

and  N.  Y. ,  1872.  Bampton  Lects.  for  1871.  Written  in  an  exaggerated  and 
bitter  style,  or,  to  use  his  own  words,  in  "violent  and  repulsive  language  " 
(p.  108),  with  intense  animosity  against  all  Churches  except  his  own, 
and  with  too  reckless  disregard  for  facts,  yet  necessary  to  be  read  as 
giving  the  Anglican  version. 

14.  Gardiner,  S.  R.     The  Puritan  Revolution,  1603-60.      Lond.  and  N.  Y., 

1875  [Epochs  of  History  Series]. 

15.  Stoughton,  John.     History  of  Religion  in  England  from  1640  to  1800. 

6  vols.,  new  and  rev.  ed.  Lond.,  1881.  A  new  and  combined  ed.  of 
a  series  of  works  issued  between  1867  and  1878,  written  with  ample 
scholarship  and  candid  spirit ;  the  most  important  work  of  modern  Eng- 
lish Church  History  in  the  language. 


LITERATURE  :   POST-REFORMATION   ENGLAND.  607 

16.  Campbell,  Douglas.      The   Puritan   in   Holland,  England,   and  America. 

2  vols.  N.  Y.,  1892.  An  able  exploitation  of  some  neglected  historical 
facts,  though  the  result  needs  to  be  coordinated  in  a  philosophic  spirit 
with  other  facts.     See  below,  p.  637. 

17.  Sydney,  W.  C.     Social  Life  in  England  from  1660  to  1690.     Lond.,  1892. 

18.  Gregory,  J.      Puritanism :    a   Historical   Handbook.     Lond.  and   N.  Y. , 

1896.     An  interesting  and,  in  the  main,  accurate  history,  with  fresh  and 
just  judgments.     For  a  few  corrections  in  points  of  fact  see  The  Nation, 
N.  Y.,  Aug.  6,  1896,  p.  109. 
In  the  following  special  topics  many  of  the  books  mentioned  above  are 

necessary.     In  this  whole  period,  in  fact,  the  threads  of  history  are  marvel- 

ously  interwoven. 

m.    CONGREGATIONALISM. 

1.  Waddington,  John.     Congregational  History,  1200-1880.     5  vols.      Lond., 

1869-80.     An  able  and  learned  work,  but,  like  many  English  books,  exas- 
peratingly  deficient  as  to  an  index,  its  value  being  thus  lessened  one  half. 

2.  Punchard,  Geo.      Hist,  of  Congregationalism  from  250  to  Present  Time. 

4  vols.     Bost.,  1865-80.     Thorough. 

3.  Miall,  J.  G.     Congregationalism  in  Yorkshire.      Lond.,  1868.      There  are 

other  local  histories,   as  Warwickshire,  by  J.    Sibree  and  M.  Caston, 
,  Lond.,  1855  ;  Norfolk  and  Suffolk,  by  John  Browne,  Lond.,  1877. 

4.  Dexter,  H.  M.     Congregationalism  as  Seen  in  its  Literature.     N.  Y.,  1880. 

This  is  perhaps  the  greatest  single  monograph  in  denominational  history 
ever  written  by  an  American.     See  a  notice,  hardly  fair  in  all  respects, 
by  Briggs,  in  Presb.  Rev.,  i,  762-766. 
Instructive  chapters  on  English  Congregationalism  are,  found  in  L.  Bacon, 
Genesis  of  the  New  England  Churches,  N.  Y,  1874,  and  in  John  Browne,  The 
Pilgrim  Fathers  of  New  England,  Lond.  and  N.  Y. ,  1895 — both  the  work  of  ex- 
perts.    For  original   materials  see   Benj.  Hanbury,   Historical   Memorials  re- 
lating to  Congregationalists  from  Rise  to  1660,  3  vols.,  Lond.,  1839-44 ;  Williston 
Walker,  Heads  of  Agreement,  and  the  Union  of  Congregationalists  and  Pres- 
byterians based  on  them  in  London,  1691,  in  Papers  of  Amer.  Soc.  of  Church 
History,  iv,  29-52  (1892). 

IV.    PRESBYTERIANS. 

1.  Murch,  Jerom.     Hist,  of  Presbyterian  and  General  Baptist  Churches  in  the 

West  of  England,  with  Memoirs  of  Pastors.     Lond.,  1835. 

2.  McCrie,  Thos.,  Jr.     Annals  of  English  Presbytery  from  Earliest  Period  to 

Present.     Lond.,  1872. 

3.  Drysdale,  A.  H.     Presbyterians  in  England  :   their  Rise,  Decline,  and  Re- 

vival. Lond.,  1889.  Historical  Handbook  of  English  Presbyterianism. 
Lond.,  1891. 

4.  Shaw.    Elizabethan  Presbyterianism,  inEng.  Hist.  Review,  Oct.,  1888.    C.  A. 

Briggs,  Provincial  Assembly  of  London,  1647-60,  in  Presb.  Rev.,  Jan., 
1881,  ii,  54-79. 

V.    ROMAN   CATHOLICS. 

1.  Brown,  J.  B.     Historical  Account  of  the  Laws  enacted  against  Catholics 

in  England  and  Ireland.     Lond.,  1813. 

2.  Butler,  Chas.  Historical  Memoirs  respecting  the  English,  Irish,  and  Scottish 

Catholics  from  Reformation  to  Present  Time.     4  vols.     Lond.,  1819-21. 


608  HISTORY  OF  THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

3.  Tierney,  M.  A.   Dodd's  Church  History  of  England  from  1500  to  1688,  with 

Notes,  Additions,  and  a  Continuation.  Lond.,  1839.  From  the  many  docu- 
ments and  extracts  printed  by  both  Butler  and  Tiemey  their  works  have 
almost  the  value  of  an  original  source.  The  latter  is  a  corrected  reprint 
of  Hugh  Tootel's  valuable  history,  which  he  had  to  issue  abroad  and 
pseudonymously. 

4.  Oliver,  G.   Collections  Illustrating  the  Hist,  of  the  Catholic  Religion  in  the 

Counties  of  Cornwall  and  Devon.  Lond.,  1857.  Collections  illustrat- 
ing the  Biographies  of  the  Members  of  the  Society  of  Jesus.  Lond., 
1845. 

5.  Simpson,  Richard.     Edmund  Campion  :  a  Biography.     Lond.,  1867;    new 

ed.  rev.,  1896.    A  standard  biography,  with  copious  references  and  notes. 

6.  Records  of  the  English  Province  of  the  Society  of  Jesus.     Four  series  in  2 

vols.     Lond.,  1875-77. 

7.  Brady,  "W.  Maziere.     Episcopal  Succession  in  England,  Scotland,  and  Ire- 

land, 1400-1875.  Rome,  1876.  Annals  of  the  Catholic  Hierarchy  in  Eng- 
land and  Scotland,  1585-1876,  with  Dissertation  on  Anglican  Orders. 
Rome,  1877. 

8.  Challoner,  Richard.     Martyrs  to  the  Cath.  Faith :  Memoirs  of  Missionary 

Priests  and  other  Catholics  of  both  Sexes,  who  suffered  death  in  England 
on  Religious  Accounts  from  1577-1648.  New  ed.,  with  Pref.  by  Card. 
Manning.     Lond.,  1877.     The  pref.  gives  account  of  literary  sources. 

9.  Knox,  T.  F.     First  and  Second  Douai  Diaries,  with  an  Historical  Intro- 

duction.    Lond.,  1878.     Valuable  sources  for  English  Cath.  history. 

10.  Morris,  John  (S.  J.),  editor.     Troubles  of  our  Catholic  Forefathers  related 

by  Themselves.     3  vols.     Lond.,  1877. 

11.  Records  of  English  Catholics  under  Penal  Laws.     2  vols.     Lond.,  1878-82. 

Includes  Douai  Coll.  diaries  and  letters  of  Allen. 

12.  Gillow,  Jos.    Diet,  of  English  Catholic  Biography  and  Bibliography,  1534- 

1884,  vols,  i-iii.     Lond.,  1887-88. 

13.  Payne,  J.  0.     Records  of  English  Catholics  of  1715.     Lond.,  1888. 

14.  Bridgett,  T.  E.     History  of  Holy  Eucharist  in  Great  Britain.     2  vols. 

Lond.,  1881.  Life  of  the  Blessed  Thomas  Fisher.  Lond.,  1888.  Story  of 
the  Catholic  Hierarchy  deposed  by  Queen  Elizabeth.     Lond.,  1888. 

15.  Pollen,  J.  H.     Acts  of  English  Martyrs  Hitherto  Unpublished.     Lond., 

1891. 

16.  Short  Hist,  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  England.     Lond.,  1895. 

17.  Archpriest  Controversy.      Ed.  from  Petyt  MSS.  of  the  Inner  Temple. 

Lond.,  1899.  The  question  involved  in  this  controversy  was  whether  the 
head  of  the  Catholics  in  England  should  be  a  special  papal  representa- 
tive in  close  touch  with  the  Jesuits  or  a  titular  bishop  and  vicar  apos- 
tolic, and  lasted  from  1598,  when  an  archpriest  was  appointed,  to  1623, 
when  a  titular  bishop  succeeded. 

VI.    BAPTISTS. 

1.  Crosby,  Thos.     History  of  the  English  Baptists.     4  vols.    Lond.,  1738-40. 

2.  Ivimey,  Jos.     History  of    the    English  Baptists.     4  vols.     Lond.,  1811, 

1814,  1830. 

3.  Taylor,  Adam.     Hist,  of  the  Engl.   General  Baptists.     2  vols.     Lond., 

1818. 


LITERATURE  :  POST-REFORMATION   ENGLAND.  609 

4.  Murch,  Jerom.    Hist,  of  Presbyterian  and  Gen'l  Baptists  in  West  of  Eng- 

land.    Lond.,  1835. 

5.  Orchard,  G.  H.     Hist,  of  Foreign  Baptists.     2  vols.     Nashville,  1838  ;  new 

ed,  1858. 

6.  Publications  of  the  Hanserd  Knollys  Society.     10  vols.     Lond.,  1846  ff. 

Include  many  of  the  most  valuable  of  the  original  sources  of  English 
Baptist  history  and  theology. 

7.  Gould,  Geo.     Open  Communion  and  the  Baptists  of  Norwich.     Norwich, 

1860. 

8.  Evans,  Benjamin.     The  Early  English  Baptists.     4  vols.     Lond.,  1862. 

9.  Tallack,  W.     Geo.   Fox,   the   Friends,    and   the  Early   Baptists.     Lond., 

1868. 

10.  Goadby,  J.  J.     Bye-paths  of  Baptist  History.     Lond.,  1871.     Baptists  and 

Quakers  in  Northamptonshire,  1650-1700.     Lond.,  1883. 

11.  Williams,  W.  R.     Lects.  on  History  of  the  Baptists.     Phil.,  1877. 

12.  Clifford,  John,  editor.     The  English  Baptists.     Lond.,  1881. 

13.  Dexter,  H.  M.     John  Smyth  the  Se-Baptist.    Boat.,  1881. 

See  also  Histories  of  the  Baptists  by  David  Benedict,  2  vols.,  Bost.,1813; 
J.  M.  Cramp,  Lond.,  1868;  T.  Armitage,  N.  Y.,  1887;  and  H.  C.  Vedder, 
Phil.,  1892 — the  latter  the  best  short  general  history.  For  the  Continental 
Baptists,  from  whom  the  English  General  Baptists  sprung,  see  the  following 
recent  works:  H.  S.  Burrage,  The  Anabaptists  of  Switzerland,  Phil.,  1882 — 
an  admirable  monograph  ;  the  same,  The  Anabaptists  of  the  Sixteenth  Cen- 
tury, in  Papers  of  the  American  Soc.  of  Ch.  Hist.,  iii,  145-164  (1891)  ;  Ludwig 
Keller,  Ein  Apostel  Wiedertaufer,  Leipz.,  1882 — see  C.  A.  Briggs  in  Presb. 
Rev.,  iv  (1883),  450  ;  the  same,  Die  Reformation  und  die  alteren  Reform- 
partien,  Leipz.,  1885 — see  S.  M.  Jackson  in  Presb.  Rev.,  vi  (1885),  747-750 
(Keller  has  helped  to  lift  the  cloud  of  misrepresentation  and  abuse  which 
long  hovered  over  the  Anabaptists  and  other  Christians  of  the  pre-Reforma- 
tion  and  Reformation  age)  ;  J.  Loserth,  Der  Anabaptismus  in  Tirol,  Wien, 
1892 — excellent,  contains  valuable  documents ;  the  same,  Der  Commu- 
nismus  der  Mahrischen  Wiedertiiufer,  Wien,  1894 — see  G.  Bossert  in  Th. 
Littblatt.,  Aug.  30  and  Sept.  13,  1895;  Richard  Heath,  Anabaptism  from 
Rise  at  Zwickau  to  Fall  at  Miinster,  1521-36,  Lond.,  1895  ;  the  same,  Early 
Anabaptism,  in  Con  temp.  Rev. ,  April,  1895 ;  Living  in  Community,  a  Sketch 
of  Moravian  Anabaptism,  in  the  same,  Aug.,  '96  (lxx,  247  ff.),  and  Archetype 
of  Pilgrim's  Progress,  in  the  same,  lxx,  541  ff. ;  E.  Miiller,  Geschichte  der 
Bernischen  Taufer,  Frauenfeld,  1895 — see  Bossert  in  Th.  Litz.,  1896,  No.  4  ; 
D.  H.  Liidemann,  Reformation  und  Tiiufertum  in  ihrem  Verhiiltniss  zum 
christlichen  Princip.,  Bern,  1896 — an  apology  for  the  Baptists,  shows  that 
they  were  the  true  reformers ;  J.  Lehmann,  Gesch.  der  deutsche  Baptisten, 
Hamb.,  1896  ;  A.  H.  Newman,  Hist,  of  Antipedobaptism  from  Rise  of  Pedo- 
baptism  to  1609,  Phil.,  1897  (the  best  discussion  of  the  whole  Baptist  develop- 
ment in  concise  form  in  English,  founded  on  extensive  studies  by  one  of  the 
most  candid  and  competent  of  living  scholars) — see  A.  C.  Zenos  in  Presb. 
and  Ref.  Rev.,  viii,  809,  and  G.  Anderson  in  Amer.  Journal  of  Theol.,  Jan., 
1898,  p.  184  ;  G.  W.  Schroeder,  Hist,  of  Swedish  Baptists  in  Sweden  and 
America,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  1898  ;  P.  Burckhardt,  Die  Basler  Taufer,  Basel, 
1898. 

41  2 


610  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

VH.    QUAKERS,    OB  SOCIETY   OP   FRIENDS. 

1.  Fox,  Geo.     Journal,  or  Historical  Account  of  his  Life.     Lond.,  1694.    Col- 

lection of  Epistles,  Testimonies,  etc.,  1698.  Gospel  Truth  Demonstrated, 
1706. 

2.  Croese,  Gerard.     Gen'l  Hist,  of  the  Quakers.     Lond.,  1696. 

3.  Crouch,  Wm.     Posthuma  Christiana  :  a  Collection  of  Papers  relating  to 

Quakers.     Lond.,  1712. 

4.  Ellwood,  Thos.     Hist,  of  his  Life.    (Autob.)    Lond.,  1714;  new  ed.,  with 

In  trod,  by  Henry  Morley,  Lond.,  1885. 

5.  Edmundson,  Wm.,  Journal  of  Life  and  Travels  of.     Dublin,  1715. 

6.  Sewel,  Wm.     Hist,  of  the  Quakers.     Lond.,  1725.     Often  reprinted. 

7.  Besse,  Jos.     Sufferings  of  the  Quakers.     2  vols.     Lond.,  1753. 

8.  Woolman,  John,  Journal  of.    Dubl.,  1776  ;  new  ed.,  with  Introd.  by  J.  G. 

Whittier,  Bost.,  1876.     Often  reprinted. 

9.  Gough,  John.     Hist,  of  the  Quakers.     4  vols.     Dubl.,  1789-90.     Valuable. 

10.  Brownlee,  W.  C.      Religious  Principles  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  with 

History.  Phil.,  1824.  Written  by  a  distinguished  minister  of  the  Colle- 
giate Reformed  Church,  New  York,  who  afterward  became  famous  as  an 
anti-Roman  controversialist. 

11.  Barclay,  A.  R.     Letters  of  the  Early  Friends.     Lond.,  1841. 

12.  Wagstaff,  Wm.  R.     Hist,  of  Society  of  Friends.     N.  Y.  and  Lond.,  1845. 

13.  Hodgson,  Wm.    Historical  Memoirs  of  Soc.  of  Friends.     Phil.,  1856. 

14.  Rowntree,  J.  S.     Quakerism,  Past  and  Present.     Lond.,  1859. 

15.  Janney,  S.  M.     History  of  Society  of  Friends  from  Rise  to  1828.     4  vols. 

Phil.,  1859-67  ;  2d  ed.,  rev.,  1852.     Standard. 

16.  Cunningham,  John.     The  Quakers :  a  History  from  Origin   to   Present. 

Edinb.,  1868.  Very  appreciative  survey  by  a  historian  of  the  Church  of 
Scotland. 

17.  Evans,  C.     Friends  in  the  Seventeenth  Century.     Phil.,  1875. 

18.  Barclay,   Robt.     Inner  Life  of  the  Religious  Societies  of   the  Common- 

wealth. Lond.,  1876;  3d  ed.,  1879.  An  elaborate  and  able  study. 
Author  is  nephew  of  No.  11. 

19.  Budge,  Frances  A.     Annals  of  the  Early  Friends.     Lond.,  1877. 

20.  Turner,  F.  S.  The  Quakers  :  a  Study,  Historical  and  Critical.    Lond.,  1889. 

21.  Horder,  W.  G.    Qixaker  Worthies.     Lond.,  1896. 

Besides  the  collections  in  Crouch,  above,  William  and  Thomas  Evans  pub. 
The  Friends'  Library,  comprising  Journals  and  Other  Writings  of  Friends.  14 
vols.  Phil.,  1837-50.  A  venerable  antiquarian  bookseller  of  London,  Joseph 
Smith,  who  has  or  had  the  largest  collection  of  books  on  the  Quakers  in  the 
hands  of  any  one  man,  pub.  a  Descriptive  Catalogue  of  Friends'  Books,  2  vols., 
Lond.,  1867,  suppl.,  1893  ;  Bibliotheca  Anti-Quakeriana,  Lond.,  1873  ;  and 
Bibliotheca  Quakeristica,  Lond.,  1883.  See  note  by  C.  A.  Briggs  in  Presb. 
Rev.,  1884,  p.  739.  There  is  an  excellent  select  bibliography  in  the  admirable 
History  of  the  Soc.  of  Friends  in  America,  by  Prof.  A.  C.  Thomas,  N.  Y., 
1894. 

VIII.    UNITARIANS. 

1.  Turner,  W.     Lives  of  Eminent  Unitarians.     2  vols.     Lond.,  1840-43. 

2.  Tayler,  J.  J.     Retrospect  of  the  Religious  Life  of  England.     Lond.,  1845  ; 

new  ed.,  1876,  esp.  chs.  v  ff. 


LITERATURE  :    POST-REFORMATION   ENGLAND.  611 

3.  Wallace,  R.     Anti-Trinitarian  Biography.     3  vols.     Lond.,  1850. 

4.  Lindsey,  Theophilus.     Memoirs  and  Progress  of  Unit.  Doctrine.     Ed.  by 

T.  Belshain.     Lond.,  1873. 

5.  Baker,  Sir  Thos.     Memoir  of  a  Dissenting  Chapel.     Manchester,  1884. 

6.  Bonet-Maury,  G.      Early  Sources  of  Unitarian  Christianity  in  England. 

Transl.    Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1884. 

7.  Allen,  J.  H.     Hist.  Sketch  of  Unitarian  Movement  since  the  Reformation. 

N.  Y.,  1894. 

IX.  MARTIN  MARPRELATE  CONTROVERSY. 

There  were  seven  Martinist  pamphlets,  all  printed  in  1589,  except  the  first, 
which  appeared  in  Nov.  or  Dec,  1588.  (1)  Oh  Read  over  D.  John  Bridges;  or 
the  Epistle.  This  was  reprinted  in  Prof.  Edward  Arber's  English  Scholars' 
Library,  Lond.,  1880.  (2)  The  Epitome.  (3)  Certain  Mineral  and  Metaphys- 
ical School  Points.  (4)  Hay  any  Worke  for  Cooper — an  answer  tc  Bishop 
Cooper's  Admonition.  (5)  Protestatyon  of  Martin  Marprelate.  (6)  Theses 
Martinianse.  (7)  Just  Censure  and  Reproof.  Bishop  Richard  Cooper  replied 
to  the  first  in  his  Admonition  to  the  People  of  England,  1589,  which  is  included 
in  Arber's  Library,  Lond.,  1882.  This  excellent  series  also  includes  John 
Udall's  State  of  the  Church  of  England  ;  or  Diotrephes,  1588 — the  forerunner 
of  the  Martinist  series,  and  written  from  the  same  standpoint.  The  most  of 
the  other  Martinist  tracts  were  reprinted  by  John  Petherham,  Lond.,  1843-47, 
and  by  Arber,  Lond.,  1878.  The  History  of  the  Controversy  was  written  from 
the  Anglican  standpoint  by  W.  Maskell,  Lond.,  1845;  by  Edward  Arber  in 
his  Introductory  Sketch  of  the  Martin  Marprelate  Controversy,  Lond.,  1879  ; 
and  by  H.  M.  Dexter  in  his  Congregationalism  as  seen  in  its  Literature,  N  Y., 
1880,  pp.  131-202.  See  also  his  Bibliogr.  App.,  pp.  11-13.  Petherham  also 
repr.  other  anti-Martinist  pamphlets. 

x.  NONJURORS. 
See  the  Lives  of  Ken,  Law,  Sancrof  t,  and  other  members  of  the  party.  Thos. 
Lathbury,  Hist,  of  the  Nonjurors  :  their  Controversies  and  Writings.  Lond., 
1845  :  standard.  Nicholas  Ferrar  :  his  Household  and  his  Friends.  Ed.  by  T. 
T.  Carter.  Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1892  ;  3d  ed.,  1893.  The  Life  and  Times  of  John 
Kettlewell,  with  Details  of  the  Hist,  of  the  Nonjurors.  By  author  of  Nicholas 
Ferrar.  Ed.,  with  introd.,  by  T.  T.  Carter.  Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1895:  two  de- 
lightful biographies. 

XI.    LAUD. 

Works,  7  vols.,  Oxf.,  1853.  Lives  by  Peter  Heylin,  Lond.,  1671  ;  Wm. 
Prynne,  Lond.,  1644,  and  Canterbury's  Doom,  or  the  First  Part  of  a  Complete 
Hist,  of  William  Laud,  by  the  same,  Lond.,  1646;  C.  W.  Le  Bas,  Lond., 
1836;  Thorold  Rogers,  in  Historical  Gleanings,  2d  series,  Lond.,  1870  ;  W.  F. 
Hook,  in  Lives  of  Archbishops  of  Canterbury,  vol.  xi,  Lond.,  1876;  Peter 
Bayne,  in  Chief  Actors  in  the  Puritan  Revolution,  Lond.,  1878 ;  J.  B.  Mozley, 
in  Essays,  i,  106-229,  Lond.,  1884  (1st  pub.  in  1845);  A.  C.  Benson,  Lond., 
1887,  new  ed.,  1897;  Adams,  in  Great  English  Churchmen,  pp.  208  ff.  ;  Laud, 
by  a  "Romish  Remnant,"  Lond.,  1894  ;  C.  H.  Vimpkinson,  Lond.,  1894  (see 
The  Nation,  N.  Y..  May  2,  1895,  p.  346  ;  West.  Rev.,  143,  223) ;  W.  H.  Hutton, 
Lond.  and  Bost.,  1895.  See  also  Bright,  Waymarks  of  Church  History,  pp. 
323  fi.,  426  ff.,  and  J.  F.  Stephen,  Horae  Sabbaticse,  Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1892. 


612  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

XII.    CROMWELL. 

Lord  Clarendon  (contemporary),  Hist,  of  the  Rebellion,  best  ed.,  7  vols.,  Oxf., 
1839  ;  M.  Noble,  Memoirs  of  the  Protectoral  Honse  of  Cromwell,  Lond.,  1787  ;  0. 
Cromwell,  Life  of  0.  C.  and  his  Sons,  Lond.,  1820  ;  John  Foster,  in  Statesmen 
of  the  Commonwealth,  7  vols.,  Lond.,  1840— the  best  adverse  account  ;  Thomas 
Carlyle,  Cromwell's  Letters  and  Speeches,  5  vols.,  Lond.,  1845.  This  book  of 
Carlyle  gives  the  letters  and  speeches  of  Cromwell  in  chronological  order, 
with  enough  of  connecting  matter  to  make  them  intelligible.  It  has  been  the 
chief  factor  in  bringing  about  the  remarkable  reversal  of  judgment  con- 
cerning Cromwell,  which  is  one  of  the  chief  features  in  historical  criticism 
in  the  last  fifty  years.  J.  L.  Sanford,  Studies  and  Illustrations  of  the  Great 
Rebellion,  Lond.,  1858.  Lives  by  J.  H.  Merle  d'Aubigne,  Lond.,  1848  ;  F.  P. 
G.  Guizot,  Lond.,  1854;  new  ed.,  1873;  8th  ed.,  1890;  Goldwin  Smith,  in 
Three  English  Statesmen,  Lond.,  1867;  Frederic  Harrison,  Lond.  and  N.  Y., 
1888  ;  J.  A.  Picton,  Lond.,  1882  ;  new  ed.,  1889  (see  Modern  Rev.,  1883,  428) ; 
R.  Pauli,  Lond.,  1888;  R.  F.  D.  Palgrave,  Lond.,  1890— adverse  ;  S.  R.  Gar- 
diner, Hist,  of  the  Commonwealth  and  Protectorate,  2  vols.,  Lond.,  1894-97 
(see  The  Nation,  N.  Y.,  July  4,  1895,  p.  13  ;  The  Dial,  Chicago,  Oct.  1,  1898, 
222-225  ;  West.  Rev.,  Jan.,  1897,  71  ff.,  by  S.  D.  White  ;  The  Quar.  Rev.,  Ap., 

1898,  446  ff.) ;  the  same,  Cromwell's  Place  in  History,  Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1897  ; 
the  same,  Oliver  Cromwell,  Lond.,  1899,  with  rich  illustrations  (Gardiner  has 
made  extensive  researches  in  this  period,  and  his  favorable  judgment  as  to 
Cromwell  is  important;  on  his  last  book  see  The  Athenaeum,  Lond.,  July  29, 

1899,  p.  149)  ;  G.  H.  Clark,  Bost.,  1893  ;  new  ed.,  N.  Y.,  1894  ;  S.  H.  Church, 
N.  Y.  and  Lond.,  1894  ;  new  ed.,  special,  with  ills.,  1899  ;  R.  F.  Horton,  Lond., 
1897  ;  new  ed.,  1899 — religious  aspects  of  his  character  ;  J.  S.  Baldock,  Lond., 
1899 — as  a  soldier  ;  Cooper  King  and  Spenser  Wilkinson,  in  Twelve  Soldiers, 
Lond.,  1899;  G.  H.  Pike,  Lond.,  1899;  Sir  Richard  Tangye,  Lond.,  1899, 
The  Two  Protectors  (on  the  last  three  see  The  Athenaeum,  July  1,  1899, 
29-31).  See  also  Mozley,  Ess.  i,  229  ff.  ;  Bayne,  in  Actors  in  Puritan  Revolu- 
tion, ch.  x  ;  Tulloch,  in  Puritanism  and  its  Leaders,  56  ff.  :  F.  A.  Inderwick, 
in  The  Interregnum  1648-60,  Lond.,  1891  ;  Scot.  Rev.,  Oct.,  1895,  258  ff.— 
Cromwell  before  Edinburgh ;  Quar.  Rev.,  Ap.,  1886;  New  World,  Sep. ,  1898, 
430-452,  by  W.  Kirkus.  The  reading  of  Carlyle,  Harrison,  Gardiner,  Church, 
and  Horton  will  give  the  student  a  fair  and  adequate  conception  of  the  Great 
Protector. 

xni.  MILTON. 
Best  ed.  of  his  Poems  is  by  D.  Masson,  3  vols.,  Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1874  ;  new 
ed.,  1890.  Best  handy  ed.  for  students  is  Masson's,  Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1877,  or 
W.  V.  Moody's  Cambridge  ed.,  Bost.,  1899.  Best  ed.  of  Prose  Works  is 
Bohh's,  5  vols.,  1848-53.  Lives,  by  John  Toland,  Lond.,  1699  ;  new  ed.,  with 
Defense,  1761  ;  Francis  Peck,  1740  ;  Hayley,  1796 ;  C.  E.  Mortimer,  1805— po- 
litical life  ;  Chas.  Symmons,  1806  ;  3d  ed.,  1882  ;  H.  J.  Todd,  Lond.,  1809  ; 
new  ed.,  rewritten,  1826  ;  Jos.  Ivimey,  1833  ;  Wm.  Carpenter,  1836  ;  C.  R.  Ed- 
monds, 1851  ;  E.  P.  Hood,  1852  ;  Thos.  Keightley,  1855— important ;  W.  D. 
Hamilton,  1859  (Camden  Soc.)— important  ;  David  Masson,  7  vols.  incl.  Index 
vol.,  1859-81  ;  new  ed.,  1881  ff. — an  exhaustive  and  definitive  Life  in  connection 
with  the  times,  by  the  author  of  The  Three  Devils,  Luther's,  Milton's,  and 
Goethe's,  Lond.,   1874,  the   art.  on  Milton   in  Enc.  Brit.,  9th  ed.,  and  the 


LITERATURE:    POST-REFORMATION   ENGLAND.  613 

editor  of  Milton's  works,  anonymous,  pub.  by  S.  P.  C.  K.,  1861  ;  W.  C. 
Martyn,  N.  Y.,  1866;  Alfred  Stern,  Milton  und  seine  Zeit,  2  vols.,  Leipz., 
1877-79  ;  Stopford  A.  Brooke,  Lond.,  1879 ;  Mark  Pattison,  Lond.  and  N.  Y., 
1879  ;  Richard  Garnett,  1890 — has  an  admirable  bibliog.  of  39  pp.,  by  John  P. 
Anderson,  of  British  Museum.  There  are  some  notable  articles,  as  by  Ma- 
caulay  in  Essays,  Taine  in  English  Literature,  Matthew  Arnold  in  Essays  in 
Criticism  ;  Van  Dyke  in  Presb.  Rev.,  1883,  681  ff.  ;  Herbert  New  in  Modern  Rev., 
1881,  103  ff.  ;  Bayne  in  Puritan  Revolution,  297  ff.  ;  Lowell  in  Among  my 
Books,  2d  series,  Bost.  and  Lond.,  1876  ;  J.  R.  Seeley  on  his  Political  Opinions 
and  on  his  Poetry  in  Lects.  and  Essays,  89  ff.,  120  ff.;  W.  H.  Stifler,  Theol.  of 
Paradise  Lost,  in  Baptist  Quar.  Rev.,  1883,  135  ff.  ;  Tulloch  in  Puritanism  and 
its  Leaders,  170  ff .  ;  Channing  in  Works  ;  T.  Hunt,  Doctrinal  Error  of  his  later 
life,  in  Bibliotheca  Sacra,  1885,  251  ff.  (compare  same  Review,  xvi,  557  ff., 
xvii,  i  ff.,  and  J.  W.  Morris,  John  Milton,  a  Vindication,  esp.  from  charge  of 
Arianism,  Lond. ,  1862) ;  F.  H.  Newhall  on  Milton  as  a  Reformer,  in  Meth.  Quar. 
Rev.,  1857,  542  ff. 

XIV.    BUNTAN. 

There  are  innumerable  editions  of  BUnyan's  works.  Of  the  Pilgrim's  Progress 
the  Lenox  Library,  New  York,  has  an  extensive  and  unique  collection  of  edi- 
tions. His  biography  is  best  told  in  his  own  Grace  Abounding  to  the  Chief 
of  Sinners.  There  are  Lives  by  Burder,  1786  ;  Hawker,  1822  ;  Southey,  1839  ; 
Philip,  1839  ;  Offor,  1856  ;  Froude,  1880  ;  John  Browne,  1885  ;  newed.,  1888— 
the  best ;  and  Venables  (Great  Writers),  1888.  The  most  interesting  Life  is 
Froude's,  the  most  thorough  and  reliable  is  Browne's,  and  perhaps  the  best 
short  Life  is  Venables.  Macaulay  contributed  his  famous  essay  to  the  Ency- 
clopedia Britannica,  Tulloch  includes  Bunyan  in  his  Puritanism,  393  ff.,  and 
S.  M.  Jackson  has  an  admirable  article  in  the  Sehaff-Herzog  Encyclopaedia. 

XV".    BAXTER. 

Orme,  Works,  23  vols.,  Lond.,  1830.  Lives  by  Baxter  himself  ;  1696,  ab'd 
and  continued  by  Edm.  Calamy,  1702  ;  new  ed.,  with  refutation  of  charges, 
1713;  Wm.  Orme,  2  vols.,  Lond.  and  Bost.,  1831;  Neander,  Berl.,  1833;  V. 
Gerlach,  Berl.,  1836;  G.  D.  Boyle,  Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1884;  J.  H.  Davies, 
Lond.,  1886.  There  are  essays  in  Stoughton,  Lights  of  the  World,  129  ff.  ; 
Stephen,  Ess.  in  Eccl.  Biography,  337  ff .  ;  Ryle,  Bishops  and  Clergy  of  Other 
Days,  156  ff.  ;  Macmillan's  Mag.,  Sept.,  1875 ;  and  Tulloch,  Puritanism,  281  ff. 

XVI.    GEORGE  FOX. 

For  his  works  see  above,  p.  610.  His  autobiography  is  edited,  from  his  Jour- 
nal, by  S.  H.  Newman,  Lond.,  1886.  Lives  by  Josiah  Marsh,  Lond.,  1847;  S. 
M.  Janney,  Phil.,  1852 ;  J.  S.  Watson,  Lond.,  1860 ;  Maria  Webb,  the  Fells  of 
Swarthmoor  Hall  and  their  Friends,  Lond.,  1865  ;  Ruth  S.  Murray,  Valiant  for 
the  Truth,  Cambridge,  Mass.,  1880  ;  A.  C.  Bickley,  Fox  and  the  Early  Quakers, 
Lond.,  1884;  Thos.  Hodgkin,  Lond.  and  Bost.,  1896— the  best  short  Life. 

xvn.  PENN. 

For  a  list  of  his  more  important  works  see  W.  J.  Mann,  in  Sehaff-Herzog, 

s.  v.     There  is  no  modern  edition.     Lives  by  Marsillac,  2  vols.,  Paris,  1791  ; 

W.  Clarkson,  2  vols.,  Lond.,  1813  ;  W.  H.  Dixon,  Lond.,  1851  ;  newed.,  1872 ;  S. 

M.  Janney,  Phil.,  1852;  T.  P.   Cope,  Phil.,  1882  ;  W.  J.   Mann,  Reading,  Pa., 


614  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

1882  (in  German);  John  Stonghton,  Lond.,  1882.  In  regard  to  Macaulay's 
blander  in  his  History  see  W.  E.  Forster,  Penn  and  Macaulay,  Lond.,  1849  ;  in 
pref.  to  new  ed.  of  Clarkson's  Life,  Lond.,  1849  ;  Phil.,  1850  ;  and  J.  Paget, 
Inquiry  into  Macaulay's  Charges,  Lond.,  1858,  reprinted  in  his  New  Examen, 
Edinb.  and  Lond.,  1861. 

XVTII.    BIOGRAPHIES. 

In  regard  to  biographies  the  student  should  read  the  articles  in  the  Diet,  of 
National  Biog.  and  note  the  literature  to  each.  A  few  authorities  are  indi- 
cated here  for  those  for  whom  space  will  not  allow  separate  paragraphs. 
Ussher  :  C.  E.  Elrington,  Dubl.  and  Lond.,  1848.  Jeremy  Taylor:  R.  Heber, 
in  Works,  15  vols.,  1820-22;  rev.  ed.  byC.  P.  Eden,  10  vols.,  1847-54;  Farrar, 
in  Masters  in  Eng.  Theol.,  1877  ;  and Quar.  Rev.,  July,  1871.  Hooker  :  Keble's 
Introd.  to  his  ed.  of  Works ;  Paget's  Introd.  to  his  ed.  of  the  5th  book,  Lond. 
and  N.  Y.,  1899  ;  Izaak  Walton's  Life,  1665  ;  J.  F.  Stephen,  in  Horae  Sabbati- 
cae,  Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1892.  Howe  :  Life  by  Calamy,  in  Works,  by  Henry 
Rogers,  Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1836,  and  by  R.  F.  Horton,  Lond.  and  Bost.,  1896. 
Sir  John  Eliot  :  John  Forster,  2  vols.,  Lond.,  1864  ;  new  ed.,  1871  (Quar.  Rev., 
cxvii,  29).  Sir  Harry  Vane  :  Geo.  Sikes,  1662  ;  Charles  W.  Upham,  in 
Sparks,  American  Biography,  Bost.,  1835;  John  Forster,  in  British  Statesmen 
of  the  Commonwealth,  Lond.,  1840  ;  and,  especially,  James  K.  Hosmer,  Young 
Sir  Harry  Vane,  Bost.  and  Lond.,  1888 ;  see  also  Bayne,  Puritan  Revolution, 
347  ff.,  and  Westm.  Rev.,  Jan.,  1889  (exxxi,  64  ff.).  Owen  :  Wm.  Orme,  Life, 
in  vol.  i  of  Thos.  Russell's  edition  of  Owen's  Works,  Lond.,  1826  (in  27  vols., 
including  Ep.  to  Hebrews)  ;  Andrew  Thomson,  Life,  in  Wm.  H.  Goold's  ed. 
of  Owen's  works,  24  vols.,  Edinb.,  1850-55,  17  vols.;  Phil.,  1865-69,  with  in- 
dex. Joseph  Hall  :  See  Works,  ed.  by  Josiah  Pratt,  10  vols.,  Lond.,  1808  ;  by 
Peter  Hall,  12  vols.,  Oxf.,  1839  ;  and  by  Philip  Winter,  10  vols.,  Oxf.,  1863  ; 
Lives  by  John  Jones,  Lond.,  1826,  and  George  Lewis,  Lond.,  1886  ;  Bishop 
Hall  and  His  Times,  in  Church  Quar.  Rev.,  July,  1886,  art.  iv.  Thomas  Fuller  : 
Lives  by  A.  T.  Russell,  Lond.,  1844 ;  J.  E.  Bailey,  Lond.,  1874  ;  Morris  Fuller, 
Lond.,  2d  ed.,  1886  ;  Henry  Rogers,  in  Essays.  There  is  a  17th  century  anony- 
mous eulogy  reprinted  in  vol.  i  of  J.  S.  Brewer's  edition  of  his  Church  His- 
tory, 6  vols.,  Oxf.,  1845.  Bailey's  extensive  collection  of  books  relating  to 
Fuller  is  now  (and  since  1889)  in  the  Manchester  Free  Library.  A  selection 
from  his  sermons  was  ed.  by  J.  E.  Bailey  and  W.  E.  Axon,  Lond.,  1892. 


POST-REFORMATION  ENGLAND.  615 


II.    GREAT    BRITAIN. 
CHAPTEE  I. 

POST-REFORMATION  ENGLAND. 

The  Puritans  were  the  Protestant  party  in  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land. What  were  the  sources  of  Puritanism  ?  (1)  The  Lollards. 
As  we  have  seen,1  the  Lollard  movement  was  based  on  THE 
Scripture,  and  so  discarded  the  hierarchy  and  the  lollards. 
whole  mediaeval  church  system.  The  Anglican  Reformation  was 
based  on  kingly  absolutism,  and  so  threw  overboard  the  pope,  but 
deliberately  retained  all  that  it  could  of  the  old  doctrines  and 
ways.  But  the  Wyclif  reformation  had  left  an  ineradicable  impress 
on  large  sections  of  the  people. 

(2)  The  Bible.  The  history  of  English  Bible  translation  is  a 
fascinating  chapter,  but  it  must  be  passed  over  cursorily.  Wyclif 's 
version  from  the  Vulgate  (1380)  did  good  work  in  its  THE  ENGLISH 
day.2  William  Tyndale,  one  of  the  first  fruits  of  the  BIBLE- 
Reformation,  who  could  find  no  place  in  England  for  his  good 
work,  published  the  New  Testament  at  Worms  in  1525,  and  the 
Pentateuch  in  1530.  He  worked  immediately  from  the  Greek  and 
Hebrew.  His  version  is  racy  and  idiomatic,  and  forms  the  basis 
of  all  later  translations.  Tyndale  himself  suffered  martyrdom  at 
Vilvorde,  near  Brussels,  October  6,  1536.  It  was  for  circulating 
his  Bible  that  some  of  his  brethren  of  the  vanguard  suffered  under 
Henry.  Miles  Coverdale,  whom  we  shall  meet  later,  knew  little 
Hebrew  or  Greek,  but  did  know  German  and  Latin,  so  that  the 
title-page  of  his  Bible,  printed  probably  by  Froschover  at  Zurich  in 
1535,  reads  :  "  Biblia  :  the  Bible,  that  is,  the  Holy  Scriptures  of 
the  Old  and  New  Testament,  faithfully  and  truly  translated  out 
of  the  Douche  and  Latin  into  English,  MDXXXV."  Coverdale's 
idiom  is  strong  and  forceful,  and  it  is  his  version  which  is  the 
basis  of  the  Psalter  in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer.  The  chap- 
lain of  the  English  merchants  at  Antwerp,  John  Rogers,  was  a 
friend  of  Tyndale,  fell  heir  to  his  manuscripts,  and  in  1537  pub- 
lished an  English  Bible,  which  from  Genesis  to  2  Chronicles  was 
1  Above,  pp.  44  f.  2  See  above,  p.  24. 


616  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Tyndale's,  and  the  rest  Coverdale's,  but  edited  and  revised  by  him, 
with  valuable  prefatory  matter,  including  a  table  of  principal  mat- 
ters contained  in  the  Bible,  a  kind  of  Bible  index  and  concordance, 
with  summaries  before  each  chapter,  and  excellent  notes — textual, 
doctrinal,  and  practical — at  the  end.  The  indefatigable  Rogers, 
who  was  burned  at  Smithfield  in  1555, '  published  his  Bible  under 
a  pseudonym  (Thomas  Matthew)  probably  at  Wittenberg,  and  his 
excellent  book  is  the  basis  of  the  Authorized  Version. 

Richard  Taverner,  a  fine  Greek  scholar,  revised  the  so-called 
Matthew  Bible  at  the  suggestion  of  Cromwell,  and  in  the  New 
Testament  made  some  excellent  improvements  which  have  been 
retained  in  the  Common  Version.  It  was  published  in  London  in 
1539,  and  later  appeared  in  parts,  which  helped  its  circulation. 
It  had  official  sanction  and  was  allowed  to  be  read  in  churches. 
The  same  year,  and  a  little  before  Taverner's,  appeared  the  Great 
Bible,  so-called  on  account  of  its  size,  which  is  a  revision  of  Tyn- 
dale,  Coverdale,  and  Rogers  by  Coverdale  himself,  undertaken  at 
the  request  of  Cromwell,  and  executed,  on  account  of  better  type 
and  presses,  in  Paris  until  the  Inquisition  pounced  down  upon  the 
printers,  when  the  work  was  removed  to  London.  This  famous 
Bible,  which  on  account  of  the  preface  by  Cranmer  in  the  editions 
of  1540  and  later  has  been  misnamed  Cranmer's  Bible,  and  which 
ought  really  to  be  called  Coverdale's  second  Bible,  was  very  popular, 
and  is  the  only  English  version  which  received  formal  royal  sanc- 
tion— the  only  true  Authorized  Version. i  From  it  were  taken  the 
greater  part  of  the  Scriptures  in  the  Prayer  Books  of  1549  and 
1552.  On  the  whole,  however,  this  Bible  is  inferior  to  John 
Rogers's. 

More  valuable  than  any  of  the  preceding  was  the  Genevan  Bible, 
1560,  prepared  by  Whittingham,  Sampson,  and  Gilby,  assisted  by 
™™  „,™™        the  Genevan  exiles,  who  had  the  advantage  of  both 

THE  GENE- 

van  bible.  larger  apparatus  and  better  scholarship,  and  which  was 
published  at  the  expense  of  the  English  congregation  at  Geneva, 
of  which  John  Bodley,  father  of  the  founder  of  the  Bodleian 

1  See  above,  p.  421. 

2  The  Great  Bible  remained  the  Authorized  Version  for  twenty-eight  years. 
See  Eadie,  The  English  Bible,  i,  383.  The  reviser  had  before  him  Luther's 
version,  the  Zurich  version,  the  Latin  translation  of  Sanctes  Pagninus,  1528, 
and  Sebastian  Munster,  1534-35,  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  the  Latin  version  of 
Erasmus,  1535,  in  the  New. — Mombert,  Handbook  of  the  English  Versions  of 
the  Bible,  p.  209.  It  contains  numerous  paraphrastic  and  supplementary 
clauses  from  the  Vulgate,  which  render  it  a  less  faithful  work  than  that  of 
Rogers. 


POST-REFORMATION  ENGLAND.  617 

Library,  was  a  generous  member.  It  was  fortified  with  notes, 
original  or  selected,  treating  of  theology,  history,  and  geography. 
On  this  Bible  the  Puritans  were  nurtured.  It  was  the  popular 
English  Bible  of  the  seventeenth  century,  more  than  one  hundred 
and  thirty  editions  having  been  published  up  to  1644.  It  was  a 
long  time  before  the  so-called  Authorized  Version  of  1611  dis- 
placed it,  and  among  the  factors  which  made  England  a  Protestant 
nation  we  must  remember  the  Genevan  Bible  and  its  notes.  The 
first  Bible  printed  in  Scotland,  1579,  was  the  Genevan.1  The  suc- 
cess of  the  Genevan  Bible  and  dissatisfaction  with  the  Great  Bible 
induced  Archbishop  Parker  to  put  forth  another  version  under 
Church  auspices.  He  farmed  out  the  various  books  among  eight 
bishops  and  other  learned  men,  who  were  carefully  to  revise  the 
Great  Bible  with  reference  to  the  original  texts  and  best  versions. 
The  result — the  Bishops'  Bible — was  published  in  superb  form  in 
1568,  and  in  a  much  improved  and  final  edition  in  1572,  which 
last  forms  the  immediate  groundwork  of  the  Authorized  Version. 
Much  of  the  revision  was  carefully  done,  but  parts  of  it,  especially 
in  the  Old  Testament,  were  slighted.  The  influence  of  the  Gene- 
van Bible  was  apparent  everywhere.  The  Bishops'  Bible  had 
much  prefatory  and  explanatory  matter,  many  of  the  notes  being 
borrowed  from  the  Genevan.  This  brief  outline  of  the  history  of 
the  English  Bible  will  indicate  one  source  at  least  of  the  Protes- 
tantism of  Elizabeth's  reign. 

(3)  Foxe's  Book  of  Martyrs.  Foxe  was  a  learned  and  liberal- 
minded  divine,  who  occupied  the  time  of  his  exile  on  the  Continent 
in  writing  a  Church  History,  Acts  and  Monuments  of  FOXE,g  BOOK 
these  Latter  Perilous  Days  Touching  Matters  of  the  OF  martyrs. 
Churches,  which  he  published  in  Basel  in  Latin  in  1554,  and  en- 
larged in  English  in  1563.  It  passed  through  many  editions,  and 
was  ordered  by  Elizabeth  to  be  placed  in  the  common  halls  of 
archbishops,  bishops,  and  deans,  and  in  all  the  colleges  and  chapels 
in  England.  The  Bible  and  Foxe's  book  were  thus  chained  side 
by  side,  the  one  to  set  forth  what  the  true  faith  is,  and  the  other 
the  efforts  to  exterminate  that  faith  from  the  earth.     The  influence 

1  The  edition  of  1560  is  sometimes  called  the  Breeches  Bible  from  its  render- 
ing of  Gen.  iii,  7.  The  Genevan  was  the  first  to  restore  the  original  form  of 
the  Hebrew  names,  the  first  to  omit  St.  Paul  from  the  title  of  the  Epistle  to 
the  Hebrews,  the  first  to  use  italic  letters  for  supplemental  words,  and  the  first 
to  deal  with  any  critical  discrimination  with  the  Apocrypha.  Eadie  well  says 
the  preeminence  of  this  "  learned  and  cautious  revision"  in  England  was  well 
deserved — ii,  15.  So  late  as  1765  the  Genevan  notes  appear  in  an  edition  of 
the  Authorized  Version  of  1611. 


618  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

of  Foxe  on  the  feelings  and  intellect  of  the  English  people  was  in- 
calculable. Hatred  of  Kome  soon  became  a  national  character- 
istic.1 

(4)  Geneva  and  Germany.  During  Mary's  reign  English  exiles 
poured  into  the  Continent.  They  formed  churches  at  Frankfort, 
English  Geneva,  and  elsewhere.     They  came  in  contact  with 

on  the  more  earnest  types  of  Protestantism,  and  were  pro- 

continent.  fovmciiy  influenced  thereby.  Especially  did  Calvin 
and  his  Church-state  system  at  Geneva  powerfully  affect  them. 
His  holiness  and  loftiness  of  character,  his  clear  intelligence  and 
wide  learning,  his  compact,  logical,  and  scriptural  theology,  made 
a  tremendous  impression  on  all  who  knew  him  either  personally  or 
by  his  writings,  and  during  Eeformation  times  Geneva  became  the 
home  of  Protestantism.  There  were  colonies  of  Englishmen  in 
several  of  the  towns  of  the  Continent.  They  had  their  own  serv- 
ices, their  own  pastors,  their  own  literature.  Here  they  translated 
the  Bible  into  English,  made  their  English  hymns  and  liturgies, 
and  were  free  to  carry  their  reform  as  far  as  they  chose.  When 
these  men  returned  to  England,  after  the  death  of  Mary,  they 
were  stanch  Protestants.  They  were  the  nucleus  of  the  Puri- 
tan party,  which  at  length  saved  English  religion  and  English 
liberty. 

1  "  When  we  recollect  that,  until  the  appearance  of  the  Pilgrim's  Progress  in 
the  next  century,  the  common  people  had  almost  no  reading  matter  except 
the  Bible  and  Foxe's  Book  of  Martyrs,  we  can  understand  the  deep  impression 
that  this  book  produced,  and  how  it  served  to  mold  the  national  character. 
Those  who  could  read  found  there  the  full  details  of  all  atrocities  committed 
on  the  Protestant  reformers  ;  the  illiterate  could  see  the  rude  illustrations  of 
the  various  instruments  of  torture,  the  rack,  the  gridiron,  the  boiling  oil,  and 
then  the  holy  martyrs  breathing  out  their  souls  amid  the  flames.  Take  now  a 
people  just  awakening  to  a  new  intellectual  and  religious  life  ;  let  several  gen- 
erations of  them  from  childhood  to  old  age  pore  over  such  a  book  as  this,  and 
its  stories  become  traditions  as  indelible  and  almost  as  potent  as  songs  and 
customs  on  a  nation's  life.  All  the  fiendish  acts  there  narrated  were  the  work 
of  the  Church  of  Kome,  for  no  hint  was  given  of  any  other  side  to  the  story. 
No  wonder  that  among  the  masses,  aside  from  any  religious  sentiment  or  convic- 
tion, there  grew  up  a  horror  and  detestation  of  the  pope  and  the  Romish  Church 
which  have  not  entirely  lost  their  force  after  three  centuries  of  Protestant  dom- 
ination. The  influence  of  this  feeling  on  the  English  people  can  hardly  be 
exaggerated.  The  country  squires  who  came  to  the  parliament  of  Elizabeth,  as 
a  rule,  probably  cared  little  for  religion,  but  they  were  united  in  their  hatred 
of  the  papal  power,  and  this  hatred,  always  coupled  with  a  dread,  became 
more  intense  as  time  went  on." — Douglas  Campbell,  The  Puritan  in  Holland, 
England,  and  America  (N.  Y.,  Harpers,  1892),  i,  442-443.  Later  editions,  1610 
ff.,  were  illustrated  with  copper  cuts. 


POST-REFORMATION   ENGLAND.  619 

(5)  Holland.  We  cannot  omit  the  Low  Countries  when  we  con- 
sider the  sources  of  Puritanism.  The  debt  which  England  owes 
to  the  little  country  across  the  channel,  which,  although  only  one 
fourth  her  size,  had  in  the  seventeenth  century  as  RELATIONs 
large  a  population  and  much  more  wealth,  has  only  °Nif  hol^nd 
recently  been  investigated  or  acknowledged.  Skeat  LA*D- 
was  the  first  to  call  attention  to  it.  "I  am  convinced  that  the 
influence  of  the  Dutch  upon  the  English  has  been  much  under- 
rated, and  closer  attention  to  this  question  might  throw  some 
light  even  upon  English  history.  History  tells  us  that  our  rela- 
tions with  the  Netherlands  have  often  been  rather  close.  We  read 
of  Flemish  mercenary  soldiers  being  employed  by  the  Normans, 
and  of  Flemish  settlements  in  Wales,  '  where,'  says  old  Fabyan,  I 
know  not  with  what  truth,  '  they  remained  a  long  while,  but  after 
they  spread  all  England  over/  We  may  recall  the  alliance  of  Ed- 
ward III  and  the  free  towns  of  Flanders,  and  the  importation  by 
Edward  of  Flemish  weavers."  l  Especially  during  the  Spanish 
wars  Dutch  refugees  swarmed  over  England.  About  all  the  finer 
industries  of  the  English  were  in  the  hands  of  the  Dutch.  Their 
weavers  made  Norwich  the  second  city  in  the  kingdom.  A  stop- 
page of  trade  with  Flanders  would  have  broken  half  the  mer- 
chants in  London.2  It  is  estimated  that  between  fifty  and  a 
hundred  thousand  came  over  to  England  during  the  persecu- 
tions. There  were  ten  thousand  in  London,  and  as  early  as 
1587  there  were  nearly  five  thousand  in  Norwich.  These  refu- 
gees were  the  most  intelligent  people  in  Europe.  Holland  was 
the  instructor  of  Europe  in  agriculture,  navigation,  commerce, 
physical  research,  medical  knowledge — the  mother  of  scholars 
and  jurists.  "It  was  the  center  of  varied  literary  activity  when 
England  was  enveloped  in  the  gross  darkness  of  ignorance,  and 
more  books  teemed  from  its  presses  than  from  all  other  parts  of  the 
Continent."  3 

1  Etymological  Diet.,  Pref. 

2  Green,  Short  History  of  English  People,  p.  381. 

3  Gregory,  Puritanism,  Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1896,  p.  205.  "  There  is  no  nation 
in  Europe,"  says  the  late  Thorold  Rogers,  "  which  owes  more  to  Holland  than 
England  does." — Story  of  Holland,  p.  380.  The  first  man  to  set  forth  ade- 
quately England's  and  America's  debt  to  Holland  was  the  late  Douglas  Camp- 
bell (d.  1893),  of  the  New  York  bar,  son  of  Judge  William  Campbell,  of  Cherry 
Valley,  N.  Y.,  author  of  Annals  of  Tryon  County,  in  his  great  work,  The  Puri- 
tan in  Holland,  England,  and  America,  2  vols.,  N.  Y.,  1892.  It  is  the  result 
of  many  years'  study  and  of  the  researches  of  many  hands  in  the  Dutch 
archives. 


620  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

"What  were  the  principles  of  the  Puritans  ?  The  Puritans 
eventually  divided  themselves  into  three  classes  :  Episcopal,  Pres- 
byterian, and  Congregational  ;  hut  at  first  they  were  simply  the 
Protestants  of  the  Church  of  England  who  desired  the 
of  puri-  Reformation  to  be  carried  out  to  a  Protestant  issue. 
But  it  was  upon  matters  of  practice  rather  than  of 
theology  that  the  earliest  emphasis  was  placed.  The  documents 
of  the  times  do  not  show  that  the  Puritans  objected  to  the  Thirty- 
nine  Articles,  the  most  of  which  they  took  as  Protestant  and  inter- 
preted the  rest  in  a  Protestant  sense. 

One  of  their  grievances  was  the  excessive  power  of  the  sovereign 
in  things  ecclesiastical.  The  supremacy  of  the  king  in  the  Church 
of  England  was  a  most  real  thing.  He  had  the  power  to  judge  in 
opposition  theological  controversies  and  to  enforce  his  decision 
pREMA<fY  m~  under  penalties ;  he  had  the  power  of  ecclesiastical 
the  chukch.  discipline  and  was  the  supreme  judge  in  spiritual 
courts;  he  had  the  power  of  ordaining  such,  ceremonials  as  he 
thought  best ;  he  could  nominate  bishops ;  no  association  of  clergy 
could  be  held  without  his  permission,  and  no  laws  passed  by  such 
convocation  were  of  any  avail  until  indorsed  by  the  king.  This 
regal  papacy,  though  it  has  been  abated  somewhat  and  its  techni- 
cal forms  changed,  is  still  the  charter  of  the  Established  Church, 
as  eminent  authorities  have  had  recently  to  remind  High  Church- 
men,1 and  Elizabeth  was  not  a  ruler  to  minify  her  office.  Hooker 
himself  states  the  same  when  he  says  :  "If  the  whole  ecclesiastical 
State  should  stand  in  need  of  being  visited  and  reformed  ;  or  when 
any  part  of  the  Church  is  infested  with  errors,  schisms,  heresies, 
etc.,  whatsoever  spiritual  power  the  legates  had  from  the  see  of 
Rome  and  exercised  in  the  right  of  the  pope  for  remedying  evils, 
without  violating  the  laws  of  God  or  nature ;  as  much  in  every 
degree  have  our  laws  fully  granted  to  the  king  forever,  whether  he 
thinks  fit  to  do  it  by  ecclesiastical  synods,  or  otherwise  according 
to  law."  2  It  is  evident  that  no  one  who  had  caught  the  New 
Testament  conception  of  a  church  could  be  content  with  such  a 
scheme  as  that.  But  the  Puritans  took  the  oath  of  supremacy,  as 
some  of  the  Catholics  did  not,  with  the  interpretation  or  under- 
standing that  no  more  was  intended  than  "that  her  majesty, 
under  God,  had  the  sovereignty  or  rule  over  all  persons  born  in 

1  See  Sir  Wm.  Harcourt,  Lawlessness  in  the  National  Church,  Lond.  and 
N.  Y.,  1899  ;  Edmund  Robertson,  Q.C.,  M.P.,  The  Church  of  England  as  by 
Law  Established,  in  Nineteenth  Century,  May,  1899,  733  ff. 

4  Eccl.  Polity,  viii,  sec.  8. 


POST-REFORMATION    ENGLAND.  621 

her  realms,  either  ecclesiastical  or  temporal,  so  as  no  foreign  power 
had  or  ought  to  have  authority  over  them." ' 

An  idea  of  the  Puritan  contention  may  be  gathered  from  the 
papers  presented  by  their  divines  to  the  convocation,  1562,  in 
which  they  urged  the  discontinuance  of  private  baptism  and  bap- 
tism by  women,  of  the  cross  in  baptism,  of  organs, 

,  ,.  ip  •  ,i  7.        i         PURITANS  AT 

copes,  and  surplices,  and  of  saints  days  and  festivals  convocation 
(except  for  voluntary  historical  commemoration). 
They  urged  that  kneeling  at  communion  be  made  voluntary,  and 
that  the  minister  "in  Common  Prayer  turn  his  face  toward  the 
people,  and  then  read  distinctly  the  service  appointed,  that  the 
people  may  hear  and  be  edified.  "*  These  modest  propositions 
were  rejected  by  a  majority  of  only  one.  From  a  plan  of  reform 
sketched  by  Cartwright  we  learn  something  additional.  (1)  The 
names  and  functions  of  archbishops  and  archdeacons  ought  to  be 
abolished  as  having  no  foundation  in  Scripture.  (2)  The  offices  of 
the  lawful  ministers  of  the  Church,  namely,  bishops  and  deacons, 
ought  to  be  reduced  to  their  apostolical  institution :  bishops  to 
preach  the  word  of  God  and  pray,  and  deacons  to  be  employed  in 
taking  care  of  the  poor.  (3)  The  government  of  the  Church 
ought  not  to  be  intrusted  to  bishops'  chancellors  or  the  officials 
of  archdeacons  ;  but  every  church  ought  to  be  governed  by  its  own 
ministers  and  presbyters.  (4)  Ministers  ought  not  to  be  at  large, 
but  every  one  should  have  charge  of  a  certain  flock.  (5)  No  man 
ought  to  solicit  or  to  stand  as  a  candidate  for  the  ministry.  (6) 
Bishops  ought  not  to  be  created  by  civil  authority,  but  ought  to 
be  fairly  chosen  by  the  Church.3 

Anglicans  declared  these  propositions  untrue  and  dangerous,  and 
for  these  and  others  Cartwright  was  expelled  from  the 

r\  •  CART- 

university.     Other  propositions  were  drawn  from  his     wright's 

1  1  A  T  1  T        i  n  EXPULSION 

lectures  by  Anglicans,  but  exactlv  how  far  they  repre-     from 

,    ,    .  r  °  ,  ,     _  tJ    _,  -    .  i  CAMBRIDGE. 

sent  his  views  we  do  not  know.      Some  of  these  were 
of  minor  importance  ;  but  the  proposition  which  included  all  the 
rest  was :  In  reforming  the   Church,   reduce  all    things  to    the 
apostolic  model. 

One  could  readily  arrange  the  beliefs  of  the  Anglicans  and  Puri- 
tans in  parallel  columns  somewhat  as  follows  : 

JNeal,  Hist,  of  the  Puritans,  To-olmin's  ed.,  1822,  i,  114. 
2  Neal,  i,  150  f. 

3Neal,  i,  212.  Comp.  C.  A.  Briggs,  art.  Thomas  Cartwright,  in  Schaff-Her- 
zog,  i,  410. 

4  See  these  propositions  in  Neal,  i,  212-214. 


622 


HISTORY    OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


ANGLICANS. 

The  prince  has  authority  to  reform 
the  Church  in  doctrine  and  discipline 
in  his  own  territory,  and  no  foreign 
spiritual  authority  has  power  in  Eng- 
land. 

The  Church  of  Rome,  though  cor- 
rupt, is  a  true  Church,  and  her  minis- 
trations and  orders  valid. 

The  Holy  Scriptures  are  a  rule  of 
faith  and  life,  but  are  not  a  standard 
of  ecclesiastical  government,  matters 
of  that  kind  being  left  to  the  civil 
magistrate  to  be  ordered  according  to 
the  exigencies  of  the  times. 


The  ancient  Church  until  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  papacy  furnishes  a 
proper  model  to  later  times,  and  the 
gradations  of  deans,  archdeacons, 
bishops,  and  archbishops  ought  to  be 
retained. 

Those  rites,  ceremonies,  and  vest- 
ments which  are  neither  commanded 
nor  forbidden  in  the  New  Testament 
are  left  free  to  the  Church,  and  when 
the  civil  ruler  commands  them  they 
are  obligatory  on  the  conscience. 


PURITANS. 

The  Church  has  the  sole  power  of 
reformation,  and  ought  not  to  be  sub- 
ject to  the  will  of  the  ruler  in  matters 
of  religion.  No  foreign  authority  has 
power  in  England. 

The  Church  of  Rome  is  no  true 
Church ;  her  pope  is  antichrist,  her 
ministrations  idolatrous,  and  her  orders 
of  no  value. 

The  Holy  Scriptures  are  not  only  a 
rule  of  faith,  but  also  of  Church  pol- 
ity, and  nothing  is  to  be  imposed  on 
the  conscience  but  what  can  be  de- 
rived from  them.  Where  they  are 
silent  the  arrangements  of  Church  life 
are  in  the  hands  of  her  spiritual  offi- 
cers only. 

Let  us  keep  close  to  the  New  Testa- 
ment, and  discard  all  later  hierarchical 
development.  The  ministers  and  lay 
officers  of  apostolic  times  are  suffi- 
cient. 

Things  which  Christ  has  left  indif- 
ferent ought  not  to  be  incorporated  in 
the  civil  law,  because  that  abridges  the 
freedom  with  which  Christ  has  made 
us  free.  At  the  same  time  such  cere- 
monies and  vestments  as  are  closely 
connected  with  the  worship  of  Rome 
are  not  indifferent,  but  are  to  be  re- 
jected, because  they  lead  men  into  su- 
perstition and  idolatry,  and  tend  to 
bring  again  the  spell  of  popery. ' 


DOCTRINAL 
AGREEMENT 
OF  ANGLI- 
CANS  AND 
PURITANS. 


On  the  main  points  of  doctrine  both  were  agreed.  Both  were 
Calvinistic,  though  many  Anglican  divines  later  be- 
came Arminian.2  Both  held  to  the  necessity  of  uni- 
formity in  religion,  the  Puritans  being  as  strenuous 
as  the  others  in  denying  toleration,  only  holding 
that  the  State  should  learn  what  ought  to  be  enforced  from  the 

1  See  a  statement  of  the  principles  of  the  two  parties  in  Neal,  i,  123-126.  C. 
A.  Briggs,  Principles  of  the  Puritans,  in  Presb.  Rev.,  Oct.,  1884,  656  ff.,  is  a 
consideration  of  some  points  in  later  Puritanism  with  special  reference  to 
present  times. 

''  For  full  proof  of  the  Calvinism  of  the  early  Anglican  divines  see  Fisher, 
Reformation,  pp.  335-339,  with  the  references. 


POST-REFORMATION  ENGLAND.  623 

ecclesiastical  authorities.  A  singular  evolution  of  history  has 
brought  the  present  High  Church  party  in  this  respect  to  the 
exact  position  of  the  Puritans.  2sor  was  there  much  diirerence  as 
to  the  episcopal  constitution  of  the  Church,  English  reformers  at 
the  first  not  insisting  on  the  divine  right  of  episcopacy,  but  on  its 
historic  right  as  an  ancient  and  fitting  polity.  They  went  back 
to  the  ancient  thought  expressed  by  Jerome,'  and  recognized  by 
mediaeval  canonists,3  of  the  essential  and  original  identity  of  pres- 
byters and  bishops,  and  therefore  received  without  question  men 
who  had  only  presbyterial  ordination  and  gave  them  benefices  and 
church  preferments."  This  state  of  things  continued  with  more 
or  less  general  recognition  for  a  hundred  years. 

•AdTitum,  i,  7. 

2  See  quotations  and  references  in  Gieseler,  Ch.  Hist.,  i,  sec.  30  (ed.  H.  B. 
Smith,  i,  90,  91).  "Nor  does  it  appear  that  this  view  [original  identity  of 
presbyters  and  bishops]  was  ever  questioned  until  the  era  of  the  Reformation. 
In  the  Western  Church,  at  all  events,  it  carried  the  sanction  of  the  highest 
ecclesiastical  authorities,  and  was  maintained  even  by  popes  and  councils." — 
Lightfoot,  The  Christian  Ministry,  reproduced  in  Dissertations  on  the  Apos- 
tolic Age,  Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1892,  p.  194. 

3  For  the  proof  of  this  in  extenso  see  Fisher,  The  Reformation,  pp.  332-335, 
and  especially  the  same  author's  elaborate  essay  on  The  Relation  of  the  Church 
of  England  to  the  other  Protestant  Bodies,  in  Discussions  in  History  and  The- 
ology, pp.  176-226.  Comp.  Hallam,  Constitutional  History  of  England,  ch. 
vii  (i,  387,  Am.  Standard  ed.) ;  Makower,  Constitutional  Hist,  of  the  Church  of 
England,  pp.  181,  182.  Parliament  of  1571  recognized  the  right  of  persons  or- 
dained in  other  ways  than  by  the  Prayer  Book  form  to  undisputed  place  in  the 
Church.  Bacon,  Advertisement  respecting  the  Controversies  of  the  Church  of 
England,  written  probably  in  1589,  and  printed  in  the  works  of  Francis  Bacon, 
ed.  Spedding,  Ellis  and  Heath,  viii,  87  ff . ,  recognizes  the  denial  of  the  validity 
of  nonepiscopal  ordination  as  a  novelty  :  "  Yea,  and  some  indiscreet  persons 
have  been  bold  in  open  preaching  to  use  dishonorable  and  derogatory  speech 
and  censure  of  the  Churches  abroad  ;  and  that  so  far  as  some  of  our  men  or- 
dained in  foreign  parts  have  been  pronounced  to  be  no  lawful  ministers."  So 
late  as  1660  Bramhall,  archbishop  of  Armagh,  in  reordaining  presbyterially 
consecrated  ministers,  did  so  apologetically,  saying  that  he  did  not  mean  to 
call  in  question  their  orders,  much  less  the  standing  of  the  foreign  Protestant 
Churches,  but  to  conform  to  the  canons  of  the  Church  of  England ;  and  in 
1664  the  University  of  Oxford  rebuked  Laud  for  maintaining  in  his  thesis  for 
Bachelor  of  Divinity  that  there  could  be  no  true  Church  without  bishops. 


C24  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


CHAPTEE    II. 

THE    PURITANS    UNDER    ELIZABETH. 

The  rock  on  which  the  Church  of  England  split  was  the  act  of 

Uniformity,  1559.     Except  for  a  brief  period  it  was  that  which  set 

the  pace  for  the  Church  in  her  relation  to  dissenters 

TTTF  APT  OF 

uniformity,    and  Protestants  until  the  Revolution  of  1688.     That 

1559 

act  declared  that  the  second  Prayer  Book  of  Edward 
VI,  with  all  the  rites  and  ceremonies  which  it  approved,  was  now  in 
force,  and  that  any  minister  who  did  not  use  it  or  who  varied  from 
it  would,  for  the  first  offense,  forfeit  his  income  for  the  next  year 
after  his  conviction  and  be  imprisoned  for  six  months,  for  his  sec- 
ond offense  be  imprisoned  for  one  year  and  forfeit  all  right  to  any 
spiritual  office,  and  for  his  third  offense  be  imprisoned  for  life.  It 
also  made  attendance  at  church  obligatory  under  the  penalty  of  fine, 
and  provided  that  "  such  ornaments  of  the  church  and  of  the  min- 
isters thereof  shall  be  retained  and  be  in  use  "  as  were  in  the  second 
year  of  the  reign  of  Edward  VI.  Those  acquainted  with  church  his- 
tory need  not  be  surprised  that  the  first  troubles  with  the  Puritans 
were  over  the  "  ornaments  " — such  an  apparently  trifling  thing  as 
the  vestments  or  garments  of  the  clergy. 

Ecclesiologists  have  shown  that  the  so-called  sacred  vestments  of 

the  clergy  all  sprung  from  secular  or  ordinary  origin  or  use,  that 

not  one  of  them  had  anv  religious  signficance.     Thus 

SECULAR  .  J  °  .  °  .     -  .     . 

origin  of         the  alb  (white  garment)  was  the  white  shirt  (camisia) 

VESTMENTS. 

of  the  laboring  man,  and  was  first  used  in  the  church 
by  the  deacon,  who  as  the  workingman  of  the  clergy  officiated, 
as  it  were,  in  his  shirt  sleeves.  The  surplice  (super  pellicium,  the 
over-fur)  was  the  shirt  or  garment  (practically  the  same  as  the 
alb)  worn  indoor  and  out  by  both  clergy  and  laity,  especially  in 
the  northern  climates,  over  the  fur  or  skin  coat.  Even  this  tribute 
to  appearances  was  quite  late,  as  St.  Martin  of  Tours  (d.  409),  the 
apostle  of  the  Gauls,  when  he  officiated  "consecrated  the  eucharis- 
tic  elements  with  his  bare  arms,  which  came  through  the  sheepskin 
like  those  of  the  sturdy  deacons  who  had  brandished  their  sinewy 
arms  out  of  the  holes  of  their  colobium."  The  ordinary  overcoat  of 
the  ancients  (lacerna,pcenula,  Gr.  plicelone)  was  the  parent  of  more 
than  one  ecclesiastical   garment  :   the  cassock   (from  It.  casacca, 


IN  LIGHT 
ESTEEM  BY 
EARLY 
PROTESTANT 
LEADERS. 


THE   PURITANS   UNDER  ELIZABETH.  625 

great  coat,  the  Italian's  "little  house" — casa — as  he  called  it);  the 
chasuble  (from  casula,  little  house),  and  the  cope  or  cape.  The 
stole  was  a  handkerchief  for  the  face,  used  also  to  give  signal  for 
prayers  (hence  called  ovarium),  and  finally  used  as  a  distinct  cleri- 
cal badge — a  kind  of  sash  to  be  worn  over  one  shoulder  by  the  dea- 
con and  over  both  by  the  priest.  All  clerical  garments  had  a  secu- 
lar origin,  and  when  used  by  the  clergy  had  no  religious  signifi- 
cance whatever.  As  the  Jesuit  Sirmondus  says,  "  The  color  and 
form  of  dress  were  in  the  beginning  the  same  for  ecclesiastics  and 
laymen." ' 

It  is  evident  that  if  the  Puritans  could  have  taken  a  broad  his- 
torical view  of  vestments  they  would  have  looked  upon  them  as  Paul 
did  upon  the  heathen  feasts  and  meat  sacrificed  to  idols,  as  things 
of  no  consequence,  "nothing,"2  and  toward  which  a  Christian 
had  perfect  liberty  so  long  as  he  did  not  scandalize  a  vestments 
weaker  brother.  And  so  earnest  a  reformer  as  Calvin 
took  something  of  that  view,  calling  the  vestments 
tolerabiles  ineptice,  and  in  his  letters  rather  urging 
conformity  upon  his  English  brethren,  though  he  himself  swept 
them  away,  retaining,  however,  the  scholar's  or  pulpit  gown.  But 
all  the  really  Protestant  reformers  of  England  disliked  the  sacer- 
dotal vestments,  because  they  were  looked  upon  as  the  badge  of 
popery  and  the  symbol  of  false  doctrine.  Bishop  Hooper  refused  to 
wear  them,  and  Latimer  derided  them,  and  when  they  were  put  on 
Taylor,  in  order  to  his  degradation  before  his  martyrdom,  he  said, 
"  How  say  you,  my  lord,  am  not  I  a  goodly  fool  ?  If  I  were  in  Cheap- 
side,  would  not  the  boys  laugh  at  these  foolish  tags  and  apish  trum- 
pery ?"  When  they  were  pulling  the  vestments  off  Cranmerhe  said, 
"  All  this  I  needed  not ;  I  myself  had  done  with  this  gear  long 
ago."  Bucer  and  Peter  Martyr,  when  professors  at  Cambridge  and 
Oxford,  refused  to  wear  them,  Bucer  making  the  famous  reply  when 
asked  why  he  did  not  wear  the  square  cap,  "  Because  my  head  is  not 
square."     "  When  I  was  in  Oxford,"  says  Peter  Martyr,  "I  would 

1  See  the  whole  evidence  in  Cardinal  Bona  (d.  1674),  Rerum  Liturgicarum 
Libri  Duo  ;  Thomasson  (d.  1697),  Ancienne  et  nouvelle  discipline  de  l'eglise,  3 
vols.,  1678-79,  later  tr.  into  Lat.  ;  Marriott,  Vestiarium  Anglican um,  Lond., 
1868,  a  standard  work  ;  the  appropriate  articles  in  Smith  and  Cheetham,  Diet,  of 
Chr.  Antiquities  ;  Stanley,  Eccl.  Vestments,  in  Christian  Institutions,  ch.  viii  ; 
and  R.  A.  S.  Macalister,  Ecclesiastical  Vestments,  their  Development  and  His- 
tory, Lond. ,  1899.  Sacerdotal  costume,  says  Bunz,  in  Herzog,  is  simply  the 
"popular  costume,  or,  more  properly,  that  of  the  higher  ranks,  retained  by 
the  sacerdotal  classes  in  its  archaic  form,  while  among  other  classes  it  became 
subject  to  changes  of  form."  2  1  Cor.  viii,  4. 

42 


£26  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

never  use  those  white  garments  in  the  choir,  though  I  was  a  canon 
in  the  church  ;  and  I  am  satisfied  in  my  own  reasons  for  what  I 
did."  Even  under  Elizabeth  some  of  her  own  bishops  were  with 
difficulty  persuaded  to  wear  the  vestments.  Parker  said  he  did 
not  like  the  cap,  surplice,  and  wafer-bread,  and  would  have  been 
pleased  with  toleration,  and  he  "  gloried  in  having  been  conse- 
crated without  the  Aaronical  garments."  '  Jewel  called  the  vest- 
ments the  "  habits  of  the  stage,  the  relics  of  Amorites,  and  wished 
that  they  might  be  exterminated  by  the  roots."  Many  of  the  bish- 
ops and  clergy  who  finally  conformed  to  the  vestments  had  their 
sentiments  voiced  by  Bishop  Pilkington,  when  he  said,  "  All  re- 
formed Churches  had  cast  away  popish  apparel  with  the  pope ;  many 
ministers  would  rather  leave  their  livings  than  wear  them  ;  and  I 
am  well  aware  it  is  not  an  apparel  becoming  those  that  profess  god- 
liness. I  confess  we  suffer  many  things  against  our  hearts,  groan- 
ing under  them  ;  but  we  cannot  take  them  away,  though  we  were 
ever  so  much  set  upon  it.  We  are  under  authority,  and  can  in- 
novate nothing  without  the  queen  ;  nor  can  we  alter  the  laws  ;  the 
only  thing  left  to  our  choice  is  whether  we  will  bear  these  things, 
or  break  the  peace  of  the  Church."2 

Very  unfair,  therefore,  is  the  assertion  of  some  Anglican  writers 

that  the    objection  of   the  Puritans  to  vestments  proceeded  from 

"morbid  scruple,  obstinate  antipathy,  and  narrow  bigotry."3     It 

proceeded  from  an  intelligent  objection  to  what  was 

VESTMENTS  r  ,  O  J 

a  badge  of      popularly  considered  the  badge  of  Catholicism,   and 

ROMANISM.  «  »  i 

from  a  fear  that  on  the  strength  of  old  ceremonies  and 
habits  the  old  doctrines  would  at  length  also  return.  Nor  was  this 
fear  unfounded  when,  as  everyone  knew,  the  queen  had  sympathy 
for  both  the  old  doctrine  and  the  old  ceremonies,  and  was  sur- 
rounded by  Catholic  sympathizers,  including  some  Spaniards,  who 
constantly  had  her  ear.     Another  consideration  which  affected  the 

1  "  Dost  your  lordship  think,"  says  Parker,  "  that  I  care  for  cap,  tippet,  sur- 
plice, wafer-bread,  or  any  such  ?  But  for  the  law  so  established  I  esteem  them." 
— Letter  to  Cecil,  in  Strype,  Parker,  ii,  424. 

-  See  sentiments  of  many  reformers  in  Neal,  i,  157-162.  One  reason  urged 
for  the  continuance  of  vestments  was  that  the  clergy  were  so  poor  that  they 
could  not  buy  decent  clothes.— Burnet,  Hist,  of  the  Reformation  of  the  Church 
of  England,  part  i,  1548,  book  i  (p.  344,  Reeves  and  Turner  ed.,  Lond.,  1880). 
"  Not  one  of  the  first  set  of  bishops  after  the  Reformation  approved  of  the 
habits,  or  asked  for  their  continuance  from  Scripture,  antiquity,  or  decency, 
but  submitted  to  them  out  of  necessity,  and  to  keep  the  Church  in  the  queen's 
:favor,"  or  to  keep  themselves  in  the  queen's  favor.— Neal,  i,  168. 

3  Curteis,  Dissent  in  its  Relation  to  the  Church  of  England,  p.  54. 


THE  PURITANS   UNDER  ELIZABETH.  627 

Puritans  was  that  of  concord  with  the  continental  Protestants. 
Why  should  we  not  agree  in  rites,  said  they,  as  well  as  in  doctrine, 
with  the  other  reformed  Churches  ? ' 

It  will  be  impossible  to  give  in  detail  the  long,  bitter  history  of 
the  sufferings  of  the  Puritans  for  the  next  hundred  years  or  more. 
All  that  can  be  done  is  to  pause  before  some  of  the  chief  moments 
of  that  great  and  trying  time. 

The  instrument  by  which  the  Puritans  were  driven  out  of  the 
Church  was  that  section  in  the  act  of  Supremacy,  1559,  which  au- 
thorized the  queen  to  appoint  commissioners  to  visit,  Elizabeth's 
reform,  correct  all  heresies,  schisms,  offenses,  and  con-  INJUNCTIONS- 
tempts,  and  which  gave  the  sovereign  almost  as  absolute  power 
over  ecclesiastical  affairs  in  England  as  the  czar  has  in  Eussia.  The 
queen's  Injunctions,  1559,  allow  images  to  remain  in  the  churches, 
but  not  to  be  extolled  ;  allow  clergymen  to  marry  only  on  the  ad- 
vice and  allowance  of  the  bishop  and  two  justices  of  the  peace ; 
command  ministers  to  wear  the  "  seemly  habits,  garments,  square 
caps,"  to  which  they  had  been  accustomed  in  the  days  of  Edward 
VI ; 2  allow  prayers  to  be  sung  if  they  are  sung  distinctly  ;  assert 
the  royal  supremacy  over  all  persons  ecclesiastical ;  order  a  table  to 
be  placed  where  the  altar  stood,  except  when  the  sacrament  is  ad- 
ministered, when  the  table  may  be  placed  within  the  chancel  ;  and 
command  the  use  of  wafer-bread  in  the  sacrament. 

As  the  Puritan  clergy  monopolized  most  of  the  morality  and  in- 
telligence in  the  English  Church,  and  thus  were  most  available  for 
promotion,  they  had  been  placed  in  the  chief  offices.  FIRST  non- 
But  now  began  that  series  of  deprivations  and  impris-  CONFOKMISTS- 
onments  which  is  one  of  the  dark  blots  on  the  fame  of  English 
official  Christianity.  Miles  Coverdale,  one  of  the  noblest  and 
bravest  of  the  reformers,  was,  in  his  old  age,  after  years  of  occupancy 
of  his  parish,  deprived  of  his  living  at  the  little  church  near  Lon- 
don bridge,  1566 — a  "barbarous  and  worse  than  useless  severity 
which  brought  his  gray  hairs  with  sorrow  to  the  grave/'3  Thirty- 
seven  out  of  the  ninety-eight  ministers  in  London  refused  to  com- 

1  Letter  of  Humphreys  and  Sampson  to  Zurich,  quoted  (ab'd)  by  Neal,  i,  162. 
See  this  noble  letter  in  full  in  Burnet,  Records,  part  iii,  No.  68,  printed  in 
appendix  to  best  editions  of  his  history.  The  whole  is  worth  reading,  a  brave 
and  ringing  statement.  It  appears  in  original  and  in  translation  in  Zurich 
Letters,  Parker  Soc,  i,  157  ff.,  app.  pp.93  ff. 

2  This  legalized  chasubles,  copes,  albs,  and  trinicles.  But  during  Elizabeth's 
reign  the  cope  and  surplice  were  the  only  garments  worn.  See  Perry,  Stu- 
dents' Hist,  of  Church  of  England,  ii,  287,  288. 

3  Marsden,  Hist,  of  the  Early  Puritans,  p.  49. 

2 


C28  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

ply  with  the  ceremonies,  and  were  deprived.  John  Foxe  was  one 
who  suffered  for  his  scruples,  though  at  length  for  very  shame's  sake 
the  authorities  gave  him  a  petty  office  in  connection  with  Salisbury 
cathedral.  Being  prevented  thus  from  meeting  in  the  churches, 
some  of  the  Protestants  in  London  met  in  a  quiet  and  orderly  way 
in  private  houses,  halls,  vessels  on  the  river,  and  there  sang  and 
worshiped  and  preached,  as  their  conscience  directed.  But  this 
could  not  be  allowed.  In  1567  they  were  arrested,  hauled  before 
the  bishop,  and  sent  to  prison,  where  they  remained  a  year  before 
they  were  released.  The  methods  of  the  ecclesiastical  courts  placed 
every  delinquent  at  the  complete  mercy  of  the  crown.  He  was 
at  long  attendance  and  great  charges  at  the  court ;  the  messenger 
or  constable  was  paid  by  the  mile ;  the  fees  were  exorbitant, 
which  the  prisoner  must  satisfy ;  witnesses  were  seldom  called  ; 
the  accused  was  taken  for  guilty,  and  was  tried  by  question  and 
answer ;  and  as  the  Puritans  usually  made  it  a  point  of  honor  to 
confess  their  full  faith  and  practice,  they  were  convicted  upon  their 
own  confession ; '  and  even  if  the  prisoner  was  dismissed,  he  was 
almost  ruined  with  costs.2  Keal  gives  an  instance,  copied  from  the 
manuscripts  in  Cambridge  university,  of  an  examination  of  Axton, 
a  Puritan  minister,  by  a  bishop,  one  of  the  fairest  of  his  class.3 

These  ecclesiastical  courts  were  made  more  effective  in  1583  by 
the  high  ecclesiastical  commission,  which  combined  the  terrors  of 
civil  and  religious  absolutism,  and  used  its  awful  men- 
siastical  ace  with  effectiveness  in  favor  of  Anglicanism.  In 
two  particulars  it  differed  from  the  Catholic  Inquisi- 
tion :  it  had  no  power  to  sentence  to  death,  and  it  could  not 
examine  by  torture.  But  it  combined  the  arbitrariness  of  royal 
courts  with  the  inquisitorial  character  of  ecclesiastical  courts. 
Twenty-four  questions  were  drawn  up,  which  were  put  to  all  sus- 
pects, and  if  the  accused  fell  back  on  the  common  law  right,  which 
exempted  one  from  incriminating  himself,  he  was  at  once  deprived 
of  his  benefice  and  committed  to  prison  for  contempt  of  court.4 

Another  weapon  besides  deprivation  and  imprisonment  was  used 

1  ' '  The  honest  Puritans  made  conscience  of  not  denying  anything  they 
were  charged  with,  if  it  was  true,  though  they  might  certainly  have  put  the 
accusers  on  proof  of  the  charge  ;  nay,  most  of  them  thought  themselves  bound 
to  confess  the  truth,  and  bear  a  public  testimony  to  it,  before  the  civil  magis- 
trates, though  it  was  made  use  of  to  their  disadvantage."— Neal,  i,  209. 

•  Ibid. ,  p.  209.  s  ibid. ,  209-211. 

*  The  right  of  demanding  proof  of  guilt  by  adequate  testimony  was  hardly 
recognized  in  English  courts  at  this  time  ;  especially  in  all  crown  and  ecclesi- 
astical cases  it  was  unknown. 


THE   PURITANS   UNDER  ELIZABETH.  629 

against  the  Protestant  party.  The  latter  had  appealed  in  the 
forum  of  intelligence,  defending  their  position  in  a  series  of  pro- 
tests, arguments,  and  pamphlets,  which  were  eagerly  sought  after 
by  the  people.  This  was  met  as  early  as  1566  by  Parker  and  other 
commissioners  in  the  six  injunctions  to  the  effect :  INJUNCTIONS 
(1)  that  no  person  shall  publish  any  book  against  the  dmotbsionb 
queen's  injunctions  ;  (2)  that  such  offenders  shall  for-  INI>1UNT' 
feit  all  copies  of  such  book,  be  imprisoned  three  months,  and  be 
deprived  of  the  right  of  printing  ever  after  ;  (3)  that  no  person 
shall  sell,  bind,  or  stitch  such  books,  upon  pain  of  twenty  shillings 
(equal  to  about  five  times  that  now)  for  every  book ;  (4)  that  all 
forfeited  books  shall  be  destroyed ;  (5)  that  all  suspected  pack- 
ages and  cargoes  may  be  seized  and  inspected ;  (6)  that  all  book- 
sellers shall  bind  themselves  under  forfeits  to  observe  these  regu- 
lations.1 

One  of  the  most  interesting  incidents  in  the  history  of  the  Puri- 
tans was  the  effort  they  made  at  self-improvement,  and  the  atti- 
tude of  the  government  toward  it.  Many  of  the  Anglican  clergy 
were  both  ignorant  and  immoral.     In  1571  the  com- 

i       -i  t  t  j        if  •  i    ■     i      in  EFFOK.TS  FOR 

mons  presented  an  address  to  the  queen,  in  which  they  an  improved 
said  :  "  Great  numbers  are  admitted  ministers  that  are 
infamous  in  their  lives,  and  among  those  that  are  of  ability  their 
gifts  in  many  places  are  useless  by  reason  of  pluralities  and  non- 
residency,  whereby  infinite  numbers  of  your  majesty's  subjects  are 
like  to  perish  for  lack  of  knowledge.  By  means  of  this,  together 
with  the  common  blasphemy  of  the  Lord's  name,  the  most  wicked 
licentiousness  of  life,  the  abuse  of  excommunication,  the  com- 
mutation of  penance,  the  great  number  of  atheists,  schismatics 
daily  springing  up,  and  the  increase  of  papists,  the  Protestant 
religion  is  in  imminent  peril."  The  great  majority  of  the  Catholic 
clergy  held  over  under  Elizabeth,  and  it  was  her  policy  to  encour- 
age them  to  keep  their  benefices.*  It  is  not  necessary  to  say  that 
many  of  them  had  had  little  heart  in  their  work,  and  were  as 
poorly  equipped  morally  as  intellectually  for  it.  Preaching  was 
unknown  in  large  parts  of  the  kingdom.  In  a  sermon  before  the 
queen,  Sandys  tells  her  that  many,  especially  in  northern  parts, 
perish  for  lack  of  saving  food. 

In  order  to  increase  their  efficiency  as  preachers  some  of  the 
Puritans  organized  ministers'  meetings  for  the  preaching  and  dis- 
cussion of  sermons.    These  exercises  were  called  prophesyings,  from 

1  Neal,  i,  186. 

8  See  Leighton  Coleman,  in  Church  Review,  New  York,  July,  1887,  16  ff. 


630  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

1  Cor.  xiv,  31 :  "Ye  may  all  prophesy  one  by  one,  that  all  may 
learn,  and  all  may  be  comforted."  Three  men  were  to  take  part  at 
"prophe-  eacn  meeting,  one  to  preach  a  sermon  and  the  others  to 
syings."  ^(j  anything  that  the  other  had  omitted,  and  correct 

him,  provided  he  had  spoken  contrary  to  the  Scriptures.  After 
the  audience  was  dismissed — this  was  not  a  scholastic  exercise,  but 
a  real  service  of  worship — the  president  called  upon  competent 
brethren  to  give  him  their  judgment  of  the  performances.  Minis- 
ters who  availed  themselves  of  these  prophesyings  gathered  around 
a  kind  of  confession  of  faith  which  held  that  the  Bible  was  the 
only  perfect  rule  of  faith  and  practice,  that  it  ought  to  be 
known  by  all  people,  and  that  its  authority  exceeds  the  authority, 
not  only  of  the  pope,  but  of  the  Church.1  All  man-made  creeds  with- 
out the  authority  of  the  word  are  also  condemned,  "  though  recom- 
mended by  written  traditions  or  any  other  names  whatsoever ;  of 
which  sort  are  the  pope's  supremacy,  purgatory,  transubstantia- 
tion,  man's  merits,  free  will,  justification  by  works,  praying  in  an 
unknown  tongue,  and  distinction  of  meats,  apparel,  and  days ;  and, 
briefly,  all  the  ceremonies  and  whole  order  of  papistry,  which  they 
call  the  hierarchy;  which  are  a  devilish  confession,  established  as  it 
were  in  spite  of  God  and  to  reproach  of  religion."  The  simplicity 
of  the  pure  word  of  God  is  enough  for  them,  and  to  it  "we  hum- 
bly submit  ourselves  and  all  our  doings,  willing  and  ready  to  be 
judged,  reformed,  or  further  instructed  thereby  in  all  points  of 
religion."  2  Some  of  the  statements  of  this  great  utterance  almost 
anticipate  the  protest  of  some  American  Churches  against  creeds, 
and  the  only  creed  mentioned  is  the  Apostles' ;  but  the  Puritans 
had  no  objection  to  formularies  of  faith,  provided  they  were  scrip- 
tural, and  themselves  assented  to  the  doctrinal  parts  of  the  Thirty- 
nine  Articles.  It  is  not  unlikely,  however,  that  the  safe  ensconc- 
ing of  so  many  Catholics  under  the  protection  of  these  Articles 
gave  a  tone  of  bitterness  to  the  undiluted  Protestantism  of  this 
declaration. 

Now,  it  is  clear  that  although,  on  the  one  hand,  these  prophesy- 

1  Perhaps  with  a  squint  at  Article  XX  of  the  XXXIX,  which  makes  the  Church 
an  authority  in  controversies  of  faith.  Some  doubt  hangs  over  this  clause 
in  Art.  XX,  as  it  does  not  appear  in  the  Convocation  copy  of  the  Thirty-nine 
Articles  of  1563,  nor  in  the  English  edition  of  1563,  nor  in  the  Latin  edition 
of  1571,  although  it  does  appear  in  the  Latin  edition  of  1563— the  one  ratified 
by  the  queen— in  several  English  editions  of  1571,  in  the  Latin  Convocation 
copy  of  1571,  and  in  all  subsequent  editions. — Perry,  ii,  301.  A  similar  state- 
ment can  be  made  of  Article  XXIX. 

2  Neal,  i,  323-224 


THE  PURITANS  UNDER  ELIZABETH.  631 

ings  were  admirably  adapted  to  their  end,  namely,  to  inform  and 
train  strong  preachers  of  the  word,  and  on  that  account  had  the 
approval  of  the  best  bishops  and  statesmen  of  the  time,  on  the 
other  they  had   justly  elements   of  mischief  in  the 

«     .1      •..  »     .1  t  •     •  -tit        i       ii  SUPPRESSION 

Catholic  eyes  of  the  narrow  and  suspicious  Elizabeth,   ok  "pkophe- 

SYINGS  " 

If  the  Puritans  were  already  in  brain  and  heart  the 
choicest  clergy  of  the  kingdom,  what  might  not  their  power  be- 
come under  the  quickening  and  bracing  influence  of  these  minis- 
terial gatherings  ?  Besides,  would  they  always  confine  themselves 
to  scriptural  topics,  and,  even  if  they  should,  might  not  the  meet- 
ings become  starting  points  of  dissenting  movements — movements 
which  would  disturb  that  uniformitarian  ecclesiasticism  to  estab- 
lish which  in  England  was  to  Tudor  and  Stuart  both  a  conscience 
and  a  passion  ?  At  any  rate  the  threshing  out  of  Scripture  would 
tend  to  show  the  people  the  length  the  State  Church  had  parted 
from  it,  and  thus  cause  dissatisfaction.  Elizabeth  was  deter- 
mined to  stop  the  prophesyings,  of  which  she  had  a  false  notion 
based  probably  on  the  slanderous  reports  of  her  Catholic  advisers, 
and  wrote  a  peremptory  letter  to  the  bishops,  in  which  she  refers 
to  these  "  persons  presuming  to  be  teachers  and  preachers  of  the 
Church  which  do  daily  devise  new  rites  and  ceremonies,  as  well  by 
their  unordinate  preaching,  readings,  and  ministering  the  sacra- 
ments, as  by  procuring  unlawfully  of  assemblies  of  great  number 
of  our  people,  out  of  their  ordinary  parishes,  to  be  hearers  of  their 
disputations  and  new  devised  opinions,  upon  points  of  opinion  far 
unmeet  for  vulgar  people,  which  manner  of  innovation  they  in 
some  places  term  *  Prophesyings,' in  other  places  'Exercises;'  by 
which  assemblies  persons  are  taken  away  from  their  ordinary  work, 
and  divisions  are  encouraged  and  sober  people  offended."  This 
exercise  of  royal  supremacy  was  strenuously  opposed  by  the  better 
class  of  bishops,  who  were  glad  of  anything  to  improve  their 
clergy,  and  some  of  them  hesitated  to  comply.  It  was  some  time 
before  the  queen  could  silence  all  objection.  Archbishop  Grindal, 
especially,  wrote  a  faithful  letter  to  her  majesty  which  con- 
veyed to  her  in  respectful  language  some  noble  truths  which  it  was 
not  common  in  that  age  for  sovereigns  to  hear.1  For  this  he  was 
suspended  and  imprisoned  in  his  own  house.  Bishop  Cox  wrote 
to  Burleigh  that  he  hoped  the  queen  would  come  to  a  better  mind. 
"When  the  great  ignorance," he  says,  "idleness,  and  lewdness  of 

1  In  this  famous  letter  Grindal  tells  her  majesty  that  her  idea  that  two  or 
three  preachers  are  enough  for  a  shire  is  not  according  to  the  Gospel,  which 
prescribes  that  the  Gospel  be  preached  everywhere,  and  that  preaching  is  the 


632  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

the  great  number  of  poor  and  blind  priests  in  the  clergy  shall  be 
deeply  weighed  and  considered  of,  it  will  be  thought  most  neces- 
sary to  call  them  and  to  drive  them  to  some  travail  and  exercise 
of  God's  holy  word,  whereby  they  may  be  better  able  to  discharge 
their  bounden  duty  towards  their  flock."1  But  no  defense  would 
answer.     The  prophesyings,  with  the  Puritans,  were  suppressed. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  give  the  later  history  of  the  Eliza- 
bethan Puritans.  The  laws  became  more  and  more  severe,  and 
prison  and  their  sufferings  waxed  accordingly.  Some  of  this 
exile.  Draconian  legislation,  with  its  results,   will  meet  us 

fairly  when  we  treat  of  the  Congregationalists.  Finally,  in  1593,  the 
parliament  allowed  exile  as  an  alternative  to  the  dungeon,  and  the 
hapless  Protestants  issued  out  of  the  prisons  and  went,  the  most  of 
them,  to  Holland.  "  Some  of  us,"  says  a  memorial  of  this  time, 
"they  have  kept  in  prison  four  or  five  years  with  miserable  usage ; 
others  they  have  cast  into  Newgate,  and  laden  with  as  many  irons 
as  they  could  bear ;  others  into  dungeons  and  loathsome  gaols 
among  the  most  facinorous  and  vile  persons,  where  it  is  lamenta- 
ble to  relate  how  many  of  these  innocents  have  perished  within 
these  five  years,  where  so  many  as  the  infection  hath  spared  lie  in 
awful  distress  ;  others  have  been  grievously  beaten  with  cudgels  and 
cast  into  a  place  called  Little  Ease  for  refusing  to  come  to  their 
chapel  service  ;  in  which  prison  several  have  ended  their  lives."2 

Can  the  treatment  of  the  Puritans  be  defended  on  the  principles 
then  recognized  ?  Anglican  historians  have  little  sympathy  for 
them.  They  say  they  ought  to  have  conformed,  though  to  have 
done  so  would  in  their  opinion  have  compromised  them  with 
Elizabethan  P°Perv  j  they  say  they  ought  to  have  left  the  Church 
toward  ^   ^hey  would  not  conform,   though  they  were  not 

Puritanism,  allowed  to  leave  the  Church,  and  if  they  attempted 
it  they  were  imprisoned  ;  they  say  they  were  contentious  and 
obstinate,  and  some  of  them  were,  but  that  is  not  a  crime 
against  the  State.  On  the  other  hand,  (1)  on  all  matters  of  prac- 
tical importance  to  a  State  the  Puritans  were  the  most  valu- 
able citizens  in  the  country — orderly,  moral,  industrious ;  (2)  to 
the  nation  and  to  the   queen's  person  they  were  ultra-loyal ;  and 

ordinary  means  of  salvation  ;  it  is  also  the  means  of  making  people  loyal  ; 
and  adds  to  this  ad  hominem  argument  the  consideration  that  the  rehellion  in 
the  north  proceeded  from  men  who  never  heard  preaching,  whereas  "one 
poor  parish  in  Yorkshire,  which  had  by  continual  preaching  been  better  in- 
structed than  the  rest,  was  ready  to  bring  three  or  four  thousand  able  men 
into  the  field  to  serve  you  against  the  rebels." 

1  Strype,  Annals  of  the  Reformation,  App.  ii,  viii.  2  Neal,  i,  429. 


THE   PURITANS   UNDER   ELIZABETH.  633 

(3)  against  the  return  of  Rome  they  were  the  best  bulwarks  in  the 
laud.  A  wise  course,  therefore,  would  have  conciliated  them, 
and,  even  while  making  Anglicanism  with  its  Catholic  ceremonies 
and  ideas  the  law  of  the  land,  would  have  tolerated  the  Protes- 
tants so  long  as  they  remained  loyal  and  obedient.  This  was  not 
too  advanced  a  dictate  of  reason  to  be  grasped  by  the  Elizabethan 
age.  Some  of  the  statesmen  of  the  queen  were  in  favor  of  larger 
toleration,  but  she  herself  was  fanatically  attached  to  the  old 
ceremonies,  was  more  Catholic  than  Protestant,  was  by  nature 
tyrannical,  narrow,  and  cruel,  for  which  indeed  a  daughter  of 
Henry  VIII  is  not  to  be  blamed,  and  was  determined  to  enforce 
uniformity,  in  which  she  had  ready  tools  in  Parker,  Whitgift,  and 
the  other  prelates  of  the  high  commission  court.  It  is  the  habit 
of  some  recent  historians  to  praise  the  course  of  Elizabeth  as  emi- 
nently statesmanlike  and  wise,  and  that  she  exceeded  in  breadth 
of  vision  her  greatest  advisers.  Elizabeth  has  been,  in  fact,  a 
kind  of  Protestant  goddess,  illuminated  with  all  the  glory  of  the 
men  of  intellect,  and  genius,  and  military  and  maritime  daring 
who  lived  in  her  reign.  But  a  calmer  survey  and  more  unbiased 
study  have  brought  students  to  other  views.  Her  intolerance  left 
an  era  of  disunion  and  hatred,  which  finally  in  an  outburst  of 
wrath  swept  away  both  Church  and  crown.  Her  successors  fol- 
lowed in  her  footsteps  and  prepared  for  themselves  retribution.  A 
conciliatory  policy  toward  the  Puritans  at  the  beginning  might 
have  meant  in  time  a  comprehensive  catholic  Church  of  England, 
instead  of  a  Church  blasted,  sundered,  hated,  feared,  with  the 
mark  of  its  mother  on  its  brow.1 

1  "  I  am  far  from  being  convinced  that  it  would  not  have  been  practicable, 
by  receding  a  little  from  that  uniformity  which  governors  like  to  prescribe,  to 
have  palliated  in  a  great  measure,  if  not  to  put  an  end  for  a  time  to,  the  dis- 
content that  so  soon  endangered  the  new  establishment.  The  usages  of  sur- 
plice, etc.,  might  well  have  been  left  to  private  discussion."— Hallam,  Const. 
Hist.,  i,  182,  Eng.  ed.,  241.  "We  cannot  give  Elizabeth  credit  for  any  en- 
lightened broad-minded  policy  either  towards  Roman  recusants  or  Puritan 
separatists.  It  was  a  policy  shaped  by  her  own  personal  idiosyncrasies  and 
virulent  antipathies,  and  though  she  herself  rode  triumphantly  over  the  diffi- 
culties and  dangers  which  grew  out  of  it,  she  left  these  as  a  bitter  legacy  to 
her  successors  and  to  the  nation." — Gregory,  Puritanism  in  the  Old  World  and 
in  the  New,  p.  27.  Comp.  Campbell,  The  Puritan  in  Holland,  England  and 
America,  i,  459  ;  Prothero,  Select  Statutes  and  other  Constitutional  Documents 
of  Reigns  of  Elizabeth  and  James  I,  Lond.,  1894,  p.  xxv. 


634  HISTORY   OF  THE  CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


CHAPTEK  III. 

ANGLICANS    AND    PURITANS    UNDER    THE    FIRST    STUART. 

"My  throne  has  been  the  seat  of  kings.  I  will  have  no  rascal 
succeed  me.  Who  shall  the  next  king  be  but  my  cousin  of  Scot- 
land ?  "  Such  were  Elizabeth's  dying  words.  It  was 
the  bitterest  drop  to  Mary  Queen  of  Scots  in  her  cup 
of  sorrow  that  her  only  son  left  her  in  her  imprisonment  without 
sympathy  or  support,  and  was  separated  from  her  both  in  religion 
and  feeling.  James  succeeded  to  the  Scottish  throne  in  1567,  at 
the  age  of  one  year,  assumed  full  sovereignty  in  1581,  and  in  1603 
united  the  crowns  of  Scotland  and  England.  The  pupil  of  George 
Buchanan,  he  affected  knowledge  of  many  things,  prided  himself 
specially  in  his  theological  acumen,  and  delighted  to  hold  debates 
with  those  whom  he  considered  in  error.  But  of  real  ability  or 
even  wisdom  he  had  little.  He  sometimes  acted  like  a  buffoon. 
Sully  called  him  the  "  wisest  fool  in  Christendom/'  and  Macaulay 
in  one  of  his  antithetical  sentences  describes  him  as  "  made  up  of 
two  men — a  witty,  well-read  scholar  who  wrote,  disputed,  and 
harangued,  and  a  nervous,  driveling  idiot  who  acted."1    The  reli- 

1  Macaulay,  Lord  Bacon,  in  Essays,  iii,  385  (Armstrong's  ed.).  In  his  Essay 
on  Lord  Nugent's  Memorials  of  Hampden  he  compared  James  to  Claudius 
Caesar.  "  The  sovereign  whom  James  most  resembled  was,  we  think,  Clau- 
dius Caesar.  Both  had  the  same  feeble,  vacillating  temper,  the  same  child- 
ishness, the  same  coarseness,  the  same  poltroonery.  Both  were  men  of  learn- 
ing, both  wrote  and  spoke,  not  indeed  well,  but  still  in  a  manner  in  which  it 
seems  almost  incredible  that  men  so  foolish  should  have  written  or  spoken. 
The  follies  and  indecencies  of  James  are  well  described  in  the  words  which 
Suetonius  uses  respecting  Claudius  :  '  Multa  talia,  etiam  privatis  deformia, 
nedum  principi,  neque  infacundo,  neque  indocto,  immo  etiam  pertinaciter  lib- 
eralibus  studiis  dedito.'  "  Macaulay  quotes  other  passages  concerning  Claudius 
which  suggest  James.  Essays,  ii,  440.  There  is  exaggeration,  however,  in  Ma- 
caulay's  brilliant  descriptions  of  James,  as  in  some  other  parts  of  his  work. 
Scott  pictures  the  king  in  his  Fortunes  of  Nigel.  James  I  wrote  Essays  of  a 
Prentice  on  the  Divine  Art  of  Poesie,  1584 ;  Meditation  on  the  Revelation 
of  St.  John,  1588 ;  Poetical  Exercises  at  Vacant  Hours,  1591  ;  Demonologie 
and  Witchcraft,  1597— a  fearful  book  worthy  of  a  man  who  watched  the  baiting 
of  wild  animals  as  an  amusement ;  True  Law  of  Free  Monarchies,  1598  ;  Basil- 
icon  Doron,  Instruction  to  the  Prince,  written  1599,  pub.  1602  ;  and  the  Coun- 
terblast to  Tobacco,  1616.  Gardiner  and  Ranke  give  a  more  sober  view  of  his 
character  than  Macaulay. 


ANGLICANS  AND  PURITANS  UNDER  THE  FIRST  STUART.  635 

gious  parties  in  England  wondered  what  attitude  he  would  take 
toward  them.  His  training  in  Calvinism  would  make  him  lean 
toward  the  Puritans,  but  his  Stuart  absolutism  would  incline  him 
toward  the  Anglicans.  Both  parties  therefore  hastened  to  wel- 
come him  and  lay  before  him  their  protestations  of  loyalty.  For 
the  Puritans  it  was  a  serious  matter  whether  the  persecuting  policy 
of  Elizabeth  and  her  hierarchy  was  to  be  continued.  They  there- 
fore laid  before  him  a  petition  called  the  Millenary  Petition, 
because  it  was  the  aim  to  have  a  thousand  names  attached  to  it. 

"  We,  the  ministers  of  the  Gospel  in  this  land,  neither  as  factious 
men  affecting  a  popular  party  in  the  Church  nor  as  schismatics 
aiming  at  the  dissolution  of  the  state  ecclesiastical, 

THE  MIL— 

but  as  the  faithful  servants  of  Christ  and  loyal  sub-        lenary 

.     •  PETITION 

jects  to  your  majesty,  desiring  and  longing  for  the 
redress  of  divers  abuses  of  the  Church,  ...  all  groaning  as  under 
a  common  burden  of  human  rites  and  ceremonies,  do  with  one 
joint  assent  humble  ourselves  at  your  majesty's  feet  to  be  saved 
and  relieved  in  this  behalf."  (1)  Church  service  :  Cross  in  bap- 
tism, questions  to  infants,  and  confirmation  discontinued  ;  baptism 
not  to  be  ministered  by  women  ;  cap  and  surplice  not  urged  ;  ex- 
amination before  communion,  which  should  be  ministered  with  a 
sermon  ;  service  abridged ;  music  made  more  edifying ;  Lord's 
Day  not  profaned  ;  holidays  not  urged  ;  no  popish  doctrine  taught ; 
people  not  to  bow  at  the  name  of  Christ ;  and  canonical  Scriptures 
only  to  be  read  in  the  church.  (2)  Ministers  :  Only  able  and  com- 
petent men  to  be  admitted,  and  these  to  preach  diligently  ;  others 
removed  yet  supported,  or  made  to  maintain  preachers ;  non- 
residency  not  permitted ;  King  Edward's  statute  concerning  minis- 
ters' marriage  revived  ;  that  ministers  be  made  to  subscribe  to  the 
Articles  of  Eeligion  and  the  king's  supremacy  only.  (3)  Church 
living  and  maintenance  :  Various  excellent  recommendations. 
(4)  Church  discipline  :  Enormities  redressed  ;  excommunications 
restrained  ;  length  of  ecclesiastical  suits  at  law  abridged  ;  the  oath 
ex  officio,  whereby  men  are  forced  to  accuse  themselves,  be  more 
sparingly  used.  "  These  and  other  requests  they  would  be  glad  to 
defend  before  your  majesty.  .  .  .  Thus  your  majesty  shall  do 
that  which  we  are  persuaded  shall  be  acceptable  to  God  ;  honorable 
to  your  majesty  in  all  succeeding  ages ;  profitable  to  his  Church, 
which  shall  thereby  be  increased ;  comfortable  to  your  ministers, 
who  shall  be  no  more  suspended,  displaced,  silenced,  imprisoned 
for  men's  traditions  ;  and  prejudicial  to  none  but  those  who  seek 
their  own  quiet,  credit,  and  profit  in  the  world.  .  .  .  Your  majesty's 


636  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

most  humble  subjects,  the  ministers  of  the  Gospel  that  desire  not 
a  disorderly  innovation  but  a  due  and  godly  reformation."1 

But  James  was  too  much  of  an  absolutist  and  not  enough  of  a 

Protestant  to  favor  the  Puritans,  though  he  had  no  objection  to 

doing  away  abuses.    Fortunately  his  love  of  theological 

bncb  at  controversv  made  him  reverse  Elizabeth's  attitude  in 

HAMPTON  J 

court.  one  particular.     The   queen  would  not  reason  with 

the  Protestants  at  all — she  treated  them  as  criminals  ;  James 
parleyed  with  them  in  debate,  and  thus  recognized  their  right  to 
be  heard,  though  that  was  about  their  only  right  that  he  admitted. 
A  conference  of  this  kind  was  held  at  Hampton  Court  in  January, 
1604,  when  three  or  four  Puritans  were  allowed  to  represent  their 
side,  while  nineteen  Anglicans  spoke  for  the  Catholic  side.  Ac- 
cording to  the  minutes  of  this  conference  the  Puritans  were  very 
weakly  represented,  perhaps  being  intimidated  by  the  forces 
against  them  and  especially  by  the  royal  moderator.3  We  often 
read,  "  This  he  spake  kneeling/'  The  king,  according  to  the 
minutes,  made  himself  chief  speaker  for  the  Anglicans,  defending 
with  readiness  and  skill  the  rites  and  ceremonies  which  had  been 
retained  from  the  old  Church.  As  he  said  himself,  he  "  peppered 
them  [the  Puritans]  soundly." 3  No  wonder  that  at  the  end  of  one 
of  the  royal  answers  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury  (Whitgift)  ex- 
claimed, "  Undoubtedly  your  majesty  speaks  by  the  special  assist- 

1  See  this  Petition  quoted  in  full  in  Fuller,  Church  History  of  Britain,  A.  D. 
1604,  sec.  27 ;  Gee  and  Hardy,  Documents  Illustrative  of  English  Church  His- 
tory, 508  ;  Perry,  Church  History  of  England,  ii,  372. 

2  It  is  claimed  that  the  official  minutes  drawn  up  by  Barlow  are  one-sided 
and  incomplete.  "  They  fradulently  cut  off  and  concealed  all  the  speeches 
(which  were  many)  that  his  majesty  uttered  against  the  corruption  of  the 
Church  and  the  practice  of  prelates."  See  Lathbury,  Hist,  of  Convocation,  p. 
225 ;  Fuller,  Church  Hist,  of  Britain,  1604,  sec.  25. 

3  A  few  days  afterward  the  king  wrote  to  a  friend  in  Scotland  :  "  We  have 
kept  such  a  revel  with  the  Puritans  here  this  two  days  as  was  never  heard 
the  like,  where  I  have  peppered  them  as  soundly  as  ye  have  done  the  papists 
there.  It  were  no  reason  that  those  that  will  refuse  an  airy  sign  of  the  cross  after 
baptism  should  have  their  purses  stuffed  with  any  more  solid  and  substantial 
crosses.  They  fled  me  so  from  argument  to  argument,  without  even  answering 
me  directly,  ut  est  eorum  moris,  as  I  was  forced  at  last  to  say  unto  them  that  if 
any  of  them  had  been  in  a  college  disputing  with  their  scholars,  if  any  of  their 
disciples  had  answered  them  in  that  sort,  they  would  have  fetched  him  up  in 
place  of  a  reply,  and  so  should  the  rod  have  plyed  upon  the  poor  boys'  but- 
tocks !  I  have  such  a  book  of  theirs  as  may  well  convert  infidels,  but  it  shall 
never  convert  me,  except  by  turning  me  more  earnestly  against  them."  See 
Ernest  Law,  Hist,  of  Hampton  Court  Palace  in  Stuart  Times,  Lond.,  1888,  p.  45. 


ANGLICANS  AND  PURITANS  UNDER  THE  FIRST  STUART.  637 

ance  of  God's  Spirit/'  and  the  bishop  of  London  (Bancroft)  fell  on 
his  knee  and  said,  "  I  protest,  my  heart  swelleth  with  joy  that 
Almighty  God,  of  his  singular  mercy,  hath  given  us  such  a  king 
as  since  Christ's  time  the  like  hath  not  been."  '  The  king  at  least 
saw  this  clearly,  that  that  power  in  Church  and  State  which  was  so 
dear  to  the  heart  of  Tudor  and  Stuart  could  not  long  exist  side  by 
side  with  Puritanism.  When  Dr.  Eeynolds  proposed  at  the  con- 
ference that  prophesyings  or  ministerial  assemblies  be  allowed,  and 
that  ecclesiastical  affairs  be  settled  by  synods,  James  fired  up  at 
once  :  "  If  you  aim  at  a  Scottish  presbytery,  it  agreeth  as  well 
with  monarchy  as  God  and  the  devil.  Then  Jack  and  Tom  and 
Will  and  Dick  shall  meet  and  censure  me  and  my  council.  There- 
fore I  reiterate  my  former  speech,  Le  roy  s'avisera."  He  then 
went  on  into  an  account  of  how  the  Presbyterians  did  in  Scot- 
land. The  Puritans,  he  said,  appeal  to  the  royal  supremacy  to 
make  good  their  point  against  you  bishops.  "  But  if  once  you 
were  out  and  they  in,  I  know  what  would  become  of  my  suprem- 
acy ;  for  'No  bishop,  no  king.'  I  have  learned  of  what  cut  they 
have  been  who,  preaching  before  me  since  my  coming  into  Eng- 
land, passed  over  with  silence  my  being  supreme  governor  in 
causes  ecclesiastical.  Well,  doctor,  have  you  anything  else  to 
say  ?  " 

Dr.  Eeynolds  :  "  No  more,  if  it  please  your  majesty." 

His  Majesty  :  "  If  this  be  all  your  party  hath  to  say  I  will  make 
them  conform  themselves,  or  else  I  will  harry  them  out  of  the  land, 
or  else  do  worse." 2 

Of  course  it  was  not  true  that  the  Puritans  were  against  the  su- 
premacy or  against  monarchical  government ;  but  it  was  true  that 
they  were  against  his  kind  of  supremacy. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  was  unfortunate  that  the  Anglican  party 
became  mixed  up  with  the  absolutist  claims  of  the  sovereign,  and 
thus  became  the  support  of  a  persecuting  tyranny.  No  poor  dis- 
senter could  look  to  the  clerical  party  for  mercy  ;  these  were  the 
men  who  judged  him  on  the  high  commission  court,  who  plied 

1  Barlow,  who  drew  tip  the  minutes,  says  also  :  "He  sent  us  away,  not  with 
contentment  only,  but  astonishment."  Bilson,  who  was  present,  says:  "He 
showed  such  dexterity,  perspicuity,  and  sufficiency  that  I  protest  before  God, 
without  flattery,  I  have  not  observed  the  like  in  any  man  living."  Montague 
gives  a  like  testimony  :  "  He  speaks  for  three  hours  wisely,  wittily,  and  learn- 
edly, and  with  that  pretty  patience  that  I  think  no  man  living  ever  heard  the 
like."     We  cannot  accuse  of  insincerity  all  these  witnesses. 

a  Minutes,  quoted  by  Fuller,  1604,  sec.  22  (iii,  188,  189,  Nichols's  ed.) 


G38  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

him  with  self -incriminating  questions,  and  who  turned  him  oyer 
to  the  jailer.  No  doubt  they  were  sincere  in  this ;  but  when 
Canon  Perry  speaks  of  Archbishop  Whitgift's  clemency  toward 
his  enemies1  he  is  wide  of  the  mark.  Whitgift,  Bancroft,  and 
other  prelates  set  themselves  to  work  to  uproot  dissent,  and  re- 
lentlessly turned  the  engines  of  the  courts  against  the  earnest 
Protestants  of  the  time.  It  was  the  king's  defense  of  the  unjust 
methods  of  the  Anglican  Inquisition — the  high  commission  courts 
— at  Hampton  Conference  which  called  out  the  warmest  words  of 
admiration  from  the  bishops,  and  convinced  Whitgift  that  he 
spake  under  the  immediate  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  In 
fact  the  prelates  were  soon  to  put  the  inquisitional  screws  on  the 
hapless  clergy  in  a  new  and  harsher  fashion.  In  1604  the  High 
Church  administration  required  the  clergy  not  only  to  subscribe 
to  Whitgift's  test  of  the  Three  Articles,  but  to  declare  that  they 
ixcreased  took  ^ne  test  willingly  and  with  full  approval  of  it. 
ofthT1'  Under  this  monstrous  demand  many  who  did  not  like 
anglicahs.  a\\  parts  of  the  Prayer  Book  and  Thirty-nine  Articles, 
but  who  had  been  willing  to  assent  to  them  in  order  to  carry  on 
their  ministry  and  to  keep  Eoman  Catholics  out,  it  being  under- 
stood that  they  did  not  necessarily  indorse  everything  in  the  book, 
were  now  turned  adrift.  Then  all  those  who  had  previously  sub- 
scribed were  required  to  subscribe  again  in  this  new  sense.  "  I 
have  four  times  subscribed  to  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,"  says 
one  of  the  Protestant  divines,  "with  limitation  and  reference  of 
all  things  contained  to  the  purpose  and  doctrine  of  the  Church  of 
England  ;  but  I  cannot  again  subscribe,  inasmuch  as  the  purpose, 
if  not  the  doctrine  of  our  Church,  seems  to  be  varied  by  the  late 
proceedings  from  what  I  had  taken  it  to  be."3  The  doctrines  of 
Anglicanism,  of  course,  had  not  changed  :  its  Catholic  elements 
were  only  coming  to  their  full  rights.  But  there  were  Protestant 
elements  also  in  the  standards,  and  these  ought  to  have  shielded 
peaceable  and  pious  men  who  were  in  general  agreement  with  the 
Church,  and  were  willing  loyally  to  serve  it,  especially  when  serv- 
ice was  so  greatly  needed,  in  that  time  of  spiritual  destitution 
among  the  laity  and  of  incompetence  and  immorality  among  the 
clergy. 

For  a  time  Bancroft  (archbishop  1604-10)  went  on  flourishingly. 
The  Protestant  clergy  were  driven  out  by  the  scores,  and,  if  we 
may  believe  some  authorities,  by  the  hundreds.     Some  languished 

1  Students'  Church  History  of  England,  ii,  364. 

2  Rogers,  On  the  Articles,  Pref .  p.  29  (Parker  Soc). 

O 


ANGLICANS  AND  PURITANS  UNDER  THE  FIRST  STUART.  639 

in  England,  where  their  sufferings  helped  to  fan  that  popular  dis- 
content with  Anglicanism  and  absolutism  which  we  shall  hear  of 
later,  and  others  passed  over  to  Holland,  where  they  received  further 
training  for  America.  The  old  High  Church  Tory,  Lord  Claren- 
don, records  his  satisfaction  thus:  "Dr.  Bancroft,  that  metro- 
politan who  understood  the  Church  so  excellently,  had  almost  res- 
cued it  out  of  the  hands  of  the  Calvinian  party,  and  very  much 
subdued  the  unruly  spirit  of  the  Nonconformists.  If  he  had  lived 
he  would  have  extinguished  all  that  fire  in  England  which  had 
been  kindled  at  Geneva.''1  The  arbitrary  method  of  the  courts, 
however,  at  length  so  offended  the  spirit  of  justice  that  the  civil 
judges  interfered  with  writs  of  habeas  corpus,  and  with  demands 
that  they  themselves  should  first  pass  upon  the  legality  A  legal 
of  the  writs  and  processes.  This  opened  an  interest- 
ing controversy  between  the  lay  and  ecclesiastical  authorities  which 
gave  the  Protestants  a  respite.  James,  however,  dissolved  parlia- 
ment in  1610,  without  allowing  it  to  correct  abuses,  and  thus  evoked 
a  spirit  in  the  country  dangerous  to  the  Anglican  Church. 

During  the  remainder  of  the  reign  of  James,  especially  during 
the  archbishopric  of  Abbot,  1609-33,  who  was  a  Calvinist  and,  un- 
like his  Calvinistic  predecessor,  Whitgift,  disinclined  to  pursue 
the  Puritans,  the  latter  were  left  in  comparative  peace.  But  it  is 
not  a  matter  of  wonder  that  with  the  driving  out '  of  THE  M0RAl 
the  most  independent  of  the  clergy,  who  were,  as  usu-  0,f%ehieeracy 
ally,  the  ablest  and  holiest,  the  ministers  who  were  CLERGY- 
left  should  have  fallen  in  public  esteem.  This  was  due  in  part  to 
their  poverty,  their  substance  having  been  swallowed  up  by  the 
crown,  lords,  and  prelates.  From  contemporary  writers  we  learn 
that  they  had  often  scarcely  enough  to  feed  and  keep  them  warm. 
They  had  to  seek  positions  as  private  chaplains  to  the  wealthy, 
and  thus  they  were  schooled  in  submissiveness  and  sycophancy. 
George  Herbert  speaks  of  the  general  ignominy  cast  upon  the 
clergy  ;  and  another  of  that  age  says  that  they  are  "  brought  into 
contempt  and  low  esteem,  and  are  accounted  by  many  as  the  dross 
and  refuse  of  the  nation. w  Of  domestic  chaplains  it  is  said  that 
"it  is  well  that  they  may  have  a  little  better  wages  than  the  cook 
and  butler,  as  also  there  may  be  a  groom  in  the  house  besides  the 
chaplain  (for  sometimes  to  the  ten  pounds  a  year  they  crowd  the 
looking  after  a  couple  of  geldings)."  But  their  secular  duties  in 
these  great  houses  often  went  much  farther  than  looking  after 

1  Hist,  of  the  Rebellion,  ed.  1843,  p.  36  (author  died  1674,  book  first  pub. 
1704-7). 


640  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

horses.'  More  serious  was  the  contempt  of  the  clergy  on  account 
of  poverty  in  morals.  Simony  seems  to  have  been  rife.  Dr.  E. 
Carleton,  writing  to  his  brother,  says  he  is  ashamed  to  tell  how 
bishoprics  are  got.2  A  bishop  of  Llandaff  writes  to  Sir  F.  Lake 
openly  offering  him  a  price  for  a  church  preferment.3  Dr.  Cary  is 
willing  to  pay  well  for  a  deanery.  "  My  lad/'  writes  Field,  bishop 
of  Llandaff,  to  some  one  who  had  control  of  appointments,  "  I  am 
grown  an  old  man,  and  am  like  household  stuff,  apt  to  be  broke  on 
removing.  I  desire  it,  therefore,  but  once  for  all,  be  it  Ely,  or 
Bath,  or  Wells ;  and  I  will  spend  the  remainder  of  my  days  in 
writing  a  history  of  your  good  deeds."4  "I  lie  in  a  corner," 
writes  Donne,  dean  of  St.  Paul's,  "  as  a  clod  of  clay  attending  what 
kind  of  vessel  it  shall  please  you  to  make  of  your  lordship's  hum- 
blest, thankfullest,  and  devotedest  servant."5  One  of  the  doors  of 
St  Paul's  Cathedral  was  used  by  thrifty  Londoners  on  which  to 
paste  advertisements,  and  among  others  applications  for  vacant 
church  offices  by  impecunious  clergy  often  appeared.  As  these 
applications  usually  began  with  the  words,  Si  quis,  the  door  came 
to  be  known  as  the  Si  quis  door.  It  was  supposed  that  patrons  or 
their  wily  agents  used  to  hang  around  this  door  to  make  corrupt 
bargains  with  clerical  seekers,  and  thus  the  Si  quis  door  soon  won 
an  evil  reputation. 

Saw'st  thou  ever  Si  quis  patched  on  Paul's  Church-door, 

To  seek  some  vacant  vicarage  before  ? 

Who  wants  a  Churchman  that  can  service  say, 

Read  fast  and  f aire  his  monthly  homiley  i 


1  See  Hackett,  Life  of  Williams,  i,  19  ;  Herbert,  Country  Parson  ;  Chamber- 
layne,  Angliae  Notitia,  i,  269  ;  Causes  of  the  Contempt  of  the  Clergy,  p.  17. 
Macaulay's  famous  third  chapter,  where  he  describes  the  clergy  of  the  17th 
century  in  no  flattering  terms,  though  based  on  contemporary  records,  is  said 
to  be  an  exaggeration,  on  account  of  taking  seriously  satirical  and  overdrawn 
descriptions.  It  does  not  appear,  however,  that  for  many  of  the  clergy  it  is 
materially  out  of  the  way.  Perry,  ii,  388,  admits  that  as  chaplains  they  "  were 
often  very  vilely  treated."  "The  poets,  dramatists,  and  pamphleteers  of  the 
17th  century,"  says  Jeaffreson,  "  support  the  charges  of  sycophancy  and  moral 
laxity  preferred  against  the  chaplains  by  the  prelates,  who,  I  doubt  not,  had 
substantially  just  grounds  for  their  disapprobation  of  the  menial  clergy." — A 
Book  about  the  Clergy,  Lond.,  1870,  ii,  268.  Herbert  urges  the  chaplains  not 
to  be  base  and  oversubmissive. 

2  State  Papers  of  James  I,  Ixxxviii,  136. 
2 Ibid.,  xxvii,  6. 

4  Cabala,  p.  65. 

6  Fortescue  Papers,  p.  157  (Camden  Soc.) ;  Perry,  ii,  390. 


ANGLICANS  AND  PURITANS  UNDER  THE  FIRST  STUART.  641 

And  wed,  and  bury,  and  make  Christen-soules  ? 

Come  to  the  left-side  Alley  of  Seint  Paules, 

Thou  servile  f  oole  :  why  could'st  thou  not  repaire 

To  buy  a  benefice  at  Steeple  faire  ? 

There  moughtest  thou,  but  for  a  slender  price, 

Advowson  thee  with  some  fat  benefice. 

Or,  if  thou  list  not  wayt  for  dead  men's  shoon, 

Nor  pray  eche  morn  th'  incumbent's  daies  were  doon  ; 

A  thousand  patrons  thither  ready  bring 

Their  new  fain  churches  to  the  chaffering. 

Stake  three  years'  stipend  :  no  man  asketh  more. 

Go,  take  possession  of  thy  church-porch  doore, 

And  ring  thy  bels  ;  lucke  stroken  in  thy  fist, 

The  parsonage  is  thine  ;  or  ere  thou  wist. 

Saint  Fooles  of  Gotam  mought  thy  parish  bee 

For  this  thy  brave  and  servile  symonie.1 

Before  leaving  the  reign  of  James  mention  must  be  made  of  the 
translation  of  the  Bible  made  under  his  order. 

The  Puritans  had  called  attention  in  the  Hampton  conference 
to  the  inaccuracies  of  the  Bishops'  Bible,  and  had  urged  a  revision. 
James  fell  in  with  this,  especially  as  he  did  not  like 

.7  .  ,  KING  JAMES'S 

some  of  the  comments  m  the  version  popularly  used —  version  of 

x  THE  BIBLE. 

the  Genevan.  He  drew  up  several  rules  for  the  govern- 
ment of  the  translators,  some  of  which  restricted  their  liberty. 
They  were  to  follow  closely  the  Bishops'  Bible,  retain  proper 
names  as  commonly  written,  keep  the  old  ecclesiastical  words  (for 
example,  not  to  change  "  church  "  into  "  congregation  "),  and 
when  in  doubt  as  to  translation  follow  that  which  has  the  author- 
ity of  the  most  eminent  fathers.  Forty-seven  men  were  engaged  in 
the  work,  begun  in  1607,  finished  in  1611.  "We  did  not  run  over 
the  work,"  says  Dr.  Miles  Smith,  afterward  bishop  of  Gloucester, 
in  the  Preface,  "  with  that  posting  haste  the  Septuagint  did.  The 
work  hath  not  been  huddled  up  in  seventy-two  days,  but  hath  cost 
the  workmen,  as  light  as  it  seemeth,  the  pains  of  twice  seven  times 
seventy-two  days  and  more.  We  were  far  from  condemning  any  of 
their  labors  that  travailed  before  in  this  kind,  either  in  this  land  or 

'Bishop  Hall,  Satires,  bk.  ii,  sat.  5.  Patrons  would  often  sell  "next  pres- 
entations "  of  livings  not  vacant,  and  would  take  the  stipends  of  the  first  three 
years.  Jeaffreson  thinks  that  ' '  satire  magnified  the  misconduct  of  exceptional 
delinquents  and  created  an  impression  amongst  the  populace  that  Si  Quis 
Alley  was  a  regular  'change  for  illicit  traffickers  in  ecclesiastical  benefices." 
— Book  of  the  Clergy,  ii,  285.  He  thinks  that  the  clergy  as  a  class  were  so 
poor  that  simony  on  a  large  scale  was  impossible. 

43  8 


642  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

beyond  sea.  We  never  thought  from  the  beginning  that  we  should 
need  to  make  a  new  translation,  nor  yet  to  make  of  a  bad  a  good 
one,  but  to  make  a  good  one  better,  or  out  of  many  good  ones  one 
principal  good  one,  not  justly  to  be  excepted  against — that  hath  been 
our  endeavor  and  our  mark."  '  And  well  did  they  succeed.  Con- 
sidering the  fact  that  the  translators  labored  without  critical  appa- 
ratus in  the  infancy  of  biblical  learning,  the  correctness  of  their 
translation  is  remarkable,  their  innumerable  errors  excusable,  and 
especially  admirable  is  their  marvelously  appropriate,  beautiful,  and 
forceful  English.  This  has  covered  a  multitude  of  sins,  and  bids 
fair  to  give  their  Bible  life  for  another  century.  Though  com- 
monly called  the  Authorized  Version,  the  use  of  King  James's  Bible 
was  never  authorized  by  either  convocation,  king,  Church,  or 
parliament.2 

1  The  Preface  may  be  found  in  the  Cambridge  Paragraph  Bible,  Camb.,  1873, 
and  large  quotations  from  it  appear  in  Mombert,  Handbook  of  the  English 
Versions  of  the  Bible,  pp.  349-357. 

2  The  Great  Bible  was  authorized  by  royal  proclamation  at  the  time  it  was 
published,  and  so  late  as  1604  in  Canon  80  passed  in  convocation  and  confirmed 
by  the  king.  This  canon,  after  speaking  of  the  Prayer  Book,  says  :  "  And  if  any 
parishes  be  yet  unfurnished  of  the  Bible  of  the  largest  volume,  or  of  the  Books 
of  Homilies  allowed  by  authority,  the  said  churchwardens  shall  within  conven- 
ient time  provide  the  same  at  the  like  charge  of  the  parish."  The  words,  "  Ap- 
pointed to  be  read  in  churches,"  which  appear  on  the  title-pages  of  the  Bible 
of  1611,  have  no  authority  whatever.  Their  truthfulness  is  on  a  par  with  the 
fulsome  adulation  of  the  king  in  the  dedication.  He  is  called  the  "  sun  in  his 
strength,"  "  that  sanctified  person  encircled  with  many  singular  and  extraordi- 
nary graces,"  and  "  the  wonder  of  the  world  in  this  latter  age."  This  dedica- 
tion, with  its  unfair  flings  at  the  Puritans,  is  still  published  in  all  English  edi- 
tions. Selections  from  the  Preface  might  better  take  its  place.  The  deficien- 
cies and  inaccuracies  of  the  James  version  have  been  pointed  out  by  many 
scholars.  See  especially  J.  B.  Lightfoot,  On  a  Fresh  Revision  of  the  English 
New  Testament,  Lond.,  1871;  R.  C.  Trench,  On  the  Authorized  Version  of  the 
New  Testament,  Lond.,  1858  ;  and  C.  J.  Ellicott,  Considerations  on  a  Revision 
of  the  English  Version  of  the  New  Testament,  Lond.,  1870.  These  three  were 
reprinted  by  Harpers,  in  one  volume,  A  Revision  of  the  English  Version  of  the 
N.  T. ,  with  Introd.  by  P.  Schaff,  N.  Y. ,  1873.  The  late  Professor  James  Strong 
furnishes  some  frank  criticism  in  his  article  on  the  Authorized  Version  in 
McClintock  and  Strong,  Cyc,  vol.  i  (1867),  p.  561. 


ATTEMPT   TO   CATHOLICIZE   THE   ENGLISH  CHURCH.     643 


CHAPTER  IV. 
THE    ATTEMPT    TO    CATHOLICIZE    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH. 

Chaeles  I  set  himself  to  eliminate  the  Protestant  elements 
from  the  service  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  the  liberal 
elements  from  the  constitution  of  the  State  of  Eng- 
land. With  more  or  less  definiteness  and  persever- 
ance he  pursued  this  double  path  to  the  end.  The  mainspring  of 
the  catholicizing  work  was  Archbishop  Laud ;  the  efficient  ministers 
of  the  other  were  Buckingham  and  Strafford,  though  in  matters  of 
State  also  Laud's  influence  was  perhaps  not  less  than  that  of  these 
two  men,  his  intimate  friends  and  correspondents. 

Laud  was  the  last  ecclesiastical  statesman  of  England.  Both  in 
the  type  of  his  mind  and  in  the  role  he  sought  to  fill  he  was  a  medi- 
evalist— the  Anglican  Becket,  with  his  superstition,  his  single- 
minded  and  conscientious  though  narrow  and  obstinate  devotion 
to  his  ideal,  his  inability  to  take  a  broad  view  or  to  discern  the 
signs  of  the  times.     The  son  of  a  Reading  cloth  weaver,  william 

Laud  had  nothing  to  thank  for  his  elevation  but  his 
own  abilities.  Even  at  Oxford  he  showed  his  bent,  and  when  he 
was  ordained  (1601)  the  bishop  ' '  found  his  study  raised  above  the 
system  and  opinions  of  the  age,  upon  the  noble  foundation  of  the 
fathers,  councils,  and  ecclesiastical  historians  ;  and  presaged  that  if 
he  lived  he  would  be  an  instrument  of  restoring  the  Church  from 
the  narrow  and  private  principles  of  modern  times."  The  list  of 
his  preferments  is  a  rapid  one  :  1611,  principal  of  St.  John's  Col- 
lege, Oxford ;  1616,  dean  of  Gloucester ;  1621,  bishop  of  St.  Davids  ; 
1626,  bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells  ;  1626,  dean  of  the  Chapel  Royal ; 
1628,  chancellor  of  Oxford  University  ;  1628,  bishop  of  London  ; 
and  1633,  archbishop  of  Canterbury  and  primate  of  England.  In 
1627  he  became  privy  councilor,  and  after  the  assassination  of 
Buckingham  (1628)  he  was  the  ruling  spirit  in  the  nation,  remind- 
ing us  of  Wolsey  in  his  palmy  days.  "  English  nobles  and  foreign 
ambassadors  paid  their  court  to  Laud  at  Lambeth.  The  interior 
courts  of  his  palace  were  filled  with  men-at-arms  and  horsemen  ; 
and  while  holding  a  levee  or  granting  an  interview  the  archbishop 
himself  held  court  second  only  in  grandeur  to  the  king." ' 

1  Hook,  Lives  of  the  Archbishops  of  Canterbury,  Laud,  p.  228. 


644  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Laud's  high  and  straightforward  churchmanship,  and  the  di- 
rectness and  ability  with  which  he  pursued  and  gained  his  ends, 
recommended  him  to  Charles,  who  gave  him  a  free  hand  and  sec- 
onded all  his  purposes,  knowing,  as  the  king  did,  that 
angl'ican-ke  the  ecclesiastic  was  no  lesa  devoted  to  him  than  he 
ISM-  was  to  the  Church.     In  fact,  this  double  devotion  was 

like  the  two  sides  to  the  one  shield — loyalty  to  a  living,  external, 
arbitrary  authority.  In  the  one  case  it  is  the  king  representing 
God  in  the  State  ;  in  the  other  it  is  the  hierarchy  representing  him 
in  the  Church.  But  the  hierarchy  is  many,  and  may  be  divided, 
but  the  king  is  one  ;  therefore,  if  Catholicism  goes  forward  to  its 
natural  end,  it  will  issue  in  the  popedom  as  against  the  kingdom. 
And  this  it  actually  did  in  the  Holy  Eoman  empire  of  the  earlier 
Middle  Ages,  where  pope  and  emperor  stood  forth  as  the  coequal 
agents  of  the  suzerain  of  the  universe.  And  as  there  cannot  be 
an  equilibrium  of  forces  in  the  matter  of  authority,  and  as  the  pope 
stands  in  more  vital  relations  to  Christ  than  the  king,  Catholicism 
must  logically  assert  its  own  supremacy  in  the  pope  over  earthly 
sovereigns,  as  it  did  in  the  later  Middle  Ages.1  But  Laud  had  not 
gone  so  far.  He  was  a  sincere  Anglican.  To  him  the  king  was 
sufficient,  if  he  carried  out  the  recommendations  of  the  Church.2 
What,  then,  was  the  work  of  Laud  ? 

1.  Laud  subverted  the  Protestant  principle  of  representation  in 
the  State.  The  idea  of  the  priesthood  of  all  believers,  which 
is  the  basal  principle  of  Protestantism,  will  inevitably  work  itself 
laud  an  out  in  modifying  kingly  absolutism  in  the  direction 

parl?amen-F  of  popular  government.  High  Churchmen  are  gen- 
taky  power.  eraxiy  conservatives  in  politics,  and  the  High  Church 
movement,  led  by  Newman,  in  1833,  was  largely  a  political  reac- 

1  It  is  this  principle  of  absolutism  that  is  latent  in  Catholicism  which  Pius 
IX  tried  to  express  in  the  famous  Syllabus  of  1864. 

2 "  The  archbishop  of  Canterbury  [Laud],  who  had  never  wavered  for  a  mo- 
ment, so  conducted  the  government  of  the  Church  as  to  uphold  the  king's  pre- 
rogative of  supremacy  in  ecclesiastical  affairs.  He  appeared  to  aim  at  estab- 
lishing, or  rather,  properly  speaking,  already  to  possess  in  substance  a  British 
patriarch  such  as  that  which  long  ago  in  Constantinople  had  stood  beside  the 
throne  of  the  Greek  emperors  and  had  promoted  their  views.  Although  dif- 
ferent in  procedure  and  in  the  foundation  on  which  they  rested,  these  efforts 
had  a  general  coincidence  with  the  policy  which  was  being  carried  out  in  other 
great  monarchies  in  the  name  of  tbe  sovereign  by  ambitious  ministers,  obse- 
quious tribunals,  and  devoted  bishops.  Where  in  England  was  the  power  that 
could  have  resisted  it  ?  " — Ranke,  Hist,  of  England  chiefly  in  the  Seventeenth 
Century,  ii,  67. 


ATTEMPT  TO   CATHOLICIZE   THE   ENGLISH  CHURCH.     645 

tion.1  It  was  Laud  aimed  to  exalt  the  king  at  the  expense  of  parlia- 
ment. One  of  James's  chaplains,  Richard  Montague,  had  written  a 
book,  Appello  Caesarein,  in  which  he  asserted  the  divine  right  of 
kings  in  an  uncompromising  manner.  When  parliament  would  have 
taken  notice  of  the  book  Laud  defended  Montague,  and  Charles 
dissolved  parliament  and  soon  made  Montague  a  bishop.  Sibthorp 
preached  at  the  assize  of  Northampton  a  sermon  in  which  he  con- 
tended that  the  prince  by  divine  right  has  power  to  make  laws  and 
impose  taxes.  Laud  and  the  king  wanted  the  sermon  published,  and 
it  was  sent  to  Abbot,  then  archbishop,  for  license.  Abbot  refused 
the  license,  and  for  this  he  was  imprisoned  by  the  king  in  his  own 
house  at  Ford.  The  sermon,  however,  was  licensed  by  the  bishop  of 
London  and  published  in  1627.  Bargrave,  dean  of  Canterbury, 
preached  a  sermon  to  the  same  effect,  and  it  was  published  by  his 
majesty's  special  command.  Bargrave  accused  of  rebellion  all  who 
refused  the  forced  loans  or  taxes  of  the  king.  Wren,  master  of  a 
college  at  Cambridge  and  chaplain  to  the  king,  preached  another  of 
these  absolutist  sermons,  and  it  was  published  at  the  king's  com- 
mand. Mainwaring,  king's  chaplain,  preached  that  kings  were 
above  angels,  and  was  promptly  impeached  for  "  infusing  into  the 
conscience  of  his  majesty  the  persuasion  of  a  power  not  bounding 
itself  with  law,  and  for  persuading  the  conscience  of  the  subjects 
that  they  are  bound  to  obey  commands  illegal."  Parliament  voted 
that  he  should  be  imprisoned,  fined  £1,000,  make  submission 
to  both  houses,  be  suspended  three  years  from  the  ministry,  dis- 
abled from  further  preferment  or  from  preaching  at  court,  and 
that  his  offending  book  should  be  burnt.  But  nothing  came  of 
this.  Beyond  a  short  imprisonment  Mainwaring  got  off,  not  only 
without  dishonor,  but  with  reward.  His  fine  was  remitted,  pre- 
ferment was  heaped  upon  him,  and  he  was  finally  made  bishop  of 
St.  Davids. 

2.  Laud  sought  to  subvert  Calvinism  as  the  theological  bulwark 
of  Protestantism.  Historically  Calvinism  was  essential  to  the  Ref- 
ormation. To  offset  the  supremacy  of  the  Church  men  LATJD>S  AT_ 
needed  the  supremacy  of  God.  When  the  hierarchy  suppress 
and  sacraments  and  councils  and  popes  came  between  calvinism. 
the  soul  and  God,  how  could  the  thraldom  which  held  the  soul 
be  broken  except  by  a  greater  than  they — God  himself,  the  Eter- 
nal Will,  the  Everlasting  Decree  of  the  Infinite,  who  had  pre- 
destinated the  Christian  man  to  salvation  before  the  worlds  were, 

1  By   a  noble   inconsistency   the   High    Churchman    Gladstone,  though  he 
started  a  Tory,  became  a  Liberal. 


646  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

a  salvation  which  rested,  not  on  Church  commandments  or  priestly 
absolution,  but  on  the  immutable  word  of  God  ?  Calvinism,  though 
it  humbled  man,  exalted  him  and  made  him  independent.  Why 
should  he  with  whom  the  Almighty  had  first-hand  dealings  become 
the  slave  of  priests  and  ecclesiasticisms  and  tyrannies,  secular 
or  other  ?  Laud  saw  this  barrier  to  his  plans,  and  one  of  his 
efforts  was  to  eliminate  or  silence  English  Calvinism.  He  was  con- 
tent with  the  Articles  of  Keligion,  and  interpreted  them,  so  far 
as  possible,  in  a  Eoman  Catholic  sense.  But  on  the  strength 
of  Article  XVII,  a  straightforward  though  moderate  Calvinistic 
utterance,  the  English  preachers,  who  were,  as  we  have  seen, 
charles's  mostly  Calvinists,  had  had  much  liberty  in  proclaim- 
oNCxxxfxION  ing  the  omnipotence  of  God's  grace.  How  could  this 
articles.  ke  gt0pped  ?  Simply  by  the  authority  of  the  king 
commanding  silence  on  all  matters  in  dispute  between  Calvinists 
and  Arminians,  and  saying  that  the  Articles  must  not  be  inter- 
preted in  the  Calvinistic  sense  or  in  any  other,  but  only  in  the 
grammatical  sense.  This  famous  declaration  of  the  king  (1628)  is 
still  a  part  of  the  English  Prayer  Book.  "  We  will  that  all  further 
curious  search  be  laid  aside."  Even  the  High  Churchman  and  ad- 
mirer of  Laud,  Canon  Mozley,  cannot  conceal  his  contempt  for 
this  sorry  piece  of  meddling.1  But  the  interdiction  of  Calvinism 
was  successful,  at  least  for  a  time.  By  the  terrors  of  the  ecclesias- 
tical courts  the  ministers  were  silenced.  In  this  way  the  doctrinal 
barriers  to  the  catholicizing  of  the  English  Church  were  re- 
moved.2 

3.  The  strength  of  Protestantism  is  and  always  has  been  a  free 
pulpit.  Protestantism  gathers  around  the  preacher,  a  prophet  of 
God  ;  Catholicism  around  the  priest,  a  master  of  ceremonies.  It 
was  the  intention  of  Laud  to  cripple  the  freedom  and  power  of  the 

1  "  The  royal  declaration  about  the  XXXIX  Articles,  still  appended  to  our 
Prayer  Book,  was  the  decisive  step  taken  with  respect  to  the  doctrinal  question 
at  issue.  The  meaning  of  the  Articles  was  fought  for  :  the  declaration  rescued 
them  w  et  armis  from  the  Calvinistic  sense,  and  said  positively  they  are  not 
Calvinistic,  and  they  shall  not  be  Calvinistic  ;  we  forbid  you  drawing  any  in- 
ference of  your  own  from  them.  You  shall  take  the  words— the  words  as 
they  stand,  as  much  of  the  words  as  you  please,  but  not  one  iota  of  meaning 
shall  you  give  them."— Essays,  Historical  and  Theological,  i,  165,  166. 

2  "  Laud's  object  was  a  doctrinal  clearance  ;  the  subjugation  of  the  Calvinistic 
spirit  in  the  Reformed  Church  of  England.  The  restoration  of  church  cere- 
monials and  external  worship  was  not  so  much  his  object  as  this  doctrinal  one. 
...  He  was  bent  on  expelling  the  Calvinistic  heresy,  on  the  view  that  nothing 
could  be  made  of  the  Church  till  it  was  got  rid  of."— Mozley,  ibid.,  i,  163. 


ATTEMPT   TO   CATHOLICIZE   THE   ENGLISH  CHURCH.     647 

preacher.  On  account  of  the  inability  of  many  of  the  parish  priests 
to  preach,  the  Puritans  had  employed  divines  to  lecture  or  preach 
in  the  afternoon  or  evening.  These  men  were  not  nec- 
essarily parish  priests,  but  attached  more  or  less  loosely  sition  to 
to  a  parish  or  a  number  of  parishes  as  lecturers,  a  kind 
of  intellectual  protagonists  of  the  Gospel,  as  the  Order  of  Preach- 
ers (Dominicans)  were  the  champions  of  Catholicism  under  Rome. 
Their  powerful  expositions  of  the  Scripture  and  defenses  of  the 
truth  were  aids  to  that  process  by  which  England — thanks  to 
Puritanism — became  a  Protestant  nation.  These  sermons  Laud 
stopped,  or  as  good  as  stopped,  by  a  series  of  resolutions  which  he 
led  the  king  to  issue  to  the  effect  (1)  that  the  full  Prayer  Book 
service  must  precede  the  sermon,  which  must  be  delivered  in  a 
surplice,  and,  if  in  the  morning,  in  connection  with  the  Lord's 
Supper  ;  (2)  the  preacher  must  not  deliver  any  discourse  upon  the 
text  which  shall  not  be  comprehended  and  warranted  by  the  Arti- 
cles of  Eeligion  or  the  Homilies ;  (3)  there  shall  be  no  sermons  in 
the  afternoon  except  upon  some  parts  of  the  catechism,  creed,  or 
Lord's  Prayer,  and  that  "  those  preachers  be  most  encouraged  and 
approved  of  who  spend  the  afternoon's  exercise  in  the  examining 
of  children  in  their  catechism  and  in  the  expounding  of  the  sev- 
eral points  and  heads  of  the  catechism,  which  is  the  most  ancient 
and  laudable  custom  of  teaching  in  the  Church  of  England  ; "  (4) 
no  preacher  except  a  bishop  or  clean  must  "  preach  in  any  popular 
auditory  the  deep  points  of  predestination,  election,  reprobation, 
or  of  the  universality,  efficacity,  resistibility,  or  irresistibility  of 
God's  grace."  Regular  attendance  at  divine  service  is  to  be  ex- 
acted from  all,  and  an  account  is  to  be  sent  at  the  beginning  of 
each  year  as  to  the  way  in  which  these  Instructions  have  been  car- 
ried out.1  Some  preachers  who  still  dared  to  touch  doctrines  like 
predestination  were  brought  up  before  the  council  and  suspended. 
The  animus  of  the  Instructions  was,  as  Mozley  says,  no  sermons. 
"  Sermons  were  the  unmanageable  articles,  the  essential  agents  of 
mischief,  and  how  to  cut  and  pare  them  down,  and  put  them  into 
strait-waistcoats  and  into  the  stocks,  and  take  out  their  tongues, 

1  For  the  Directions  concerning  Preachers,  1622,  see  Cardwell,  Documentary 
Annals  of  the  Reformed  Church  of  England,  ii,  149  ff.,  and  for  Instructions  to 
Archbishop  Laud,  1633,  the  same,  ii,  177  ff.  This  latter  set  of  Instructions 
supplements  and  corrects  the  former.  In  it  the  afternoon  catechizing  must 
take  the  place  of  preaching  unless  there  is  some  great  cause  apparent  to  "  break 
this  ancient  and  laudable  order."  A  lecturer  must  be  willing  to  take  upon 
him  the  cure  of  souls,  and  if  such  a  cure  is  presented  he  must  immediately 
accept  it. 


648  HISTORY   OF    THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

and  make  them  say  nothing,  and  mean  nothing,  and  be  nothing, 
was  the  question."  '  Under  this  iron  bondage  more  of  the  clergy 
threw  up  their  charges  and  joined  their  brethren  in  America. 

4.  The  Dutch  and  other  foreign  congregations  who  had  wor- 
shiped in  various  parts  of  England,  this  tolerance  having  been 

lerance  f reely  granted  even  by  Elizabeth  and  James  I,  were  now 
of  other        informed  that  they  must  either  conform  to  the  Church 

PROTES-  J 

tants.  0f  England  or  close  their  churches  ;  and  English  am- 

bassadors and  others  residing  abroad  were  informed  that  they  must 
not  attend  worship  in  the  Lutheran,  Reformed,  or  other  Protestant 
churches. 

5.  A  system  of  purchase  of  endowments,  by  which,  in  spite  of 
displace-  the  opposition  of  kings  and  bishops,  some  Puritan 
puritan  dergy  were  still  in  charge  of  parishes,  was  destroyed,  and 
clergy.          avj  ^he  vacant  benefices  were  filled  with  Laud's  men. 

6.  The  feasts,  church-ales,  and  various  sports  and  wakes  which 
came  in  like  a  flood  after  James's  Book  of  Sports,  1618,  disgusted 
the  Protestant  clergy  and  alarmed  the  justices.  In  some  counties 
restoration  the  judges  had  forbidden  these  carousals.  This  an- 
mancatT  gered  Laud  and  the  king  so  that  they  republished  the 
olic  sunday.  Book  of  sports  with  this  declaration  :  "  Our  express 
will  and  pleasure  is  that  these  feasts,  with  others,  shall  be  observed, 
and  that  our  justices  of  the  peace  shall  see  them  conducted  or- 
derly, and  that  neighborhood  and  freedom  with  manlike  and  law- 
ful exercises  be  used.  And  the  justices  of  assize  are  to  see  that  no 
man  shall  be  molested  in  these  lawful  recreations,  and  the  bishops 
are  to  give  order  for  the  publication  of  this  command  in  all  the 
churches. "  It  was  not  that  so  devout  and  sincere  a  Christian  as 
Laud  desired  to  see  Sunday  turned  into  a  day  of  dissipation,  but 
that  he  did  desire  fully  to  substitute  the  Roman  Catholic  doctrine 
and  practice  in  regard  to  the  day  for  the  Protestant.8 

7.  As  is  well  known,  the  English  Prayer  Book  is  a  translation  of 
the  best  in  the  mediaeval  service  books,  with  additions,  indeed,  yet 

'Essays,  Hist,  and  Theol.,  i,  164. 

2  To  the  Roman  Catholic  the  sanctity  of  Sunday  rests  only  on  the  authority  of 
the  Church,  and  is  not  inconsistent,  divine  service  having  been  attended,  with 
sports,  amusements,  and  feasts.  To  the  Protestant  the  sanctity  of  the  day 
rests  upon  the  commandment  of  God  to  keep  holy  the  Sabbath,  and  is  incon- 
sistent with  worldly  diversions  and  unnecessary  work.  Charles's  Declara- 
tion concerning  Sports  may  be  found  in  Gardiner,  Constitutional  Documents, 
pp.  31  ff.,  and  Gee  and  Hardy,  pp.  528-532.  See  the  admirable  book  of  L.  £. 
Govett,  The  Kings'  Book  of  Sports,  a  History  with  Reprints,  Lond.,  Stock, 
1890. 


ATTEMPT  TO  CATHOLICIZE  THE  ENGLISH  CHURCH.      649 

retaining  many  of  the  Konian  Catholic  elements  in  them.  But 
with  the  revival  of  the  ancient  doctrine  of  the  Lord's  Supper  as  a 
spiritual  feast  of  communion  with  Christ  instead  of 

„,  •/.  ■    -i   •        i       j  i  THE   ALTAR. 

the  Koman  doctrine  of  the  sacrifice  of  his  body  and 
blood  to  God,  there  came  the  necessity  of  abolishing  the  altar  and 
bringing  back  the  table.  This  was  placed  in  the  nave  or  chancel, 
or  wherever  was  most  convenient,  the  elements  being  carried  to  the 
people  where  they  stood  or  sat,  and  after  the  Supper  the  table  was 
sometimes  removed  to  one  side.  It  appears  from  contemporary 
testimony  that  the  table  was  not  always  treated  with  that  reverence 
which  even  the  law  of  association  would  require,  hats,  writing  ma- 
terials, and  other  articles  being  sometimes  placed  on  it.  Laud  and 
Charles  ordered  that  the  table  should  be  set  altarwise  against  the 
east  end  of  the  church  within  the  chancel.  There  it  has  remained 
to  the  present  day  in  all  Anglican  churches  throughout  the  world 
and  in  all  related  churches — the  table  altar,  symbol  of  sacrifice, 
the  place  of  the  sacrificing  priest,  who  in  priestly  garments,  with 
his  back  to  the  people  and  with  his  face  to  the  altar,  transacts  the 
august  ceremonies  of  the  sacrament.  Laud  said  :  "  The  altar  is 
the  greatest  place  of  God's  residence  upon  earth,  greater  than  the 
pulpit,  for  there  'tis  Hoc  est  corpus  meum,  This  is  my  body  ;  but 
in  the  other  it  is,  at  most,  but  Hoc  est  verbum  meum,  This  is  my 
word."  Catholicism  says  :  The  greatest  place  of  God's  residence 
is  the  altar  ;  Protestantism  says  :  That  place  is  the  hearts  of  his 
people. 

8.  The  religious  unifying  of  the  two  islands,  which  meant  the 
destruction  of  Presbyterianism  in  Scotland  and  of  Roman  Cath- 
olicism and  Protestantism  in  Ireland,  was  also  on  the  THE  Catholi- 
program  of  Charles  and  his  archbishop.  How  they  Scotland 
fared  in  carrying  it  out  will  be  told  in  later  chapters,  and  Ireland. 
The  ruthlessness  and  faithlessness  which  characterized  the  attempt 
was  one  of  the  chief  causes,  perhaps,  of  the  tragic  end  of  the  two 
actors,  and  of  Strafford,  their  agent  in  Ireland. 

9.  The  destruction  of  free  speech  and  of  a  free  press,  the  usual 
concomitant  of  Catholicism,  was  not  overlooked.  It  could  not 
be  expected  that    the   Protestant   party  would  look 

.  .  .         ,         „       ,      .        DESTRUCTION 

on  m  silence  while  the  little  that  remained  of  their  of  free 

•     -t  t      •     i  »     >l  c     ,i  SPEECH  AND 

privileges  was  swept  away.     Leighton,  father  of  the  a  free 
eminent  archbishop,  wrote  a  Plea  against  Prelates,  and 
Was  fined,  imprisoned,  and  mutilated.      Prynne  wrote  his  Histrio- 
Mastix — a  book  against  the  stage — and  for  the  alleged  seditious 
writing  in  it  was  condemned  to  a  fine  of  five  thousand  pounds, 


650  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

perpetual  imprisonment,  and  the  loss  of  his  ears.  He  wrote  an- 
other hook,  and  was  condemned  to  branding  and  imprisonment  in 
remoter  prisons.1  Bostwick,  Burton,  and  many  others  suffered. 
The  court  of  high  commission  and  of  the  star  chamber  stood  be- 
hind the  new  regulations,  and  anyone  who  made  himself  obnoxious 
to  the  authorities  was  soon  silenced  or  put  out  of  the  way. 

The  entire  sincerity  and  conscientiousness  of  Laud,  who  was  one 

of  the  most  devout  men  of  the  time,  and  who  kept  a  heart  of 

prayer  amid  all  his  worldly  business  and  dealings  with 

LAUD'S  SIN-  rt,    .  »    ci,  ii  -i       t  »  »      ,        -,   . 

ckkity  and  anairs  01  btate,  are  on  the  whole  surface  of  the  his- 
tory. It  was  this  which  made  him  blind  to  the  actual 
feeling  of  the  country.  To  the  Puritans  the  altars  were  the  sym- 
bols of  idolatry,  of  antichrist.  "  These  new  orders,"  wrote  one  of 
the  Puritans,  "  do  open  the  mouths  of  many  against  the  bishops  to 
call  them  antichrists,  because  none  but  an  adversary  to  Christ  will 
take  upon  him  to  set  up  altars."*  "Can  you,"  writes  Bishop 
Hacketto  Laud  in  earnest  warning,  "can  you  be  insensible  of  this 
impendent  ruin  ?  Are  you  so  intent  upon  your  altar  that  you  know 
not  how  the  nation  bears  a  grudge  at  you  ?  " 3  Edward  Hyde  (Lord 
Clarendon,  the  historian)  told  Laud  plainly  that  the  people  "were 
universally  discontented,  and  that  everyone  spake  extreme  ill  of  his 
grace  as  the  cause  of  all  that  went  amiss."  4  But  Laud  either  did 
not  believe  this,  or,  intent  on  his  great  work,  he  did  not  care. 

What  was  the  relation  of  Laud's  scheme  to  the  papacy  ?    Laud 

was  a  thorough  Protestant  so  far  as  concerned  any  desire  to  bring 

the  pope's  rule  into  England.     "  I  assure  myself,"  he 

LAUD'S  LEAN-  .  -.      .  ,  -i  • 

ixgstowakd  said  m  1637,  "no  prelate  can  be  so  base  as  to  live  a 

POME 

prelate  in  the  Church  of  England  and  labor  to  bring 
in  the  superstitions  of  Rome  upon  himself  and  it.  And  if  any 
should  be  so  foul,  I  do  not  only  leave  him  to  God's  judgment,  but 
to  shame  also  and  severe  punishment  from  the  State.  And  in  any 
just  way  no  man's  hand  shall  be  more  a  power  against  him  than 
mine  shall  be. " 5  At  the  same  time  his  earnest  Catholicism  in 
some  matters  of  doctrine  and  practice, 6  and  his  work  in  crushing 
the  Protestant  party,  made  the  Roman  authorities  feel  that  he  was 

1  He  was  branded  with  the  letters  S.  L.  (Seditious  Libeler),  which  Prynne 
interpreted  Signum  Laudias.  '2  L.  Hughes,  Petition  of  a  Poor  Minister. 

3  Life  of  Bishop  Williams,  ii,  103. 

4  Life  of  Lord  Clarendon,  in  Works,  ed.  1843,  p.  932. 

5  Speech  at  Bostwick's  trial,  p.  70. 

6  Thomas  McKinnon  Wood  speaks  of  Laud's  inculcation  of  celibacy  among 
the  clergy,  of  auricular  confession,  of  prayers  for  the  dead,  and  of  the  doc- 
trine of  purgatory.— Art.  Charles  I,  in  Enc.  Brit.,  9th  ed. 


ATTEMPT   TO    CATHOLICIZE   THE   ENGLISH  CHURCH.     651 

working  in  their  direction,  and  no  doubt  prompted  their  friendly 
overture  of  a  cardinal's  hat,  which  Laud  declined  with  these  words  : 
"  Something  dwells  within  me  which  would  not  suffer  that,  till 
Eome  is  otherwise  than  it  is  at  the  present  time."  '  He  was  also  a 
forerunner  of  Anglican  divines  who  desire  a  reunion  with  the  Ro- 
man Catholic  Church.  He  was  accused  of  this  at  his  trial,  and  he 
acknowledged  it  in  some  noble  words :  "  I  have  ever  wished  and 
heartily  prayed  for  the  unity  of  the  whole  Church  of  Christ,  and  the 
peace  and  reconciliation  of  torn  and  divided  Christendom.  But  I 
did  never  desire  a  reconciliation  but  such  as  might  stand  with  truth 
and  preserve  all  the  foundations  of  religion  entire." a 

It  is  a  matter  of  course  that  the  Puritans  looked  upon  Laud's  inno- 
vations as  popish,  as  they  could  not,  as  a  rule,  distinguish  between 
practices  and  teachings  that  were  the  inheritance  of 

_         .  °  _  ,.  LAUD'S  NEGA- 

universal  Christendom,  and  those  that  were  peculiar  tionofpkot- 

~     ,  ....,,..  .-■-.  „  ESTANTISM. 

to  Eome.  Others  did  distinguish  m  a  measure,  as,  for 
instance,  Pym,  in  his  speech  in  the  Short  Parliament,  April  17, 
1637  :  "  We  are  not  contented  with  the  old  ceremonies — I  mean  such 
as  the  constitution  of  the  reformed  religion  hath  continued  unto  us ; 
but  we  must  introduce  again  many  of  those  superstitions  and  infirm 
ceremonies  which  accompanied  the  most  decrepit  age  of  popery, 
bowing  to  the  altar  and  such  like."3  Laud's  scheme  was  Anglo- 
Catholicism  of  the  most  uncompromising  kind,  which  looked  toward 
Rome  in  one  direction  and  away  from  her  in  another,  but  which  was 
the  complete  negation  of  Protestantism.  It  was  historically  justifi- 
able as  the  logical  carrying  out  of  certain  elements  in  Anglican  ritual 
and  doctrine  ;  but,  in  a  deeper  sense,  it  was  a  monstrous  usurpation, 
because  it  meant  the  complete  subversion  of  other  elements  of  the 
Church  which  were  the  life  of  thousands  of  her  noblest  sons,  and 
because  it  was  part  and  parcel  of  a  movement  to  throttle  freedom 
in  both  State  and  Church.  The  realization  of  this  fact,  which 
had  been  learned  well  by  many  sufferings,  made  the  people  in  the 
time  of  their  power  send  the  holy  and  upright  archbishop  and  his 
king  to  their  doom  as  traitors  to  the  English  nation.  Mozley  says 
that  to  Laud  we  owe  it  that  anyone  of  Catholic  predilections  can 
belong  to  the  English  Church.  While  there  is  truth  in  that,  it  is 
fair  to  say  also  that  to  the  failure  of  Laud  we  owe  it  that  anyone 
of  Protestant  predilections  can  belong  to  that  Church  or  to  any 
other  in  England. 

1  Laud,  Diary,  p.  49.  s  Laud,  History  of  his  Troubles,  p.  159, 

3  Rush/worth,  iii,  1133. 


652  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND  FROM  THE  RESTORATION  TO  THE 
EVE  OF  THE  GREAT  REVIVAL. 

Some  of  the  events  connected  with  that  stirring  period  covered 
by  the  Long  Parliament,  the  civil  war,  and  the  commonwealth 
will  he  treated  under  Presbyterianism  and  Congregationalism. 
The  story  of  the  English  Church,  from  the  restoration  of  the  mon- 
archy under  Charles  II,  1660,  to  the  more  hopeful  and  attractive 
time  of  Wesley,  now  claims  our  careful  attention. 

Charles,  unlike  his  father,  who  in  personal  life  was  as  pure  a 
king  as  ever  reigned,  was  a  voluptuary  who  was  ruled  by  his  con- 
cubines. So  far  as  he  had  any  religious  views  he  was  a  Roman 
Catholic,  but  he  disliked  persecution,  and  would  have 
given  a  measure  of  toleration,  if  the  Church  had  let 
him,  to  Protestants  and  Romanists  alike.  On  May  1,  1660,  he  sent 
from  Breda  his  letter  to  parliament  in  which  occurs  this  noble  pas- 
sage :  "  Because  the  passion  and  uncharitableness  of  the  times 
have  produced  several  opinions  in  religion  by  which  men  engaged 
in  parties  and  animosities  against  each  other,  which,  when  they 
shall  hereafter  unite  in  a  freedom  of  conversation,  will  be  com- 
pared and  better  understood,  we  do  declare  a  liberty  to  tender 
consciences,  that  no  man  shall  be  disquieted  or  called  in  ques- 
tion for  differences  of  opinions  in  matters  of  religion  which  do 
not  disturb  the  peace  of  the  kingdom  ;  and  that  we  shall  be 
ready  to  consent  to  such  an  act  of  parliament  as,  upon  mature 
deliberation,  shall  be  offered  to  us  for  the  full  granting  of  that 
indulgence/"  Charles  was  sincere  in  this,  and  tried  to  make  his 
promise  effective,  but  was  prevented  by  Anglican  determination 
to  persecute  the  Puritans,  if  we  may  still  so  call  the  moderate 
Episcopalian,  Presbyterian,  and  Congregational  dissenters,  and  by 
the  Anglican  and  Puritan  determination  to  persecute  the  Roman 
Catholics. 

The  king  asked  the  Presbyterians  on  what  terms  they  could 
unite  with  the  Church.     They  replied  :  The  limitation  of  episco- 

1  Declaration  of  Breda  is  printed  by  Gardiner,  Constitutional  Documents  of 
Puritan  Revolution,  p.  351,  and  Gee  and  Hardy,  Documents  Illustrative  of 
English  Church  History,  p.  585. 


THE  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND  FROM  THE  RESTORATION.   653 

pacy  by  a  standing  council  of  presbyters,  the  abolition  of  oaths 
and  subscription  of  ministers,  recasting  the  liturgy  in  Scripture 
phrase,  the  abolition  of  the  ceremonies,  including  the  use  of  the 
surplice,  and  a  provision  against  future  innovations.1  charles  n's 
On  October  25,  1660,  the  king  issued  a  declaration  ™JsETO 
which  was  really  an  overture  for  peace  between  Puri-  Ind'puri-8 
tan  and  Anglican.  It  referred  to  his  former  promise  TANS- 
of  toleration,  promised  to  promote  godly  ministers,  to  allow  a 
large  increase  in  suffragan  bishops,  to  require  a  certain  number  of 
presbyters  to  take  part  in  episcopal  acts,  to  make  confirmation 
follow  a  real  preparation  and  instruction,  to  make  the  rural  dean 
and  certain  assistant  ministers  a  body  for  settling  disputes  in  each 
deanery,  to  see  that  each  clergyman  performed  his  work  aright, 
to  cause  a  review  of  the  liturgy  to  be  made  in  which  Scripture 
phrases  should  be  added,  and  in  the  meantime  to  leave  ministers 
to  use  such  parts  of  the  Prayer  Book  as  they  did  not  scruple,  and 
to  practice  or  not  practice  the  ceremonies,  as  they  pleased.2  But 
the  parliament  refused  to  legalize  the  king's  declaration.  The 
next  parliament  was  even  more  reactionary,  and  even  if  the  Angli- 
can party  had  accepted  the  Puritan  proposals  to  the  Savoy  con- 
ference,3 which,  of  course,  they  would  not,  the  parliament,  filled 
in  the  rebound  with  earnest  Episcopalians,  would  have  repudiated 
them.     The  Book  of  Common  Prayer  was  submitted  to  convoca- 

1  It  is  said  that  Baxter's  influence  made  the  Presbyterian  demand  somewhat 
stiff. — Calamy,  Baxter,  pp.  141  ff. 

2  Collier,  Church  Hist,  of  England,  viii,  398  ;  Perry,  ii,  490,  491. 

3  The  Savoy  conference  was  a  convention  held  by  warrant  of  the  king,  whose 
purpose  it  was  to  bring  together  Puritans  and  Anglicans  on  some  common 
platform.  Here  it  was  that  Baxter  presented  the  Reformed  Liturgy,  the  result 
of  prodigious  industry,  as  it  was  written  entirely  by  him  in  two  weeks.  He 
offered  it,  not  to  take  the  place  of  the  Prayer  Book,  but  to  be  substituted  for  it 
when  necessary.  All  the  recommendations  of  Baxter  and  his  friends  were  re- 
fused by  the  Church  party.  Full  accounts  of  the  conference  can  be  had  in 
Calamy,  Baxter's  Life  and  Times ;  Orme,  Life  and  Times  of  Baxter,  i,  181- 
192  ;  Swainson,  Parliamentary  Hist,  of  the  Act  of  Uniformity,  with  Docu- 
ments, Lond.,  1875;  Jas.  Parker,  Introd.  to  Hist,  of  Successive  Revisions  of 
the  Prayer  Book  ;  Cardwell,  Hist,  of  Conferences  connected  with  the  Revision 
of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  Oxf.,  1840,  pp.  238  ff.  ;  and  in  the  Church 
Histories  of  England.  The  Puritan  Prayer  Book  was  republished  by  Prof. 
Shields,  of  Princeton  (who  left  the  Presbyterian  for  the  Episcopal  Church  in 
1898  on  account  of  criticisms  he  received  for  signing  a  liquor  license)  under 
the  title,  The  Book  of  Common  Prayer  as  amended  by  the  Presbyterian  Divines 
of  1661,  Phila.,  1864,  2d  ed.,  N.  Y.,  1883.  The  Savoy  conference  was  so  called 
because  held  at  the  Savoy  palace,  on  the  Strand,  London. 


654  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

tion  for  revision,  1661,  and  issued  from  their  hands,  after  a  speedy 
examination,  with  several  changes — all  in  a  Eomanist  direction — 
which  were  slightly  modified  by  the  king,  presented  to  parliament, 
and  at  once  approved,  May,  1662. '  This  was  the  last  revision  of 
the  English  liturgy. 

We  now  come  to  a  new  series  of  persecuting  acts  of  the  Church 
and  State  of  England  against  the  Protestants.  The  act  of  Uni- 
formity was  passed  May  19,  1662.  It  was  drawn  up  by  the 
churchmen  in  the  Commons,  and  in  a  series  of  propositions  unex- 
act  of  uni-  celled  for  their  precision  it  expresses  their  determina- 
formitv,  1662.  tion  to  put  down  dissent.  It  even  calls  the  Puritans, 
men  like  Baxter  and  Howe,  "people  in  divers  parts  of  this  realm, 
following  their  own  sensuality,  and  living  without  knowledge  and 
due  fear  of  God,  who  do  willfully  and  schismatically  abstain  and 
refuse  to  come  to  their  parish  churches."  This  language  concern- 
ing the  most  pious  and  conscientious  folk  in  England,  at  a  time 
when  thousands  of  those  who  had  no  scruples  at  the  Prayer  Book 
were  swinging  back  into  the  tide  of  licentiousness  which  came  in 
with  Charles,  seems  gratuitous,  to  say  the  least.  The  king  and 
lords  tried  in  vain  to  get  some  lenient  propositions  inserted,  as,  for 
instance,  to  give  the  king  power  to  except  from  the  act  those 
ministers  who  were  in  charge  in  1660  and  who  had  been  peaceable 
since ;  but  the  Commons  would  allow  no  margin  of  liberty  to  the 
king  for  mercy  and  conciliation.  The  act  provided  (1)  that  every 
minister  in  England  shall  use  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  as  re- 
cently revised ;  (2)  that  every  minister  shall  openly  declare  his 

1  "  The  general  effect  of  the  alterations  was  very  greatly  to  improve  the 
book,  and  to  give  it  upon  the  whole  a  more  Romanist  tone,  getting  rid  of  some 
of  the  marks  of  foreign  Protestant  origin.  Certainly  the  changes  made  were 
not  such  as  to  make  the  book  more  acceptable  to  the  Puritans." — Perry,  Hist, 
of  the  English  Church,  Period  ii,  p.  499.  Of  the  changes  made  under  the 
king's  sanction  to  make  the  book  less  offensive  to  the  Protestants  the  following 
are  specimens  :  Convocation  said  of  the  table  used  in  the  Supper  :  ' '  The  table 
shall  stand  in  the  most  convenient  place  in  the  upper  end  of  the  chancel  (or  of 
the  body  of  the  church  where  there  is  no  chancel) " — intending  to  confirm 
Laud's  altarwise  position  at  the  extreme  end  of  the  building.  The  king  said  : 
*  'The  table  shall  stand  in  the  body  of  the  church,  or  in  the  chancel,  where 
morning  and  evening  prayer  are  appointed  to  be  said  " — apparently  an  effort 
to  get  a  position  tablewise  away  from  the  wall.  Convocation  said  :  "  Let  us 
pray  for  the  good  estate  of  the  Catholic  Church  of  Christ,"  which  might  mean 
prayers  for  the  dead.  The  king  said  :  "Let  us  pray  for  the  whole  state  of 
Christ's  Church  militant  here  on  earth."  But  other  changes  of  the  ultra  An- 
glicans were  not  touched,  as,  for  example,  where  they  substitute  priest  for 
presbyter. 


THE  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND  FROM  THE  RESTORATION.  655 

unfeigned  assent  and  consent  to  everything  contained  in  that 
book  ;  (3)  that  every  canon,  professor,  reader,  and  tutor  in  uni- 
versities and  schools,  and  every  teacher  of  any  public  or  private 
school,  shall  subscribe  to  a  declaration  to  the  effect  that  it  is  un- 
lawful under  any  circumstances  to  take  up  arms  against  the  king, 
and  that  he  will  "  conform  to  the  liturgy  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, as  it  is  now  by  law  established ; "  (4)  that  no  one  can  be 
admitted  to  officiate  at  the  services  of  the  Church  unless  he  is 
episcopally  ordained  (although  this  does  not  apply  to  the  foreign 
reformed  Churches  allowed  or  to  be  allowed  in  England) ;  (5)  that 
"no  person  shall  be  received  as  lecturer,  or  permitted,  suffered, 
or  allowed  to  preach  as  a  lecturer,  or  to  preach  or  read  any  sermon 
or  lecture  in  any  church,  chapel,  or  other  place  of  public  wor- 
ship/' unless  he  shall  first  be  approved  and  licensed  by  the  arch- 
bishop or  bishop,  and  gives  his- assent  to  the  Prayer  Book,  which 
must  be  used  in  connection  with  his  lecture  or  sermon ;  (6)  that 
former  acts  of  uniformity  now  in  force  shall  be  understood  as 
applying  to  the  Prayer  Book  just  revised ;  and  (7)  that  this  act 
shall  go  into  effect  on  St.  Bartholomew's  Day  (August  24),  1662, 
the  penalties  for  disobedience  being  deprivation  or  imprisonment, 
or  both.1 

To  the  two  thousand  Puritan  ministers  who  refused  to  conform, 
who  preached  their  last  sermons  on  August  17  and  NOnconform- 
left  their  churches  and  parsonages  for  lives  of  exile,  ING  CLERGY- 
wandering,  pain,  poverty,  or  whatever  the  future  might  have  in 
store,  it  must  have  seemed  a  striking,  if  undesigned,  appropriate- 
ness in  the  selection  of  St.  Bartholomew's  Day  for  the  fatal  fall  of 
the  Anglican  edict.  Their  fate  was,  indeed,  not  to  be  compared 
to  that  of  their  French  brethren  ;  but,  the  change  of  the  times 
being  considered,  their  experience  must  have  seemed  sufficiently 
painful  to  recall  that  day  ninety  years  before.2  The  great  and 
catholic-minded  poet  Wordsworth,  himself  a  hearty  Anglican,  does 
not  withhold  a  meed  of  praise  to  the  brave  men  who  then  gave  up 
their  earthly  prospects.  In  his  sonnet,  "  Clerical  Integrity,"  he 
sings  their  constancy  : 

1  For  text  of  act  of  Uniformity  see  Gee  and  Hardy,  Documents  Illustrative 
of  the  Hist,  of  the  English  Church,  pp.  600-619. 

2  The  number  of  ministers  who  went  out  on  Black  Bartholomew  were,  ac- 
cording to  Baxter,  1,800,  according  to  Calamy  and  Bates,  2,000.  Even  an 
Anglican  historian  admits :  "  Many  of  these  ministers  were  very  popular,  and 
deservedly  so.  There  were  among  them  men  of  great  power  and  true  devo- 
tion."— Perry,  Hist,  of  Church  of  England,  Period  ii,  p.  502. 


656  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Nor  shall  the  eternal  roll  of  praise  reject 
Those  Unconforming  ;  whom  one  rigorous  day 
Drives  from  their  cures,  a  voluntary  prey 
To  poverty,  and  grief,  and  disrespect, 
And  some  to  want — as  if  by  tempests  wrecked 
On  a  wild  coast ;  how  destitute  1  did  they 
Feel  not  that  Conscience  never  can  betray, 
That  peace  of  mind  is  Virtue's  sure  effect. 
Their  altars  they  forego,  their  homes  they  quit, 
Fields  which  they  love,  and  paths  they  daily  trod, 
And  cast  the  future  upon  Providence  ; 
As  men  the  dictate  of  whose  inward  sense 
Outweighs  the  world ;  whom  self-deceiving  wit 
Lures  not  from  what  they  deem  the  cause  of  God.1 

The  Anglican  clergy,  however,  were  not  satisfied  with  the  tender 
mercies  of  the  Uniformity  act.  Their  scythe  wanted  a  wider 
swath.  They  therefore  petitioned  the  Commons  against  the 
"  strange  prodigious  race  of  men  who  labored  to  throw  off  the  yoke 
of  government,  both  civil  and  ecclesiastical.  They  pray  for  severe 
laws  against  the  Anabaptists,  for  an  increase  of  the 

FIKST  °  r  ' 

conventi-       fine  for  nonattendance  at  church,  and  for  more  expe- 

CLE  ACT.  .  .  i  » 

ditious  methods  of  collecting  church  rates  and  tithes. 
Parliament  responded  by  the  first  Conventicle  act,  1664,  which 
provided  that  all  meetings  for  religion,  private  or  otherwise,  which 
are  not  regular  Church  of  England  meetings,  would  subject  those 
attending  to  fine  and  imprisonment  on  the  conviction  of  one  justice 
of  the  peace,  and  on  a  third  offense  transportation  to  America,  the 
return  whence  without  leave  subjected  to  the  penalty  of  death. 

Neither  the  Great  Plague  of  1665  nor  the  devotion  of  the  Non- 
conformists during  its  awful  ravages  turned  the  Anglicans  to  think 

upon  justice  and  mercy.     Many  of  the  Anglican  clergy 

THE  GREAT  r  "  .  .V        .  J  °  , 

plague  in       fled  the  city.     The  Puritans  remained,  and  though 

LONDON.  ,  .  ,  .        .        ,         ,  ,  ..  , 

debarred  from  preaching  in  churches  they  ministered 

in  heroic  self-sacrifice  in  private  ways.  Sometimes  they  petitioned 
the  authorities  for  the  use  of  deserted  churches,  but  this  was  always 
refused.  Occasionally  they  made  a  law  of  public  necessity  and  went 
into  the  empty  churches,  where  great  crowds  would  follow  them 
eager  to  hear  the  word  of  life.  James  Vincent,  an  ejected  clergy- 
man of  excellent  learning,  remained  in  town  during  the  plague, 
carrying  on  the  faithful  and  loving  ministrations  of  pastor  and 
preacher  in  a  time  of  distress  and  affliction. 

While  the  plague  was  raging  parliament  retired  to  Oxford,  where 

1  Ecclesiastical  Sonnets,  part  iii,  sonnet  6. 


THE  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND  FROM  THE  RESTORATION.    657 

they  remembered  the  spiritual  heroes  of  the  time  with  the  Five- 
Mile  act,  which  required  all  Nonconformist  ministers  to  take  an 
oath  that  it  is  not  lawful,  on  any  pretense  whatsoever, 

'  J    r  THE  FIVE- 

to  take  up  arms  against  the  king,  and  if  they  refuse       mile  and 

r  °  °  .    .   .  „  SECOND 

this  oath  thev  are  not  allowed  to  come  withm  five       conventi- 

.  .  .  CLE  ACTS. 

miles  of  any  city,  town,  or  borough,  or  of  any  parish 
in  which  they  have  been  ministers,  on  the  penalty  of  the  jail  and 
£40  fine.  This  was  a  hard  blow,  for  Puritanism  was  strong 
in  towns  and  centers  of  activity  and  intelligence.  This  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  second  Conventicle  act,  1670,  according  to  which 
informers  were  to  receive  part  of  the  fines,  prosecutors  were  to  be 
saved  unharmed  in  any  outrage  they  might  commit — two  provisions 
sufficiently  diabolical — and  a  record  of  fact  by  a  justice  was  to  be 
taken  as  a  legal  conviction.  The  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  Shel- 
don, urged  his  clergy  to  see  to  the  diligent  execution  of  this  act  as 
something  which  would  be  "  to  the  glory  of  God,  the  welfare  of 
the  Church,  the  praise  of  his  majesty  and  government,  and  the 
happiness  of  the  whole  kingdom."  No  doubt  it  would  enhance  the 
happiness  of  Episcopalians,  but  what  of  Nonconformists  ? ' 

The  threatening  aspect  of  these  persecuting  edicts,  however, 
must  not  mislead  us  as  to  the  actual  suffering  which  the  Noncon- 
formists were  made  to  undergo.  The  days  of  Eliza-  moderated 
beth  and  Charles  I  were  gone  forever.  There  was  no  severity. 
high  commission  court  nor  ex  officio  oath,  and  some  of  the  old 
punishments  had  also  been  abolished.  Besides,  in  the  danger 
feared  from  the  Catholics  it  was  felt  that  it  was  impolitic  to  pro- 
ceed too  harshly  against  the  Puritans.  Then  all  prelates  were  not 
equally  severe,  and  some  of  them  still  allowed  Nonconforming 
clergy  to  preach  in  churches  and  become  chaplains  in  hospitals  and 
prisons.  Others  were  accepted  as  curates,  and  cases  are  recorded 
where  a  Nonconforming  and  an  Anglican  congregation  worshiped 
alternately  in  the  same  church.8 

During  the  reign  of  James  II  (1685-88),  who  in  1671  had  joined 
the  Roman  Church,  the  Church  of  England  had  her  hands  so  full 
of  work  in  resisting  James's  efforts  to  bring  in  his  own 
Church  that  the  Puritans  had  rest.  In  virtue  of  pow- 
ers which  he  supposed  inhered  in  his  kingly  office,  this  last  and 
weakest  of  the  Stuarts  dispensed  his  people  from  the  persecuting 
acts  of  the  last  reign,  his  object,  of  course,  being  to  establish  Catholi- 

1  For  texts  of  Five-Mile  act  and  second  Conventicle  act  see  Gee  and  Hardy, 
pp.  620-632. 

3  For  this  brighter  side  see  Stoughton,  Church  and  State  Two  Hundred  Years 
Ago  :  a  Hist,  of  Eccl.  Affairs  in  England,  1660-63,  pp.  364-370. 

Li  2 


658  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

cism.  But  the  power  thus  to  destroy  the  effect  of  parliamentary 
action  was  subversive  of  liberty  and  constitutional  rights,  even 
though  in  this  case  its  purpose  was  ostensibly  the  enlargement  of 
liberty.  For  this  reason  and  others  the  bishops  and  clergy  refused 
to  read  the  king's  declaration  in  their  churches.  Seven  bishops — 
Sancroft,  Lloyd,  Turner,  Lake,  Ken,  White,  and  Trelawney — were 
accordingly  tried  in  "Westminster  Hall,  June  29,  1688.  It  was  one 
of  the  most  exciting  days  England  had  ever  seen.  The  Puritans, 
though  the  king's  declaration  gave  them  freedom  of  assembly, 
were  as  much  interested  as  the  Anglicans  in  the  acquittal  of  the 

bishops.     All  the  anti-Eoman  feelings  of  the  people 
the  seven      were  profoundly  stirred.     On  the  30th  of  June  the 

bishops  were  brought  into  court  to  receive  the  verdict, 
and  a  deathlike  stillness  reigned  over  the  vast  crowd.  The  foreman 
pronounced  the  words,  "  Not  guilty."  "  As  the  words  left  his 
lips  Lord  Halifax  sprang  up  and  waved  his  hat.1  At  that  signal 
benches  and  galleries  raised  a  shout.  In  a  moment  ten  thousand 
persons  who  crowded  the  great  hall  replied  with  a  still  louder  shout 
which  made  the  old  oaken  roof  crack,  and  in  another  moment  the 
innumerable  crowd  without  set  up  a  third  huzza,  which  was  heard 
in  Temple  Bar.  The  boats  which  covered  the  Thames  gave  an  an- 
swering cheer.  A  peal  of  gunpowder  was  heard  on  the  water,  and 
so  in  a  few  moments  the  glad  tidings  went  past  the  Savoy  and  the 
Friars  to  London  bridge,  and  the  forest  of  masts  below.  As  the 
news  spread,  streets  and  squares,  market  places  and  coffee  houses 
broke  forth  into  acclamation.  Yet  were  the  acclamations  less 
strange  than  the  weepings.  For  the  feelings  of  men  had  been 
wound  up  to  such  a  point  that  at  length  the  stern  English  nature, 
so  little  used  to  outward  signs  of  emotion,  gave  way,  and  thou- 
sands sobbed  aloud  for  very  joy.  Meanwhile,  from  the  outskirts 
of  the  multitude  horsemen  were  spurring  off  to  bear  along  all 
the  great  roads  intelligence  of  the  victory  of  our  Church  and 
nation."3 
„  "With  the  enthronement  of  the  first  Protestant  king 

WILLIAM  OF  & 

orange  and    m  English  history,  William  of  Orange   (1689-1702), 

son-in-law  of  James  II,  a  toleration  as  large  as  the 

Anglicans  would  allow  was  granted  to  dissenters.     "  An  act  for 

1  Lord  Halifax  was  one  of  the  ablest  defenders  of  the  bishops.  His  Reasons 
Against  Reading  the  Declaration  were  spread  broadcast  over  the  land,  and 
formed  one  of  the  influences  which  determined  the  clergy  to  disobedience. 
Perry  says  that  not  over  two  hundred  clergy  read  the  declaration. 

"  Macaulay,  Hist,  of  England,  ii,  348  (chap.  vi.). 


THE  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND  FROM  THE  RESTORATION.  059 

exempting  their  Majesties'  Protestant  subjects  Dissenting  from  the 
Church  of  England  from  the  Penalties  of  certain  Laws,"  1689,  was 
framed  on  the  ground  that  "  some  ease  to  scrupulous  consciences  in 
the  exercise  of  religion  "  might  unite  all  Protestants  in  interest  and 
affection.  The  Protestants  could  now  enter  upon  a  comparatively 
free  religious  life,  although  all  disabilities  were  by  no  means  re- 
moved, nor  are  to  this  day.  The  Quakers  were  allowed  to  substi- 
tute an  affirmation  for  an  oath  in  certain  cases,  but  the  Corporation 
and  Test  acts  were  to  remain  still  in  force,1  and  Unitarians  were 
also  denied  freedom  of  worship.  No  minister  or  religious  teacher 
could  serve  unless  he  assented  to  the  Thirty-nine  Articles,  except 
Articles  XXXIV,  XXXV,  XXXVI,  and  these  words  of  XX  :  "  The 
Church  hath  power  to  decree  rights  and  ceremonies,  and  authority  in 
controversies  of  faith,"  and  every  person  attending  any  religious 
meeting  should  be  required  to  take  an  oath  to  the  same  effect.  It 
would  appear  from  the  wording  of  the  act  that  those  who  scrupled  to 
take  an  oath  should  not  only  be  required  to  make  the  same  declara- 
tion as  others  in  regard  to  faith  and  loyalty,  but  also  the  additional 
" declaration  of  fidelity/'  which  makes  a  detestation  of  "that 
damnable  doctrine  and  position  that  princes  excommunicated  or 
deprived  by  the  pope  "  may  be  deposed  or  murdered,  and  mentions 
a  profession  of  Christian  belief  in  these  words,  which  they  are  to  sub- 
scribe :  "I,  A.  B.,  profess  faith  in  God  the  Father,  and  in  Jesus 
Christ  his  eternal  Son  the  true  God,  and  in  the  Holy  Spirit,  one 
God  blessed  for  evermore,  and  do  acknowledge  the  Holy  Scriptures 
of  the  Old  and  New  Testament  to  be  given  by  divine  inspiration." 
The  object  of  this  double  declaration  of  orthodoxy  on  the  part  of 
the  non-oath  takers  is  not  apparent. 

Even   the  meager  toleration  granted   by  the  act  of  1689  was 

1  The  Corporation  act,  1661,  provided  that  no  officer  of  a  town  corporation, 
and  no  magistrate  or  other  local  official,  could  hold  office,  unless  he  should  take 
an  oath  declaring  it  is  not  lawful  under  any  pretense  whatsoever  to  take  arms 
against  the  king,  and  that  the  oath  of  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant  is  un- 
lawful and  not  binding.  It  also  declares  that  every  such  officer  previously  to 
election  must  have  partaken  of  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  according 
to  the  rites  of  the  Church  of  England.  See  Gee  and  Hardy,  document  116, 
pp.  594-600.  This  contemptible  act,  which  really  worked  toward  keeping  the 
most  competent  and  faithful  men  in  England  from  all  local  service,  was  more 
or  less  inoperative  during  the  18th  century  ;  but  when  Fox  moved  its  repeal  in 
1787  he  was  defeated  by  294  to  105.  We  are  indebted  to  Lord  John  Russell 
for  erasing  it  from  the  English  statute  book,  1828 — one  of  his  many  services  to 
religious  and  civil  liberty.  For  the  Test  act  see  the  chapter  on  the  Roman 
Catholics,  below,  p.  760. 


6G0  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

begrudged  by  the  Anglican  party,  and  they  introduced  a  bill  into 
the  Commons  in  1702  which  inflicted  heavy  fines  on  all  public 
officers  who  attended  dissenting  meetings,  and  compelled  all  such 
intolerance  officers  to  partake  of  the  Lord's  Supper  three  times 
Hor*EEoFIN  a  year  in  an  Episcopal  church.  This  outrageous 
lords.  measure  passed  the  Commons  with  enthusiasm  twice, 

but  was  fortunately  rejected  by  the  Lords.  The  excitement 
throughout  the  country  was  intense,  the  High  Churchmen  and 
earnest  Episcopalians  everywhere  urging  the  Lords  to  pass  the  bill 
and  violently  denouncing  them  after  they  had  twice  declined. 

The  history  of  the  English  Church  from  the  revolution  of  1688 
to  Wesley's  time  presents  few  matters  of  importance.  There  was 
a  bitter  controversy  between  the  lower  and  upper  houses  of  con- 
vocation which  went  to  disgraceful  lengths,  and  finally  issued  in 
the  suppression  of  convocation  itself  by  parliament,  1717,  which 
suppression  continued  until  1852.  A  famous  dispute  was  the 
sachev-  Sacheverell  case.     A  High  Church  wave  was  sweeping 

erell.  over  ^g  countrv  on  the  strength  of  the  "  Church  in 

danger"  cry.  The  suspension  of  convocation,  the  admission  of 
Presbyterians  to  the  English  parliament — 15  in  the  upper  house, 
45  in  the  lower — consequent  on  the  union  of  the  English  and 
Scottish  parliaments,  1707,  and  the  naturalization  of  foreign 
Protestants — all  this,  complicated  with  Tory  opposition  to  Whig 
rule,  and  fanned  by  violent  sermons  and  speeches  of  Anglican 
demagogues  and  bigots,  brought  about  a  state  of  public  feeling 
which  might  have  resulted  in  almost  any  kind  of  reactionary  leg- 
islation. However,  it  vented  itself  in  shouting  for  Sacheverell, 
preacher  at  St.  Saviour's,  Southwark,  London,  who  had  preached 
in  November,  1709,  a  violent  sermon  full  of  scurrilous  statements 
against  toleration  and  nonconformity.1  Forty  thousand  copies  of 
this  High  Church  rhapsody  were  sold  in  a  few  days.  Unfortunately 
the  Whig  authorities  were  stupid  enough  to  prosecute  the  preacher/ 
and  although  the  judges  could  not  help  finding  him  guilty  of 
false  and  mischievous  utterances,  in  the  excited  state  of  the  public 
they  dared  not  punish  him,  and  so  sentenced  him  to  be  suspended 
from  preaching  for  three  years,  a  sentence  which  the  people  rightly 
interpreted  as  being  a  virtual  acquittal.     The  crowd  received  the 

1  "  I  must  say  this  much,  that  since  the  foundation  of  the  city  of  London  and 
the  conversion  of  this  island,  there  has  not  been  in  any  age,  in  any  cathedral 
or  parochial  church,  such  a  sermon,  so  insolent,  uncharitable,  untrue,  as  this." 
— Kennett. 

2  "  In  what  moving  characters,"  says  the  preacher,  "  does  the  holy  psalmist 


THE  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND  FROM  THE  RESTORATION.     661 

now  famous  preacher  with  wild  shoutings,  "High  Church  and 
Sacheverell,"  and  his  opponent  with  groans  and  hisses,  emphasized 
by  the  wrecking  of  dissenting  churches,  and  Queen  Anne  loaded 
him  with  rich  preferment.' 

A  more  important  controversy  was  that  occasioned  by  a  sermon 
preached  by  the  bishop  of  Bangor — thence  called  the  Bangorian 
controversy — Benjamin  Hoadly.  Hoadly  was  oue  of  the  acutest, 
most  enlightened  liberal  minds  of  the  age,  and  in  his  opinions  on 
religious  liberty  he  was  a  century — one  might  almost 

&  J  .  i.  •  tt      n  BANGORIAN 

sav  two  centuries — in  advance  of  his  time.     He  first      contro- 

,  ■,       ^  VERSY. 

came  into  prominence  in  1705  by  a  sermon  preached 
before  the  lord  mayor  of  London,  in  which  he  riddled  the  Passive 
Obedience  and  Divine  Eight  doctrine,  asserting  that  rulers  exist 
only  for  the  good  of  their  subjects,  and  that  when  they  abuse  their 
position  and  no  longer  conduce,  to  public  welfare  they  not  only 
should  be  resisted,  but  nonresistance  becomes  a  sin,  because  it  is 
a  "  tacit  consent  to  the  ruin  and  misery  of  mankind."  Hoadly 
was  the  first  prominent  divine  to  attack  boldly  and  effectively  the 
ancient  and  revered  dogma  of  Anglicanism.  But  this  sermon  was 
surpassed  by  one  he  preached  before  the  king  in  1717,  which  dis- 
turbed the  extreme  Anglicans  of  the  Church  with  terrible  effective- 
ness, and  raised  around  him  a  storm  in  which  pamphlets  and  books 
rained  from  the  press,  as  many  as  seventy-five  being  published  in  a 
single  month.  The  propositions  of  Hoadly  were  certainly  suffi- 
ciently startling  for  a  Church  accustomed  for  two  hundred  years  to 
lord  it  over  the  consciences  of  men,  and  they  have  been  exaggerated 
by  High  Churchmen.     Unnecessary  inferences  have  been  drawn 

point  out  the  crafty  insidiousness  of  such  modern  Volpones  !  "  Volpone  is  a 
contemptible  character  of  Ben  Jonson's  play,  "  The  Fox."  Swift  attributes  the 
prosecution  to  this  sentence.  "  It  arose,"  he  says,  "  from  a  foolish  passionate 
pique  of  the  earl  of  Godolphin,  whom  this  divine  was  supposed  to  have  re- 
flected on  under  the  name  of  Volpone." — Memoirs  relating  to  the  Change  of 
Ministry,  in  Works  (ed.  Roscoe),  i,  279.  "We  remember  when  a  poor  nick- 
name, borrowed  from  an  old  play  of  Ben  Jonson,  was  made  use  of  to  spur  on 
an  indictment." — Examiner,  No.  26.  See  Perry,  Hist,  of  Church  of  England 
from  Death  of  Elizabeth  to  the  Present  Time,  iii,  208,  note. 

1  Full  account  of  the  Sacheverell  case  will  be  found  in  Burnet,  Own  Times, 
Life  of  Kennett  (one  of  the  liberal  churchmen  of  the  day),  p.  102  ;  Somer- 
ville,  Queen  Anne,  ch.  xv  ;  State  Trials,  vol.  xv  ;  Parliamentary  Hist.,vi; 
Hearne,  Diaries  ;  Bloxam,  Register  of  Magdalen,  iii,  98-110  ;  Burton,  Hist,  of 
the  Reign  of  Queen  Anne,  Edinb. ,  1880,  vol.  ii ;  Perry,  Hist,  of  Church  of 
England  since  Elizabeth,  iii,  200-225 ;  and  excellent  accounts  in  Hore,  The 
Church  in  England  from  William  ni  to  Victoria,  i,  206-214  ;  Perry,  Hist,  of 
the  English  Church,  Period  ii,  572-575. 


662  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

from  them  ;  yet  they  were  really  but  a  republication  of  Christ's 
charter  of  his  Church — "  My  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world."  It  was 
an  attempt  to  roll  away  the  accumulated  misconceptions  which 
had  long  since  hardened  into  traditions  and  dogmas,  on  which  in 
turn  were  founded  worldly  ecclesiasticisms  with  their  persecuting 
edicts,  violating  as  much  the  rights  of  Christ  to  the  free  love  of 
his  people  as  they  did  the  rights  of  man  to  the  free  obedience  of 
his  conscience.  Parts  of  that  great  sermon  read  like  the  splendid 
sentences  of  Milton,  the  Independent,  and  the  pleadings  of  the 
Congregationalists  for  a  free  spiritual  brotherhood  which  would 
know  no  master  save  Jesus.1  Convocation  impeached  Hoadly, 
and  it  was  partly  because  of  its  unremitting  pertinacity  in  trying 
to  suppress  all  freedom  of  expression  in  the  Church,  and  to  keep 
her  still  in  the  old  role  of  driving  the  sword  into  her  own  children, 
that  king  and  parliament — now  liberal  and  knowing  their  age — 
prorogued  that  ecclesiastical  court.2 

1  "  If  therefore  the  Church  of  Christ  be  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  it  is  essential 
to  it  that  Christ  himself  be  the  sole  lawgiver  and  sole  judge  of  his  subjects  in 
all  points  relating  to  the  favor  or  displeasure  of  Almighty  God  ;  and  that  all 
his  subjects,  in  what  station  soever  they  may  be,  are  equally  subjects  to  him  ; 
and  that  no  one  of  them,  any  more  than  another,  hath  authority  either  to 
make  new  laws  for  Christ's  subjects,  or  to  impose  a  sense  upon  the  old  ones, 
which  is  the  same  thing  ;  or  to  judge,  censure,  or  punish  the  servants  of  an- 
other master  in  matters  relating  purely  to  conscience  or  salvation.  If  any 
person  hath  any  other  notion,  either  through  a  long  use  of  words  with  incon- 
sistent meanings,  or  through  a  negligence  of  thought,  let  him  but  ask  himself 
whether  the  Church  of  Christ  be  the  kingdom  of  Christ  or  not ;  and  if  it  be, 
whether  this  notion  of  it  doth  not  absolutely  exclude  all  other  legislators  and 
judges  in  matters  relating  to  conscience  or  the  favor  of  God  ;  or  whether  it 
can  be  his  kingdom,  if  any  mortal  man  have  such  power  of  legislation  and 
judgment  in  it." — Hoadly,  The  Nature  of  the  Kingdom  or  Church  of  Christ 
(sermon),  pp.  15,  16.  The  Bangor  divine  did  not  mean  to  affirm  that  churches 
had  no  power  to  make  prudential  or  other  regulations,  but  that  in  matters  be- 
tween the  soul  and  God,  "  matters  relating  purely  to  conscience  or  salvation," 
no  foreign  power  must  interfere.  It  was  a  noble  effort  to  divorce  Anglicanism 
from  intolerance. 

2  Ultra  Anglican  writers  have  deeply  deplored  the  suppression  of  convoca- 
tion, and  have  attributed  to  it  manifold  evils.  Canon  Perry  says :  "To  this 
gross  outrage  on  the  Church  of  England  [suppression  of  convocation]  most  of 
the  mischief  and  scandals  which  impeded  her  progress  during  the  18th  cen- 
tury are  distinctly  to  be  traced.  The  Church,  denied  the  power  of  expressing 
her  wants  and  grievances,  and  of  that  assertion  of  herself  in  her  corporate 
capacity  which  the  constitution  had  provided  for  her,  was  assaulted  at 
their  will  by  unscrupulous  ministers  of  the  crown,  and  feebly  defended  by 
latitudinarian  bishops  in  an  uncongenial  assembly.  Her  ministers  might 
now  give  utterance  to  the  most  heretical,  and  even  blasphemous  teaching, 


THE  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND  FROM  THE  RESTORATION.  663 

It  was  not  to  be  expected  that  ministers  who  believed  in  divine 
right  and  hereditary  succession  would  receive  William  of  Orange  as 
king.  Four  hundred  clergy,  including  nine  bishops,  the  non- 
refused  the  oath,  and  were,  after  suitable  probation,  jurors. 
simply  deprived  of  their  offices.  The  noblest  of  these  was  Bishop 
Ken,  a  name  of  precious  memory  in  the  history  of  religion.  Col- 
lier, the  historian,  and  Leslie,  the  theologian,  were  of  the  number, 
and  of  laymen  were  Professor  Dodwell,  of  Oxford,  the  devout 
and  philanthropic  Kobert  Nelson,  and  the  keen  controversialist  and 
unworldly  mystic  William  Law,  whose  Serious  Call  to  a  Devout 
and  Holy  Life,  1729,  made  SamuelJohnson  a  Christian,  profoundly 
influenced  Wesley,  and  was  praised  by  his  pupil  Gibbon  for  its 
sincerity  and  strength.  The  history  of  the  schism  of  these  ultra 
High  Churchmen,  the  Nonjurors,  is  a  most  interesting  one,  but 
must  be  passed  over.1  The  schism  had  this  compensation,  that  by 
weakening  the  Anglican  or  "  Church  "  party  it  gave  opportunity 
for  the  spread  of  liberal  opinions  and  the  appropriation  by  the 
coming  party,  the  Evangelicals,  of  the  earnest  religious  life  of  the 
country. 

without  fear  of  censure,  and  there  remained  no  agency  for  altering  and  adjust- 
ing her  system  to  meet  the  varying  requirements  and  opportunities  of  tie 
times."— Hist,  of  Church  of  England,  Period  ii  (6th  ed.,  1894),  p.  585.  There 
is  truth  in  this.  On  the  other  hand,  the  scandalous  record  of  convocation  as  a 
' '  heresy  "-hunting  body,  and  the  disgraceful  fight  between  its  lower  and 
upper  houses  in  the  opening  years  of  the  18th  century,  made  its  indefinite 
postponement  a  necessity.  Besides,  that  "assertion  of  herself  in  her  corpo- 
rate capacity  "  which  the  Church  had  in  convocation  is  limited  and  maimed. 
It  cannot  meet  without  the  permission  of  the  crown,  nor  can  any  of  its  reso- 
lutions or  laws  take  effect  without  that  same  consent.  For  instance,  in  1862 
both  houses  of  convocation  pronounced  Bishop  Colenso  heretical  for  saying  in 
his  book,  The  Pentateuch  and  the  Book  of  Joshua  Critically  Examined,  part  i, 
Lond. ,  1862,  that  Moses  was  not  the  sole  author  of  the  Pentateuch  and  that  there 
were  historical  errors  in  it.      Legally,  such  a  contention  amounted  to  little. 

1  See  the  Church  Histories  of  England,  and  especially  Lathbury,  Hist,  of  the 
Nonjurors,  Lond.,  1845.  It  has  been  a  part  of  the  work  of  the  High  Church- 
men of  the  present  century  to  rescue  the  Nonjurors  from  oblivion  and  do  jus- 
tice to  their  piety  and  principles.     See  Literature,  above,  p.  611. 


664  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ASCENDENCY. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  preceding  history  that  Presbyterianism 
had  a  hard  time  in  the  English  Church  ;  that  although  the  Church 
in  all  the  early  part  of  her  history  was  Calvinistic,  and  although 
her  divines  recognized  presbyterial  ordination  as  valid  and  the 
foreign  reformed  Churches  as  Churches  in  regular  standing,  she 
would  never  herself  either  substitute  a  presbyterial  for  an  epis- 
copal organization  or  reform  her  services  in  the  direction  of  a 
consistent  Protestantism.  This  led  the  Presbyterians  to  organize 
a  presbytery  at  Wandsworth,  near  London,  1572.  Some 

A  PRESBY-  r  J  J  ^  >  > 

tery  or-         other  presbyteries  were  organized  in  neighboring  coun- 

GANIZED.  ... 

ties.  Presbyterianism  had  a  feeble  life  for  a  few  years, 
but  the  numerous  Uniformity  acts  finally  made  existence  impos- 
sible. Presbyterians  had  either  to  conform,  be  imprisoned,  or 
leave  the  kingdom.  An  exceptional  instance  of  full  presbyterian 
organization  in  connection  with  the  Church  of  England  was  the 
Churches  of  Guernsey  and  Jersey,  composed  largely  of  Huguenot 
refugees  from  Roman  Catholic  butcheries.  By  special  permission 
these  people  kept  their  own  worship  and  polity  from  1576  to  1623. 
It  was  here  that  the  great  Cartwright  was  for  a  time  pastor. 

Thanks  to  the  civil  and  religious  despotism  of  Charles  I  and 
parliament  Laud,  and  to  the  necessity  of  seeking  the  help  of 
solemn*  Scotland  in  the  conflict  with  them,  parliament  was 

covenant™  bought  to  the  Presbyterian  position.  The  only  con- 
dition on  which  Scotland  would  offer  her  help  was  the 
taking  by  England  of  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant,  the  first 
two  sections  of  which  read  as  follows :  "  I.  That  we  shall  sincerely, 
really,  and  certainly  through  the  grace  of  God  endeavor  in  our  sev- 
eral places  and  callings  the  preservation  of  the  reformed  religion 
in  the  Church  of  Scotland,  in  doctrine,  worship,  discipline,  and 
government,  against  our  common  enemies ;  the  reformation  of 
religion  in  the  kingdoms  of  England  and  Ireland,  in  doctrine, 
worship,  discipline,  and  government,  according  to  the  word  of 
God  and  the  example  of  the  best  reformed  Churches ;  and  we 
shall  endeavor  to  bring  the  Churches  of  God  in  the  three  king- 
doms to  the  nearest  conjunction  and  uniformity  in  religion,  con- 


THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ASCENDENCY.  665 

fession  of  faith,  form  of  Church  government,  directory  for  wor- 
ship and  catechizing,  that  we  and  our  posterity  after  us  may  as 
brethren  live  in  faith  and  love,  and  the  Lord  may  delight  to  dwell 
in  the  midst  of  us.  II.  That  we  shall  in  like  manner,  without 
respect  of  persons,  endeavor  the  extirpation  of  popery,  prelacy 
(that  is,  Church  government  by  archbishops,  bishops,  their  chan- 
cellors and  commissaries,  deans,  deans  and  chapters,  archdeacons, 
and  all  other  ecclesiastical  officers  depending  on  that  hierarchy), 
superstition,  heresy,  schism,  profaneuess,  and  whatsoever  shall  be 
found  to  be  contrary  to  sound  doctrine  and  the  power  of  godli- 
ness, lest  we  partake  in  other  men's  sins,  and  thereby  be  in  danger 
to  receive  of  their  plagues,  and  that  the  Lord  may  be  one  and  his 
name  one  in  the  three  kingdoms."1  This  celebrated  paper  was 
drawn  up  by  the  Scotch  commissioner  of  England,  Alexander  Hen- 
derson, on  the  basis  of  the  Scotch  covenant  of  1638,  and  was  taken 
by  the  Scotch  estates  in  1643  and  later  in  the  same  year  by  the 
English  parliament. 

Already,  on  December  1,  1641,  the  parliament  in  their  Grand 
Remonstrance  had  said  :  "And  the  better  to  effect  the  intended 
reformation  we  desire  there  may  be  a  general  synod  of  the  most 
grave,  pious,  learned,  and  judicious  divines  of  this  island,  assisted 
by  some  from  foreign  parts  professing  the  same  religion  with  us, 
who  may  consider  of  all  things  necessary  for  the  peace  and  good 
government  of  the  Church,  and  represent  the  results  of  their  con- 
sultation to  parliament,  to  be  there  allowed  and  confirmed,  and 
receive  the  stamp  of  authority,  thereby  to  find  passage  and  obe- 
dience throughout  the  kingdom."  2  During  1642  sev-  call  of 
eral  attempts  were  made  by  parliament  to  call  an  as-  master  T" 
sembly  of  divines  to  reform  the  doctrine  and  polity  of  assembly. 
the  Church,  but  the  king  always  refused  to  give  his  assent.  At 
length,  finding  that  nothing  could  be  done  in  that  way,  the  Com- 
mons passed  an  ordinance,  June  1,  1643,  "for  the  calling  an 
assembly  of  learned  and  godly  divines,"  who  were  directed  to 
meet  "  at  Westminster,  in  the  chapel  called  King  Henry  the  Sev- 
enth's chapel,  on  the  first  day  of  July,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1643, 

1  For  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant  see  Gardiner,  Constitutional  Docu- 
ments of  the  Puritan  Revolution,  pp.  187-190  ;  Gee  and  Hardy,  Documents 
Illustrative  of  English  Church  History,  pp.  569-574. 

8  For  the  Grand  Remonstrance  in  full  see  Gardiner,  127  ff.,  and  selections, 
Gee  and  Hardy,  553  ff.  The  Grand  Remonstrance  reminds  one  of  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence.  It  presented  the  grievances  of  the  people  in  a  series  of 
propositions  that  could  not  be  misunderstood,  the  reforms  that  parliament 
had  already  effected,  and  those  yet  to  be  obtained. 


666  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

...  to  confer  and  treat  amongst  themselves  of  such  matters  and 
things  touching  and  concerning  the  liturgy,  discipline,  and  gov- 
ernment of  the  Church  of  England,  or  the  vindicating  and  clear- 
ing of  the  doctrine  of  the  same  from  all  false  aspersions  and  mis- 
constructions, as  shall  be  proposed  unto  them  by  both  or  either 
of  the  said  houses  of  parliament,  and  no  other,  and  to  deliver 
their  opinion  and  advices  of  or  touching  the  matters  aforesaid,  as 
shall  be  most  agreeable  to  the  word  of  God,  to  both  or  either 
of  the  said  houses,  from  time  to  time,  in  such  manner  or  sort  as 
by  both  or  either  of  the  said  houses  of  parliament  shall  be  re- 
quired, and  at  the  same  time  not  to  divulge  by  printing,  writing, 
or  otherwise,  without  the  consent  of  both  or  either  house  of  parlia- 
ment. And  be  it  further  ordained  by  the  authority  aforesaid  that 
William  Twisse,  D.D.,  shall  sit  in  the  chair  as  prolocutor  of  said 
assembly." 

It  was  the  design  of  parliament  that  the  assembly  should  be 
representative  of  English  Christianity,  except  the  extreme  sec- 
tions. There  were  therefore  no  extreme  Anglicans  there,  nor  any 
composition  of  the  more  extravagant  dissenters.  Episcopalians  like 
minster  Archbishop  Usher,  Bishops  Brownrigge  and  Westfield, 

assembly.  Drg  Featley,  Hackett,  Hammond,  Holdsworth,  and 
others  were  called,  but  as  the  assembly  met  without  the  sanction 
of  the  king  they  would  not  attend — except  Westfield  and  Featley, 
and  they  but  a  short  time.  Of  Independents  (Congregationalists) 
Thomas  Goodwin,  Philip  Nye,  William  Bridge,  Jeremiah  Bur- 
roughs, and  Sidrach  Simpson  were  the  chief,  but  there  were 
others,  and  they  were  not  slow  in  using  their  influence.  There 
were  Erastians,  especially  John  Lightfoot,  Thomas  Coleman,  and 
John  Selden,  who  were  perhaps  the  most  learned  men  in  the 
body.  They  joined  with  the  Independents  in  the  endeavor  to 
thwart  all  extreme  measures  put  through  by  the  great  majority 
of  the  members,  who  were  stanch  Presbyterian  Church  of  Eng- 
land men. 

In  a  paragraph  noted  for  its  able  and  fine  characterization 
Principal  Fairbairn  accuses  the  Westminster  Assembly  of  provin- 
fairbairn  cialism  and  onesidedness  for  not  representing  widely 
minster  the  theology  and  scholarship  of  England.  He  names 
as  those  who  were  never  invited  to  the  assembly  John 
Hales,  William  Chillingworth,  Ralph  Cudworth,  Henry  More, 
Benjamin  Whichcote,  Jeremy  Taylor,  Brian  Walton,  Thomas 
Pierce,  John  Goodwin,  Richard  Baxter,  John  Milton,  and  Thomas 
Fuller.     "  These  were  representative  men,  and  had,  as  such,  a  right 


THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ASCENDENCY.  667 

to  be  consulted  in  any  attempt  to  '  vindicate  and  clear  from  asper- 
sions '  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  of  England.  The  assembly 
which  did  not  include  these  men  can  only  claim  to  be  sectional, 
cannot  claim  to  be  national.  Its  confession  is  the  confession 
of  a  party,  not  of  a  people."1  There  is  truth  in  this.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  should  be  said  that  Chillingworth  as  an  intense 
royalist  would  have  repudiated  an  invitation  to  the  assembly. 
Jeremy  Taylor,  the  High  Churchman,  must  have  looked  with  hor- 
ror upon  the  assembly,  and  however  much  he  pleaded  for  liberty, 
when,  like  Sir  Thomas  More,  he  came  to  translate  his  theories  into 
practice  they  were  found  to  be  entirely  consistent  with  intolerance. 
Besides,  his  dislike  to  clear,  definite  theological  statements  would 
have  made  his  presence  in  the  assembly  profitless  to  others  and 
painful  to  himself.  Milton's  views  on  divorce  as  well  as  on  Christ 
debarred  him  from  the  assembly,  and  it  is  not  likely  that  Thomas 
Fuller,  as  a  royalist  and  a  chaplain  in  the  royal  army,  though  a 
remarkably  broad-minded  and  catholic-spirited  man,  would  have 
accepted  an  invitation  to  a  meeting  which  his  king  abhorred. 
And  what  a  figure  the  gentle  Platonism  of  Henry  More  and 
Whichcote  would  have  cut  in  the  stern  and  high  debates 

"Of  providence,  foreknowledge,  will,  and  fate — 
Fixed  fate,  free  will,  foreknowledge  absolute."  a 

As  for  the  rest  mentioned  by  Fairbairn,  they  were  represented  by 
others,  though  it  is  doubtful  if  there  was  an  earnest  Arminian  in 
the  assembly.  In  fact,  outside  of  the  High  Church  party  Arminians 
were  very  scarce  in  England.  In  the  debates  on  election  occa- 
sionally an  Arminian  note  is  struck,  but  it  is  so  weak  and  vanish- 
ing that  it  is  of  no  account. 

It  is  fair  to  say  also  for  the  assembly  that  it  was  composed  for 
the  most  part  of  learned  and  pious  divines  and  laymen  of  eminent 
culture.    Probably  never  in  history  has  so  able,  compe- 

J  J  l  HIGH  CHAR- 

tent,  and  high-minded  a  body  of  men  sat  down  to  the  acter  of  its 

. |  ,  ,.  MEMBERS. 

work  of  creed-making.  The  Eoman  Catholic  councils 
cannot  be  compared  to  it,  and  the  compromising  Anglican  synods 
seem  weak  and  futile.  The  words  of  Professor  Briggs,  who  has 
profoundly  studied  the  whole  Puritan  literature  of  the  time,  are 
justified  :  "  Looking  at  the  Westminster  Assembly  as  a  whole,  it 
is  safe  to  say  that  there  never  was  a  body  of  divines  who  labored 

1  The  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith  and  Scotch  Theology,  in  Contempo- 
rary Rev.,  Dec,  1872,  pp.  73-75  (vol.  xxi). 
■  Milton,  Paradise  Lost,  ii,  560-561. 


068  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

more  conscientiously,  carefully,  and  faithfully,  and  produced  more 
important  documents,  or  a  richer  theological  literature,  than 
that  remarkably  learned,  able,  and  pious  body,  who  sat  for  so 
many  trying  years  in  the  Jerusalem  Chamber  of  Westminster 
Abbey."1 

For  five  years,  six  months,  and  twenty-two  days,  through  one 
thousand  one  hundred  and  sixty-three  sessions,  the  chapel  of 
Henry  VII  and  the  Jerusalem  Chamber  witnessed  the  labors  of  the 
assembly.2  "We  meet  every  day  of  the  week  but  Saturday/'  says 
account  of  Baillie,  the  Scotch  commissioner,  whose  journals  are 
the  sessions.  as  interesting  gossip  as  any  age  can  furnish.  "  We 
sit  commonly  from  nine  to  one  or  two  after  noon.  The  prolocutor 
at  the  beginning  and  the  end  has  a  short  prayer.  .  .  .  After  the 
prayer  Mr.  Byfield,  the  scribe,  reads  the  proposition  and  the  Scrip- 
tures [that  is,  the  Scriptures  alleged  in  support  of  the  proposition], 
whereupon  the  Assembly  debates  in  the  most  grave  and  orderlie 
way.  No  man  is  called  up  to  speak  ;  but  who  stands  up  of  his  own 
accord,  he  speaks  as  long  as  he  will  without  interruption.  If  two 
or  three  stand  up  at  once,  then  the  divines  confusedly  calls  on  his 
name  whom  they  desire  to  speak  first.  On  whom  the  loudest  and 
maniest  voices  calls,  he  speaks.  No  man  speaks  to  any  but  to  the 
prolocutor.  They  harangue  long  and  very  learnedly.  They  study 
the  questions  well  beforehand,  and  prepares  their  speeches ;  but 
withal  the  men  are  exceeding  prompt  and  well  spoken.  I  do  mar- 
vel at  the  very  accurate  and  extemporal  replies  that  many  of  them 
usually  do  make."  3  Baillie  objected  only  to  their  tediousness: 
"Much  of  their  way  is  good  and  worthy  of  our  imitation:  only 


1  Documentary  Hist,  of  the  Westminster  Assembly,  in  Presb.  Rev. ,  1880, 
p.  163.  Baxter's  judgment  as  that  of  a  fairly  impartial  contemporary  is  worth 
quoting:  "  The  divines  there  congregate  were  men  of  eminent  learning  and 
godliness,  and  ministerial  abilities  and  fidelity;  and,  being  not  worthy  to  be 
one  myself,  I  may  the  more  freely  speak  that  truth  which  I  know,  even  in  the 
face  of  malice  and  envy,  that  as  far  as  I  am  able  to  judge  by  the  information 
of  all  history  of  that  kind,  and  by  any  other  evidences  left  us,  the  Christian 
world,  since  the  days  of  the  apostles,  had  never  a  synod  of  more  excellent  di- 
vines (taking  one  thing  with  another)  than  this  synod  and  the  synod  of  Dort 
were."— Life  and  Times  (Calamy),  i,  73,  (Orme)  i,  68.  Among  recent  historians, 
Stoughton  says  :  "The  Westminster  divines  had  learning — scriptural,  patris- 
tic, scholastic,  and  modern — enough  and  to  spare;  all  solid,  substantial,  and 
ready  for  use."— Religion  in  England,  i,  445. 

2  Stanley,  Memories  of  Westminster  Abbey,  5th  ed.,  p.  436.  Schaff  says  the 
1163d  session  was  held  February  22,  1648;  the  last,  March  25,  1652. 

3  Robert  Baillie,  Letters  and  Journals,  ii,  107-109. 


THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ASCENDENCY.  669 

their  longsomeness  is  woful  at  this  time,  when  their  Church  and 
kingdom  lies  under  a  most  lamentable  anarchy  and  confusion. 
They  see  the  hurt  of  their  length,  but  cannot  get  it  helped ;  for 
being  to  establish  a  new  platform  of  worship  and  discipline  to 
their  nation  for  all  time  to  come,  they  think  they  cannot  be  an- 
swerable if  solidly  and  at  leisure  they  do  not  examine  every  point 
thereof." ' 

True  to  its  presbyterial  character  the  assembly  included  laymen 
as  well  as  clergymen,  all  appointed  by  authority  of  parliament,  to 
which  they  were  responsible,  from  which  they  received  a  schedule 
of  topics  to  be  discussed,  and  to  which  they  submitted 
their  work  for  refusal  or  acceptance.  That  work  re-  of  the 
suited  in  five  products.  (1)  Fifteen  Articles  of  Reli- 
gion revised  and  enlarged  from  the  first  fifteen  of  the  Thirty-nine. 
The  work  on  the  Articles  was  cut  short  by  parliament's  request 
that  they  take  up  the  discussion  of  discipline,  and  amounted  to  no 
practical  importance,  as  the  revised  Articles  were  superseded  by  the 
confession.  However,  the  debates  on  the  Articles,  which  lasted  for 
three  or  four  months,  trained  the  divines  for  their  subsequent 
work,  and  determined  their  treatment  of  the  same  subjects  later.2 
(2)  Directory  of  Church  Government  and  Discipline,  adopted  by 
parliament  in  1648,  which  organized  the  Church  of  England  in 
presbyterian  fashion,  with  large  lay  element  in  the  classis,  provin- 
cial assembly,  and  national  assembly,  the  work  of  the  latter  assem- 
bly to  be  under  the  supervision  of  parliament.3  (3)  Directory  for 
Worship.  This  was  drawn  up  in  1644,  and  was  passed  by  the  Com- 
mons, January  3,  1645.  It  substituted  a  nonliturgical  for  a  ritual 
service,  but  gave  many  directions  for  the  orderly  and  solemn  cele- 
bration of  divine  worship.     On  August  25,  1645,  parliament  passed 

1  Those  who  have  not  at  hand  Baillie's  book  may  read  quotations  in  Stanley, 
Memories  of  Westminster  Abbey,  pp.  435,  436  ;  Mitchell  and  Strnthers,  Min- 
utes of  Westminster  Assembly,  pp.  lxxix,  lxxx  ;  Schaff,  Creeds  of  Christen- 
dom, i,  750,  751,  and  in  his  article  in  the  Schaff -Herzog  Encyc,  iii,  2500  ; 
Hetherington,  Hist,  of  the  Westminster  Assembly,  ed.  Williamson,  pp.  Ill, 
112. 

2  These  debates  occupied  105  folios  in  the  MS.  Minutes  of  the  Dr.  Wil- 
liams library,  London,  and  are  the  fullest  of  any  that  are  reported. — Briggs, 
I.e.,  p.  140.  Hetherington  slights  this  part  of  the  work  of  the  divines  in  an 
unhistorical  way.  He  says  "  it  cannot  properly  be  said  to  form  any  part  of  the 
Assembly's  actual  proceedings  " — p.  115. 

3  "  The  national  assembly  shall  meet  when  they  shall  be  summoned  by  parlia- 
ment, to  sit  and  continue  as  the  parliament  shall  order,  and  not  otherwise." — 
The  Form  of  Church  Government,  etc.,  1648. 


670  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

an  ordinance  providing  that  the  use  of  the  Prayer  Book,  either  in 
public  or  private  worship,  would  mulct  the  offender  five  pounds, 
for  the  second  offense  ten,  and  for  the  third  would  imprison  him 
for  one  year.1  (4)  The  Confession  of  Faith.  The  work  on  the 
Confession  lasted  from  August,  1644,  to  April,  1G47,  and  was  ap- 
proved by  parliament  June  20,  1648,  with  the  significant  excep- 
the  con-  tions  of  chapters  xxx  (Church  Censures)  and  xxxi 
FBssioN.  (Synods  and  Councils),  a  part  of  section  4  and  sec- 

tions 5  and  6  of  chapter  xxix  (Marriage  and  Divorce),  and  section 
4  of  chapter  xx  (Christian  Liberty).2  The  Confession  was  based 
entirely  on  the  Irish  articles,3  and  is  perhaps  the  clearest,  ablest, 
and  most  logical  statement  of  the  Calvinist  gospel  ever  made  in 
brief  form,  and  has  therefore  been  well  fixed  upon  as  the  standard 
of  orthodoxy  by  all  Presbyterian  Churches.  (5)  The  Catechisms. 
These  were  the  last  work  of  the  assembly,  and  were  finished  and 
the  cate-  adopted  by  parliament  in  1648.  This  part  of  the 
assembly's  labors  has  been  the  most  influential  of  all. 
The  Shorter  Catechism  is  perhaps,  on  the  whole,  the  noblest 
literary  product  of  Protestantism,  and  its  wide  circulation  through- 
out all  branches  of  the  evangelical  Church  has  done  more  to 
popularize  divine  truth  and  leaven  the  world  with  Christianity 
than  any  other  single  document.  It  stands  with  Luther's  cate- 
chism and  the  Heidelberg  catechism  as  one  of  the  three  chief 
and  immortal  products  of  the  revived  Christian  consciousness 
which  came  with  the  Reformation.4  The  Shorter  and  Larger 
Catechisms  are,  of  course,   Calvinistic,  but  the  Calvinism  is   at 

1  The  texts  of  the  Fifteen  Articles,  Directory  of  Worship,  and  Form  of  Church 
Government  may  be  found  in  Appendix  to  last  vol.  of  Neal,  Hist,  of  the  Puri- 
tans, Nos.  7-9. 

3  Neal,  with  a  touch  of  bitterness  and  exaggeration,  refers  to  the  parts  of  the 
Confession  which  failed  of  acceptance  as  those  "in  which  the  very  life  and 
soul  of  presbytery  consists.1' — Hist,  of  Puritans,  ed.  1822,  Lond.,  iii,  321. 

3  In  the  Irish  Articles,  says  Prof.  Mitchell,  "we  have  the  main  source  of  our 
Confession  of  Faith,  and  almost  its  exact  prototype  in  the  statement  of  all  the 
more  important  and  essential  doctrines  of  Christianity."— Minutes  of  the  West. 
Conl,  Introd.,  p.  xlvii. 

' '  The  Catechisms  of  the  Westminster  Assembly,  and  especially  their 
Shorter  Catechism,  may  be  regarded  as  in  several  respects  the  most  remark- 
able of  their  symbolical  books,  the  matured  fruit  of  all  their  consultations  and 
debates,  the  quintessence  of  that  system  of  truth  in  which  they  desired  to  train 
English-speaking  youth,  and  faithful  training  in  which,  I  believe,  has  done 
more  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic  to  keep  alive  reverence  for  the  old  theology 
than  all  other  human  instrumentalities  whatever."— A.  F.Mitchell,  Catechisms 
of  the  Second  Reformation,  Introd.,  p.  ix. 


THE    PRESBYTERIAN    ASCENDENCY.  671 

a  minimum,  while  the  strong,  unadulterated  living  evangelicalism 
which  has  been  the  spring  and  life  of  modern  English  Christianity- 
is  at  a  maximum. 

This  is  not  the  place  for  an  analysis  of  the  Westminster  Confes- 
sion. In  the  light  of  modern  thought  and  feeling  its  chief  defects 
are  its  extreme  Calvinism  and  its  doctrine  of  intolerance.  As 
to  the  first,  it  states  or  clearly  implies  (1)  the  arbitrary  calvinism 
selection  of  a  certain  fixed  number  for  saved  and  lost ; '  erance  of 
(2)  the  predetermination  from  eternity  of  all  things  CONFESSION 
that  happen,  which  makes  God  the  author  of  sin  ;2  (3)  the  dam- 
nation of  nonelect  infants ; 3  and  (4)  the  damnation  of  all  good 
heathen.4     As  to  the  second,  it  defines  the  office  of  the  magistrate 

1  "  By  the  decree  of  God,  for  the  manifestation  of  his  glory,  some  men  and 
angels  are  predestinated  to  everlasting  life,  and  others  foreordained  to  ever- 
lasting death.  These  angels  and  men,  thus  predestinated  and  foreordained, 
are  particularly  and  unchangeably  designed ;  and  their  number  is  so  certain 
and  definite  that  it  cannot  be  either  increased  or  diminished." — Conf.  of  Faith, 
iii,  sees.  3,  4.  The  principle  of  this  eternal  selection  is  ' '  his  mere  free  grace 
and  love" — evidently  to  the  favored  ones  only — "without  any  foresight  of 
faith  or  good  works  "  (sec.  5).  The  unfortunate  ones  have  no  chance,  for  it 
is  only  to  those  who  "  are  ordained  unto  life  "  that  he  "  gives  his  Holy  Spirit, 
to  make  them  willing  and  able  to  believe  "  (vii,  sec.  3). 

2  "  God  from  all  eternity  did,  by  the  most  high  and  holy  counsel  of  his  own. 
will,  freely  and  unchangeably  ordain  whatsoever  comes  to  pass  "  (iii,  1).  The 
natural  implication  that  this  makes  God  unchangeably  ordain  sin  is  also  imme- 
diately repudiated  by  the  Confession,  as  it  is  by  all  Calvinists. 

3 ' '  Elect  infants,  dying  in  infancy,  are  regenerated  and  saved  by  Christ 
through  the  Spirit,  who  worketh  when,  and  where,  and  how  he  pleaseth  " 
(x,  3).  As  this  expressly  limits  salvation  to  a  particular  class  of  those  dying  in 
infancy,  namely,  the  elect,  one  might  naturally  infer  that  the  other  class  is 
lost.  Otherwise  the  Confession  would  say,  Infants,  dying  in  infancy,  are 
elected.  But  this  would  overthrow  the  fundamental  postulate  of  Calvinism, 
which  is  that  the  election  depends,  not  on  earthly  conditions,  such  as  age, 
wealth  or  poverty,  and  good  works,  but  upon  the  mere  good  pleasure  of 
God. 

4  The  doctrine  of  the  Confession  here,  though  thoroughly  logical,  and  by 
most  of  the  men  of  that  time  taken  as  a  matter  of  course,  is  peculiarly  exas- 
perating to  the  present-day  conscience.  "Although  the  light  of  nature,  and 
the  works  of  creation  and  providence,  do  so  far  manifest  the  goodness,  wis- 
dom, and  power  of  God  as  to  leave  men  inexcusable,  yet  they  are  not  sufficient 
to  give  that  knowledge  of  God  and  of  his  will  which  is  necessary  to  salvation  " 
(i,  1).  "  Much  less  can  men  not  professing  the  Christian  religion  be  saved  in 
any  other  way  whatsoever,  be  they  ever  so  diligent  to  frame  their  lives  accord- 
ing to  the  light  of  nature  and  the  law  of  that  religion  they  do  profess,  and  to 
assert  and  maintain  that  they  may  is  very  pernicious  and  to  be  detested" 
(*,  4). 


672  HISTORY   OF  THE    CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

in  the  rooting  out  of  heresy  in  these  words  :  The  civil  magistrate 
"  hath  authority,  and  it  is  his  duty,  to  take  order  that  peace  and 
unity  be  preserved  in  the  Church,  that  the  truth  of  God  be  kept 
pure  and  entire,  that  all  blasphemies  and  heresies  be  suppressed, 
all  corruptions  and  abuses  in  worship  and  discipline  prevented  and 
reformed,  and  all  of  the  ordinances  of  God  duly  settled,  adminis- 
tered, and  observed.  For  the  better  effecting  whereof  he  hath 
power  to  call  synods,  to  be  present  at  them,  and  to  provide  that 
whatsoever  is  transacted  in  them  be  according  to  the  mind  of 
God/' » 

In  the  matter  of  intolerance  the  great  Presbyterian  symbol  of 
unfortunate  1648  was  no  better  nor  worse  than  other  creeds  of 
throw'off  the  Eeformation.  But  men  were  gradually  working 
intolerance.  themseiyes  free  from  the  old  conceptions,  and  the 
rigid  way  in  which  the  Presbyterians  enforced  their  directories 
upon  the  consciences  of  both  Anglican  and  dissenter  alienated 
many  a  noble  mind  from  them,  and  finally  caused  the  collapse  of 
their  ascendency.  This  intolerance  had  another  unfortunate  in- 
fluence :  it  embittered  the  loftiest  mind  of  that  age,  and  left  its 
traces  in  the  scorn  and  vituperation  which  we  deplore  in  some  of 
the  greatest  sonnets  of  the  language.  Thus,  On  the  New  Forcers 
of  Conscience  under  the  Long  Parliament,  Milton  writes,  with 
scathing  words  : 

"  Because  you  have  thrown  off  your  prelate  lord, 

And  with  stiff  vows  renounced  his  liturgy,'2 

To  seize  the  widowed  whore  Plurality 
From  them  whose  sin  ye  envied,  not  abhorred,3 


1  Conf.  xxiii,  sec.  3. 

2  The  liturgy  and  ceremonies  of  the  Anglicans  were  renounced  in  an  elaborate 
and  comprehensive  vow  or  oath.  The  Presbyterians  went  so  far  at  length  as 
to  enforce  the  Covenant  on  all  Englishmen  over  eighteen. 

3  This  cutting  taunt  stung  all  the  more  because  there  was  a  measure  of 
justice  in  it.  Several  of  the  Presbyterian  divines  held  more  than  one  bene- 
fice or  office  at  the  same  time.  In  his  Fragment  on  the  History  of  England 
(Prose  Works),  Milton  says:  "The  most  part  of  them  were  such  as  had 
preached  and  cried  down  with  great  show  of  zeal  the  avarice  and  pluralities 
of  bishops  and  prelates,  and  one  cure  of  souls  was  a  full  employment  for 
one  spiritual  pastor,  how  able  soever.  Yet  they  wanted  not  boldness,  to  the 
ignominy  and  scandal  of  their  pastorlike  profession,  to  seize  with  their 
hands  sometimes  two  or  more  of  the  best  livings,  collegiate  masterships 
in  the  universities,  rich  lectures  in  the  city,  setting  sail  to  all  winds  that 
might  blow  gain  to  their  covetous  bosoms."  See  also  Lightfoot,  Journal, 
pp.  208-217. 


THE   PRESBYTERIAN   ASCENDENCY.  673 

Dare  ye  for  this  adjure  the  civil  sword 

To  force  our  consciences  that  Christ  set  free, 

And  ride  us  with  a  classic  hierarchy * 
Taught  yehy  mere  A.  S.,-  and  Rutherford  ?s 
Men  whose  life,  learning,  faith,  and  pure  intent 

Would  have  been  held  in  high  esteem  with  Paul, 
Must  now  be  named  and  printed  heretics 

By  shallow  Edwards  4  and  Scotch  what  d'ye  call  : 5 
But  we  do  hope  to  find  out  all  your  tricks, 
Your  plots  and  packing  worse  than  those  of  Trent, 

That  so  the  parliament 
May,  with  their  wholesome  and  preventive  shears, 
Clip  your  phylacteries,  though  baulk  your  ears,6 

And  succour  our  just  fears, 
When  they  shall  read  this  clearly  in  your  charge, 
New  Presbyter  is  but  old  Priest  writ  large." T 

1  For  purposes  of  government  the  Presbyterians  included  certain  churches  in 
a  locality  in  a  class,  or  classical  assembly.  Thus  London  was  divided  into 
twelve  classes,  which  chose  two  ministers  and  four  elders  each  to  represent 
them  in  a  provincial  assembly. 

2  Adam  Stuart,  a  Presbyterian  writer  who  answered  the  Independents'  Plea 
for  Toleration. 

3  Samuel  Rutherford,  one  of  the  Scotch  commissioners  to  the  Assembly,  was 
eminent  as  a  saint  and  as  a  controversialist.  He  was  a  strong  enemy  of  the 
Congregationalists,  and  so  shares  in  Milton's  scorn. 

4  Thomas  Edwards  was  a  vigorous  fighter  on  the  Presbyterian  side.  The 
titles  of  two  of  his  books  will  reveal  his  spirit :  Gangrsena,  or  a  Catalogue  and 
Discovery  of  Many  of  the  Errors,  Heresies,  Blasphemies,  and  Pernicious  Prac- 
tices of  the  Sectaries  of  This  Time,  3  vols.,  1645-46  ;  The  Casting  Down  of  the 
Last  and  Strongest  Hold  of  Satan,  or  a  Treatise  against  Toleration,  1647. 

5  He  probably  refers  to  George  Gillespie,  one  of  the  four  Scotch  commission- 
ers to  the  assembly.  Gillespie  attacks  Congregationalism  with  learning  and 
keen  argument  in  his  Assertion  of  the  Government  of  the  Church  of  Scotland, 
1641,  and  defends  the  Presbyterian  intolerance  in  Aaron's  Rod  Blossoming,  or 
the  Divine  Ordinance  of  Church  Government  Vindicated,  London,  1646.  The 
Scotch  being  thus  associated  in  Milton's  mind  with  intolerance,  he  came  to  dis- 
like them  and  to  ridicule  their  names. 

6  Spare  your  ears.  Cutting  off  the  ears  was  a  frequent  method  of  Anglican 
persecution  1 

7  Sonnets,  xiii.  The  fearful  impression  the  Presbyterian  intolerance  left  on 
Milton  is  seen  in  the  language  of  one  of  his  prose  works,  A  Fragment  of  a 
History  of  England.  After  speaking  of  their  pluralism  he  says:  "And  yet 
the  main  doctrine  for  which  they  took  such  pay,  and  insisted  upon  with  more 
vehemence  than  gospel,  was  but  to  tell  us  in  effect  that  their  doctrine  was 
worth  nothing,  and  the  spiritual  power  of  their  ministry  less  available  than 
bodily  compulsion  ;  persuading  the  magistrate  to  use  it  as  a  stronger  means  to 
subdue  and  bring  in  conscience  than  evangelical  persuasion ;  distrusting  the 
virtue  of  their  own  spiritual  weapons  which  were  given  them,  if  they  might  be 

45  2 


674  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

The  Presbyterian  triumph  was  not  for  long.     Under  Cromwell 
(about  1649-50)  their  despotism  was  shattered,  and  the  poor  sec- 
taries, as  the  Congregationalists,  Baptists,  and  other  Puritans  were 
called,  lifted  up  their  heads  and  flourished.     All  the 
presby-  while,  however,    the    Presbyterians    had  pious    and 

learned  ministers  who  were  doing  noble  work  until 
they  were  dispossessed  by  Charles  II,  1660,  as  we  have  seen.  After 
the  toleration  of  1689  they  never  regained  their  power,  but  dwin- 
dled away  as  if  smitten  by  dearth.  As  in  all  the  Calvinistic 
strongholds,  Geneva,  France,  New  England,  Unitarianism  came  in 
on  the  steps  of  this  religious  decay.  It  is  a  strange  devolution 
— from  Calvinism  to  Unitarianism.  But  that  hyperorthodoxy 
which  too  often  is  transformed  into  a  hard  machine  and  beats 
down  the  tender  conscience,  and  especially  that  which  changes  the 
loving  Father  into  a  passionless  Fate,  brings  its  own  reaction. 
This  is  the  history  of  the  Eoman  Catholicism,  the  Lutheranism, 
and  the  Calvinism  of  the  times. 

rightly  called,  with  full  warrant  of  sufficiency  to  pull  down  all  thoughts  and 
imaginations  that  exalt  themselves  against  God.  But  while  they  taught  com- 
pulsion without  convincement,  which  long  before  they  complained  of  as  exe- 
cuted unchristianly  against  themselves,  their  contents  are  clear  to  be  no  better 
than  antichristians  ;  setting  up  a  spiritual  tyranny  by  a  secular  power,  to  the 
advancing  of  their  own  authority  above  the  magistrate,  whom  they  would  have 
made  their  executioner  to  punish  church  delinquencies,  whereof  civil  laws 
have  no  cognizance.  And  well  did  their  disciples  manifest  themselves  to  be  no 
better  principled  than  their  teachers  ;  trusted  with  committeeships  and  other 
gainful  offices,  upon  their  commendations  for  zealous  and  (as  they  hesitated 
not  to  term  them)  godly  men,  but  executing  their  places  like  children  of  the 
devil,  unfaithfully,  unjustly,  unmercifully,  and  where  not  corruptly,  stupidly. 
So  that  between  them,  the  teachers  and  these  the  disciples,  there  hath  not 
been  a  more  ignominious  and  mortal  wound  to  faith,  to  piety,  to  the  work  of 
reformation,  nor  more  cause  of  blasphemies  given  to  the  enemies  of  God  and 
truth  since  the  first  preaching  of  the  reformation." 


THE   C0NGREGATI0NALI8TS.  675 


CHAPTEE  VII. 

THE    CONGREGATIONALISTS. 

"  And  God  we  trust  will  one  day  raise  up  another  John  Fox  to 
gather  and  compile  the  Acts  and  Monuments  of  his  later  martyrs, 
for  the  view  of  posterity,  though  yet  they  seem  to  be  buried  in  ob- 
livion and  asleep  in  the  dust."  Such  were  the  words  of  some  nameless 
Congregationalist  writing  in  1596,  in  those  terrible  days  of  "  good 
Queen  Bess "  when  evangelical  men  hardly  dared  to  place  their 
names  on  their  furtively  printed  pamphlets  lest  a  felon's  death 
should  overtake  them,  or  imprisonment,  which  in  those  days  was 
not  greatly  to  be  preferred.1  If  the  moderate  Anglicans  and  Pres- 
byterians suffered,  as  we  have  seen,  for  their  Protes- 

.  .  L  .  AN  ADVANCED 

tantism,  it  was  reserved  for  the  Congregationahsts,  pkotestant- 
who  carried  their  Protestantism  one  step  further,  to 
feel  the  full  effects  of  what  Roger  Williams  called  "  the  bloody 
tenet  of  persecution." 

Anglicanism,  with  all  its  defects,  stood  for  an  open  Bible,  and  it 
was  inevitable  that  with  increased  light  from  that  source  men  would 
try  to  restore  the  primitive  type  of  Church  polity,  and  thus  to  build 
again  the  foundation  of  the  apostles  on  the  characteristic  prin- 
ciple of  Protestantism — the  priesthood  of  all  believers.  The  ex- 
treme Anglicans  ought  to  have  perceived  that  this  would  be  the  re- 
sult of  a  free  Bible,  and  should  have  tried  to  make  room  in  some 
way  for  quiet  law-abiding  Christians  who  wanted  only  the  privilege 
of  serving  God  according  to  their  conscience.  But  a  comprehen- 
siveness like  this  was  then  historically  impossible.  stiOW 
Christendom  had  not  worked  itself  free  from  that  prostate 
medievalism  which  identified  the  State  with  a  form  religion. 
of  religion,  and  could  not  understand  the  peaceable  and  equal 
loyalty  of  men  of  variant  creeds.  Some  of  the  Elizabethan  Con- 
gregationalists  had  a  larger  vision,  but  it  was  as  the  first  light  of 
the  rising  sun  which  soon  goes  under  a  cloud. 

Robert  Browne,  the  first  English  Congregationalist,  attained  at  a 
bound  as  early  as  1582  to  the  true  doctrine  of  tolerance.  He  says 
that  the  magistrates  "may  do  nothing  concerning  the  Church,  but 

1 A  True  Confession  of  Faith,  Lond. ,  1596,  p.  v.  This  treatise  was  a  defense 
of  the  Congregationalists  from  the  charge  of  sedition. 


676  HISTORY  OF  THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

only  civilly,  and  as  civil  magistrates  ;  that  is,  they  have  not  that 
authority  over  the  Church  as  to  be  prophets  or  priests  or  spiritual 
kings,  as  they  are  magistrates  over  the  same  ;  but  only 
bkowne  to  rule  the  commonwealth  in  all  outward  justice,  to 

tolerance,  maintain  the  right  welfare  and  honor  thereof  with 
outward  power,  bodily  punishment,  and  civil  forcing  of  men.  And 
therefore  also  because  the  Church  is  in  a  commonwealth  it  is  of 
their  charge ;  that  is,  concerning  the  outward  provision  and  out- 
ward justice  they  are  to  look  to  it ;  but  to  compel  religion,  to  plant 
churches  by  power,  and  to  force  submission  to  ecclesiastical  govern- 
ment by  laws  and  penalties  belongeth  not  to  them." ' 

But  this  promise  was  not  kept.  The  later  Congregationalists 
returned  to  the  mediaeval  conception.  The  exiles  at  Amsterdam  in 
1596  wrote  that  "by  God's  commandment  all  that  will  be  saved 
must  with  speed  come  forth  from  this  anti-Christian  estate  [the 
Church  of  England],  leaving  the  suppression  of  it  unto  the  magis- 
trate to  whom  it  belongeth."     John  Norton,  in  1651  : 

A  RFT  APSF 

to  the  old     "  That  licentious  and  pestilent  proposition,  The  care 

POSITION 

of  matters  of  religion  belongs  not  to  the  magistrates, 
is  a  stratagem  of  the  old  serpent  and  father  of  lies,  to  make  free 
passage  for  the  doctrine  of  devils."  Cambridge  synod  of  1646  : 
"  For  the  magistrate  to  command  or  forbid  according  to  God,  as 
it  is  not  persecution,  so  neither  doth  it  tend  to  persecution.  Power 
to  press  the  word  of  God  and  his  truth  doth  not  give  warrant  to 
suppress  or  oppress  the  same." 

Kobert  Browne,  a  Cambridge  graduate,  a  man  of  strange  and 
checkered  life,  was  the  first  to  give  a  full  and  systematic  pres- 
the  first  entation  of  the  Congregational  principle.  Impris- 
congrega-  oned  by  Anglicans,  he  was  released  through  the  influ- 
talist.  ence  0^  kis  kinsman,  Lord  Burleigh,  and  with  his 
companion  fled  to  Middleburg,  Zealand.  There  he  wrote  those 
able  pamphlets  which  give  the  first  literary  expression  of  volunta- 
ryism. In  December,  1583,  he  came  to  Scotland,  where  he  was  im- 
prisoned. By  a  singular  mental  twist  he  subjected  himself  to  the 
Church  of  England,  1586,  and  became  master  of  a  school  in  South- 
wark,  and  in  1591  was  presented  by  Burleigh  with  a  little  living  at 
Achurch-cum-Thorpe,  where  he  lived  for  forty  years.  Henry  Mar- 
tyn  Dexter  was  the  first  to  rescue  the  memory  of  Browne  from  the 

1  Treatise  of  Reformation  without  Tarrying  for  Any,  Middleburg,  Zealand, 
1582.  Dexter,  in  his  Congregationalism  as  Seen  in  its  Literature,  pp.  101  ff., 
has  fully  elucidated  Browne's  ideas. 

2  See  the  Nation,  N.  Y.,  Aug.  6,  1896,  p.  109. 


THE    CONGREGATIONALISTS.  677 

dishonor  which  has  surrounded  it  on  account  of  these  later  years. 
He  has  shown  good  reason  for  believing  that  Browne  was  either 
insane  or  mentally  irresponsible. 

"  A  fiery  soul,  which,  working  out  its  way, 
Fretted  the  pygmy  body  to  decay.. 
And  o'er-informed  the  tenement  of  clay.  .  .  . 
Great  wits  are  sure  to  madness  near  allied, 
And  thin  partitions  do  their  bounds  divide."  ' 

In  any  case,  the  last  part  of  Browne's  life  cannot  dim  the 
glory  of  the  first  part.  What  were  his  principles  ?  Christianity 
is  not  dogma  nor  organization,  but  it  is  a  "joyful  teachings 
and  plain  declaring  and  teaching  by  due  message  of  OFBKOWNE- 
the  remedy  of  our  miseries  through  Christ  our  Redeemer, 
who  is  come  in  the  flesh,  a  Saviour  unto  them  which  worthily 
receive  this  message,  and  hath  fulfilled  the  old  ceremonies/'  "  The 
Church  planted  or  gathered  is  a  company  or  number  of  Christians 
or  believers,  which  by  a  willing  covenant  made  with  their  God  are 
under  the  government  of  God  and  Christ,  and  keep  his  laws  in  one 
holy  communion,  because  Christ  hath  redeemed  them  unto  holi- 
ness and  happiness  forever,  from  which  they  were  fallen  by  the 
sin  of  Adam."  What  about  offenders  ?  "  Separation  of  the  open, 
willful  offenders  is  a  dutifulness  of  the  Church  in  withholding 
from  them  the  Christian  communion  and  fellowship,  by  pronoun- 
cing and  showing  the  covenant  of  Christian  communion  to  be 
broken  by  their  grievous  wickedness,  and  that  with  mourning, 
prayer,  and  fasting  for  them  and  denouncing  God's  judgment 
against  them."  The  officers  of  the  Church  are  pastor,  teacher, 
elder  (for  counsel  and  government),  reliever,  and  widow.  Any 
Church  thus  organized  was  complete  in  itself,  and  in  every  respect 
a  New  Testament  Church.  But  it  should  not  for  that  disown  the 
advice  and  help  of  sister  Churches,  for  in  Browne's  large  study  of 
the  subject  he  had  provided  for  this  element  of  Congregationalism 
also:  "There  be  synods,"  he  says,  "or  the  meetings  of  sundrie 
churches  :  which  are  when  the  weaker  churches  seek  help  of  the 
stronger  for  deciding  or  redressing  of  matters."  He  gives  his  rea- 
sons why  he  could  not  accept  a  call  from  a  bishop.  "For  the 
joining  and  partaking  of  many  Churches  together,  and  of  the  au- 
thority which  many  hath,  must  needs  be  greater  and  more  weighty 
than  the  authority  of  any  single  person.     '  We  are  yours,'  says  the 

1  Dryden,  Absalom  and  Achitophel,  i,  156. 


678  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

apostle,  '  you  are  Christ's,  and  Christ  is  God's.'  "  This  was  really 
the  first  application  of  the  Protestant  principle  of  the  priesthood 
to  Church  polity.1 

Bury  St.  Edmunds  was  a  school  of  dissent.  Here  Thacher  and 
Coppen  had  taught  that  the  Church  establishment  was  not  according 

to  Christ,  nor  were  the  man-made  prayers,  and  that, 
coppen,  and    although  her  majesty  was  entitled  to  civil  obedience, 

she  could  not  lord  it  over  the  conscience.  After  sev- 
eral years'  imprisonment  they  were  hanged  for  sedition,  June,  1583, 
their  sedition  being  simply  the  assertion  of  logical  Protestantism. 
Forty  of  Browne's  books  were  burned  at  the  same  time.  Henry 
Barrowe,  a  Norfolk  man  and  graduate  of  Cambridge,  is  eminent  in 
the  early  annals  of  Congregationalism.  Governor  Bradford  gives 
this  account  of  him  :  "He  was  a  gentleman  of  good  worth  and  a 
flourishing  courtier  in  his  time.  Walking  in  London  one  Lord's 
Day  with  one  of  his  companions,  he  heard  a  preacher  at  his  sermon 
very  loud,  as  they  passed  by  the  church.  '  Let  us  go  in,'  said  he, 
'and  hear  what  this  man  saith  that  is  thus  earnest.'  Moved  by 
the  sudden  impulse,  in  he  went  and  sat  down.  And  the  minister 
was  vehement  in  reproving  sin,  and  sharply  applied  the  judgments 
of  God  against  the  same,  and,  it  would  seem,  touched  him  to  the 
quick  in  such  things  as  he  was  guilty  of,  so  as  God  set  it  home  to 
his  soul,  and  began  to  work  for  his  repentance  and  conviction 
thereby.  For  he  was  so  stricken  as  he  could  not  be  quiet,  until  by 
conference  with  godly  men,  and  further  hearing  of  the  word,  with 
diligent  reading  and  meditation,  God  brought  peace  to  his  soul 
and  conscience  after  much  humiliation  of  heart  and  regeneration  of 
life.  ...  He  left  the  court  and  retired  to  a  private  life,  sometime 
in  the  country  and  sometime  in  the  city,  giving  himself  to  the  study 
and  reading  of  the  Scriptures  and  other  good  works  very  diligently  ; 
and  being  missed  at  court  by  his  consorts  and  acquaintances,  it 
was  quickly  bruited  abroad  that  Barrowe  was  turned  Puritan."2 

John    Greenwood,   another   Cambridge  graduate,  had  received 
orders  in  the  English  Church,  but  on  further  study 
had  concluded  that  it  was  his  duty  to  separate  from 
it.     For  holding  private  meetings  he  was  arrested  and     BARR°WE- 
lodged  in  the  Clinch  prison.     Here  on  November  19,  1586,  Barrowe 

1  Full  information  as  to  Browne  is  given  by  Dexter,  pp.  61  ff .  The  republi- 
cation of  the  three  tracts  of  Browne,  1583,  Treatise  of  Reformation,  A  Book 
which  Sheweth  the  Life  and  Manners  of  All  True  Christians,  and  A  Treatise 
upon  the  23d  of  Matthew,  is  a  debt  which  Congregationalists  owe  to  this  too- 
neglected  founder.  2  Dialogue  in  Chronicles  of  the  Puritans,  pp.  433,  434. 


GREENWOOD 
AND  THE 
TRIAL  OF 


THE   CONGREGATIONALISTS.  679 

visited  him.  Barrowe  was  himself  arrested  and  brought  before  the 
archbishop.  His  legal  training  made  him  protest  against  the  form 
of  his  trial.  This  enraged  Whitgift,  who  dismissed  him  with  the 
words,  "  Where  is  his  keeper  ?  You  shall  not  prattle  here.  Away 
with  him.  Clap  him  up  close,  close.  Let  no  man  come  at  him. 
I  will  make  him  tell  another  tale  ere  I  have  done  with  him." 
Eour  months  later,  March  24,  1587,  he  was  summoned  before  the 
high  commission  court.  Again  asked  to  swear  upon  the  Bible,  he 
again  refused,  saying  that  he  would  swear  by  no  creature  but  only 
by  God  himself ;  but  pledging  himself  to  answer  nothing  but  the 
truth  he  was  permitted  by  the  archbishop  to  proceed  without  the 
oath.     The  trial  was  conducted  by  the  method  of  inquisition. 

May  the  Lord's  Prayer  be  rightly  used  ?  It  is  a  model,  he  an- 
swered, but  not  to  be  strictly  used  as  a  prayer,  "  seeing  that  our 
particular  wants  and  present  occasions  and  necessities 

r  L  BAEROWE'8 

are  not  therein   expressed.       Are  prescribed  prayers      answers 

1  ...  IN  COURT. 

lawful  ?  It  is  "high  presumption  to  impose  any  one 
devised  apocrypha  prayer  upon  the  Church."  Is  the  Prayer  Book 
idolatrous,  superstitious,  and  popish  ?  It  is  well-nigh  altogether 
so.  Are  the  sacraments  of  the  Church  of  England  true  sacra- 
ments ?  He  thought  not.  Are  the  laws  and  government  of  the 
Church  of  England  unlawful  and  anti-Christian  ?  He  did  not 
know  them  all,  but  many  of  them,  including  her  courts  and  gov- 
ernors, were  so.  Should  Church  of  England  baptism  be  repeated? 
He  scrupled  whether  her  baptism  was  altogether  right,  and  yet 
those  who  had  received  it  ought  not  to  be  baptized  again.  Is  the 
Church  of  England  a  true  Church  and  her  people  God's  people? 
The  parish  assemblies  are  not  true  Churches,  nor  the  people  as 
they  now  stand  in  disorder  and  confusion  ;  yet  he  was  sure  that 
the  Lord  had  many  precious  and  select  vessels  among  them,  whom 
he  will  in  his  good  time  call  forth,  and  whom  it  became  not  him  to 
judge  lest  he  should  enter  into  God's  seat.  Is  the  queen  supreme 
governor  of  the  Church,  and  may  she  make  laws  for  it  not  contrary 
to  the  laws  of  God  ?  "I  think  the  queen's  majesty  supreme  gov- 
ernor of  the  whole  land,  and  over  the  Church  also,  bodies  and 
goods ;  but  I  think  that  no  prince,  neither  the  whole  world, 
neither  the  Church  itself,  may  make  any  laws  for  the  Church  other 
than  Christ  hath  left  in  his  word.  And  yet  I  think  it  the  duty  of 
every  Christian,  and  principally  of  the  prince,  to  inquire  out  and 
renew  the  laws  of  God,  and  stir  up  all  their  subjects  to  more  dili- 
gent and  careful  keeping  of  the  same."  Take  notice  of  that  con- 
servative answer.     Can  the  queen  alter  the  law  of  Moses  to  suit 


680  THE    CONGREGATIONALISTS. 

her  own  country  and  policy  ?  "What  is  ceremonial  and  Jewish  is 
alterable,  but  the  judgments  set  down  for  the  moral  law  cannot 
be  changed  without  injury  to  it  and  to  God  himself.  "  Yet  if 
any  man  can  better  instruct  me  therein  by  the  word  of  God  I 
am  always  ready  to  change  my  mind."  May  any  private  person 
take  it  upon  himself  to  reform,  if  the  queen  will  not,  or  delays  ? 
"  I  think  that  no  man  may  intermeddle  with  the  prince's  office 
without  lawful  calling  thereunto ;  and  therefore  it  is  utterly 
unlawful  for  any  private  person  to  reform  the  State  without 
his  good-liking  and  license,  because  the  prince  shall  account  for 
the  defaults  of  his  public  government,  and  not  private  men,  so 
they  be  not  guilty  with  the  prince  in  his  offenses,  but  abstain  and 
keep  themselves  pure  from  doing  or  consenting  to  any  unlawful 
thing  commanded  by  the  prince,  which  they  must  do  as  they  ten- 
der their  own  salvation."  Ought  every  parish  and  parish  Church 
to  have  a  presbytery  ?  "  Over  every  particular  congregation  of 
Christ  there  ought  to  be  an  eldership,  and  every  such  congregation 
ought  to  their  utmost  power  to  endeavor  thereunto." 

The  positions  of  Barrowe  and  Greenwood  fairly  represent  the 

general  attitude  of  the  Separatists.     It  will  be  noticed  that  they 

differ  from  Browne  somewhat,  as  thev  make  the  pres- 

A   LOCAL  1.1 

presby-  bytery  of  the  local  Church  the  governing  bodv,  instead 

TFR.TANISTVI 

of  the  body  of  believers.  "  They  put  together  Browne's 
idea  of  a  separate  organization  and  Cartwright's  Calvinistic  notion 
of  eldership,  thus  resorting  to  the  expedient  of  conducting  a  Con- 
gregational Church  by  means  of  a  Presbyterian  session.  This,  they 
fancied,  would  adjust  all  difficulties.  The  pastor,  teacher,  and  elders 
would  manage  all  things  well,  and  the  company  of  covenanted 
saints  would  heartily  indorse  their  action,  and  be  grateful  to  them 
for  kindly  taking  the  entire  trouble  and  responsibility,  and — the 
glory  of  the  Lord  would  appear  in  the  earth."1  It  might  not  be 
fair,  however,  to  press  this,  because  in  the  Brief  Answer  of  the  Con- 
gregational prisoners,  who  would  hardly  write  without  declaring 
the  sentiments  of  the  two  most  distinguished  of  their  number, 
Barrowe  and  Greenwood,  they  say  that  the  "true  officers  of  the 
Church  usurp  no  tyrannical  jurisdiction  over  the  least  member, 
neither  do  any  public  thing  without  the  consent  of  the  whole  con- 
gregation." a 

1  Dexter,  p.  222. 

2  Brief  Answer  to  such  Articles  as  the  Bishops  have  given  out  in  our  name, 
upon  which  Articles  their  Priests  were  sent  and  enjoined  to  confer  with  us  in 
the  several  prisons  wherein  we  are  by  them  Detained,  printed  in  Collection  of 
Certain  Scandalous  Articles,  pp.  15,  16. 


THE   CONGREGATIONALISTS.  681 

In  reading  the  writings  of  these  men  one  is  impressed  with  their 
enthusiasm  for  a  holy  Church.  Their  chief  objection  to  the  estab- 
lishment is  that  no  guarantee  for  a  converted  member-  rmmm„„m 

°  INSISTENCE 

ship  is  given.     The  parish  assemblies  of  the  Church  on  a  godly 

r  O  -t  m  MEMBERSHIP. 

of  England  "  subject  unto  the  aforesaid  worship  and 
ministry  consisting  of  all  sorts  of  unclean  spirits,  atheists,  papists, 
heretics,"  and  the  like,  they  cannot  hold  to  be  true  Churches. 
They  are  not  gathered  from  the  world  to  the  obedience  of  Christ, 
nor  have  power  or  freedom  to  practice  Christ's  Testament.  For 
lack  of  "lawful  ministry  to  administer "  and  of  a  "faithful  and 
holy  free  people  orderly  gathered  by  a  true  outward  profession  of 
Christ,"  the  establishment  lacks  the  covenant  of  grace,  and  so 
the  "sacraments  in  the  assemblies  of  baptism  and  the  Lord's 
Supper,  given  unto  atheists,  papists,  whoremasters,  drunkards, 
and  their  seed,  delivered  also  after  a  superstitious  manner,  accord- 
ing to  their  liturgy,  and  not  according  to  the  institution  and  rules 
of  Christ's  Testament,  are  no  true  sacraments,  nor  seals  with 
promise." '  One  cannot  but  be  impressed  by  the  early  Congre- 
gational literature  that  one  of  the  chief  objections  of  these  earnest 
Puritans  to  the  establishment  was  a  moral  one — a  revulsion  due  to 
a  true  ethical  instinct.  In  fact,  Gregory  makes  the  essence  of  Pu- 
ritanism to  consist,  not  in  an  ecclesiastical  or  dogmatic  principle, 
but  in  its  lofty  moral  enthusiasm.2 

Another  emphasis  was  liberty  of  preaching  and  worship,  with- 
out being  fettered  by  a  "  limited,  bound,  and  stinted "  liturgy. 
These  prescribed  prayers  "  set  and  stint  the  Holy  Ghost,"  and 
take  away  the  whole  liberty,  freedom,  and  true  use  lea 

of  spiritual  prayer ;  "  yea,  you  stop  the  springs  of  the  for  free 
living  fountain  which  Christ  hath  sealed  in  his 
Church."  They  therefore  would  not  take  their  children  to 
the  parish  assemblies  for  baptism,  but  in  the  "  true  Church  to 
seek  the  seal  of  the  covenant  as  soon  as  it  may  be  had  by  the  true 
ministry  in  the  congregation  according  to  Christ's  institution." 

The  hanging  of  Greenwood  and  Barrowe  for  the  foregoing 
opinions,  which  the  authorities  interpreted  as  seditious,  took 
place  on  April  6,  1593,  the  prelates  being  determined  on  their 
execution.  By  the  Anglican  interpretation  their  execution 
martyrdom  was  perfectly  legal,  being  covered  by  the  wood  and" 
act  of  Supremacy,  as  well  as  by  the  special  statute  barrowe. 
of  the  23d    of   Elizabeth,  which  made   it   a   capital   offense  to 

1  Collection  of  Certain  Scandalous  Articles,  p.  11.     Dexter,  pp.  226,  227. 

2  Puritanism,  p.  2  et  passim. 


682  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   GHURCH. 

publish  anything  to  the  defamation  of  the  queen.1  To  deny  her 
authority  over  the  conscience  to  the  extent  that  all  must  belong 
peaceably  to  her  Church  was  constructive  treason.  Congregation- 
alism was,  therefore,  a  capital  crime.  But  yet  to  a  State  desirous 
to  save  and  not  destroy  its  citizens  the  question  might  well  have 
been  asked,  Leaving  out  their  views  of  the  Church,  are  these  peo- 
ple at  heart  loyal  to  the  throne  ?  Their  steadfast  assertion  that 
they  were,  allowing  her  majesty's  supremacy  over  all  causes  civil 
and  ecclesiastical,  reserving  to  themselves  only  the  right  to  wor- 
ship according  to  the  Xew  Testament,  should  have  been  taken  as 
at  least  making  it  safe  to  grant  them  a  limited  toleration.  Per- 
haps this  might  have  been  done  if  the  prelates  had  not  urged  for- 
ward their  own  case  against  them. 

Equally  heroic  and  saintly  was  another  Congregational  martyr, 
John  Penry.  He  was  a  Welshman,  graduated  at  Cambridge  in 
1584,  and  proceeded  to  his  M.  A.  degree  at  St.  Alban's  Hall,  Ox- 
john  penry,  "f°r(i,  and  soon  entered  with  all  his  soul  into  the  task 
man  Ien- H*  °^  arousing  the  conscience  of  England  to  the  work  of 
tenced.  £he  more  thorough  evangelization  of  Wales.     His  ap- 

peals for  this  were  earnest  and  ought  to  have  been  effective.  But  he 
had  embraced  the  thorough  Protestantism  of  the  Pilgrim  fathers, 
and  his  attitude  toward  the  Church  proved  the  snare  which  en- 
trapped him  to  his  death.  His  private  papers  were  ransacked,  and 
this  utterance  was  found,  which  the  authorities  interpreted  as  sedi- 
tious :  "  The  last  days  of  your  reign  are  turned  rather  against 
Christ  Jesus  and  his  Gospel  than  to  the  maintenance  of  the  same. 
And  I  have  great  cause  of  complaint,  madame,  nay,  the  Lord  and 
his  Church  hath  cause  of  complaint  of  your  government,  not  so 
much  for  any  outward  injury  as  I  or  any  other  of  your  subjects 
have  received  [in  his  excessive  loyalty  to  his  queen  it  seemed  to 
poor  Penry  that  the  sufferings  which  hundreds  of  the  best  people 
in  England  were  daily  undergoing  for  conscience'  sake  in  vile 
prisons  and  before  tyrannical  bishops  and  other  commissioners 
were  not  to  be  thought  of],  as  because  we,  your  subjects,  this  day 
are  not  permitted  to  serve  our  God  under  your  government  accord- 
ing to  his  word."  It  seems  strange  that  Anglicanism  could  have 
found  this  simple  mild  statement  of  fact,  extracted  from  a  private 
paper,  a  warrant  for  a  felon's  death;  but  in  the  last  lurid  years  of 
Elizabeth's  reign  this  was  possible.  On  May  21,  1593,  he  was 
tried,  and  of  course  sentenced  to  death. 

The  next  day  he  sent  a  paper  to  Burleigh  in  which  he  declared 
1  See  the  statute  quoted  in  full  in  Dexter,  p.  241,  note. 


THE   CONGREGATIONALISTS.  683 

that  the  "  private  intercepted  writings  were  not  only  most  unper- 
fect,  but  were  so  private  that  no  creature  under  heaven  was  privie 
to  them  except  myself,"  repudiated  the  thought  of 
sedition,  and  referred  to  his  published  writings  as  giv-        last  con- 

',,  .  ,  «   ,  i  x  FESSION. 

mg  the  fullest  evidence  of  loyalty.  "lama  poor  man, 
born  and  bred  in  the  mountains  of  Wales.  I  am  the  first  since  the 
last  springing  up  of  the  Gospel  in  this  later  age  that  publicly  la- 
bored to  have  the  blessed  seed  sown  in  those  barren  mountains.  .  .  . 
And  now  being  to  end  my  days  before  I  am  come  unto  the  one 
half  of  my  years  in  the  likely  course  of  nature,  I  leave  the  success 
of  these  my  labors  unto  such  of  my  countrymen  as  the  Lord  is  to 
raise  up  after  me  for  the  accomplishing  of  that  work  which  in  the 
calling  of  my  country  unto  the  knowledge  of  Christ's  blessed 
Gospel  I  began."  Kef  erring  to  the  statement  of  his  religious  con- 
victions he  says  :  "If  my  blood  were  an  ocean  sea,  and  every  drop 
thereof  were  a  life  unto  me,  I  would  give  them  all,  by  the  help  of 
the  Lord,  for  the  maintenance  of  the  same  my  confession.  Yet," 
he  adds,  with  the  true  instinct  of  a  truth  lover,  "  if  any  error  can 
be  shown  therein  that  will  I  not  maintain." 

The  admiration  that  the  English  Protestants  had  for  Elizabeth, 
their  almost  superhuman  confidence  that,  if  she  only  knew  the 
truth  concerning  them,  all  would  be  well,  is  one  of  the  most  pa- 
thetic things  in  history.  Perhaps  it  is  well  that  they  suffered  and 
died  in  that  fond  illusion — their  blissful  ignorance  PENEY,g 
that  no  tyranny  of  prelate  or  parliament  could  go  execution. 
farther  than  was  desired  by  her  of  the  profane  tongue,  lying  lips, 
and  steel  heart,  and  that  their  kind  of  Christianity  she  hated  with 
the  bloody  intolerance  of  her  father.1  "  My  only  request,"  says 
the  loyal  martyr,  "being  also  as  earnest  as  possibly  I  can  utter 
the  same,  unto  all  those  into  whose  hands  this  my  last  testimony 
may  come,  is  that  her  majesty  may  be  acquainted  before  my  death, 
if  it  may  be,  or  at  least  after  my  departure.  The  Lord  bless  her 
highness  with  a  long  and  prosperous  reign  to  his  glory  in  this 
life,  and  vouchsafe  her  that  blessed  crown  of  righteousness  at 
the  peaceable  end  of  her  thus  comfortable  days.  Amen,  yea 
againe  and  againe  unfeignedly,  Amen,  Amen.      Subscribed  with 

1  An  authority  studiously  mild  says  that  Elizabeth  was  "  outside  of  and  had 
no  sympathy  with  either  the  intellectual  or  religious  movements  of  her  time. 
Protestantism  in  the  form  of  Puritanism  she  abhorred  ;  she  was  indifferent  to 
the  genius  of  Shakespeare,  though  his  plays  were  performed  before  her.  The 
virgin  queen  nearly  stands  revealed  as  cruel,  capricious,  insincere." — W. 
Wallace,  in  Chambers's  Encyc,  s.  v.,  last  ed. 


684  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

that  heart  and  that  hand  which  never  devised  or  wrote  anything  to 
the  discredit  or  defamation  of  my  sovereign  Queen  Elizabeth  (I  take 
it  of  my  death,  as  I  hope  to  have  a  life  after  this)  by  me,  John 
Penry." '  On  May  29,  1593,  this  noble  young  Christian  was  flung 
from  the  gallows  at  St.  Thomas  Watering,  in  London. 

Dexter  says  most  fittingly  and  with  touching  emotion  as  he 
closes  his  chapter  on  these  martyrs :  "  Xot  many  wise  men 
after  the  flesh  were  called  to  reerect  upon  its  original  founda- 
dextek  on  tion  the  Church  of  the  New  Testament,  but  God  chose 
t?onahst"  the  weak  things  of  the  world  to  confound  the  things 
martyrs.  which  were  mighty.  By  consequence  the  martyrs  of 
Congregationalism  filled  a  humbler  place  in  the  mind  of  their 
generation ;  and  so  far  as  they  were  allowed  to  say  anything 
with  the  halter  around  their  necks,  no  John  Fox  was  there 
to  embalm  it  for  the  ages.  But  I  found  in  the  handwriting 
of  Henry  Barrowe  among  the  Harleian  MSS.  a  letter  from  which 
I  copied  three  sentences  which  seem  to  me  worthy  at  least  to 
stand  on  the  same  page  with  the  strong  words  of  the  immortal  Lat- 
imer— his  celebrated  words  to  Eidley  at  the  stake,  see  page  424: — 
'  Ever  for  our  parts  our  lives  are  not  dear  to  us,  so  we  may  finish  up 
our  testimony  of  our  faith  with  joy.  We  are  always  ready  through 
God's  grace  to  be  offered  up  upon  that  testimony  of  our  faith  which 
we  have  made.  We  purpose  to  embrace  the  chief  pillars  of  their 
Church,  and  carry  them  with  us  to  our  grave. " "  2 

A  famous  controversy  is  associated  with  the  early  Congregation- 
alists,  which  one  of  its  historians  calls  "  the  controversy  of  the 
Elizabethan  age,"  3  but  which,  though  not  worthy  of  that  dignity, 
the  martin  doubtless  helped  in  some  degree  to  break  the  spell 
c^trp?late  °f  Anglicanism  over  rude  and  uncultivated  minds. 
versy.  Thig  wag  the  Martin  Mar-Prelate  Controversy,  1588-89, 

in  which  some  keen-witted  Independent,  unmarried,  with  knowl- 
edge of  laws,  wrote  seven  anonymous  pamphlets  against  the  Eng- 
lish hierarchy,  its  doctrines,  morals,  and  polity,  so  effective  in 
satire,  banter,  and  raillery,  and  so  cutting  in  the  frankness  of  its 

1  Taken  from  the  autograph  paper  in  Lansdowne  MSS.,  see  Dexter,  249-250. 

*  Dexter,  p.  252.  Speaking  of  the  Congregational  martyrs  Governor  Brad- 
ford says:  "We  know  certainly  of  six  that  were  publicly  executed,  besides 
such  as  died  in  prisons  :  Mr.  Henry  Barrowe,  Mr.  Greenwood  (these  suffered 
at  Tyburn) ;  Mr.  Penry  at  St.  Thomas  Watering,  by  London ;  Mr.  William 
Dennis  at  Thetford,  in  Norfolk  ;  two  others  at  St.  Edmund's  in  Suffolk, 
whose  names  were  Copping  and  Elias."— Dialogue,  or  the  Sum  of  a  Conference, 
in  Young,  Chronicles  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  of  the  Colony  of  Plymouth, 
p.  427.  3Maskell,  Hist,  of  the  Martin  Mar-Prelate  Controversy,  p.  221. 


THE   CONGREGATIONALISTS.  685 

revelations  of  the  crooked  things  sheltered  by  that  episcopate,  that 
one  archbishop,  three  bishops,  a  learned  Latin  writer,  and  a  poet 
entered  the  lists  against  him.  The  printing  was  done,  of  course 
secretly,  on  two  pilgrim  presses,  by  peripatetic  printers,  copy  being 
dropped  under  hedges,  and  the  printed  sheets  circulated  among 
the  people  hidden  in  personal  apparel  or  wrapped  up  in  the  middle 
of  rolls  of  leather.  The  chief  place  of  printing  was  Weekston's 
house  at  Woolston  (Welstone)  in  Warwickshire.  It  is  marvelous 
how,  in  spite  of  the  severest  laws  against  unlicensed  printing, 
these  tracts  were  printed,  circulated,  and  read  far  and  wide.1  An- 
glican  writers  have  outrageously  exaggerated  the  satire  of  the 
Mar- Prelate  into  the  most  shameless  scurrility.  Maskell  says  that 
they  are  so  vulgar  that  they  cannot  be  quoted,2  and  Curteis  de- 
clares that  it  is  "  impossible  to  give  any  extracts  from  these  abom- 
inable and  filthy  lampoons."3  The  best  answer  to  these  and  all 
kinds  of  similar  misrepresentations  is  to  read  the  tracts  themselves 
as  they  are  given  in  copious  extracts  in  Dexter's  Congregationalism 
as  Seen  in  its  Literature,  or  in  Arber's  reprint  of  the  tracts  in  his 
English  Scholar's  Library.  Excepting  a  roughness  and  frankness 
of  expression  suitable  to  the  sixteenth  century,  but  not  to  ours, 
there  is  nothing  to  call  out  the  fierce  invectives  of  modern  his- 
torians. There  is  nothing  blasphemous  or  obscene  in  Martin,  but 
there  is  the  unveiling  of  what  the  author  considered  the  iniquities 
of  the  establishment  in  a  style  which  would  appeal  to  the  blunt 
justice  of  the  Englishman  of  his  day — to  his  sense  of  the  ridicu- 
lous and  to  his  moral  indignation.  It  was  the  truth  in  the  straight- 
forward advice  like  this  which  gave  the  Martin  books  their  sting : 
"Now,  Mr.  Prelates,  I  will  give  you  some  more  counsel;  follow 
it.  Repent,  clergymen,  and  especially  bishops.  Preach  faith, 
bishops,  and  swear  no  more  by  it.  Give  over  your 
lordly  callings.  Reform  your  families  and  your  chil-  fj{™ 
dren.  .  .  .  You  are  now  worse  than  you  were  29  years 
ago.     Write  no  more  against  the  cause  of  reformation.     Your  un- 

1  Speaking  of  the  attempt  of  the  Congregational  prisoners  to  appeal  to 
the  forum  of  intelligence  and  reason,  Dexter  says:  "I  look  upon  these 
simple,  homely,  straightforward,  pathetic  tracts,  having  thus  their  birth  in 
journeyings  often,  in  perils  of  waters,  in  perils  of  robbers,  in  perils  by  their 
own  countrymen,  in  perils  by  the  heathen,  in  perils  in  the  city,  in  perils  in 
the  wilderness,  in  perils  by  the  sea,  in  perils  among  false  brethren,  in  weari- 
ness and  painfulness,  in  watchings  often — I  look  upon  them  with  an  admira- 
tion that  deepens  toward  reverence." — L.  c,  p.  225. 

2  Hist,  of  the  Martin  Mar-Prelate  Controversy,  pp.  24,  99,  186,  et  passim. 

3  Dissent  in  its  Relation  to  the  Church  of  England,  p.  76. 


A    SAMPLE 

FROM 

MARTIN. 


680  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

godliness  is  made  more  manifest  by  your  writings.  ...  If  you 
should  write,  deal  syllogistically ;  for  you  shame  yourselves  when 
you  use  any  continued  speech,  because  your  style  is  so  rude  and 
barbarous.  .  .  .  Study  more  than  you  do,  and  preach  oftener. 
Favor  non-residents  and  papists  no  longer.  Labor  to  cleanse  the 
ministry  of  the  swarms  of  ignorant  guides  wherewith  it  hath  been 
defiled.  Make  conscience  of  breaking  the  Sabbath  by  bowling  and 
tabling.  Be  ringleaders  of  profaneness  no  longer  unto  the  people. 
Take  no  more  bribes.  Leave  your  simony.  .  .  .  Stretch  your 
credit,  if  you  have  any,  to  the  furtherance  of  the  Gospel.  .  .  .  All 
in  a  word,  become  good  Christians,  and  so  you  shall  become  good 
subjects,  and  leave  your  tyranny.  And  I  would  advise  you  let  me 
hear  no  more  of  your  evil  dealings."  ' 

As  to  the  authorship  of  Martin,  Dexter,  after  a  thorough  in- 
vestigation and  diligent  comparison,  comes  to  the  conclusion  that 
they  were  written  by  Barrowe  in  prison  and  printed  by  Penry. 

A  fascinating  story  is  that  of  Congregationalism  in  the  seven- 
teenth century.  The  little  church  at  Scrooby,  founded  in  1606, 
on  account  of  persecution  was  broken  up.  It  removed  to  Leyden 
in  Holland  in  1609,  and  in  1620  sailed  out  on  the  Mayflower  to  the 
congrega-  New  World.  Another  band  settled  in  Amsterdam,  but 
seventeenth  unf ortunately  troubles  and  scandals  arose  in  that  com- 
century.  pany,  and  the  faithful  among  them  had  to  separate. 
English  Congregationalists  settled  in  other  parts  of  Holland,  and 
that  brave  little  country  became  the  foster  mother  of  religion  and 
liberty  for  both  England  and  America.  However,  Congregational- 
ism never  ceased  to  exist  in  England,  though  after  the  drastic  act 
of  1592  the  New  Testament  men  had  to  keep  themselves  under 
shelter.  Browne  says  that  the  church  founded  in  Southwark  in 
1616  by  some  returning  exiles  has  had  a  continuous  existence  to  the 
present  time.     Many  are  the  heroic  names  of  whom  the  world  was 

1  Oh  read  over  D.  John  Bridgees.  .  .  .  Epistle,  p.  53.  Halley,  an  eminent 
Congregationalist,  says:  "A  man  beaten  when  his  hands  are  bound  may  be 
excused  for  making  the  most  with  his  tongue.  The  prelates  fined  and  impris- 
oned, and  the  martyrs  retaliated  with  angry  words,  biting  sarcasm,  and  rough 
abuse." — Lancashire:  Its  Puritanism  and  Nonconformity,  i,  144.  Dexter  will 
not  admit  even  this.  He  says  there  was  no  personal  conflict.  "  Martin  was 
not  defending  himself,  or  storming  at  his  oppressors.  He  was  attacking  what 
he  firmly  believed  to  be  grievous  error  and  monstrous  wrong  in  Church  and 
State,  and  was  doing  his  earnest  utmost,  not  to  worst  the  enemy  in  a  hand-to- 
hand  conflict,  but  to  persuade  his  countrymen  that  it  was  an  abomination  in 
the  sight  of  the  Lord  which  ought  to  be  swept  clean  away,  and  which  no  man 
could  be  guiltless  and  yet  still  cherish  and  defend."— L.  c,  p.  191.  As  Dexter 
gave  the  Mar-Prelate  tracts  most  diligent  study,  his  opinion  is  of  great  weight. 


THE    CONGREGATIONALISTS.  687 

not  worthy.  John  Kobinson,  the  pious  and  faithful  Leyden  pas- 
tor, sent  his  people  with  his  prayers  across  the  Atlantic,  and  in- 
tended himself  to  go  with  the  rest  of  the  Church,  but  died  in  1625, 
before  they  left.  It  is  to  him  we  owe  the  oft-quoted  sentence, 
"  God  hath  yet  more  light  to  break  forth  from  his  Holy  "Word," 
which,  as  Dexter  proves  by  an  exhaustive  discussion,  refers  not  to 
matters  of  doctrine  but  of  polity.  Eobinson,  like  nearly  all  the  early 
Congregationalists  and  many  Baptists,  was  a  rigid  Calvinist,  and 
the  idea  that  men  would  ever  come  to  any  truer  doctrinal  con- 
ception of  Christianity  than  that  which  he  and  other  Calvinists 
held  he  would  not  have  entertained  for  a  moment.  It  seems  en- 
tirely unhistorical  to  attribute  to  him  a  view  of  progress  of  doc- 
trine essentially  modern.1  Unfortunately  the  only  report  of  his 
famous  farewell  address  in  which  these  words  occur  is  in  an  abstract 
which  Edward  Winslow  published  in  1646  in  his  Hypocrisy  Un- 
masked— a  tract  for  the  vindication  of  the  New  Englanders.  The 
address  is  so  important  as  showing  the  working  of  a  more  catholic 
leaven  in  Congregationalism — a  spirit  of  conciliation  and  com- 
prehension, which  issued  in  the  union  of  the  Episcopalian  non- 
conformists and  Congregationalists  in  the  New  World — and  as  even 
prophesying  such  a  union,  that  we  reproduce  it.2 

Under  Cromwell,  the  Congregationalist,  a  new  era  dawned  on 
England,  which,  obscured  for  twenty-nine  years  under  his  two 
successors,  emerged  again  under  the  Dutch  Protestant,  under 
William  of  Orange,  and  that  sun  has  risen  higher  CEOMWELL- 
until  now.  Cromwell  did  two  things  for  England  :  (1)  he  made 
it  impossible  that  she  should  ever  again  live  under  kingly  abso- 
lutism ;  (2)  he  established  religious  liberty — not  complete  and 
perfect,  but  as  perfect  as  could  be  then  obtained.  Under  his  rule 
the  nonprelatic  Episcopalian,  the  Congregationalist,  the  Baptist, 
the  Presbyterian,  even  the  Quaker,  lived  together  for  the  first  and 
only  time   in  English  history  in  a  comprehensive  Church.     The 

1  Correct  thus  the  opinion  expressed  by  Sheldon,  Church  History,  iv,  215, 
note.     For  Dexter's  argument  see  I.  c,  pp.  399-410. 

!  "  In  the  next  place,  for  the  wholesome  counsel  Mr.  Robinson  gave  that 
part  of  the  Church  -whereof  he  was  Pastor,  at  their  departure  from  him  to 
begin  the  great  work  of  Plantation  in  New  England,  amongst  other  wholesome 
instructions  and  exhortations,  he  used  these  expressions,  or  to  the  same  pur- 
pose :  We  are  now  ere  long  to  part  asunder,  and  the  Lord  knoweth  whether 
ever  he  should  live  to  see  our  faces  again  :  but  whether  the  Lord  had  appointed 
it  or  not,  he  charged  us  before  God  and  his  blessed  Angels,  to  follow  him  no 
further  than  he  followed  Christ.  And  if  God  should  reveal  anything  to  us  by 
any  other  instrument  of  his,  to  be  as  ready  to  receive  it,  as  ever  we  were  to 
receive  any  truth  by  his  ministry  :  For  he  was  very  confident  the  Lord  had 


688  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

large-minded  Presbyterian,  Baxter,  confessed  that  CromwelFs  sys- 
tem worked  well,  "  giving  us  able  serious  preachers,  who  lived  a 
godly  life,  of  what  tolerable  opinion  soever  they  were."  It  was  a 
golden  day  for  England  in  more  respects  than  one.  At  least  the 
poor  Protestants  could  say  for  the  first  time  : 

' '  Thou  bringst  me  back  the  halcyon  days 

Of  grateful  rest,  the  week  of  leisure."  ! 

The  High  Anglicans  and  the  Romans  were  indeed  debarred,  for 
the  Anglicans  were  constantly  plotting  his  assassination  and  seek- 
ing to  overthrow  his  government,  revealing  their  true  spirit  in 
hanging  his  body  to  chains  in  Tyburn,  his  head  on  a  spike  in  "West- 
minster Hall,  and  teaching  their  children  to  execrate  his  memory, 
and  the  Roman  Catholics  because  public  opinion  would  not  permit 

more  truth  and  light  yet  to  break  forth  out  of  his  holy  Word.  He  took  occa- 
sion also  miserably  to  bewail  the  state  and  condition  of  the  Reformed  churches, 
who  were  come  to  a  period  in  religion,  and  would  go  no  further  than  the 
instruments  of  their  reformation :  as  for  example,  the  Lutherans,  they  would 
not  be  drawn  to  go  beyond  what  Luther  saw,  for  whatever  part  of  God's  will 
he  had  further  imparted  and  revealed  to  Calvin,  they  will  rather  die  than  em- 
brace it.  And  so  also,  saith  he,  you  see  the  Calvinists,  they  stick  where  he 
left  them  :  a  misery  much  to  be  lamented ;  for  though  they  were  precious 
shining  lights  in  their  times,  yet  God  hath  not  revealed  his  whole  will  to 
them  :  and  were  they  now  living,  saith  he,  they  would  be  as  ready  and  willing 
to  embrace  further  light,  as  that  they  had  received.  Here  also  he  put  us  in 
mind  of  our  Church  Covenant  (at  least  that  part  of  it)  whereby  we  promise 
and  covenant  with  God,  and  one  with  another,  to  receive  whatsoever  light  or 
truth  shall  be  made  known  to  us  from  his  written  Word :  but  withal  exhorted 
us  to  take  heed  what  we  receive  for  truth,  and  well  to  examine  and  compare, 
and  weigh  it  with  other  Scriptures  of  truth,  before  we  received  it ;  for,  saith  he, 
It  is  not  possible  the  Christian  world  should  come  so  lately  out  of  such  thick 
Antichristian  darkness,  and  that  full  perfection  of  knowledge  should  break 
forth  at  once. 

"Another  thing  he  commended  to  us  was,  that  we  should  use  all  means  to 
avoid  and  shake  off  the  name  of  Brownist,  being  a  mere  nickname  and  brand 
to  make  religion  odiou6,  and  the  professors  of  it  (odious)  to  the  Christian 
world ;  and  to  that  end,  said  he,  I  should  be  glad  if  some  godly  minister 
would  go  over  with  you,  or  come  to  you,  before  my  coming.  For,  said  he, 
there  will  be  no  difference  between  the  unconformable  (Nonconformist)  minis- 
ters and  you,  when  they  come  to  the  practice  of  the  ordinances  out  of  the 
kingdom.  And  so  he  advised  us  by  all  means  to  endeavor  to  close  with  the 
godly  party  of  the  kingdom  of  England,  and  rather  to  study  union  than  divi- 
sion ;  viz. :  how  near  we  might  possibly,  without  sin,  close  with  them,  than  in 
the  least  measure  to  affect  division  or  separation  from  them.  And  be  not  loath 
to  take  another  pastor  or  teacher,  saith  he,  for  that  flock  that  hath  two  shep- 
herds is  not  endangered,  but  secured  by  it."— Hypocrisy  Unmasked,  97,  98. 
See  Dexter,  pp.  404-5.  '  Bret  Harte,  On  the  Cone  of  the  Big  Trees,  st.  2. 


THE   CONGREGATIONALISTS.  689 

their  toleration.  But  the  catholic  mind  of  Cromwell  was  seeking 
some  way  to  find  standing  ground  for  them,  and  if  he  had  lived, 
and  could  have  carried  on  his  plans  in  the  new  parliament  he  was 
about  to  call  when  he  died,  Catholic  emancipation  would  not  have 
had  to  wait  nearly  two  hundred  years. '  In  his  relation  to  the  Jews 
he  was  also  a  hundred  years  ahead  of  his  time.  "  I  desire  from  my 
heart,"  he  says,  "  have  prayed  for  it,  I  have  waited  for  the  day  to 
see  union  and  right  understanding  between  the  godly  CROM¥ELL>s 
people — Scots,  English,  Jews,  Gentiles,  Presbyterians,  catholicity. 
Independents,  Anabaptists,  and  all."  "  Every  sect  saith,  0,  give 
me  liberty.  But  give  him  it,  and,  to  his  power,  he  will  not  yield 
it  to  anybody  else.  Liberty  of  conscience  is  a  natural  right ;  and 
he  that  would  have  it  ought  to  give  it."  Cromwell  was  a  genius, 
a  saint,  a  prophet,  and,  considering  the  circumstances  of  his  time, 
the  greatest  statesman  and  general  England  ever  had.  Like  the 
noblest  soldiers,  he  hated  war,  wept  at  its  ravages,  and  sent  let- 
ters of  tender  sympathy  to  the  fathers  and  mothers  who  had  lost 
sons  in  battle."  "  It  hath  been  our  desire,"  he  said,  "  to  have 
avoided  blood  in  this  business."  The  only  stain  on  his  memory  is 
the  massacre  of  the  garrisons  at  Drogheda  and  "Wexford,  and  al- 
though this  to  our  standard  is  inexcusable,  it  seemed  to  him  a  mil- 
itary necessity  as  well  as  an  act  of  justice.  The  report  was  that  in 
the  massacre  of  1641  two  hundred  thousand  Protestants — men, 
women,  and  children — had  been  butchered.3  On  the  17th  of  June, 
1895,  the  House  of  Commons  refused  a  statue  to  Cromwell.  On 
this  Algernon  Charles  Swinburne  wrote  : 

Cromwell's  statue. 

"  What  needs  our  Cromwell  stone  or  bronze  to  say 
His  was  the  light  that  lit  on  England's  way 

The  sundawn  of  her  time-compelling  power, 
The  noontide  of  her  most  imperial  day  ? 


1  For  proof  of  this  see  letter  216  in  Carlyle,  Oliver  Cromwell's  Letters  and 
Speeches,  part  ii,  2d  parliament  (in  Works,  Estes &  Lauriat's  ed.,  xix,  109-111). 
See  also  Church,  Oliver  Cromwell,  pp.  398  ff . 

2  See  one  of  these  letters  in  Carlyle,  I.  c,  letter  xxi,  July  5,  1644.  It  can 
hardly  be  read  without  tears.  The  father's  broken  heart  speaks  in  it,  for  he 
had  already  lost  his  own  son  Oliver  in  the  battle.  See  Carlyle's  note  in  his 
last  edition  on  this  letter. 

5  War  is  brutal  and  brutalizing  at  best,  and,  as  with  all  great  soldiers,  it  was 
Cromwell's  aim  to  make  it  short  and  effective.  It  was  also  the  method  pur- 
sued by  the  English  in  punishing  the  Sepoy  mutineers  in  India. 

46  2 


690  HISTORY  OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

' '  His  hand  won  back  the  sea  for  England's  dower ; 
His  footfall  bade  the  Moor  change  heart  and  cower  ; 
His  word  on  Milton's  tongue  spake  law  to  France 
When  Piedmont  felt  the  she-wolf  Rome  devour. 

"  From  Cromwell's  eyes  the  light  of  England's  glance 
Flashed,  and  bowed  down  the  kings  by  grace  of  chance, 

The  priest-anointed  princes  ;  one  alone 
By  grace  of  England  held  their  hosts  in  trance. 

"  The  enthroned  republic  from  her  kinglier  throne 
Spake,  and  her  speech  was  Cromwell's.     Earth  has  known 

No  lordlier  presence.     How  should  Cromwell  stand 
By  kinglets  and  by  queenlings  hewn  in  stone  ? 

"  Incarnate  England  in  his  warrior  hand 
Smote,  and  as  fire  devours  the  blackening  brand 

Made  ashes  of  their  strengths  who  wrought  her  wrong, 
And  turned  the  strongholds  of  her  foes  to  sand. 

"  His  praise  is  in  the  sea's  and  Milton's  song ; 

What  praise  could  reach  him  from  the  weakling  throng 

That  rules  by  leave  of  tongues  whose  praise  is  shame — 
Him,  who  made  England  out  of  weakness  strong  ? 

"  There  needs  no  clarion  blast  of  broad-blown  fame 
To  bid  the  world  bear  witness  whence  he  came 

Who  bade  fierce  Europe  fawn  at  England's  heel, 
And  purged  the  plague  of  lineal  rule  with  flame. 

"  There  needs  no  witness  graven  on  stone  or  steel 
For  one  whose  work  bids  fame  bow  down  and  kneel ; 

Our  man  of  men,  whose  time-commanding  name 
Speaks  England,  and  proclaims  her  Commonweal."  ' 

Parliament  redeemed  itself,  however,  in  1899,  by  voting  a  statue 
to  the  founder  of  English  liberty  and,  with  the  exception  of  Al- 
fred and  Gladstone,  the  most  progressive  and  most  Christian  of 
English  statesmen. 

After  the  death  of  William  of  Orange  in  1702  the  Anglicans  tried 
hard  to  take  away  the  restricted  liberties  of  the  Congregationalists 
and  other  dissenters,  but  with  the  coming  of  the  Hanover  line  of 
Protestants  in  1714  it  became  impossible  to  carry  through  this  pro- 
gram. 

1  Nineteenth  Century,  July,  1895,  pp.  1,  2. 


THE   BAPTISTS.  691 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE    BAPTISTS. 

It  is  one  of  the  anomalies  of  history  that  principles  for  which 
a  Church  contends  as  for  the  essence  of  the  Gospel  sometimes 
form  no  part  of  its  original  testimony,  and  principles  which  at 
first  were  the  breath  of  its  life  are  at  length  abandoned, 
waived,  or  disregarded.  The  Roman,  the  Anglican,  the  Presby- 
terian, and  the  Congregational  Churches  are  instances.  The  Bap- 
tists have   regarded  immersion  as   an  essential   part 

,       .         „.i  t  j.,1  i  <•  1  ABSOLUTE 

of  their  faith,  and  some  ot  them  nave  at  times  al-       immersion 

.,       .  .    .,  ',  ,  ....  NOT  URGED 

most  made  it  a  requisite  to  salvation,  but  originally  by  early 
their  founders  did  not  hold  it  aloft  on  their  standard. 
As  immersion  was  the  universal  mode  of  baptism  in  mediaeval 
Christendom — in  large  measure  in  ancient  Christendom  too — it 
might  have  been  expected  that  when  Christians  returned  to  the  old 
models  they  would  have  reinstated  immersion.  The  fact  that  they 
did  not  ought  to  be  taken  as  indicating  their  belief  that  the  Scrip- 
tures did  not  make  immersion  essential.  That  immersion  did  not 
come  in  with  the  new  life  and  revived  biblical  study  which  gave 
rise  to  the  Protestant  Churches  is  an  instructive  fact.  Neither 
the  English,  Swiss,  Austrian,  Moravian,  nor  Dutch  Baptists  prac- 
ticed immersion  at  the  first,  though  it  was  practiced  by  them  at 
St.  Gall,  Augsburg,  Strasburg,  and  in  Poland.  As  Professor  New- 
man says,  "the  importance  of  immersion  as  the  act  of  baptism 
seems  to  have  been  appreciated  by  few. " ' 

The  opinion  is  common  among  Baptist  writers  in  the  Southern 
States  of  America  that  Baptists  can  trace  their  origin  back  to  the 
apostolic  age  in  a  series  of  communities  or  churches  or  bands  of 
godly  men.  As  to  the  general  theory  of  an  evangelical  succession 
through  ancient  and  mediaeval  Christianity,  judgment  has  already 
been  expressed.2  As  to  the  opinion  of  a  Baptist  succession,  all  im- 
partial scholars  of  that  denomination,  like  Professors  Newman, 
Vedder,  Whitsitt,  and  Dr.  Norman  Fox,  repudiate  it.  A  close 
study  of  the  mediaeval  sects  shows  that  not  until  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury do  we  meet  with  distinctive  Baptist  views,  and  then  these  were 
often  held  with  others  unevangelical  or  heretical.     Peter  de  Bruys 

1  Hist,  of  the  Baptists,  p.  37.  2See  above,  i,  829. 


692  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

and  Henry  of  Lausanne  rejected  infant  baptism,  and  it  is  probable 
that  Arnold  of  Brescia  did  also.  Peter  Cheleicky,  one  of  the  fa- 
thers of  the  Bohemian  Brethren  (15th  century),  enun- 
continental  ciated  many  views  which  the  Baptists  of  the  sixteenth 
century  embraced,  such  as,  the  Lord's  Supper  a  com- 
memorative feast ;  baptism  does  not  regenerate ;  union  of  Church 
and  State  an  evil ;  Christians  must  not  hold  office  in  the  State,  as 
all  dominion  or  class  distinctions  are  opposed  to  Christ's  require- 
ment of  brotherly  equality  ;  the  will  is  free  ;  divine  grace  necessary ; 
and  oaths  and  capital  punishment  unchristian.  As  to  baptism,  he 
held  it  should  succeed  faith,  but  believed  also  that  the  children  of 
Christians  might  be  baptized.  Some  of  the  Bohemian  Brethren, 
though  apparently  not  many,  rejected  infant  baptism. 

During  the  time  of  the  Reformation  on  the  Continent  we  find 
three  types  or  kinds  of  Baptists :  (1)  revolutionary  and  socialistic, 
(2)  unitarian,  and  (3)  evangelical,  though  of  course  there  were 
various  degrees  of  truth  and  error  among  these.  Full  treatment 
types  of  °^  baptist  continental  history  would  make  a  volume. 
baptists.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  Thomas  Miinzer  at  Zwickau,  in 
Westphalia,  represented  the  first  kind,  and  their  fanaticism  and 
excesses  covered  the  Baptist  name  with  reproach,  were  the  cause  of 
great  suffering  to  thousands  of  peace-loving  and  innocent  people, 
and  have  impeded  the  Baptist  cause  in  all  Europe  to  this  day.  But 
the  fanatical  section  was  only  a  small  segment  of  the  great  Baptist 
army.  A  large  part,  especially  in  Italy  and  Poland,  was  unitarian, 
and  had  other  views  of  a  liberal  kind.  The  evangelical  Baptists — 
many  of  these  being  premillennialists — had  large  vogue  in  Germany, 
Switzerland,  Moravia,  Holland,  and  other  lands,  and  had  among 
them  many  great  and  noble  Christians,  like  Hubmaier,  Storch, 
Ascherham,  Huther,  Denk,  Gross,  Sattler,  Roubli,  Kautz,  Mar- 
beck,  Reink,  Hofmann,  and  Menno  Simons,  the  founder  of  the 
Mennonites,  all  of  whom  are  well  worthy  of  study.  Some  of  these 
were  evangelists  and  preachers,  others  were  scholars,  and  others 
devoted  laymen.  Professor  Newman  has  summed  up  the  testimony 
of  the  continental  Baptists  of  the  Reformation  times  and  after,  and 
we  follow  his  conclusions.1 

1.  All  parties,  except  some  of  the  revolutionaries,  agreed  in 
continental  aiming  to  restore  primitive  Christianity,  in  laying 
baptists.  stress  on  the  ethical  teachings  of  Jesus,  in  reject- 
ing the  Augustinian    and    Calvinistic    doctrinal   system,   in   re- 

1  See  his  Anabaptists  of  the  Sixteenth  Century,  in  History  of  the  Baptists  in 
the  United  States,  pp.  30,  37. 


THE   BAPTISTS.  693 

jecting  oaths,  war,  the  infliction  of  death  for  any  cause,  and  the  ex- 
ercise of  magistracy  by  Christians.  Especially  as  to  war  and  oaths 
they  were  at  one  with  many  of  the  post-Reformation  sects — in  that 
fresh  morning  light  which  arose  with  the  newly  opened  Bible,  men 
being  simple  enough  to  take  the  morality  of  the  Nazarene  at  its  face 
value.     Hubmaier,  however,  differed  as  to  some  of  these  matters. 

2.  Baptists  were  pioneers  in  upholding  liberty  of  conscience, 
Hubmaier  writing  a  special  treatise  on  the  subject. 

3.  They  all  rejected  infant  baptism,  though  not  many,  as  we 
have  said,  practiced  immersion  at  first. 

4.  Some  were  unitarians,  and  others  mixed  various  gross  errors 
with  their  unitarianism. 

5.  The  chiliasm  of  some  was  held  in  connection  with  violent  and 
extravagant  ideas  and  methods,  and  that  of  others  in  an  evan- 
gelical and  peaceful  spirit. 

The  English  Baptists  sprang  spiritually  from  their  Dutch  breth- 
ren, whose  influence  and  teaching  worked  most  beneficently  in  their 
adopted  island  home.  The  fury  of  the  Roman  Catholics  in  the 
Netherlands  had  this  compensation,  that  it  helped  to  make  England 
Protestant.  As  early  as  1560  John  Knox  answered  a  Baptist  writer 
who  had  pleaded  for  freedom  of  conscience  and  free- 

»       ,  •„    ,         rm  -r»         ,  •     ,  t  i      -n  JOHN  KNOX 

dom  of  the  will.  The  Baptist  made  a  bold  protest  versus  the 
against  persecution.  Speaking  of  the  persecutors  he 
says :  "  Be  these,  I  pray  you,  the  sheep  whom  Christ  sent  forth 
into  the  midst  of  wolves  ?  Can  the  sheep  persecute  the  wolf  ? 
Doth  Abel  Cain  kill  ?  Doth  David,  though  he  might,  kill  Saul  ? 
Shortly,  doth  he  which  is  born  of  the  Spirit  kill  him  which  is 
born  of  the  flesh  ?  Mark  how  ye  be  fallen  into  the  most  abom- 
inable tyranny,  and  yet  ye  see  it  not."8  Knox  answered  this  in  a 
bad  spirit,  calling  the  Baptists  "  You  dissembling  hypocrites,"  and 
threatening  the  writer  that  if  ever  the  opportunity  offered  "I 
shall  apprehend  thee  in  any  commonwealth  where  justice  against 
blasphemers  may  be  ministered,  as  God's  word  requireth."  Knox 
thought  that  the  Old  Testament  method  of  punishing  blasphem- 
ers and  idolaters  with  death  justified  the  Christian  State  in  doing 
away  with  heretics.  He  says  that  the  Baptist  "  assemblies,  and 
all  those  that  in  despite  of  Christ's  beloved  ordinance  do  frequent 
the  same,  are  accursed  of  God." 

1  Knox's  book  was  called  An  Answer  to  a  Great  Number  of  Blasphemous  Cavil- 
lations  written  by  an  Anabaptist,  an  Adversary  to  God's  Eternal  Predestination. 

2  See  Underbill,  Hist.  Introduction  to  the  Publications  of  the  Hanserd  Knol- 
lys  Society,  Lond.,  1846-47.  , 


694  HISTORY   OP  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Speaking  of  the  beginning  of  Elizabeth's  reign  the  intense  Jewel 
wrote :  "  We  found  a  large  and  inauspicious  crop  of  Arians,  Ana- 
baptists, and  other  pests,  which,  I  know  not  how,  but  as  mush- 
opposition  rooms  spring  up  in  the  night  and  in  darkness,  so  these 
cuTioKn*8"  sprung  up  in  that  darkness  and  unhappy  night  of  the 
England.  Marian  times."1  In  1559,  under  a  momentary  influ- 
ence of  mercy  (for  what  shall  a  man  not  give  for  his  life  ?)  it  was 
proposed  to  establish  a  heretic  convict  station  in  some  out-of-the- 
way  place  in  Wales  for  the  imprisonment  of  "incorrigible  Arians, 
Pelagians,  or  free-will  men  [Baptists],  there  to  live  of  their  own 
labor  and  exercise,  and  none  other  be  suffered  to  resort  unto  them 
but  their  keepers."  Yet,  alas  !  this  alternative  was  not  to  be  theirs, 
but  fire  and  imprisonment  rather.  In  1567-68  an  effort  was  made 
to  discover  the  Baptists,  and  in  1572  Whitgift  published  an 
account  of  the  Peasants'  War  and  Munster  Kingdom,  and  tried  to 
fasten  their  doings  on  the  Baptists  in  general.  This  was  the  cause 
of  their  suffering  vast  injustice.  In  1575  thirty  Dutch  Baptists 
were  seized  while  holding  service  in  a  London  suburb,  and  brought 
before  the  commission.  Here  are  the  questions  and  answers.  1. 
Did  Christ  take  his  flesh  and  blood  of  the  Virgin  Mary  ?  He  is 
the  Son  of  the  Living  God.  Some  of  the  Baptists  and  other  Chris- 
tians of  that  time  had  such  an  exaggerated  conception  of  Christ's 
divinity  that  they  denied  his  real  humanity — holding  that  even  in 
the  flesh  he  was  the  Son  of  God.  2.  Ought  not  little  children  to 
be  baptized  ?  No.  3.  May  a  Christian  serve  the  office  of  a  magis- 
trate ?  It  did  not  oblige  their  consciences  ;  but  as  they  read  they 
esteemed  it  an  ordinance  of  God.  Tbis  answer  was  ambiguous,  but 
it  seemed  to  indicate  a  more  liberal  attitude  than  that  of  most  of 
their  European  brethren.  4.  May  a  Christian,  if  needs  be,  swear  ? 
An  oath  also  did  not  oblige  their  consciences,  for  Christ  has  said 
in  Mattheiv,  Let  your  word  be  Yea,  yea;  Nay,  nay.  Opinions  such 
as  these  could  not  be  tolerated.  Some  of  the  parties  were  impris- 
oned, loaded  with  chains  ;  others  were  banished,  including  several 
women,  and  Jan  Pieters  and  Hendrik  Terwoort — the  one  a  man  of 
fifty  with  nine  children,  the  other  a  young  man  of  twenty-six — were 
burned  at  the  stake,  1575.  Foxe,  the  martyrologist,  wrote  a  noble 
letter  to  the  queen — noble  for  that  age — in  which,  while  he  recog- 
nizes the  right  of  the  State  to  suppress  obnoxious  opinions,  he 
pleads  earnestly  for  a  commutation  of  sentence.2 

1  Zurich  Letters,  i,  92. 

2  Foxe  says  that  such  absurd  and  monstrous  opinions  are  "  "by  no  means  to 
be  countenanced  by  a  commonwealth,  but  in  my  opinion  ought  to  be  sup- 


THE   BAPTISTS.  695 

An  interesting  question  is  the  debt  of  the  early  English  Congre- 
gationalists  to  the  Dutch  Baptists.     We   know  that  Browne  was 
surrounded  by   them  at  Norwich,   and  that  he  fol- 
lowed them  in  their  ideas  of  a  separated  godly  church    conorega- 

TIONALISTS 

membership,  religious  liberty,  and  limitation  of  the    to  dutch 

.  BAPTISTS 

authority  of  the  State  to  civil  matters.  But  he  may 
have  come  to  these  ideas  through  his  own  studies,  and  his  failure 
to  follow  them  as  to  infant  baptism,  magistracy,  and  oaths  shows 
that  he  was  by  no  means  a  disciple  of  theirs.  It  is  quite  probable, 
however,  that  the  resemblance  between  his  views  and  theirs  was  more 
than  accidental,  and  it  is  hardly  likely  that  he  should  have  lived 
among  them  without  imbibing  somewhat  of  their  spirit  and  thought. ' 
About  1602-3  John  Smyth,  a  Cambridge  graduate  and  fellow, 
formed  a  Congregational  church  at  Gainsborough,  Lincolnshire, 
which  nurtured  Helwys  and  Morton,  who  with  him- 
self were  destined  to  be  the  fathers  of  the  General 
Baptist  Church  in  England,  and  also  John  Eobinson,  William 
Brewster,  and  William  Bradford,  eminent  names  in  Congregational 
history.  Harassed  by  persecution,  "  the  most  were  fain  to  fly  and 
leave  their  homes  and  habitations  and  means  of  their  livelihood, 
and  to  go  into  the  Low  Countries,  where  they  heard  there  was 
freedom  of  religion  for  all  men."  John  Eobinson  had  formed 
a  church  at  Scrooby,  and  both  Smyth  and  Eobinson,  with  their 
congregations,  went  to  Amsterdam,  the  former  in  1606-7,  the 
latter  in  1607-8.  An  English  church  was  already  formed  at 
Amsterdam,  with  Francis  Johnson  pastor  and  Henry  Ainsworth 
teacher. 2  Smyth  formed  another,  the  Second  English  Church  at 
Amsterdam.  In  1609  he  issued  a  pamphlet  in  which  he  said  : 
"  Christ's  Church  in  several  respects  is  a  monarchy,  an  aristoc- 
racy, a  democracy.  In  respect  of  Christ  the  King  it  is  a  mon- 
archy, of  the  eldership  an  aristocracy,  of  the  brethren  jointly  a 
democracy,  or  popular  government.  .  .  .  The  body  of  the  Church 

pressed  by  proper  correction."  Foxe  was  far  from  being  a  believer  in  tolera- 
tion. "  There  are,"  he  says,  "ejections,  castings  out,  there  are  chains,  per- 
petual exile,  brands  and  stripes  ;  there  are  even  beams  "  (patibula,  referring  to 
the  gallows).     He  means  let  the  State  use  these  and  let  burnings  alone. 

1  Campbell,  The  Puritan  in  Holland,  England,  and  America,  ii,  179,  180, 
holds  strongly  to  Browne's  indebtedness  to  the  Dutch  Anabaptists,  and  so  does 
W.  E.  Griffis,  The  Anabaptists,  in  the  New  World,  Dec,  1895.  Prof.  Wil- 
liston  Walker  thinks  it  probable  that  there  was  this  influence,  although,  as  we 
have  no  direct  documentary  evidence,  he  speaks  cautiously. — Hist,  of  Congre- 
gational Churches  in  the  United  States,  pp.  30  f. 

2  This  is  the  Church  of  the  scandolous  history.  See  Arber,  The  Story  of  the 
Pilgrim  Fathers,  1606-25,  Lond.  and  Boston,  1897,  pp.  101  ff. 


696  HISTORY   OF   THE    CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

hath  all  power  immediately  from  Christ ;  and  the  elders  have  all 
their  power  from  the  body  of  the  Church,  which  power  of  the 
eldership  is  not  exercised,  nor  cannot  be  used  over  or  against  the 
whole  body  of  the  Church,  for  that  is  an  antichristian  usurpation. 
.  .  .  The  definite  sentence,  the  determining  power,  the  negative 
voice,  is  in  the  body  of  the  Church,  not  in  the  elders/'  In  this 
he  parted  from  that  section  of  Congregationalists  who  clung  to  a 
remnant  of  eldership  rule.  About  this  time,  1608-9,  Smyth  em- 
braced Baptist  views  so  far  as  infants  were  concerned, 

SMYTH  r  i-ii 

adopts  an(j  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  baptism  received 

BAPTIST  .  ,      * 

views.  jn  the  Church  of  England,  as  it  was  given  to  unregen- 

erate  persons,  was  invalid.  He  and  those  who  sympathized  with  him 
therefore  withdrew  from  the  church  ;  he  baptized  himself,  and  then 
baptized  Helwys,  Morton,  and  his  other  companions.  The  mode 
by  which  he  baptized  himself  was  by  affusion,  as  was  natural  at 
the  time,  when  the  Mennonites  and  nearly  all  the  other  schools  of 
Baptists  of  which  Smyth  had  any  knowledge  baptized  by  pouring.1 
Smyth,  however,  though  a  conscientious  and  able  man,  seemed  to 
be  afflicted  by  mental  restlessness,  and  soon  embraced  some  Pela- 
gian and  other  views  of  the  Mennonites,  and  repented  that  he  had 
rebaptized  himself. 

Smyth  and  those  who  went  with  him  applied  for  admission  into 
the  Mennonite  Church,  but  the  latter  preferred  to  recognize  them 
morton  and  as  a  friendly  sister  Church.  Morton,  Helwys,  and  the 
main  body  remained  faithful  to  the  more  radical  views 
of  Smyth.  They  returned  to  England  about  1611,  led  by  an  heroic 
impulse  that  "  flight  from  persecution  had  been  the  overthrow  of 
religion  in  the  island,  the  best,  the  ablest,  the  greater  part  being  gone 
and  leaving  behind  them  some  few  who,  by  the  others'  departure, 
have  had  their  affliction  and  contempt  increased,  hath  been  the 
cause  of  many  falling  back,  and  of  their  adversaries' rejoicing." 

About  1612  Helwys  and  Morton  organized  in  London  the  first 
organiza-  General  Baptist  Church.  Others  were  soon  estab- 
firstOF  lished,  so  that  by  1626  there  were  five  congregations 

bapt/sts  *n  c*ose  fellowship — London,  Lincoln,  Sarum,  Cov- 
entry, and  Tiverton.  By  1644  there  were  forty-seven 
churches,  and    by  1660    the    membership    had  reached    twenty 

1  This  is  abundantly  proved  in  Dexter's  exhaustive  monograph,  John  Smyth 
the  Se-Baptist,  Bost.,  1881,  and  received  by  the  eminent  Mennonite  Dutch  his- 
torian, Dr.  J.  G.  De  Hoop-Scheffer,  Do  Browninisten  te  Amsterdam,  Amst., 
1881,  and  by  Baptist  scholars  who  write  in  a  scientific  spirit.  See  New- 
man's scholarly  work,  Hist,  of  Antipedobaptism,  pp.  386,  387,  and  the  ad- 
mirable discussion  of  Whitsitt,  A  Question  in  Baptist  History,  pp.  55  ff. 


THE   BAPTISTS.  697 

thousand.  Like  most  of  the  German  or  continental  Baptists,  they 
were  Arminian  as  to  predestination,  perhaps  semi-Pelagian  as  to 
depravity,  and  for  the  most  part  orthodox  as  to  Christ.  They  had 
abandoned,  or  came  to  abandon,  the  strict  notions  of  their  conti- 
nental fathers  in  regard  to  magistracy,  oaths,  and  warfare.1  At 
first,  like  the  early  Christians,  they  partook  of  the  Lord's  Supper 
weekly.  The  history  of  many  successors  of  the  Puritans  was  un- 
fortunately repeated  in  their  case  also — a  unitarianism  came  in 
which  struck  their  churches  with  death.  As  a  result  of  the  Meth- 
odist movement  they  were  revived  and  reorganized  in  1760  on 
an  evangelical  basis. 

The  Particular  or  Calvinistic  Baptists  had  a  separate  and  Puri- 
tan origin.  In  1616  Henry  Jacob,  a  Congregationalist  pastor  in 
Middleburg,  Zealand,  returned  to  London  with  some  origin  of 
of  his  flock  and  organized  a  church.  He  went  to  ™ular" 
Virginia,  and  was  succeeded  in  the  pastorate  by  John  baptists. 
Lathrop.  During  his  pastorate,  1633,  several  in  the  church  be- 
came convinced  that  baptism  should  be  confined  to  believers  alone 
and  organized  a  Baptist  society,  with  John  Spilsbury  as  pastor. 
In  1640  some  in  this  church  raised  the  question  whether  baptism 
ought  not  to  be  performed  by  immersion.  The  Tiffin  manuscript 
says  that  they  had  sober  conference  concerning  it,  and  that  some 
of  them  became  convinced  that  baptism  "  ought  to  be  by  dipping 
the  body  into  the  water,  resembling  burial  and  rising  again,  none 
having  then  so  practiced  in  England  to  professed  believers ;  and 
hearing  that  some  in  the  Netherlands  had  so  practiced,  they 
agreed  and  sent  over  Mr.  Eichard  Blunt  (who  understood  Dutch) 
with  letters  of  commendation,  who  was  kindly  accepted  there,  and 
returned  with  letters  from  them,  John  Battle,  a  teacher  there  and 
from  that  church,  to  such  as  sent  him,  1641.  They  proceeded  on 
therein — viz.,  those  persons  that  were  persuaded  that  baptism 
should  be  by  dipping  the  body  had  met  in  two  companies  and  did 
intend  to  meet  after  this ;  all  then  proceeded  alike  together,  and 
then  manifesting  (not  by  any  formal  words)  a  covenant  (which 
word  was  scrupled  by  some  of  them),  but  by  mutual  desires  and 
agreement  each  testified,  these  two  companies  did  set  apart  all 
to  baptize  the  rest,  so  it  was  solemnly  performed  by  them.  Mr. 
Blunt  baptized  Mr.  Blacklock,  that  was  a  teacher  amongst  them, 
and,  Mr.  Blunt  being  baptized,  he  and  Mr.  Blacklock  baptized  the 

1  These  strict  notions  are  accounted  for  in  part  by  a  literal  interpretation  of 
the  New  Testament  and  in  part  by  mental  reaction  occasioned  by  fierce  perse- 
cution. 


698  HISTORY   OF   THE  CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

rest  of  their  friends  that  were  so  minded,  and  many  being  added 
to  them  they  increased  much."1  Among  the  immersed  in  this 
first  English  dipping  of  modern  times  was  Mark  Lukar,  who  was 
to  be  one  of  the  founders  of  one  of  the  two  oldest  Baptist  churches 
in  America — John  Clarke's  church  at  Newport,  R.  I. 

The  immersion  of  1641  has  led  scholars  to  inquire  whether  this 
was  not  in  fact  the  first  time  baptism  was  performed  in  that  mode 
question  °y  English  Baptists.  The  most  thorough  and  impar- 
raMERsioN  tial  investigators,  Baptist  as  well  as  other,  agree  in 
in  England.  ^e  conciusion  that  such  is  the  historic  fact.  Dex- 
ter upturned  every  stone  in  his  search  for  light  on  this  question, 
and  Whitsitt  has  done  the  same,  and  anyone  who  has  read  their 
results  or  looked  over  the  ground  even  partially  cannot  resist  the 
conclusion  that  they  are  right.  The  question  is  purely  historical, 
and  has  no  bearing  whatever  on  one's  opinions  as  to  what  is  the 
scriptural  mode  of  baptism  ;  and  yet,  because  Professor  Whitsitt 
held  according  to  the  evidence  on  this  matter,  he  was  virtually 
compelled  to  resign  his  place  in  the  Baptist  Theological  Seminary 
at  Louisville,  Ky.,  which  he  did  in  1899.8 

In  1644  seven  Particular  Baptist  churches  united  in  a  confes- 
sion of  faith  designed  to  vindicate  their  views  from  calumnies.  It 
confession  is  a  noble  utterance  of  evangelical  truth,  filled  with 
of  1644.  ^e  gpjrit  0f  piety  and  of  devotion  to  Christ.     It  is,  of 

course,  stanchly  Calvinistic  in  its  doctrine  of  decrees,  Congrega- 
tional in  its  doctrine  of  the  Church,  and  Baptist  in  its  doctrine  of 
baptism,  though  it  restores  the  primitive  freedom  in  regard  to  the 
administrator  of  baptism.'     It  holds  to  the  lawfulness  of  distinct 

1  Quoted  by  Newman,  Hist,  of  Baptist  Churches  in  the  United  States,  pp. 
49,  50. 

2  See  the  question  of  the  date  of  immersion  among  Baptists  thoroughly  dis- 
cussed by  Dexter,  John  Smyth  the  Se-Baptist,  Bost. ,  1881 ;  Whitsitt,  A  Ques- 
tion in  Baptist  History,  Louisville,  1896  ;  John  T.  Christian,  Did  they  Dip  ? 
Examination  of  the  Act  of  Baptism  before  1641,  Louisville,  1896,  and  Baptist 
History  Vindicated,  Louisville,  1899  ;  H.  M.  King,  Baptism  of  Roger  Williams, 
Providence,  R.  I.,  1897 ;  G.  A.  Lofton,  Review  of  the  Question,  Nashville, 
1895,  and  Review  of  Dr.  Jesse  B.  Thomas  on  the  Whitsitt  Question,  Nashville, 
1897  ;  J.  B.  Thomas,  Both  Sides  ;  Review  of  Dr.  Whitsitt,  Question  of  Baptist 
History,  Nashville,  1897  ;  T.  T.  Eaton,  Did  Baptists  Immerse  in  England  prior 
to  1641,  in  Bibliotheca  Sacra,  Jan.,  1897,  162  ff.  Professors  Newman  and  Ved- 
der  agree  with  Whitsitt. 

3  "  The  person  designed  by  Christ  to  dispense  baptism  the  Scripture  holds 
forth  to  be  a  disciple  ;  it  being  nowhere  tied  to  a  particular  church  officer,  or 
person  extraordinarily  sent,  the  commission  enjoining  the  administration  being 
given  to  them  as  are  considered  disciples,  being  men  able  to  preach  the  Gos- 
pel "  (Art.  xli). 


THE   BAPTISTS.  609 

ministry,  of  magistracy,  and  of  oaths.  The  conclusion  is  in  these 
words,  worthy  of  immortality,  in  which  breathe  a  humility  and 
teachableness  rare  in  creed-makers,  the  heroism  of  true  confessors  of 
Jesus  Christ,  and  the  pathos  of  men  who  may  be  called  upon  at  any 
moment  to  die  for  their  faith:  "Thus  we  desire  to  give  unto 
Christ  that  which  is  his,  and  unto  all  lawful  authority  that  which 
is  their  due ;  and  to  owe  nothing  unto  any  man  but  love,  to  live 
quietly  and  peaceably,  as  it  becometh  saints,  endeavoring  in  all 
things  to  keep  a  good  conscience,  and  to  do  unto  every  man  (of 
what  judgment  whatsoever)  as  we  would  that  they  should  do  unto 
us ;  that  as  our  practice  is,  so  it  may  prove  us  to  be  conscionable, 
quiet,  harmless  people  (no  way  dangerous  or  troublesome  to  human 
society),  and  to  labor  and  work  with  our  hands,  that  we  may  not 
be  chargeable  to  any,  but  to  give  to  him  that  needeth,  both  friends 
and  enemies,  accounting  it  more  excellent  to  give  than  to  receive. 
Also  we  confess  we  know  but  in  part,  and  that  we  are  ignorant  of 
many  things  which  we  desire  and  seek  to  know  ;  and  if  any  shall 
do  us  that  friendly  part  to  show  us  from  the  word  of  God  that  we 
see  not,  we  shall  have  cause  to  be  thankful  to  God  and  them.  But 
if  any  man  shall  impose  upon  us  anything  that  we  see  not  to  be 
commanded  by  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  we  should  in  his  strength 
rather  embrace  all  reproaches  and  tortures  of  men,  to  be  stripped 
of  all  outward  comforts,  and  if  it  were  possible  to  die  a  thou- 
sand deaths,  rather  than  do  anything  against  the  least  tittle  of  the 
truth  of  God  or  against  the  light  of  our  own  consciences.  And  if 
any  shall  call  what  we  have  said  heresy,  then  do  we  with  the  apos- 
tle acknowledge  that  after  the  way  they  call  heresy  worship  we  the 
God  of  our  fathers,  disclaiming  all  heresies  (rightly  so  called)  be- 
cause they  are  against  Christ,  and  to  be  steadfast  and  immovable, 
always  abounding  in  obedience  to  Christ  as  knowing  our  labor  shall 
not  be  in  vain  in  the  Lord." 1 

This  noble  declaration  did  not  save  the  English  Baptists  from 
persecution,  and  the  tragic  story  of  their  patient  sufferings,  in- 
cluding tortures,  imprisonment,  and  sometimes  even  death,  is  one 
of  painful  and  pathetic  interest.2  But  in  spite  of  persecution  the 
Particular  Baptists  increased  in  numbers  and  influence.      They 

1  This  Confession  is  printed  in  full  in  Confessions  of  Faith  and  other  Public 
Documents  illustrative  of  the  History  of  the  Baptist  Churches  in  England  in 
the  Seventeenth  Century,  edited  for  the  Hanserd  Knollys  Society  by  Edward 
Bean  Underhill,  Lond.,  1854,  pp.  27  ff. 

2  Ivimey,  Hist,  of  the  English  Baptists,  vols,  i  and  ii,  and  Cramp,  Baptist 
History,  ch.  v,  sec.   7,  vi,  sees.  2-7,  contain  particulars. 


700  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

formed  a  large  proportion  of  the  Parliamentarian  army,  and  gave 
to  Cromwell  and  his  comprehensive  measures  of  toleration  a  hearty- 
support,  though  not  to  all  details  of  his  government. 
pabticdi/Ab  Baptist  churches  were  founded  in  Ireland  and  Scot- 
land, and  John  Myles  and  Vavasour  Powell  spread 
Baptist  principles  in  Wales,  which  proved  a  fruitful  soil. 

Before  leaving  the  Baptists  of  the  Intermediate  Period  a  word 
must  be   said  concerning    two  famous   representatives    of    their 
opinions,  John  Milton  and  John  Bunyan.     Milton  was 
baptist  a  Baptist  in  his  belief  concerning  the  subjects  of  bap- 

tism, and  in  thorough  agreement  with  Baptists  in  their 
views  of  toleration  and  in  the  general  theological  ideas  of  the  liberal 
wing,  but  he  never  united  with  any  of  their  churches.  He  would 
have  excluded  Roman  Catholics  and  non-Christians  from  toleration, 
but  all  sects  and  schools  of  Protestants  were  to  be  freely  allowed.1 
Baptism  was  to  be  performed  only  by  immersion,  and  infants  were  to 
be  excluded.  The  Congregational  was  the  true  theory  of  Church 
government.  In  his  final  theological  position  Milton  rejected  Cal- 
vinism and  Xicene  Trinitarianism,  though  still  holding  to  a  kind 
of  belief  in  the  divinity  of  Christ  as  one  created  before  all  intelli- 
gences and  worlds  out  of  the  essence  of  God.  He  also  rejected  the 
orthodox  scheme  of  the  hereafter,  believing  that  soul  and  body  died 
together  and  slept  until  the  day  of  resurrection,  and  that  Christ 
would  come  to  set  up  a  millennial  reign  on  earth.  He  held 
strongly  to  the  divine  authority  and  infallibility  of  the  Scriptures, 
to  the  atoning  death  of  Christ,  and  to  the  general  evangelical  doc- 
trine of  salvation.2 

John  Bunyan  was  born  at  Elstow,  near  Bedford,  in  1628,  and 
was  trained  in  his  father's  trade,  which  was  that  of  a  tinker.  The 
john  spiritual  struggles  of  this  uneducated  smith,  who  was 

to  write  the  greatest  book  in  the  religious  literature 
of  his  country,  are  told  in  his  vivid  and  powerful  autobiography, 
Grace  Abounding  to  the  Chief  of  Sinners.  He  here  describes  his 
iniquities  in  no  measured  language:  "It  was  my  delight  to  be 
*  taken  captive  by  the  devil  at  his  will ; '  being  filled  with  all  un- 
righteousness ;  the  which  did  also  so  strangely  work  and  put  forth 
itself,  both  in  my  heart  and  life,  and  that  from  a  child,  that  I  had 
but  few  equals  (especially  considering  my  years,  which  were  tender, 

1  See  Masson,  Life  of  John  Milton,  vi,  690-699,  for  a  discussion  of  Milton's 
views  on  religions  liberty. 

3  An  admirable  statement  of  Milton's  theological  position  is  found  in  Masson, 
vi,  838-840. 


THE  BAPTISTS.  701 

being  but  few),  both  for  cursing,  swearing,  lying,  and  blaspheming 
the  holy  name  of  God."  These  became,  he  says,  second  nature  to 
him,  though  he  was  much  concerned  in  spirit  over  his  sins  and 
affrighted  with  fearful  dreams  and  visions.  "  A  while  after  those 
terrible  dreams  did  leave  me,  which  also  I  soon  forgot,  for  my 
pleasures  did  quick  cut  off  the  remembrance  of  them,  as  if  they 
had  never  been  ;  wherefore  with  more  greediness,  according  to  the 
strength  of  nature,  I  did  let  loose  the  reins  of  my  lust,  BUNYAN>a 
and  delighted  in  all  transgressions  against  the  law  of  description 
God  ;  so  that  until  I  came  to  a  state  of  marriage,  I  OF  himself. 
was  the  very  ringleader  of  all  the  youth  that  kept  me  company,  in 
all  manner  of  vice  and  ungodliness.  Yea,  such  prevalency  had  the 
lusts  and  fruits  of  the  flesh  in  this  poor  soul  of  mine  that  had  not  a 
miracle  of  precious  grace  prevented,  I  had  not  only  perished  by  the 
stroke  of  eternal  justice,  but  had  also  laid  myself  open  even  to  the 
stroke  of  those  laws  which  bring  some  to  disgrace  and  open  shame 
before  the  face  of  the  world." l 

Southey  was  the  first  of  the  Bunyan  biographers  to  interpret 
these  frank  statements  as  the  unconsciously  exaggerated  confes- 
sions of  an  oversensitive  conscience  and  of  a  preternaturally  vivid 
imagination,  and  was  followed  by  Macaulay  in  his  brilliant  arti- 
cle in  the  eighth  edition  of  the  Encyclopsedia  Britan-  southey  and 
nica,  reprinted  in  the  ninth.  We  have  certain  evidence  bdnv-an^  °N 
that  in  his  relation  with  women  Bunyan  had  always  CONFESSION- 
been  perfectly  pure,  nor  did  his  enemies  ever  charge  him  with 
drunkenness.  Macaulay  says  that  the  worst  that  "  can  be  laid  to 
the  charge  of  this  poor  youth  whom  it  has  been  the  fashion  to  rep- 
resent as  the  most  desperate  of  reprobates,  as  a  village  Eochester, 
is  that  he  had  a  great  liking  for  some  diversions,  quite  harmless  in 
themselves,  but  condemned  by  the  rigid  precisionists  among  whom 
he  lived,  and  for  whose  opinions  he  had  great  respect.  The  four 
chief  sins  of  which  he  was  guilty  were  dancing,  ringing  the  bells 
of  the  parish  church,  playing  at  tipcat,  and  reading  the  history  of 
Sir  Bevis  of  Southampton.  A  rector  of  the  school  of  Laud  would 
have  held  such  a  young  man  up  to  the  whole  parish  as  a  model. 
But  Bunyan's  notions  of  good  and  evil  were  learned  in  a  very  differ- 
ent school,  and  he  was  made  miserable  by  a  conflict  between  his 
tastes  and  his  scruples."2      But  how  can  we  interpret  this  view 

1  Grace  Abounding  to  the  Chief  of  Sinners,  ed.  Morley,  pp.  16, 17. 

2  Essays,  vi,  134,  135.  The  judgment  of  Southey,  Life  of  Bunyan,  p.  41, 
and  of  Macaulay  is  that  of  Coleridge.  "Bunyan  was  never,  in  our  received 
sense  of  the  word,  '  wicked.'    He  was  chaste,  sober,  and  honest ;  but  he  was  a 


702  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

with  the  honesty  of  Bunyan  as  a  witness  ?  The  truth  seems  to  be 
that  Bunyan  had  kept  himself  free  from  gross  physical  sins,  that  his 
chief  failing  was  profanity,  in  which  he  was  fearfully  proficient,  and 
this  was  seconded  by  lying.  It  was  spiritual  sins  which  in  after 
years  laid  their  heavyweight  over  his  conscience,  and  these,  as  his 
greatest  biographer  well  says, "  may  be  even  more  deadly  than  sensual 
sins  in  their  moral  recoil,  laying  waste  the  powers  of  the  soul."1 

His  marriage  at  about  the  age  of  twenty-one  was  the  beginning 
of  a  better  life.  His  wife  and  he  read  together  a  couple  of  books 
she  brought  with  her,  Plain  Man's  Pathway  to  Heaven,  and  the 
Practice  of  Piety.  After  various  experiences,  which  he  has  de- 
bunyanin  scribed  with  a  graphic  pen,  he  was  brought  into  the 
prison.  light  of  God,  and  joined  a  little  company  of  believ- 

ers of  which  the  liberal-minded  John  Gifford  was  minister.  This 
was  in  1653.  In  1655  he  began  to  preach.  In  1660  he  was  ar- 
rested by  the  Anglican  authorities,  and  was  imprisoned  for  twelve 
years  in  the  county  jail  at  the  corner  of  High  and  Silver  streets, 
Bedford.  Here  he  wrote  Grace  Abounding,  1666,  and  several 
other  works.  He  was  released  in  1672  and  became  pastor  of  Gif- 
ford's  church.  This  was  not  for  long,  for  the  Church  authorities 
still  pursued  him,  and  in  1675  under  the  Conventicle  act  he  was 
again  imprisoned,  this  time  in  the  town  jail  on  Bedford  Bridge. 
It  was  during  this  imprisonment,  which  fortunately  lasted  only 
six  months,  that  he  wrote  the  first  part  of  Pilgrim's  Progress,  the 
greatest  allegory  ever  written,  a  well  of  English  undefiled,  and  as 
masterly  in  its  delineation  of  character  as  it  is  powerful  in  its 
religious  impression  and,  like  the  parables  of  Jesus,  in  its  sim- 

pilgrim's  plicity.  The  first  part  of  Pilgrim's  Progress  was  pub- 
progress.       lighed  in  167g>     The  Holy  War^  hig  begt  book  after 

Pilgrim's  Progress,  unless  we  give  Grace  Abounding  that  honor, 
appeared  in  1682,  and  the  second  part  of  the  Pilgrim  in  1684. 
After  a  pastorate  of  the  Bedford  church  of  sixteen  years  Bunyan 
died,  while  on  a  mission  of  reconciliation,  in  London,  August  31, 
1688,  and  was  buried  in  the  great  Nonconformist  burial  ground, 
Bunhill  Fields.  Pilgrim's  Progress  sprang  at  once  into  popularity, 
100,000  copies  being  printed  during  the  author's  lifetime.  It  was 
printed  in  Boston  in  1681,  and  was  soon  translated  into  many  Eu- 
ropean languages.     Brown  says  that   it  has  been  translated  into 

bitter  blackguard  ;  that  is,  he  damned  his  own  and  his  neighbors'  eyes  on  slight 
or  no  occasion,  and  was  fond  of  a  row.1' — Coleridge's  Notes  on  English  Divines, 
ed.  by  Derwent  Coleridge,  i,  336. 
1  Brown,  John  Bunyan,  p.  60. 


THE   BAPTISTS.  <  703 

eighty-four  languages  and  dialects,  the  versions  in  Japanese  and  the 
Canton  vernacular  being  admirably  illustrate  1  by  native  artists, 
who  have  adapted  the  scenery  and  costumes  to  their  own  country.1 

Like  Milton,  Bunyan  was  not  a  Baptist  in  the  ordinary  sense. 
The  church  that  he  joined,  and  of  which  he  was  a  minister,  was 
not  a  Baptist  church,  but  a  Christian  society  that  looked  upon 
questions  like  the  mode  of  baptism  as  impertinent  and  THe  Bedford 
divisive  when  made  tests  of  Christian  standing  and  cbxkxjh. 
membership.  The  contemporary  record  of  the  Bedford  church 
says  that  the  "  principle  upon  which  they  thus  entered  into  fel- 
lowship one  with  another,  and  upon  which  they  did  afterward 
receive  those  that  were  added  to  their  body  and  fellowship,  was 
faith  in  Christ  and  holiness  of  life,  without  respect  to  this  or 
that  circumstance  or  opinion  in  outward  and  circumstantial  things. 
By  which  means  grace  and  faith  were  encouraged,  love  and  amity 
maintained,  disputings  and  occasion  to  jangling  and  unprofitable 
questions  avoided,  and  many  that  were  weak  in  faith  confirmed  in 
the  blessing  of  eternal  life/'2  This  church  allowed  infant  bap- 
tism for  those  of  its  members  who  desired,  and  it  appears  from  the 
records  that  Bunyan  himself  was  one  of  those  who  desired.3  Gif- 
ford,  Bunyan's  predecessor  and  teacher,  made  a  noble  appeal  from 
his  deathbed  not  to  divide  the  Church  of  Christ  on  questions  of 
rites  and  forms.  "  Concerning  separation  from  the  Church  about 
baptism,"  he  said,  "laying  on  hands,  anointing  with  oil,  psalms 
or  any  externals,  I  charge  every  one  of  you  respectively,  as  you 
will  give  an  account  for  it  to  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  shall 
judge  both  quick  and  dead  at  his  coming,  that  none  of  you  be 
found  guilty  of  this  great  evil,  which  while  some  have  committed 
— and  that  through  a  zeal  for  God,  yet  not  according  to  knowl- 
edge— they  have  erred  from  the  law  of  the  love  of  Christ,  and  have 
made  a  rent  from  the  true  Church,  which  is  but  one." 

In  this  catholic  and  thoroughly  Christian  attitude  Bunyan  was 
a  man  after  Gifford's  own  heart.  As  pastor  of  a  church  which 
allowed  infant  baptism  and  both  pouring  and  immersion,  and  who 

1  Brown,  art.  Bunyan  in  Chambers's  Encyc,  revised  ed.,  and  his  Life  of  Bun- 
yan, p.  471.  Brown  gives  an  exhaustive  and  interesting  chapter  on  the  edi- 
tions, versions,  illustrations,  and  imitations  of  the  Pilgrim's  Progress,  ch.  xix, 
and  an  admirable  bibliography  is  appended  to  Venables,  Life  of  Bunyan, 
Lond.,  1888  (Great  Writers  Series). 

5  See  copious  extracts  from  this  record  in  Brown,  pp.  83-85. 

3  Recent  research  among  the  church  records  has  shown  this.  See  Brown, 
pp.  238,  239.  Tulloch  is  in  error,  therefore,  when  he  says  (I.  c,  p.  466)  that 
Bunyan  "repudiated  the  baptism  of  infants." 


704  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

considered  himself  as  in  the  main  holding  the  Baptist  position, 
Bunyan  with  the  true  spirit  of  St.  Paul  brushed  aside  questions 
bunyan's  which  are  as  the  apple  of  the  eye  to  the  Baptist.  "  Be- 
catholicity.  cauge  j  win  not  suffer  water  to  carry  away  epistles  from 
the  Christians,  and  because  I  will  not  let  water  baptism  be  the  rule, 
the  door,  the  bolt,  the  bar,  the  wall  of  division  between  the  right- 
eous and  the  righteous,  must  I  therefore  be  judged  to  be  a  man 
without  conscience  of  the  worship  of  Jesus  Christ  ?  The  Lord 
deliver  me  from  superstitious  and  idolatrous  thoughts  about  any 
of  the  ordinances  of  Christ  and  of  God."  In  a  controversy  with 
some  of  the  strict  Baptists  he  says  :  "  You  ask  me  next  how  long 
is  it  since  I  was  a  Baptist  ?  I  must  tell  you  I  know  of  none  to 
whom  that  title  is  so  proper  as  to  the  disciples  of  John.  And 
since  you  would  know  by  what  name  I  would  be  distinguished 
from  others,  I  tell  you  I  would  be,  and  hope  I  am,  a  Christian, 
and  choose,  if  God  should  count  me  worthy,  to  be  called  a  Chris- 
tian, a  believer,  or  other  such  name  which  is  approved  by  the  Holy 
Ghost.  And  as  for  those  titles  of  Anabaptists,  Independents, 
Presbyterians,  or  the  like,  I  conclude  that  they  come  neither  of 
Jerusalem  nor  Antioch,  but  rather  from  hell  and  Babylon,  for 
they  naturally  tend  to  divisions.  You  may  know  them  by  their 
fruits."  Forms  of  baptism  were  mere  matters  of  ritual  over 
which  it  would  be  a  sin  to  divide  believers  in  Christ.  Bunyan 
was  an  apostle  of  Christian  union.1 

1  There  is  truth  in  what  Tulloch  says  :  "  Bunyan  became  a  Baptist  more 
from  accidental  associations  than  anything  else.  He  had  found  the  truth 
among  the  poor  men  and  women  of  the  water-baptism  way  ;  but  from  the 
very  depth  and  sincerity  of  his  spiritual  nature  he  rose  far  above  the  mere 
formalities  of  the  sect,  and  did  not  hesitate  with  an  unsparing  hand  to  point 
out  their  narrowness  and  prejudices." — English  Puritanism  and  its  Leaders, 
p.  430.  He  suffered  much  from  the  strict  Baptists  on  account  of  the  coarse  and 
bitter  methods  of  controversy  then  in  vogue.  In  one  place  he  says  :  "  What 
Mr.  Kiffen  has  done  in  the  matter  I  forgive  [Kiffen  was  the  Nestor  of  the  Bap- 
tists— he  might  almost  be  called  the  founder  of  the  Particular  Baptists],  and 
love  him  never  the  worse  ;  but  I  must  stand  by  my  principles,  because  they 
are  peaceable,  godly,  profitable,  and  such  as  tend  to  the  edification  of  my 
brother,  and  as,  I  believe,  will  be  justified  in  the  day  of  judgment.  That  I 
deny  the  ordinance  of  baptism,  or  that  I  have  placed  one  piece  of  an  argu- 
ment against  it,  though  they  feign  it,  is  quite  without  color  of  truth.  All  I 
say  is  that  the  Church  of  Christ  hath  not  warrant  to  keep  out  of  her  com- 
munion the  Christian  that  is  discovered  to  be  a  visible  saint  by  the  Word — 
the  Christian  that  walketh  according  to  his  light  with  God."  On  Bunyan's 
relations  to  the  Baptists  see  Brown,  pp.  235-241,  and  Wm.  Urwick,  Bible 
Truths  and  Church  Errors,  including  Lecture  on  Bunyan  not  a  Baptist,  with 
Pedigree  of  Bunyan's  Family,  Lond.,1888. 


THE   FRIENDS.  705 


CHAPTER    IX. 

THE  FRIENDS. 

Like  a  sweet  calm  after  storm  was  the  advent  of  the  Quakers  in  the 
seventeenth  century.  When  wars  were  waged  on  slight  provocation 
or  no  provocation  came  their  word,  "  It  is  not  according  to  Christ 
to  fight  with  arms."  At  a  time  of  fierce  animosity  between  clash- 
ing Churches  and  sects  they  said,  "Let  us  love  one  another  and 
be  at  peace."  In  the  midst  of  persecution  carried  on 
by  both  Roman  Catholics  and  Protestants  they  affirmed,  return  to 
"It  is  not  Christian  to  harm  your  brother  for  his  reli-  christian- 

.  ITY. 

gious  opinions."  When  men  were  swearing  to  cove- 
nants and  counter-covenants,  to  acts  of  parliament,  and  in  courts 
of  law  to  every  testimony,  trivial  or  otherwise,  the  Friends  re- 
peated the  command  of  Christ,  "  Swear  not  at  all."  When  Calvin- 
istic  particularism  was  the  reigning  creed  they  said,  "  God  wills  that 
all  men  should  be  saved,"  and  when  men  were  received  into  State 
Churches  without  conversion  they  declared,  te~No  man  belongs  to 
Christ  except  by  living  faith."  The  rise  of  the  Friends  was  God's 
rebuke  to  the  selfishness  and  worldliness  of  that  passionate  and 
warring  time  when  the  Spirit  of  Jesus  seemed  to  have  well-nigh 
departed  and  his  beautiful  ethics  to  have  been  trampled  under  foot. 
Like  Methodism,  Quakerism  was  a  revival  of  primitive  Christianity. 
Did  the  Friends  arise  as  a  new  force  in  history,  with  a  fresh 
and  hitherto  unknown  testimony  ?  Or  were  there  antecedents — 
were  there  those  who  anticipated  their  teachings  and  mennonttes 
laid  a  foundation  for  their  work  ?  Here  again  Hoi-  o™°KS 
land  must  come  in  as  the  mother  of  beneficent  move-  FKIENDS- 
ments.  The  Mennonite  Baptists  of  Holland  were  the  precursors 
of|  the  Quakers,  and  the  General  Baptists  were  so  near  of  kin  that 
+  /ey  might  almost  be  called  a  sister  denomination.  The  Men- 
pionites  held :  (1)  That  only  regenerate  persons  constitute  a  true 
Church.  (2)  No  persecution  for  conscience'  sake  is  right.  (3)  Swear- 
8ng  is  forbidden.  (4)  War  is  unchristian.  (5)  Since  the  office  of 
a  magistrate  compelled  men  to  use  the  sword  and  take  an  oath, 
no  Christian  man  can  rightly  fulfill  that  office,  though  magistrates 
ought  to  be  obeyed  in  all  things  not  contrary  to  God's  word. 

(6)  There  is  to  be  no  hierarchy — office  does  not  confer  headship. 

47  s 


70G  THE   FRIENDS. 

"We  are  brethren  in  the  Church,  not  masters  and  servants." 
(7)  Ministers  must  not  receive  any  stipulated  pay.  (8)  All  un- 
necessary ornaments  of  dress  must  be  avoided.  A  period  of  silent 
prayer  was  at  first  a  part  of  the  service  of  the  Mennonites,  and 
they  paused  before  meals  for  silent  thanksgiving.  The  Collegi- 
anten  (so  called  from  their  meetings  or  collegia)  were  a  sect  of  the 
Mennonites  who  added  to  the  foregoing  principles  one  other,  that 
there  was  no  distinct  office  of  teacher  or  minister,  but  all  Chris- 
tians were  prophets,  and  all  were  at  liberty  to  pass  judgment  upon 
others  or  dissent  from  them  in  their  preaching — there  being  no 
conformity  in  religious  opinion,  but  all  welcome  to  fellowship  who 
confess  Jesus  Christ.  It  will  be  seen,  therefore,  that  the  Quakers 
were  by  no  means  original  in  their  views.  The  Mennonites  were 
strong  believers  in  the  universal  atonement,  God's  desire  to  save 
all  men,  and  that  God's  light  comes  to  all  if  they  will  receive  it.' 

The  views  of  the  General  Baptists  concerning  universal  atone- 
ment ;  the  need  of  a  regenerated  church  membership,  who  had  a 
kindred  personal  witness  to  salvation  ;  that  Christians  are  sup- 
oeneral  ported  directly  by  the  immediate  testimony  of  the 
baptists.  Spirit  and  only  indirectly  by  outward  help  like  the 
Scriptures ;  that  Christ's  work  was  never  to  reconcile  God  to  us, 
since  he  never  hated  us,  but  only  to  reconcile  us  to  God  and  slay 
the  enmity  in  our  hearts ;  that  magistrates  must  not  meddle  with 
religion  or  force  the  conscience  ;  that  outward  baptism  is  of  value 
only  as  it  is  a  witness  to  the  inner  or  spiritual ;  that  the  Supper 
does  not  confer  grace,  but  only  stirs  up  repentance  and  faith  until 
Christ  comes ;  that  members  of  Christ  are  not  to  go  to  law  before 
magistrates,  and  all  differences  are  to  be  settled  by  yea  and  nay 
without  an  oath  ;  Christians  are  brethren,  and  the  poor  are  not  to 
be  allowed  to  suffer;  Christians  are  not  to  lift  up  a  sword,  nor 
consent  to  battle,  because  the  redeemed  of  the  Lord  have  changed 
their  fleshly  weapons — yea,  they  are  called  of  Christ  "to  the  fol- 
lowing of  his  unarmed  and  unweaponed  life  and  of  his  cross-bear- 
ing footsteps  ;"  and  "it  is  not  permitted  that  the  faithful  of  the 
New  Testament  should  swear  at  all" — such  were  some  of  ^ye 
principles  of  John  Smyth,  the  founder  of  the  General  Baptie^ ' 
Perfect  freedom  of  prophesying  was  also  insisted  on.  ^\ 

} 
1  Barclay,  in  his  Inner  Life  of  the  Religions  Societies  of  the  Commonwe; 

who  writes  from  the  standpoint  of  a  Friend,  does  full  justice  to  the  precurt. 
of  Quakerism,  pp.  78  ff. 

"  See  copious  quotations  from  his  Confession  in  Barclay,  pp.  109-114  an. 
app.  to  ch.  vi. 


THE   FRIENDS.  707 

Lay  preaching  was  by  no  means  a  new  thing  when  started  by 
Wesley.  The  Quakers  had  it,  and  before  them  the  Independents 
and  Baptists.  It  was  a  common  practice  in  England  in  the  middle 
of  the  seventeenth  century.  It  was  doubtless  the  chief  means  by 
which  the  more  earnest  type  of  Christianity  for  which  the  Separat- 
ists stood  got  a  foothold  among  the  people.1  The  Presbyterians 
were  bitterly  opposed  to  this,  and  in  the  days  of  their     LAYMEN  A8 

,  ,  i       •  •  PREACHERS. 

ascendency  among  their  oppressive  measures  was  one 
forbidding  lay  preaching,  1645.  But  little  attention  was  paid  to 
this.  Of  Cromwell's  army  it  is  said  that  they  "6ent  out  every- 
where captains  and  soldiers"  to  preach,  and  ''gave  tickets  of  the 
time  and  place. "  2  According  to  Baxter  the  cry  of  the  Separatists 
was,  "  Let  God  be  glorified,  let  the  Gospel  be  propagated/'  and 
that  ' '  there  were  few  of  the  Anabaptists  who  had  not  been  the 
opposers  and  troublers  of  the  faithful  ministers  of  the  land."  3 

Nor  were  the  Quakers  first  to  use  the  talents  of  women.  In 
the  revival  of  which  the  Congregationalists  and  Baptists  were  the 
expression  the  daughters  prophesied  as  well  as  the  sons  (Acts 
ii,  17).  Women  could  talk  to  edification  on  any  text,  PREAChing 
and  search  the  deep  things  of  God.4  A  lampoon  of  BY  WOMEN- 
1641  speaks  of  a  congregation  meeting  in  the  malt  house  of  one 
Job,  a  brewer,  and  says, 

"  When  women  preach,  and  cobblers  pray, 
And  fiends  in  hell  make  holiday."  6 

The  Baptists  are  spoken  of  as  having  "  many  pretty  knacks  to  de- 
lude withal,  and  especially  to  please  the  female  sex.  They  told  of 
rare  revelations  of  the  things  to  come  from  the  Spirit,  as  they  say."6 

1  ' '  The  exile  churches  bequeathed  this  legacy  of  lay  preaching  to  the  first 
Congregational  and  Baptist  Churches  in  England.  It  had  been  proved  and 
rooted  in  their  system  during  the  days  of  the  exile." — John  Telford,  Hist,  of 
Lay  Preaching  in  the  Chr.  Church,  Lond.,  1897,  p.  81. 

2  Wm,  Prynne,  Fresh  Discovery  of  some  New  Wandering  Blazing  Stars  and 
Firebrands  styling  themselves  New  Lights.     Lond. ,  1645,  pref . 

3  Baxter,  Life  (Autobiography),  p.  102. 

4  "  And  in  this  our  thanksgiving  let  us  remember  all  the  blessed  pastors  and 
professors,  whether  at  Amsterdam  or  elsewhere  ;  as  also  all  our  sfee-fellow- 
laborers,  our  holy  and  good  blessed  women  who  are  not  only  able  to  talk  on 
any  text,  but  search  into  the  deep  sense  of  Scripture,  and  preach  both  in  their 
families  and  elsewhere." — The  Brownists'  Conventicle,  1641,  p.  13. 

6 Lucifer's  Lackey,  or  the  Devil's  New  Creation,  Lond.,  1641. 

6  Johnson,  History  of  New  England,  1654  pp.  67-99.  We  are  indebted  to 
Barclay,  Keligious  Societies  of  the  Commonwealth,  p.  155,  for  these  quota- 
tions. 


708  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

The  Baptists  appear  to  have  had  more  women  preachers  than  theCon- 
gregationalists.  Baillie  says  that  the  continental  Baptists  allowed 
women's  preaching,  as  also  every  one  of  their  members,  and  the 
power  of  questioning  the  preacher  on  doctrine  "before  the  church/' 
and  that  in  England  it  was  the  same,  but  that  "  many  more  of 
their  women  do  venture  to  preach  among  the  Baptists  than  among 
the  Brownists,  in  England." l 

George  Fox,  the  founder  of  the  Friends,  was  born  of  upright, 
pious  Presbyterian  parents  at  Drayton-in-the-Clay  (now  Fenny 
Drayton),  Leicestershire,  July,  1624.  He  was  a  youth  of  pensive 
religious  nature,  and  his  gifted  and  devout  mother  en- 
couraged this  tendency.  Like  Chrysostom,  Jonathan 
Edwards,  Eobert  Emory,  and  other  rare  characters,  there  never 
seemed  to  be  a  time  when  he  did  not  love  and  fear  God.  There 
was  a  morbid  and  sad  strain  in  Fox's  early  piety  which  was  doubtless 
constitutional,  and  was  aggravated  by  the  religious  intensity  of  the 
time.2  To  find  light  and  peace  Fox  began  to  itinerate  through  the 
country,  seeking  counsel  of  ministers.  But  these  gave  him  no  help. 
The  Lord,  however,  brought  him  on  step  by  step  until  he  was  led 
to  trust  in  him  entirely,  and  to  find  him  in  the  revelation  of  his 
truth,  and  grace,  and  love  in  the  soul. 

"  Then  the  Lord  led  me  gently  along,  and  let  me  see  his  love, 
which  was  endless  and  eternal,  surpassing  all  the  knowledge  that 
rox's  men  have  in   the   natural  state,  or  can  get  by  his- 

His<REmGious  tOI7  or  books.  .  .  .  When  I  was  in  the  deep,  under 
experience.  an  S]1U£  Up^  j  cou\&  no^  believe  I  should  ever  over- 
come ;  my  troubles  and  my  temptations  were  so  great  that  I  often 
thought  that  I  should  have  despaired.  But  when  Christ  opened 
to  me  how  he  was  tempted  by  the  same  devil,  and  had  overcome 

1  Baillie,  Anabaptisni  the  True  Foundation  of  Independency,  Brownism, 
Familism,  Antinomy,  and  the  like,  Lond.,  1646,  p.  30.  Mrs.  Attaway  is 
called  the  "  mistress  of  all  the  she-preachers  in  Coleman  Street."  For 
further  information  as  to  the  Separatist — and  particularly  the  Baptist — an- 
ticipation of  Quakerism,  see  Barclay,  I.  c,  chs.  iv-x  ;  Tallack,  George  Fox, 
the  Friends  and  the  early  Baptists,  Lond.,  1868.  "None  of  these  [Quaker] 
peculiarities  were  absolutely  novel,  nor  were  any  of  the  religious  doctrines  of 
the  Quakers.'1 — Bickley,  George  Fox  and  the  Early  Quakers,  Lond.,  1884,  p.  8. 

5  Macaulay,  whose  treatment  of  Fox  is  a  caricature,  makes  Fox  a  semi- 
lunatic,  "with  an  intellect  in  the  most  unhappy  of  all  states,  that  is  to 
say,  too  much  disordered  for  liberty,  and  not  sufficiently  disordered  for 
Bedlam." — Hist,  of  England,  iv,  132  (ch.  xvii).  Macaulay  was  ably  an- 
swered by  J.  S.  Rowntree,  Macaulay's  Portraiture  of  George  Fox,  Lond., 
1861. 


THE   FRIENDS.  709 

him  and  bruised  his  head,  and  that  through  him  and  his  power, 
light,  grace,  and  spirit  I  should  overcome  also,  I  had  confidence 
in  him.  .  .  .  Thus  in  the  deepest  miseries,  in  the  greatest  sorrows 
and  temptations  that  beset  me,  the  Lord  in  his  mercy  did  keep  me. 
I  found  two  thirsts  in  me  :  the  one  after  the  creatures  to  have  got 
help  and  strength  there  ;  and  the  other  after  the  Lord,  the  creator, 
and  his  Son  Jesus  Christ,  and  I  saw  all  the  world  could  do  me  no 
good.  .  .  .  One  day  when  I  was  walking  solitarily  abroad  and  was 
come  home,  I  was  taken  in  the  love  of  God  so  that  I  could  not 
but  admire  the  greatness  of  his  love  ;  and  while  I  was  in  that 
condition  it  was  opened  upon  me  by  the  eternal  light  and  power, 
and  therein  I  clearly  saw  that  all  was  done  and  to  be  done  in  and 
by  Christ ;  and  how  he  conquers  and  destroys  this  tempter  the 
devil  and  all  his  works,  and  is  atop  of  him,  and  that  all  these 
troubles  were  good  for  me,  and  temptations  for  the  trial  of  my 
faith.  My  living  faith  was  raised  that  I  saw  all  was  done  by 
Christ  the  life,  and  my  belief  was  in  him/' ' 

In  1649  there  came  to  him  the  revelation  which  is  the  founda- 
tion of  Quakerism — the  mystical  light  which  reveals  God  and 
truth  without  ceremonies  and  outward  helps.  "  The  Lord  God 
opened  to  me  by  his  invisible  powers  how  every  man  was  enlight- 
ened by  the  divine  light  of  Christ.  I  saw  through  THE  inner 
all,  and  that  they  who  believed  in  it  came  out  of  con-  LIGHT- 
demnation  to  the  light  of  life,  and  became  children  of  it ;  but 
they  that  hated  it  and  did  not  believe  in  it  were  condemned  by  it, 
though  they  made  a  profession  of  Christ.  This  I  saw  in  the  pure 
openings  of  the  light,  without  the  help  of  any  man ;  neither  did  I 
know  where  to  find  it  in  the  Scriptures  ;  though  afterwards  search- 
ing the  Scriptures  I  found  it.  For  I  saw  in  that  Light  and  Spirit 
which  was  before  the  Scriptures  were  given  forth,  and  which 
led  the  holy  men  of  God  to  give  them  forth,  that  all  must 
come  to  that  Spirit  if  they  would  know  God,  or  Christ,  or  the 
Scriptures  aright ;  which  they  that  gave  them  forth  were  led 
by."2 

This  famous  doctrine  of  the  Friends — the  Inner  Light — has 
been  understood  as  the  denial  of  the  Scriptures  as  the  rule  of  faith, 
and  as  the  substitution  of  one's  own  impressions  for  the  Bible. 
This  is  a  mistake.     Fox  had  been  a  most  diligent  student  of  the 

1  George  Fox,  Journal,  Leeds  ed.,  1836,  i,  92, 93. 

'Journal,  i,  111.  There  are  no  chronological  divisions  or  marks  in  Fox's 
Journal.  In  the  Leeds  edition  the  editors  have  inserted  at  the  top  of  p.  Ill 
the  date  1648. 


710  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Scriptures,  which  he  always  received  as  the  words '  of  God  ;  but 
what  he  saw  around  him  convinced  him  that  something  more  was 

necessary  than  an  external  rule.  Here  were  warring 
of'the  sects  flying  at  each  other's  throats,  showing  hatred  and 

malice,  each  holding  to  the  Bible,  and  yet  each  dis- 
owning its  precepts — the  Bible  in  their  hands  being  without  power 
to  produce  love  and  peace.  It  was  necessary  that  the  Holy  Spirit 
should  testify  in  the  heart  to  the  truth  of  Scripture,  so  that  it 
might  be  no  longer  a  dead  book  but  a  living  power.  As  the  Spirit 
gave  the  book,  so  he  must  interpret  it,  so  he  must  breathe  its 
truths  once  more  into  the  soul.  Fox  had  profound  reverence 
for  the  Scriptures,  and  founded  his  whole  teachings  upon  them  ; 
but  they  were  unfolded  by  the  Spirit,  whose  voice  still  speaks  in 
the  heart  of  the  childlike  believer  to  guide  unto  all  truth.  In 
fact,  Fox  was  wont  to  challenge  the  Church  of  his  day  to  a  study 
of  the  Scriptures,  to  see  if  her  doctrines  were  according  to  that 
standard.2 

Fox  was  the  English  evangel  of  the  seventeenth  century.  He 
fox's  evan-  went  up  and  down  the  land,  preaching  repentance, 
gelism.  proclaiming  a  simple,  searching  gospel  of  faith  and 

good  works,  rebuking  worldliness  and  sin,  and  creating  everywhere 
a  profound  impression  by  his  simplicity,  self-denial,  and  holiness. 
His  converts  were  from  two  classes  :  (1)  those  who  were  connected 
more  or  less  with  the  churches,  but  who  were  dissatisfied  with  the 
bitterness  and  low  spiritual  and  ethical  tone  of  the  time  ;  (2)  the 
outcast  and  sinful,  who  were  quickened  into  newness  of  life  by  the 
faithful  preaching  of  Fox  and  his  helpers.  Fox  was  like  Wesley 
in  the  clearness  with  which  he  saw  the  need  of  spiritual  renewal 

1  Fox  disliked  the  expression,  The  Bible  is  the  Word  of  God.  Christ,  he  said, 
is  the  only  Word  of  God  ;  bnt  he  allowed  the  Bible  to  be  the  words  of  God. 
See  Journal,  Leeds  ed.,  i,  217,  218,  356  ;  ii,  251. 

aFox  says:  "And  also  this  is  an  invitation  to  all  sects  and  professors, 
and  of  people,  to  come  forth  and  try  if  what  they  hold  is  according  to  the 
Scripture  of  truth,  and  to  do  this  by  evident  and  sound  arguments,  and  by 
the  best  spiritual  weapons  they  have,  and  to  lay  aside  all  this  persecution 
and  unrighteous  dealing  and  stocking  and  whipping  and  imprisoning  of  us 
for  speaking  against  their  religion,  and  that  they  come  forth  in  fair  disputes 
to  contend  in  the  spirit  of  meekness  for  what  they  profess  and  practice, 
and  to  prove  according  to  the  Scriptures  their  ministry,  Church,  and  whole 
religion,  that  is  in  and  by  the  Spirit  and  power  of  God."— Great  Mystery. 
In  1673  Barclay  published  a  Catechism,  the  answers  to  all  the  questions  of  which 
were  in  the  words  of  Scripture  only — it  being  his  intention  by  this  means  to 
refute  the  notion  that  the  Quakers  rejected  the  Scriptures  as  the  rule  of  faith. 


THE   FRIENDS.  "11 

and  the  way  of  salvation  by  faith,  and  his  utter  fidelity  to  the 
ethics  of  Jesus  both  for  himself  and  his  followers.  This  twofold 
power  of  his  life  and  teaching  and  that  of  the  early  Friends  were 
irresistible  over  a  multitude  of  minds.  Besides,  in  a  Calvinistic 
age  the  hopefulness  of  Fox's  preaching  was  a  strange  element  of 
power.  God  had  not  left  himself  without  a  witness  in  the  hearts 
of  men.  There  was  a  light  shining  there,  however  dimly.  God 
spoke  to  the  divine  in  man.  That  heavenly  spark  was  in  all  men, 
and  God  called  all  men  to  him,  and  all  might  respond.  Is  it  any 
wonder  that  the  coming  of  this  severe  preacher  of  spirit  and  life 
to  a  town  was  an  event  in  its  history,  when  the  easy-going  and 
evil-living,  whether  priests  or  people,  were  seized  with  consterna- 
tion, and  the  spiritually  minded  and  those  who  longed  for  rest 
from  sin  went  out  in  crowds  to  hear  ? 

Among  his  converts  were  the  learned  and  the  wealthy,  as  well  as 
the  poor  and  ignorant.  In  the  fifth  year  of  Fox's  ministry  there 
were  twenty-five  preachers :  in  the  seventh,  upward  spread  of 
of  sixty.  Within  eight  years  ministers  of  Friends  QUAKERISM- 
preached  in  various  parts  of  Europe,  in  Asia,  and  in  Africa,  and 
endured  persecution  in  England  and  various  parts  of  the  Conti- 
nent. Among  the  early  preachers  Francis  Howgill,  John  Aud- 
land,  and  Samuel  Fisher  had  been  clergymen  ;  George  Bishop, 
Eichard  Hubberthorn,  and  William  Ames,  officers  in  the  army; 
Anthony  Pearson  and  John  Crook,  justices  of  the  peace.  Robert 
Barclay,  a  Scotch  scholar  of  noble  family  of  royal  blood,  joined  the 
society,  and  became  its  theologian  and  apologist.  In  1680  the 
number  of  Friends  in  Great  Britain  was  66,000.  Faithful  men 
carried  their  principles  to  distracted  Ireland  and  proud  Scotland, 
where  many  disciples  were  made — the  Scotch  Friends  proving  to 
this  day  the  mcst  loyal  representatives  of  the  cross-bearing  Quaker- 
ism of  its  pure  and  triumphant  days.  "  Fox  anticipated  Wesley 
and  Whitefield  in  his  application  of  field  preaching  to  the  spreading 
of  the  Gospel,  and  we  see  all  the  features  of  the  great  Methodist 
revival  both  in  the  character  and  gifts  of  the  preachers,  the  multi- 
tudes who  listened  to  them,  the  powerful  impressions  produced, 
and  the  entire  change  of  character  which  was  permanently  ef- 
fected."1 

The  resemblance  between  Methodism  and  Quakerism  was  seen 

even  in  the  physical  effects  of  its  preaching.     Audland,  one  of 

Fox's  preachers,   "  lifted  up  his  voice  like  a  trumpet "  to  those 

who  came  to  hear  him  in  Bristol,  and  "  opened  to  them  the  way  of 

'Barclay,  Religious  Societies  of  the  Commonwealth,  p.  311. 


712  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

life  in  the  mighty  power  of  God."  His  words  had  such  power 
that  they  were  "  seized  in  their  soul  and  pricked  in  their  heart; 
physical  and  some  fell  on  the  ground  and  foamed  at  the  mouth, 
amonoMBNA  while  others  cried  out  when  the  sense  of  their  states 
quakebs.  0£  6jn  wag  0peTie(i  to  them."  Meetings  were  held 
daily,  and  the  people  followed  the  preachers  everywhere,  so  that 
"every  day  was  like  one  long  meeting."  People  called  upon  the 
preachers  to  speak  with  them  privately  "  before  they  got  up,"  and 
they  were  laboring  with  them  from  six  in  the  morning  till  eleven 
or  even  one  at  night. l  John  Wesley  records  that  under  similar 
manifestations  of  religious  power  during  his  preaching  at  Bristol 
a  Quaker  "  was  not  a  little  displeased  at  the  dissimulation  of  these 
creatures,  and  was  biting  his  lips  and  knitting  his  brows  when  he 
dropped  down  as  thunderstruck.  The  agony  he  was  in  was  even 
terrible  to  behold.  We  besought  the  Lord  not  to  lay  folly  to  his 
charge.  And  he  soon  lifted  up  his  head  and  cried  aloud,  '  Now  I 
know  thou  art  a  prophet  from  God/"2  Barclay  well  remarks 
on  this  that  the  Quaker  could  hardly  have  been  aware  that  his  own 
Church  in  that  very  city  was  raised  up  by  preaching  that  pro- 
duced similar  effects.3 

One  seems  almost  to  be  reading  the  Journals  of  Whitefield  and 
Wesley  in  the  accounts  of  the  Quaker  triumphs  and  persecutions. 
Audland  and  Camm  write  to  Fox,  whose  relation  to  his  ministers 
was  similar  to  that  of  Wesley  :  "  There  is  here  [in  Bristol]  a  great 
work  and  large  fields  to  labor  in.  We  have  most  commonly 
3,000  to  4,000  at  a  meeting.  The  priests  and  magistrates  of  the 
city  begin  to  rage,  but  the  soldiers  [of  the  commonwealth]  keep 
them  down ;  for  the  governor  of  the  castle  is  not  against  us,  and 
the  captain  of  the  royal  fort  is  absolutely  convinced, 

SUCCESSES  *  J  J 

and  perse-     and  his  wife   loves  us  dearly.     And  many  captains 

CUTIONS.  .  -i  i     i  '  i      i. 

and  great  ones  of  the  city  are  convinced,  and  do  believe 

in  us,  and  that  we  are  of  God  ;  and  all  within  ten  miles  of  the  city 

round  about  the  people  is  very  much  desirous  after  Truth.  .  .  . 

Yea,  at  any  point  to  which  we  come  we  can  have  400  or  500,  or 

even  1,000.     We  have  many  friends  in  many  towns   about  who 

are  honest  and  true  in  their  measures,  and  eminent  amongst  men, 

so  that  we  have  many  places  in  the  country  about  where  we  can 

set  up  a  standard  and  have  gathered  meetings,  and  we  hit  some 

every  day  we  shoot,  for  '  our  bow  abides  in  strength.' " 4    Fox,  like 

'  Swarthmore  Papers,  quoted  by  Barclay,  p.  310. 

8  Wesley,  Journals,  May,  1739,  in  Works,  Lond.  ed.,  i,  190. 

3  Barclay,  I.  c,  pp.  311,  312. 

4  Letter  of  Camm  to  Fox,  1654,  quoted  by  Barclay,  pp.  308,  309. 


THE   FRIENDS.  713 

Wesley, was  peculiarly  fortunate  in  having  faithful,  self-denying 
preachers,  who  considered  no  suffering  of  moment  if  they  could 
fulfill  their  ministry. 

Most  interesting  would  be  an  account  of  the  persecution  of  the 
Quakers.  Like  Paul  they  could  say,  "  In  prisons  more  abundantly, 
in  deaths  oft."     They  were  not,  like  the  Baptists  and 

.r-,  .  t  -ii-i  -i  i  rMPRISON- 

Congregationalists,  deliberately   put  to  death  by  the        ment  of 

QUAKERS 

Episcopalian  State,  but  they  often  found  the  mar- 
tyr's crown  in  their  prisons.  Between  1650  and  1689  fourteen 
thousand  of  them  were  fined  and  imprisoned,  and  three  hundred 
and  sixty-nine,  including  the  majority  of  the  first  preachers,  died 
in  jail.1  This  fearful  record  is  a  black  indictment  of  the  ruling 
powers,  for  the  very  principles  which,  led  the  Friends  to  conceal 
nothing  and  to  yield  themselves  so  readily  to  punishment  proved 
their  inoffensiveness.  Of  course  the  refusal  to  take  an  oath  was  a 
pretext,  but  there  was  justice  in  Fox's  appeal  to  the  judges  that  the 
well-known  truthfulness  of  the  Friends  should  be  taken  as  rendering 
their  solemn  statement  as  worthy  of  belief  as  the  oath-bound  state- 
ment of  others,  which  oath,  as  everyone  knew,  made  the  word  of 
many  of  them  no  more  truthful.  Besides,  he  said,  if  any  Friend 
is  found  false  let  him  be  punished  exactly  as  though  he  had  taken 
the  oath.3 

The  refusal  to  take  the  oath  reminds  us  of  the  strenuous  moral 
earnestness  of  the  Quakers  and  their  determination  to  Quakerism 
be  true  at  all  costs  to  what  they  considered  the  New  ethics  and 
Testament  ethics.  "  But  if  any  of  you  can  convince  SCKIPTURE- 
me/' said  Fox  at  one  of  his  trials,  "that  after  Christ  and  his  apos- 
tles had  commanded  not  to  swear,  they  altered  that  command, 
and  commanded  to  swear,  ye  shall  see  that  I  will  swear."  That  was 
the  keynote  of  the  Friends — simple-hearted  loyalty  to  the  word 
of  Christ  and  the  apostles.  This  explains  their  plainness  of  attire, 
their  refusal  to  remove  the  hat  before  dignitaries,  and  their  oppo- 
sition to  war  as  inconsistent,  not  only  with  nonresistance  teachings 

1  These  are  the  figures  of  President  Chase,  of  Haverf  ord  College,  in  the  Schaff- 
Herzog  Encyc,  i,  839. 

s  In  one  of  his  trials  Fox  said  :  "  I  never  took  oath  covenant  or  en- 
gagement in  my  life  ;  but  my  yea  and  nay  was  more  binding  in  me  than 
an  oath  was  to  many  others.  For  had  they  not  had  experience  how  little 
men  regarded  an  oath,  and  how  they  had  sworn  one  way  and  then  another, 
and  how  the  justices  and  court  had  foresworn  themselves  now  ?  I  was  a 
man  of  tender  conscience,  and  if  they  had  any  sense  of  a  tender  conscience 
they  would  consider  it  was  obedience  to  Christ's  command  that  I  could  not 
swear." — Janney,  Life  of  George  Fox,  p.  275. 


714  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

of  Jesus,  but  with  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel.  The  wearing  of  the  hat 
in  the  presence  of  dignitaries  they  defended  by  the  consideration 
that  all  men  are  equal  before  God,  who  alone  is  to  be  reverenced, 
and  that  as  much  deference  is  to  be  shown  to  poor  and  obscure  as 
to  the  rich  and  great.  Even  their  thee  and  thou  rested  on  the 
Christian  teaching  concerning  equality,  teachings  which  they  con- 
sidered inconsistent  with  the  seventeenth  century  habit  of  saying 
thou  to  the  great  and  you  to  the  common  people.  Worldly  amuse- 
ments they  eschewed  as  of  immoral  tendency,  or  inconsistent  with 
spirituality,  or  as  wasting  time.  Slavery,  oppression  of  the  poor, 
anything  like  dishonesty  in  business  or  untruthfulness  in  word 
or  act,  they  could  not  abide.  They  were  preeminently  the  New 
Testament  Christians  of  the  post- Reformation  times.  Their 
emphasis  on  the  Spirit  and  on  spirituality  in  worship  led  them 
to  undervalue  the  ordinances  of  worship,  and  even  to  the  ex- 
treme position  that  the  Lord's  Supper  and  baptism,  which  rest  on 
our  Lord's  specific  command  and  were  constantly  observed  in  the 
apostolic  Church,  are  no  longer  obligatory  as  to  their  external  ob- 
servance so  long  as  the  spiritual  grace  which  they  had  at  first  signi- 
fied was  appropriated  by  faith.  But  this  extreme  position  was  not 
held  by  the  Quakers  as  all-important.  There  is  evidence  (1)  that 
they  occasionally  participated  in  a  common  meal  with  a  religious  or 
sacramental  intent,1  and  (2)  that  they  would  not  judge  those  who 
celebrated  the  ordinary  church  eucharist,  much  less  those  who 
ate  the  Lord's  Supper  according  to  the  original  method.8 

Two  men  of  widely  different  characters  and  points  of  view  have 
spoken  of  George  Fox.     "  Now  it  happened,"  says  Charles  H.  Spur- 

3  In  Fox's  earliest  tracts  we  have  the  expressions,  "We  have  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per,'' "  the  table  and  supper  of  the  Lord  we  own."  Keith,  an  early  Friend, 
speaks  of  certain  ' '  more  solemn  eatings  and  drinkings  to  remember  the  Lord's 
death  and  what  he  hath  done  and  suffered  for  us,"  and  states  that  the  Soci- 
ety of  Friends  "  did  thus  eat  and  drink  together,"  though  he  asserts  that  such 
eating  cannot  limit  the  spiritual  and  inward  eating  of  Christ's  body — a  state- 
ment that  none  would  deny.  See  Barclay,  Religious  Societies  of  the  Common- 
wealth, p.  375. 

2  For  several  quotations  proving  this,  see  Barclay,  I.  c,  pp.  373,  374.  Pro- 
fessor A.  C.  Thomas,  of  Haverford  College,  who  has  made  a  thorough  study  of 
all  the  sources,  claims  that  Barclay  is  mistaken  in  regard  to  any  observance  of 
the  Lord's  Supper  by  the  first  Friends,  and  his  judgment  is  of  great  weight. 
The  conservative  position  of  the  Friends,  namely,  against  observance,  is  strongly 
set  forth  by  Principal  John  W.  Graham,  in  his  The  Lord's  Supper,  a  Histor- 
ical Study  from  Standpoint  of  Soc.  of  Friends,  Lond.,  1899,  and  Graham  is 
combated  in  the  interest  of  a  more  liberal  view  by  William  Tallack,  Scriptu- 
ral Limitations  of  Friends'  Doctrine  of  the  Sacraments,  Lond.,  1899. 


THE  FRIENDS.  715 

geon,  "  that  the  Puritans,  who  had  been  like  the  spring  buds  and 
blossoms,  were  getting  into  the  sere  and  yellow  leaf,  and  the  In- 
dependents and  Baptists  and  other  sects,  who  were  at  times 
thoroughly  and  even  remarkably  spiritual,  were  getting  worldly, 
political,  and  vainglorious.  They  had  an  opportunity  of  grasping 
the  carnal  sword,  and  they  embraced  that  opportunity  ; '  and  from 
that  very  moment  many  of  them  lost  the  spirituality 

SPXJR(iEON 

for  which  they  had  been  eminent.     The  clanger  was  mdcarlyle 

.  ON  FOX. 

lest  the  evangelical  sects  should  quietly  settle  down  into 
one  State  Church,  make  a  scramble  for  the  good  things  of  the  eccle- 
siastical establishment,  and  preach,  each  one  after  its  own  fashion,  in 
the  numbness  of  death  rather  than  in  the  power  of  life.  At  that 
very  moment  God  sent  into  the  world  George  Fox,  who  must  have 
been  the  most  troublesome  man  in  the  world  to  those  good  easy  souls 
who  counted  on  a  quiet  season  of  sleep.  They  had  said,  '  Soul, 
take  thine  ease,  thou  hast  much  goods  laid  up  for  many  years.'  It 
was  by  the  mouth  of  George  Fox  that  God  said  to  each  one  of  them, 
*  Thou  fool/  George  Fox,  it  seems  to  me,  was  a  blessing,  not  to 
you  alone,  but  to  the  whole  of  Christendom.  He  stood  up  in  the 
face  of  the  Christian  world  and  said  to  it,  '  No,  thou  shalt  not  do 
this.  Thou  shalt  not  conform  thyself  to  the  world.  Thou  shalt 
not  go  into  unholy  alliance  with  the  State,  there  shall  still  be  in  the 
midst  of  thee  a  spiritual  people,  who  shall  bear  their  protest  that 
Christ's  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world,  and  that  religion  standeth  not 
in  form  and  ceremonies,  but  is  a  matter  connected  with  the  inner 
man,  and  is  the  work  of  God's  Spirit  in  the  heart.'  I  look  upon 
George  Fox  rather  as  a, practical  than  a  doctrinal  man."  *  Thomas 
Carlyle  speaks  of  the  "  farewell  service  of  his  awl,"  the  leather 
suit  of  clothes  which  George  Fox  made  for  himself.  "  Stitch  away, 
thou  noble  Fox  :  every  prick  of  that  little  instrument  is  pricking 
into  the  heart  of  slavery,  and  World-worship,  and  the  Mammon- 
god.  Thy  elbows  jerk  as  in  strong  swimmer-strokes,  and  every 
stroke  is  bearing  thee  across  the  prison-ditch,  within  which  Van- 
ity holds  her  workhouse  and  Ragfair,  into  lands  of  true  liberty, 
where,  the  work  done,  there  is  in  broad  Europe  one  Free  Man, 
and  thou  art  he.  " 3 

1  He  refers  to  the  inclusion  of  the  Congregationalists  and  Baptists  in  Crom- 
well's comprehensive  Church  scheme,  their  taking  their  position  as  State-pro- 
tected bodies,  and  enjoying  the  dignity  and  rewards  which  came  from  their 
6emiunion  with  the  State. 

5  Lecture  on  George  Fox,  quoted  by  Barclay,  p.  191. 

3  Sartor  Kesartus,  bk.  iii,  ch.  i. 


716  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


CHAPTER   X. 

THE   ROMAN  CATHOLICS. 

The  history  of  the  English  Catholics  from  the  close  of  the 
Reformation  to  the  opening  of  the  recent  period  is  relatively 
monotonous  and  unimportant.  They  had  little  to  do  with  the 
enrichment  of  English  life,  religion,  theology,  literature,  science, 
or  art.  This,  however,  can  hardly  be  laid  against 
'  them,  because  they  existed  as  a  small,  despised,  per- 
secuted sect,  decimated  and  kept  down  by  unrighteous  laws, 
which  were  sometimes  enforced  with  rigor  and  at  other  times 
allowed  to  slumber. 

When  James  I  came  to  the  throne,  in  1603,  the  Roman  Catho- 
lics had  reason  to  believe  that  their  lot  would  be  improved.  They 
founded  this  (1)  on  the  consideration  that  the  king  would  natur- 
ally not  care  to  persecute  those  of  his  mother's  faith  ;  (2)  on  his 
ttndek  assurances  that  he  was  averse  to  bloodshed  ;  (3)  on  his 

james  i.  distinct  promise  that  he  would  not  molest  them  so  long 

as  they  remained  in  quiet  loyalty  to  his  government.  In  fact, 
James  was,  in  his  way  and  according  to  his  light,  a  kind  of  apostle 
of  toleration.  He  deliberately  entered  into  correspondence  with 
the  pope  to  see  if  some  common  platform  could  be  secured  on 
which  he  and  the  Roman  Catholics  might  live  together  in  peace. 
He  proposed  that  the  pope  should  promise  to  excommunicate  any 
who  rose  in  rebellion  against  him.  The  pope,  of  course,  could  not 
agree  to  govern  his  censures  according  to  the  dictates  of  a  Prot- 
estant, but  he  promised  to  discourage  all  such  risings.  For  a  time 
James  kept  his  promise.  Everything  looked  favorable  to  the  Ro- 
man Catholics ;  at  least,  it  seemed  that  they  were  now  to  have  a 
cessation  of  the  Elizabethan  horrors. 

The  question  of  toleration  for  Roman  Catholics  was  not  so  simple 
then  as  now.  (1)  They  themselves  did  not  believe  in  toleration. 
Every  Catholic  government  in  Europe  was  visiting  Protestants 
not  only  with  fines  and  imprisonments,  but  with  death,  and  some- 
times   with    wholesale    massacre    or    extermination. 

TOLERATION  . 

of  roman        (2)  belf -preservation  is  the  first  law  of  governments. 

CATHOLICS 

If  the  hand  of  repression  were   removed   from   the 
Roman  Catholics,  might    they  not   so  increase  that  they  would 


THE   ROMAN   CATHOLICS.  717 

become  dangerous  to  the  State  ?  In  the  first  days  of  James's  reign 
this  increase  became  an  actual  fact,  so  that  the  authorities  were 
alarmed.  (3)  Catholicism  had  stood  for  a  theory  of  Church  and 
State  which  made  all  governments  suspicious.  It  is  true  that  the 
new  State  Church  of  England  was  logically  carrying  out  a  similar 
theory,  though  the  very  action  of  that  State  Church  in  breaking 
from  universal  Catholicism  made  her  tyrannical  attitude  a  self- 
stultification.  Europe  had  not  worked  itself  free  from  the  spell  of 
mediaeval  traditions,  much  less  of  mediaeval  memories.  Catholic 
countries  were  still  faithful  to  the  old  history,  and  we  may  not 
wonder  that  in  England  Catholic  emancipation  did  not  come  in 
that  century  or  much  later.  Protestant  emancipation  in  some 
Catholic  countries  yet  lingers. 

James  made  good  his  promise  that  the  Catholics  would  not  be 
molested.  This  meant  much  when  we  remember  that  then  and 
long  after  the  profession  of  Catholicism  by  attending  mass  was 
a  capital  crime.  That  is,  the  mere  fact  of  saying  mass  was 
sufficient  to  bring  a  priest  under  the  penalties  of  treason,  and 
those  penalties  were  extended  to  all  who  should  assist  or  comfort 
him.  As  every  Catholic  at  some  time  or  other  attended  mass, 
it  was  evident  that  the  life  of  every  one  of  them  might  be  for- 
feited, if  the  government  were  determined  to  proceed  fines 
against  them,  and  could  find  evidence.  But  this  hor-  ™Pkoman 
rible  law  was  rather  held  over  their  heads  in  terrorem  catholics. 
than  actually  put  into  effect  on  any  large  scale.  The  authorities  were 
ordinarily  content  with  the  fines  for  recusancy — that  is,  for  not 
attending  Episcopal  Church.  Catholics  were  always  liable  to  im- 
prisonment and  these  fines,  "  and  they  dare  not  complain,  as  they 
were  allowed  to  escape  without  suffering  the  full  penalty  of  the 
law."  '     At  first  James  allowed  the  fines  to  rest,  but  soon  aban- 

1  Gardiner,  Hist,  of  England,  1603-42,  i,  96.  So  far  as  laws  were  concerned, 
the  Catholics  had  little  hope.  The  Supremacy  act  of  1559  threatened  with 
death  anyone  who  would  not  acknowledge  the  spiritual  headship  of  the  sov- 
ereign. The  act  against  the  Jesuits  and  Seminarists,  1585,  threatened  with 
death  all  priests  who  were  in  the  kingdom  after  a  certain  date,  and  made  all 
persons  who  should  relieve  or  aid  them  in  any  way  also  liable  to  death.  This 
act  was  reinforced  by  another  in  1603,  and  proclamations  of  similar  tenor 
were  issued  in  1604,  1606,  and  1625.  The  Test  act  of  1673  provided  that  no 
one  could  hold  office  who  would  not  receive  the  Anglican  sacrament,  that  no 
one  not  born  a  Catholic  could  train  up  their  children  in  Catholicism,  and  that 
all  persons  to  whom  the  act  applied  should  be  obliged  to  make  a  declaration 
against  transubstantiation.  See  the  text  of  these  and  other  acts  in  Gee  and 
Hardy,  Nos.  79,  85,  120. 


718  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

doned  this,  and  ordered  them  collected.  This,  with  other  reasons, 
led  a  hare-brained  priest,  William  Watson,  to  form  a  plot  for  the 
seizure  of  the  king's  person,  in  order  to  compel  him  to  grant 
better  measures  to  Catholics.  Another  priest,  however,  disclosed 
the  plot  to  the  government,  and  this  soap-bubble  conspiracy  came 
to  nothing. ' 

Under  this  tolerant  policy  the  Catholics  rapidly  increased.  The 
missionary  priests  were  active,  no  less  than  one  hundred  and  forty 
having  landed  in  the  nine  months  since  Elizabeth's  death.  The 
increase  led  to  the  promulgation  of  a  decree  that  by  March  19, 
1604,  the  priests  should  have  left  England.  About  the  same  time 
the  king  made  a  speech  in  parliament  in  which  he 
rigorous  outlined  his  policy.  The  Catholic  laity  were  not  to  be 
molested  so  long  as  they  remained  quiet  and  would 
not  try  to  win  converts,  and  if  any  unjust  laws  oppressed  the  inno- 
cent, these  laws  would  be  revised.  As  to  the  clergy,  they  must  be 
banished  the  kingdom  unless  they  would  disown  the  doctrine  that 
the  pope  possessed  an  "  imperial  civil  power  over  all  kings  and 
emperors/'  and  the  doctrine  that  an  excommunicated  king  might 
be  lawfully  assassinated.  The  laws  fining  the  laity  and  ban- 
ishing the  clergy,  which  were  now  renewed,  were  soon  put  into 
effect.  A  priest  was  executed  at  Salisbury  for  saying  mass,  1604, 
and  a  layman  suffered  the  same  fate  for  encouraging  him.  At 
Manchester  several  persons  suffered  death,  September  21,  1604  ; 
such  priests  as  were  in  prison  were  sent  over  the  sea.  The  recu- 
sancy fines  were  put  in  execution,  and  James  and  his  council 
became  more  than  determined  to  proceed  against  all  dissenters — 
Puritans  and  Catholics. 

These  severe  measures  were  met  by  one  of  the  most  celebrated 
plots  in  the  history  of  the  world — a  plot  unsurpassed  for  its  dar- 
ing and  diabolical    intent.     This  was    the   Gunpowder   Plot,  in 
which  it  was  determined  at  the  opening  of  parliament  on  Novem- 
ber 5,   1605,  to   blow  up   the  king  and    queen   and 

THE  GUN-  '  '  r  Ol 

powder  family,  and  the  Lords  and  Commons — Catholic  and 

PLOT.  J  ' 

Protestant.  This  was  to  be  followed  by  a  rising  of 
the  Catholic  gentry,  and  a  succession  to  the  throne  under  guar- 
antees of  justice  to  the  Catholics.  The  plot  was  discovered  the 
day  before  the  fifth,  owing  to  an  anonymous  letter  received  by 
one  of  the  Catholic  lords  warning  him  against  attending  parlia- 
ment that  day — a  letter  which  he  immediately  turned  over  to  the 

1  Tierney,  Dodd,  vol.  iv,  App.,  and  Gardiner,  I.  c,  i,  108  ££.,  give  full  par- 
ticulars of  Watson's  plot. 


THE  ROMAN   CATHOLICS.  719 

authorities.  Of  this  famous  plot  it  should  be  said  :  (1)  Outside  the 
half  dozen  men  in  the  plot,  and  a  few  who  had  been  entangled  into 
the  rising,  the  Catholics  not  only  knew  nothing  of  the  plot,  but 
would  have  regarded  it  with  horror.  (2)  This  applies  to  the  Jesuits 
and  all  the  clergy,  it  might  fairly  be  said,  even  although  the  conspir- 
ators received  the  communion  binding  each  other  to  secrecy  from 
the  Jesuit  Gerard,  who  was  not,  however,  let  into  the  plot,  and 
although  the  head  of  the  Jesuits  in  England,  Garnet,  knew  of  the 
plot  by  confession,  and  might  have  known  of  it  outside  of  confes- 
sion if  he  had  allowed  the  information  to  be  communicated.  (3) 
From  the  fact  that  the  Jesuit  Greenway  knew  of  the  plot  by  confes- 
sion, gave  absolution  to  the  plotters,  and  refrained  from  forbidding 
their  crime  or  thwarting  it,  but  rather  indorsed  it,  and  from  the 
fact  that  his  chief,  Garnet,  took  substantially  the  same  attitude, 
though  he  said  he  looked  upon  their  deed  with  abhorrence,  the 
Order  of  Jesus  and  the  Church  are  indirectly  implicated  as  accom- 
plices and  abettors.  (4)  Perhaps  equally  damaging  to  the  con- 
structive treason  and  murder  chargeable  to  Garnet  was  his  use  of 
equivocation  at  his  trial,  founded  as  it  was  on  a  treatise  on  equivo- 
cation corrected  by  his  own  hand,  and  therefore  not  to  be  under- 
stood as  the  effort  of  a  desperate  man  to  clear  himself,  but  rather 
as  the  legitimate  carrying  out  of  an  ethical  principle.  Garnet 
held  that  it  was  not  only  right  for  a  prisoner  to  use  falsehood,  on 
the  ground  that  a  magistrate  had  no  right  to  compel  him  to  accuse 
himself,  but  he  held  the  immoral  doctrine  of  equivocation,  that  the 
speaker  could  put  any  meaning  upon  his  words,  and  he  was  not  re- 
sponsible if  the  hearer  understood  them  in  the  ordinary  or  prob- 
able sense.'  (5)  The  effort  of  Father  Gerard,  S.  J.,  as  a  part  of 
the  general  movement  of  Catholic  scholars  to  revise  the  judgments 
of  history,  to  throw  dust  on  the  reality  of  the  Gunpowder  Plot  by 
trying  to  show  that  the  evidence  is  not  sufficient  to  prove  it,  or  is 
capable  of  another  explanation,  or  that  the  whole  plot  was  manu- 
factured by  James's  prime  minister  to  induce  the  king  to  proceed 
further  against  the  Catholics,  has  been  shown  by  Gardiner  in  a 
fair  and  unbiased  investigation  to  be  an  instance  of  special  plead- 
ing which  breaks  down  at  all  critical  points.  The  history  of  the 
whole  plot  can  be  traced  with  minuteness  by  contemporary  evi- 
dence.4 

1  Gardiner,  i,  280,  281  ;  Jardine,  Gunpowder  Plot,  p.  334. 

2  Wm.  Gerard,  S.  J.,  What  Was  the  Gunpowder  Plot  ?  Lond.,  1897  ;  2d  ed., 
1899.  This  is  answered  by  The  Edinburgh  Eeview,  Jan.,  1897,  pp.  183  ff.,  and 
by  S.  R.  Gardiner,  What  Gunpowder  Plot  Was,  Lond.  &  N.  Y.,  1897.     Gerard 


720  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

It  is  obvious  that   the  Gunpowder   Plot  would    prejudice  the 
Catholics  in  the  eyes  of  their  fellow-countrymen,  make  their  treat- 
ment harsher,  and  postpone  the  day  of  their  deliverance.     Some- 
times the  persecutions  slackened,  the  penal  laws  were 

ALTERVA- 

tioxs  of  relaxed,  and  Catholics  breathed  freely  for  a  time. 
severe  Then  fines,  imprisonment,  even  death,  were  theirs.    It 

is  a  long,  gloomy  history.  The  slaying  of  holy  and 
sincere  men,  whose  only  crime  was  that  they  were  Catholic  priests, 
is  a  record  that  Protestant  England  might  well  desire  to  forget. 
But  the  accusing  page  of  history  is  like  the  books  of  the  judgment 
day :  What  is  written  is  written  forever.  Challoner  and  Father 
Morris  have  told  the  story  of  these  latter-day  martyrs,  whose 
saintliness  and  heroic  self-devotion  recall  the  glories  of  the  martyr 
Church  of  Diocletian  and  of  the  Reformation. ' 

If  Catesby's  Gunpowder  Plot  was  a  grim  reality,  Oates's  Plot,  in 
1678,  was  a  grim  fiction.    It  seems  incredible  that  this  immoral 

adventurer,  Titus  Oates,  could  so  work  on  the  ere- 

TITUS   GATES 

dulity  of  the  English  that  on  October  21,  1678,  the 
Commons  resolved  that  "there  hath  been,  and  still  is,  a  damnable 
and  hellish  plot,  carried  on  by  papist  recusants  for  assassinating 
the  king,  the  subverting  the  government,  and  for  rooting  out  the 
Protestant  religion."  But,  like  similar  cries  almost  equally  base- 
less, it  was  turned  into  political  capital,  and  so  became  effective 
for  vast  mischief.  Two  thousand  Catholics  were  cast  into  prison, 
and  fifteen  were  executed,  including  five  Jesuit  priests.  There 
are  times  when  a  nation  seems  to  lose  its  head  and  become  pos- 
sessed with  a  kind  of  frenzy  or  insanity.  Such  was  England  at 
the  time  of  the  famous  "  Popish  Plot."  For  two  years  the  excite- 
ment continued,  and  victims  were  demanded  by  the  Protestant 
mob.  It  was  not,  however,  the  last  scare  at  the  popish  bugbear, 
nor  the  last  time  that  such  scares  have  been  utilized  by  political 
selfishness,,  bigotry,  and  intolerance. 

replied  to  Gardiner  in  his  The  Gunpowder  Plot  and  the  Gunpowder  Plotters, 
Lond.,  1899.  The  trouble  with  Gerard's  book  is  that  it  rests  chiefly  on  "  sug- 
gestions and  suspicions,  gossip  or  hearsay,"  on  subjective  criticisms,  imagined 
difficulties,  or  supposed  improbabilities,  whereas  the  historical  account  rests 
on  positive  evidence.  "It  is  plain,"  says  S.  R.  Gardiner,  "that  Father 
Gerard  is  unversed  in  the  methods  of  historical  inquiry  which  have  guided 
recent  scholars."— What  Gunpowder  Plot  Was,  p.  3. 

'Challoner,  Martyrs  to  the  Catholic  Faith:  Memoirs  of  Missionary  Priests  and 
Other  Catholics  of  both  Sexes  that  have  suffered  Death  in  England  on  Religious 
Accounts  from  1577 to  1688,  Lond.,  1741  ;  new  ed.  with  pref.  by  Card.  Manning, 
Edinb.,  1877  ;  Morris,  Troubles  of  our  Catholic  Forefathers,  3  vols.,  Lond.,  1877. 


POST-REFORMATION    SCOTLAND.  721 


CHAPTER   XL 

POST-REFORMATION    SCOTLAND. 

Modekn  Scottish  Church  history  is  divided  into  two  well-defined 
periods  :  (1)  the  struggle  of  Presbyterianism  for  existence  against 
Episcopalianism — from  the  Reformation  to  the  Revolution  of  1688  ; 
and  (2)  religious  development  under  an  established  Presbyterian- 
ism— from  1690  to  the  present  time.  It  is  the  aim  of  this  chapter 
to  relate  some  of  the  events  of  the  first  period. 

As  we  have  seen,  the  Reformation  established  itself  in  Scotland 
under  a  Presbyterian  form.  This  was  in  harmony  with  the  con- 
victions of  Knox  and  of  his  chief  coadjutors,  clerical  and  lay,  and 
was  not  obnoxious  to  any  who  assented  heartily  to  the  movement. 
But  there  were  some  who  preferred  episcopacy.  They 
were  (1)  the  court  party,  the  regent,  and,  later,  James    of  episco- 

v/  \  /    \  PAIJANISM. 

VI  (James  I  of  England),  and  (2)  some  of  the  nobles 
who  desired  a  greater  share  of  the  temporalities,  and  those  who 
were  indifferent  to  the  Reformation.  The  court  party  was  pow- 
erful enough  to  secure  at  the  Convention  of  Leith,  1572,  an  order 
for  the  continuance  of  the  hierarchical  titles  and  dioceses,  and  for 
the  appointment  of  bishops.  The  so-called  bishops  were  still  sub- 
ject to  a  Presbyterian  General  Assembly,  and  the  whole  arrange- 
ment could  give  but  little  satisfaction  to  a  consistent  Episco- 
palian. Besides,  as  the  bishops  were  but  the  catspaw  of  certain 
greedy  laymen,  who  received  most  of  the  emoluments  of  the  see, 
the  people  went  straight  to  the  mark  with  their  derisive  nickname, 
"  tulchan  bishops."  The  tulchan  was  a  calfskin  stuffed  with  straw, 
which  was  placed  beside  a  cow  to  make  her  give  her  milk  more 
freely.  "  The  bishops  have  the  name/'  said  the  people,  "but  the 
nobles  have  the  milk." 

Neither  party  could  be  content  with  such  a  state  of  things  as 
this.  The  Presbyterian  party  went  forward  to  a  more  consistent 
position.  This  was  partly  due  to  the  influence  of  the  learned  An- 
drew Melville,  who  had  returned  to  Scotland  after  a  MELVille's 
long  training  in  continental  universities,  and  under  argument. 
Calvin  and  Beza,  and  now  threw  his  whole  influence  into  the  work 
of  establishing  the  Church  on  what  he  considered  scriptural  foun- 
dations. In  the  Assembly  of  1575  he  made  a  strong  argument  to 
48  2 


722  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

the  effect  "  that  prelacy  had  no  foundation  in  Scripture,  and  that, 
viewed  as  a  human  expedient,  its  tendency  was  extremely  doubtful, 
if  not  necessarily  hurtful  to  religion.  The  words  bishop  and  pres- 
byter are  interchangeably  used  in  the  New  Testament,  and  the 
most  popular  arguments  for  the  divine  origin  of  episcopacy  are 
founded  on  ignorance  of  the  original  of  Scripture.  It  was  the 
opinion  of  Jerome  and  other  Christian  fathers  that  all  ministers  of 
the  Gospel  were  at  first  equal,  and  that  the  superiority  of  bishojDS 
originated  in  custom,  not  in  divine  appointment.  A  certain  degree 
of  preeminence  was  at  an  early  period  given  to  one  of  the  college 
of  presbyters  over  the  rest,  with  a  view  or  under  a  pretext  of  pre- 
serving unity  ;  but  this  device  had  often  bred  dissension,  while  it 
fostered  a  spirit  of  ambition  and  avarice  among  the  clergy." 

With  arguments  like  the  above,  Melville  and  others  gradually  led 
assembly  ^e  General  Assembly  to  an  uncompromising  Presby- 
of  1576.  terianism,  so  far  as  their  synodal  action  was  concerned. 

The  Assembly  of  1576  decided  that  the  "name  of  a  bishop  is  com- 
mon to  all  who  are  appointed  to  take  charge  of  a  particular  flock, 
in  preaching  the  Word,  administering  the  sacraments,  and  exer- 
cising discipline  with  the  consent  of  their  elders  ;  and  that  this  is 
their  chief  function  according  to  the  Word  of  God. "  The  tulchan 
bishops  did  not  raise  their  voices  in  their  own  defense. 

The  court  bitterly  resented  this  action,  and  especially  Melville's 
influence.  The  Regent  Murray  tried  to  stop  the  meeting  of  the 
Assembly  by  telling  Melville  that  as  it  was  a  court  of  the  king's 
melville's  subjects  it  could  only  meet  by  his  permission.  If  that 
courage.  were  g0^  gaid  Melville,  then  Christ  and  his  apostles 
must  have  been  guilty  of  treason,  for  they  called  together  great 
multitudes  and  taught  and  governed  them  without  asking  permis- 
sion of  magistrates.  In  a  fit  of  anger  Lord  Chancellor  Morton  bit 
his  staff,  and  growled  in  an  undertone,  "  There  never  will  be  quiet- 
ness in  this  country  till  half-a-dozen  of  you  be  hanged  or  banished." 
"  Tush,  sir,"  replied  the  brave  Presbyterian ;  "  threaten  your 
courtiers  after  this  manner.  It  is  the  same  to  me  whether  I  rot 
in  the  air  or  in  the  ground.  The  earth  is  the  Lord's.  My  coun- 
try is  wherever  goodness  is.  .  .  .  I  have  lived  out  of  your  coun- 
try two  years,  as  well  as  in  it.  Let  God  be  glorified ;  it  will 
not  be  in  your  power  to  hang  or  exile  his  truth."  l  In  1578  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  sanctioned  the  Second  Book  of  Discipline,  which 
fixed  Presbyterianism  as  the  national  polity,  and  ordered  that  no 
new  bishops  should  be  made. 

1  Melville's  Diary,  pp.  52,  55. 


POST-REFORMATION   SCOTLAND.  723 

The  Stuart  sovereigns  were  bound  to  neutralize  or  destroy  Pres- 
byterianism  in  Scotland  as  in  England,  under  the  impression  that 
that  polity  was  a  school  for  freedom.  When  James  was  trying  to 
enslave  the  Scottish  Church  by  interfering  with   the 

i  MELVILLE 

free  coming  together  of  her  Assembly,  the  heroic  Mel-         and  king 

IAMFS 

ville  addressed  him  thus  :  "  Sir,  we  will  always  humbly 
reverence  your  majesty  in  public  ;  but  since  we  have  this  occasion 
to  be  with  your  majesty  in  private,  and  since  you  are  brought  into 
extreme  danger  of  your  life  and  crown  [by  certain  proposals  from 
the  Catholic  nobles],  and  along  with  you  the  country  and  the 
Church  of  God  are  like  to  go  to  wreck,  for  not  telling  you  the  truth 
and  giving  you  faithful  counsel,  we  must  discharge  our  duty,  or 
else  be  traitors  to  both  it  and  you.  Therefore,  sir,  as  divers  times 
before  I  have  told  you,  so  now  again  I  must  tell  you,  there  are  two 
kings  and  kingdoms  in  Scotland  :  there  is  King  James,  the  head  of 
the  commonwealth,  and  there  is  Christ  Jesus,  the  king  of  the 
Church,  whose  subject  James  the  Sixth  is,  and  of  whose  kingdom 
he  is  not  a  king,  nor  a  lord,  nor  a  head,  but  a  member.  Sir,  those 
whom  Christ  has  called  and  commanded  to  watch  over  his  Church 
have  power  and  authority  from  him  to  govern  his  spiritual  kingdom, 
both  jointly  and  severally  ;  the  which  no  Christian  king  nor  prince 
should  control  and  discharge,  but  fortify  and  assist ;  otherwise  they 
are  not  faithful  subjects  of  Christ  and  members  of  his  Church. 
We. will  yield  to  you  your  place,  and  give  you  all  due  obedience  ; 
but  again  I  say,  you  are  not  the  head  of  the  Church  ;  you  cannot 
give  us  that  eternal  life  which  we  seek  for  even  in  this  world,  and 
you  cannot  deprive  us  of  it.  Permit  us,  then,  freely  to  meet  in 
the  name  of  Christ,  and  to  attend  to  the  interests  of  that  Church 
of  which  you  are  the  chief  member/" 

Was  it  the  memory  of  these  bold  words  which  at  Hampton  con- 
ference made  the  king  resolve  that  he  would  either  make  the  Puri- 
tans conform  or  harry  them  out  of  the  land  ?  But  Melville's 
warning  did  not  make  the  king  any  the  less  anxious  to  cripple  the 
presbytery  and  strengthen  the  episcopacy  in  Scotland,  melville 
Step  by  step,  often  by  secret  and  corrupt  influence,  he  anTTmpris- 
got  one  advantage  after  the  other,  and  finally  had  ONED- 
prelacy  recognized  as  a  third  estate  of  the  realm.  To  get  rid  of 
Melville's  influence  he  deprived  him  of  the  rectorship  of  St.  An- 
drew's University,  1597,  and  then  had  a  law  passed  that  no  theo- 
logical teachers  not  pastors  should  sit  in  Assembly.  James's 
treatment  of  this  great  and  good  man  is  one  of  the  dark  blots  on 
1  Melville's  Diary,  pp.  245,  246. 


724  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

his  character.  In  1606  James  summoned  him  and  seven  other 
ministers  to  London,  nominally  to  confer  with  them  on  Church 
matters,  but  really  to  deprive  the  Assembly  of  their  presence  and 
their  opposition  to  his  plans.  While  in  London  Melville  was  com- 
pelled to  attend  a  highly  ritualistic  service  in  the  royal  chapel,  on 
which  he  afterward  wrote  for  his  own  amusement  some  satir- 
ical Latin  verses.  A  spy  discovered  these  and  delivered  them  to  the 
king,  who  now  had  his  revenge.  Melville  was  found  guilty  by  the 
privy  council  of  a  great  scandal,  and  was  imprisoned  in  the  Tower. 
After  four  years'  confinement,  James,  at  the  request  of  Du  Plessis 
Mornay,  allowed  Melville  to  go  to  Sedan  to  assist  Tilenus  in  the 
professorship  of  divinity.  Scotch  students  came  to 
on  the  him  there,  so  that  his  work  was  still  continued.     One 

CONTINENT 

of  his  pupils  was  John  Dury,  who  labored  so  zeal- 
ously for  union  among  Protestants,  and  Alexander  Colville, 
who  carried  on  his  work  at  St.  Andrew's.  "  If  the  love  of  pure 
religion,  rational  liberty,  and  polite  letters,  forms  the  basis  of 
national  virtue  and  happiness,  I  know  no  individual,  after  her  re- 
former, from  whom  Scotland  has  received  greater  benefits,  and  to 
whom  she  owes  a  deeper  debt  of  gratitude  and  respect,  than  An- 
drew Melville."  !  He  died  at  Sedan,  at  the  age  of  77,  in  1622.  With 
some  of  the  principal  champions  of  Presbyterianism  thus  removed, 
James  succeeded  by  bribery  and  force  in  bringing  in  a  full-fledged 
prelacy  upon  the  Scottish  Church,  and  also  some  minor  regula- 
tions, such  as  kneeling  at  the  Lord's  Supper,  confirmation,  private 
baptism  (when  necessary),  and  the  observance  of  Christmas,  Easter, 
and  other  holidays. 

Charles  I  and  Laud  were  determined  to  proceed  to  further 
measures  for  the  Catholicizing  of  Scotland.  The  country  was  still 
Presbyterian.  Of  one  product  that  land  has  always  been  able  to 
boast — men,  men  of  brain  and  heart,  men  of  learning  and  piety. 
There  was  Samuel  Rutherford,  the  Presbyterian  Thomas  Aquinas, 
with  his  learning,  his  theological  acumen,  his  piety — at  once  a 
great  Church  leader  and  a  saint,  equally  at  home  among  the  tomes 
of  the  fathers,  writing  a  letter  of  comfort  to  a  poor  widow,  or 
strong  lead-  Praym£  m  the  hovels  of  his  parishioners.  There 
chakles1  iST  was  George  Gillespie,  a  young  giant  in  intellect  and 
and  laud.  learning,  the  great  antagonist  of  both  Independency 
and  Anglicanism,  who  was  cut  off  in  the  fullness  of  youth.  Of 
him  the  story  is  told  that  when  the  Westminster  Assembly  was 
preparing  the  Shorter  Catechism  and  came  to  the  question,  "  What  is 

1  McCrie,  Life  of  Andrew  Melville,  2  vols.,  Edinburgh,  1819r  2d  ed.,  1824. 


POST-REFORMATION   SCOTLAND.  725 

God  ?  "  and  all  present  declined  to  answer,  they  hit  upon  Gillespie 
as  the  youngest  member.  He  proposed  that  they  first  engage  in 
prayer,  and  the  opening  sentence  of  his  prayer  was  taken  down  as  the 
best  of  all  human  answers.  There  was  also  Alexander  Henderson, 
the  ecclesiastical  statesman  of  Scotland,  who  towered  like  a  rock 
amid  the  commotions  of  the  times.  He  wore  himself  out  for  the 
Church,  and  went  home  to  Edinburgh  to  die  with  the  words : 
"I  am  near  the  end  of  my  race.  In  a  few  days  I  am  going 
home,  and  I  am  as  glad  of  it  as  a  schoolboy  when  sent  home  from 
school  to  his  father's  house."  Men  like  these  must  be  remembered 
when  we  ask,  Why  did  not  the  first  and  second  Charles  succeed 
in  their  attempts  to  set  up  Anglo-Catholicism  in  Scotland  ? 

In  1636  Charles  I  sent  over  a  body  of  canons  and  constitutions  ec- 
clesiastical, which  enjoined  :  (1)  the  supreme  headship  of  the  king 
in  the  ecclesiastical  affairs  of  Scotland,  and  the  penalty  of  excom- 
munication for  all  who  should  refuse  to  recognize  that  Charles's 
headship  ;  (2)  ember  seasons  as  the  only  time  allow-  prayer 
able  for  ordinations  ;  (3)  the  receiving  of  the  sacrament  BOOK- 
kneeling  ;  (4)  no  extempore  prayer  ;  (5)  no  form  of  prayer  except 
that  in  the  new  liturgy ;  (6)  the  communion  table  to  be  placed 
at  the  upper  end  of  the  church,  and  decently  covered  ;  (7)  the 
encouragement  of  private  confession ;  (8)  absolution  to  be  given 
at  the  proper  time.  The  canons  also  suppressed  the  presbyteries 
and  General  Assembly. '  This  was  followed  by  a  Prayer  Book  in- 
tended to  take  the  place  of  Knox's  extremely  Protestant  Book  of 
Common  Order.2  The  Prayer  Book  received  the  king's  assent  on 
December  20,  1637,  though  it  was  not  until  the  middle  of  the  next 
year  that  it  was  ordered  used  in  all  the  churches  of  Scotland. 

On  Sunday,  July  23,  1638,  the  new  liturgy  was  to  be  read 
for  the  first  time  in  St.  Giles'  Cathedral,  Edinburgh.  The  bishop 
of  Edinburgh  was  the  preacher.  Several  other  bishops,  THE  CRI9IS 
the  lords  of  the  privy  council,  and  the  magistrates  ^  ST-  giles'. 
attended  in  their  official  robes.  The  dean,  wearing  not  the  usual 
teacher's  gown,  with  which  the  people  were  familiar,  but  the 
hated  surplice,  arose  to  read  the  new  book.  Immediately  a  con- 
fused low  murmur  was  heard,  which  gradually  arose  louder 
and  louder,  and  in  the  midst  of  that  ominous  clamor  a  woman 

1  The  canons  of  1636  may  be  found  in  Laud's  Works,  vol.  v. 

2  For  a  brief  statement  of  differences  between  Knox's  Book  and  the  Anglo- 
Scottish  liturgy  see  Luckock,  The  Church  in  Scotland,  pp.  182-185.  For  an 
interesting  account  of  Knox's  Book  see  D.  Douglas  Bannerman  in  A  New  Di- 
rectory for  the  Public  Worship  of  God,  Edinburgh,  1898. 


726  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

took  the  stool  on  which  she  had  been  sitting,  and  sent  it 
whizzing  through  the  air  at  the  head  of  the  dean,  with  the  cry, 
"  Out,  thou  false  loon  !  Dost  thou  say  mass  at  my  lug  ?"  Other 
women  made  similar  outcries,  and  Wodrow  says  that  more  than 
one  stool  was  fired  at  the  ecclesiastical  dignitaries  in  the  old 
church  on  that  famous  Sunday.  Archbishop  Spottiswood  ordered 
the  soldiers  to  clear  the  church  of  the  rioters,  and  the  service  pro- 
ceeded to  the  close  with  the  fierce  cries  of  the  incensed  crowds 
outside  coming  through  the  breaking  windows.1 

Some  Anglican  writers  have  pointed  to  the  St.  Giles'  rude  pro- 
test against  the  reading  of  the  prayer  as  an  evidence  of  the  dull- 
ness or  barbarism  of  the  Scotch  people.     But  these 

THE  AIM  OF  .,  •  -i  p     ,  i  •      i  xi 

the  st.  giles'  writers  are  wide  of  the  point.  It  was  not  against 
read  prayers,  as  such,  that  the  Scotch  people  protested. 
They  had  prayers  in  their  own  service  book.  But  the  St.  Giles' 
stools  were  aimed  at  a  larger  mark.  (1)  It  was  the  attempt  to 
overthrow  that  Protestant  faith  in  which  two  generations  of 
people  had  been  trained.  Would  they  sit  supinely  by  and  see  this 
splendid  inheritance  snatched  from  them?  The  people  went 
straight  to  the  mark  :  Wilt  thou  say  mass  at  my  lug  ?  They 
knew  that  Laud's  new  Prayer  Book  meant  Catholicism.  (2)  It  was  a 
protest  against  absolutism.  Charles  was  trying,  as  James  had 
tried,  to  rule  independently  of  the  ecclesiastical  courts  of  the  land, 
and  to  enforce  a  new  religion  against  the  will  of  the  people. 

There  now  followed  the  attempt  of  the  Episcopal  Church  to  de- 
stroy Presbyterianism  and  freedom  in  Scotland,  which  lasted,  with 
the  Cromwellian  respite,  for  fifty  years.     On  the  one  hand,  it  must 
be  allowed  that  the  Anglicans  did  not  persecute  the 
of  the  Scotch  because  they  wanted  to  kill  Presbyterians,  but 

they  persecuted  to  realize  a  religiously  united  Great 
Britain.  The  countries  could  never  be  one  politically  until  they 
were  one  religiously.  That  was  the  thought  of  England,  and  it 
was  the  thought  of  the  Presbyterians  too,  when  they  prepared  to 
swear  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant  on  every  adult  in  England, 

1  The  tradition  of  the  flying  stool  is  well  founded,  being  based  on  all  the 
contemporary  accounts.  But  the  tradition  which  makes  Jeanie  Geddes  the 
heroine  of  that  unusual  missile  has  long  been  exploded,  though  it  is  repeated 
in  histories  of  the  Scotch  Church,  usually  accurate,  like  those  of  Hetherington, 
p.  146 ;  N.  L.  Walker,  p.  48 ;  and  Muir,  p.  40.  Wodrow  (d.  1734)  states  that 
it  was  a  "  constant  believed  tradition  that  it  was  Mrs.  Mean,  wife  to  John 
Mean,  merchant  of  Edinburgh,  that  cast  the  first  stool,"  (Analecta,  i,  64).  For 
the  correct  account  see  Luckock,  pp.  186,  187  ;  Burton,  Hist,  of  Scotland,  vi, 
443  ;  and  Gardiner,  Hist,  of  England,  1603-1642,  viii,  315. 


POST-REFORMATION   SCOTLAND.  727 

1643.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  fair  to  say :  (1)  The  Anglican  attempt 
was  connected  with  absolutist  ideas,  and  meant  the  virtual  subver- 
sion of  the  Scotch  parliament.  It  was  the  carrying  out  of  a  pro- 
gram for  the  destruction  of  Scottish  liberty  as  well  as  of  Scottish 
religion,  whereas  the  English  Presbyterians  received  the  hearty 
support  of  parliament.  (2)  The  Scotch  never  set  out  with  armies 
to  destroy  Anglicanism.  (3)  The  persecuting  measures  against 
the  Scotch  were  so  long  continued,  and  of  so  cruel  a  character,  that 
they  are  set  apart  by  themselves  as  peculiarly  diabolical  and  worthy 
of  Rome  at  a  darker  time.  (4)  Far  from  having  only  a  political 
intent  in  this  persecution,  Episcopalianism  would  not  be  content 
except  at  the  martyrdom  of  women  also,  and  of  others  whose  faith 
was  no  menace  to  the  State. 

The  rallying  charter  of  the  Scotch  in  this  fearful  time  was  the 
National  Covenant,  a  pledge  to  maintain  the  true  Christian  faith, 
signed  in  1580,  1581,  and  1590,  and  now  brought  forward  with  im- 
portant additions.  The  acts  of  parliament  in  support  the  nation- 
of  the  reformed  religion  were  cited,  and  the  Covenant  ALCOVENj 
closed  with  a  solemn  promise  to  defend  that  religion.  "  We,  noble- 
men, barons,  gentlemen,  burgesses,  ministers,  and  commons,"  ran 
the  brave  words  of  this  immortal  document,  "  subscribing  hereto, 
considering  divers  times  before,  and  especially  at  this  time,  the 
danger  of  the  true  reformed  religion,  of  the  king's  honor,  and  of  the 
public  peace,  by  the  manifold  innovations  and  evils  generally  con- 
tained and  mentioned  in  our  late  supplications,  complaints,  and 
protestations,  do  hereby  profess,  and  before  God,  his  angels,  and 
the  world,  solemnly  declare,  that  with  a  whole  heart  we  agree  and 
resolve  all  the  days  of  our  life  constantly  to  adhere  to  defend  the 
aforesaid  true  religion,  forbearing  the  practice  of  all  innovations 
already  introduced  in  the  matter  of  the  worship  of  God  or  appro- 
bation of  the  corruptions  of  the  public  government  of  the  Kirk  or 
civil  places,  and  power  of  Kirkmen,  till  they  be  tried  and  allowed, 
in  free  assemblies  and  in  parliament,  to  labor  by  all  means  lawful 
to  recover  the  purity  and  liberty  of  the  Gospel  as  it  was  established 
and  professed  before  the  aforesaid  innovations.  And  ....  we 
promise  and  swear  by  the  great  name  of  the  Lord  our  God  to 
continue  in  the  profession  and  obedience  of  the  aforesaid  religion, 
and  that  we  shall  defend  the  same,  and  resist  all  these  contrary 
errors  and  corruptions." 

After  declaring  their  loyalty  to  the  king,  they  say  :  "And  be- 
cause we  cannot  look  for  a  blessing  of  God  upon  our  proceedings, 
except  with  our  profession  and  subscription  we  join  such  a  life 


728  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

and  conversation  as  beseemeth  Christians  who  have  renewed  their 
covenant  with  God,  we  therefore  faithfully  promise  ourselves,  our 
followers,  and  all  others  under  us,  both  in  public  and  in  our  par- 
ticular families,  and  personal  carriage,  to  endeavor  to  keep  our- 
selves within  the  bounds  of  Christian  liberty,  and  to  be  good 
examples  to  others  of  all  godliness,  soberness,  and  righteousness, 
and  of  every  duty  we  owe  to  God  and  man ;  and,  that  this  our 
union  and  conjunction  may  be  observed  without  violation,  we  call 
the  living  God,  the  Searcher  of  our  hearts,  to  witness,  who  knoweth 
this  to  be  our  sincere  desire  and  unfeigned  resolution." 

The  signing  of  the  Covenant  in  the  Greyfriars'  Church,  Edin- 
burgh, March  1, 1638,  was  one  of  the  most  affecting  and  memorable 
scenes  in  history.    After  prayer  by  Henderson,  the  Earl 

THK  SIGNING 

of  the  cove-  of  Loudon  addressed  the  congregation,  urging  fidelity 
to  God  and  country.  Then  the  document  was  unrolled, 
and  signatures  asked.  A  pause  ensued,  for  no  one  felt  himself 
worthy  to  sign  first.  At  last  the  aged  Earl  of  Sutherland  came 
forward,  and  lifting  up  his  hand,  as  is  the  custom  of  Scotland  in 
swearing,  wrote  his  name.  The  rest  pressed  forward  to  follow  his 
example,  noblemen  first,  country  gentlemen  next,  then  the  minis- 
ters, and  last  the  burgesses.  Then  the  parchment  was  taken  out- 
side and  laid  upon  one  of  the  level  gravestones.  The  people  wept 
aloud  for  joy.  Some  added  to  their  names  the  words  "till  death," 
and  others  drew  their  blood  and  used  it  as  ink.  "  Then,  as  dark- 
ness closed  in  upon  this  weird  spectacle,  they  stood  once  more, 
amidst  the  graves  of  their  ancestors,  and  with  uplifted  hands  and 
united  voice  declared  that  they  had  joined  themselves  to  the  Lord 
in  an  everlasting  covenant  that  shall  not  be  forgotten."  The 
Covenant  was  signed  with  almost  equal  enthusiasm  in  other  parts 
of  the  country. 

Charles  gnashed  his  teeth  with  rage  when  he  heard  of  all  this. 
"  I  intend  not  to  yield  to  the  demands  of  these  traitors,  the  Cove- 
kage  of  nanters,"  he  said,  "and,  as  concerning  the  explana- 

charles  i.  tion  of  this  damnable  Covenant,  I  will  only  say  that 
so  long  as  this  Covenant  is  in  force,  whether  it  be  with  or  without 
explanation,  I  have  no  more  power  in  Scotland  than  a  duke  of 
Venice  would  have.     I  will  rather  die  than  suffer  it." 

The  General  Assembly  of  1638  continued  the  good  work.  The 
statesman,  pastor,  and  saint,  Alexander  Henderson,  was  made 
assembly  moderator,  and  under  his  guidance  the  question  was 
of  1638.  answered,  Shall  this    General   Assembly  resume    its 

rights  as  a  court  of  Jesus  Christ  in  his  Church?     In  the  exercise 


POST-REFORMATION   SCOTLAND.  729 

of  those  rights  it  abolished  episcopacy,  removed  the  bishops,  and 
rescinded  the  Perth  Articles  and  the  ordinances  about  the  service 
book.  Charles  answered  this  action  with  an  army,  but  his  troops 
were  defeated,  and  he  soon  had  far  more  serious  work  on  his  hands 
in  England. 

With  the  coming  of  Charles  II,  1660,  began  the  testing  time 
in  the  history  of  Scottish  Protestantism,  which  lasted  almost  to  the 
deposition  of  James  II  in  1688.     We  have  seen  that 
during:  the  Keformation  times  in  Scotland  there  were     under 

.    ,  .  ,  rr,,  ,  .      n  CHAJRLES  II. 

few  martyrs  on  either  side.  The  real  martyr  period 
was  in  the  last  quarter  of  the  seventeenth  century.  It  was  the 
Henrician  and  Marian  age  of  Scotland,  when  her  brave  spirits — 
men  and  women — gave  up  their  lives  with  glad  joy  for  Christ's 
crown  and  covenant,  and  sealed  their  testimony  for  Christ  with  as 
heroic  a  giving  up  of  life  as  ever  the  martyrs  did  who  waited  for 
Nero's  torch  or  Galerius's  sword. 

It  may  be  said  that  these  methods  were  the  rough  ways  of  the 
times.  This  is  so  in  part;  but  even  under  Henry,  Mary,  and 
Elizabeth  the  heretics  had  a  form  of  trial,  and  their  execution  was 
always  after  a  more  or  less  long,  careful,  and  formal  examination. 
But  the  cruelties  of  the  Anglican  crusade  recall  the  CRUEL  PEK. 
horrors  of  the  medigeval  wars  for  the  Holy  Sepul-  secutions. 
cher  and  those  of  the  Sepoy  Eebellion.  Even  the  Episcopalian 
and  Tory,  Sir  Walter  Scott,  though  he  speaks  in  Old  Mortality  of 
the  "gloomy  fanaticism"  of  some  of  the  Covenanters,  "their 
abhorrent  condemnation  of  all  elegant  studies  or  innocent  exer- 
cises, and  the  envenomed  rancor  of  their  political  hatred" — 
qualities  which  their  persecution  by  Anglicans  would  naturally 
engender,  though  doubtless  all  religious  earnestness  Scott  would 
have  been  inclined  to  call  fanaticism — 6peaks  also  in  the  same 
great  novel  of  the  deeper  abhorrence  that  we  must  feel  for  the 
"  tyrannical  and  oppressive  conduct  of  the  government,  the  mis- 
rule, license,  and  brutality  of  the  soldiers,  the  executions  on  the 
scaffold,  the  slaughters  in  the  open  field,  the  free  quarters  and 
exactions  imposed  by  military  law,  which  placed  the  lives  and 
fortunes  of  a  free  people    on  a  level  with  Asiatic  slaves."1     A 

1  R.  H.  Hutton,  in  his  Sir  Walter  Scott  (English  Men  of  Letters  Series), 
says  that  "  although  Scott's  political  and  martial  prepossessions  went  with 
Claverhouse,  his  reason  and  educated  moral  feeling  were  clearly  identified 
with  Morton  "  (p.  106).  In  Tales  of  a  Grandfather  Scott  made  amends  for 
his  former  treatment  of  the  Covenanters.  Mr.  David  Douglas,  the  editor  of 
the  Journal  of  Sir  Walter  Scott,  2  vols.,  Edinb.,  1890,  believes  that  Scott's 


730  HISTORY   OF   THE  CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

writer  of  studied  moderation  is  constrained  to  say  that  it  is 
vain  to  allege  political  matters  as  the  sole  cause  of  the  persecution, 
''and  that  religious  liberty  was  not  interfered  with.  The  boot 
and  the  thumbscrew  were  used  for  the  purpose  of  enforcing  sub- 
mission to  bishops,  as  certainly  as  ever  the  rack  and  the  stake 
were  used  for  the  purpose  of  enforcing  submission  to  the  pope."1 
In  fact  the  use  of  torture  alone,  which  was  employed  so  ruthlessly 
by  the  agents  of  Anglicanism  in  Scotland — and  that  in  the  last 
quarter  of  the  seventeenth  century — adds  to  the  infamy  of  the 
attempt  to  destroy  the  Scottish  Church.1 

The  ordinary  method  of  the  Episcopal  persecution  was  not 
death.  A  devout  and  learned  Presbyterian  pastor  received  notice 
to  give  up  his  parish.  He  and  his  family  became  exiles  and 
wanderers,  though  it  was  a  criminal  offense  for  anyone  to  receive 
them  or  give  them  aid.  An  Episcopal  minister,  ignorant  and 
perhaps  vicious — that  is  Burnet's  contemporary  description — suc- 
ceeded him.  The  people  would  not  attend  his  ministrations. 
The  authorities  sent  down  dragoons  to  compel  them.  These  were 
quartered  upon  them,  inflicted  heavy  fines,  and  thus 

MARTYRS  x    .  r  i.-i-i 

for  con-  ruined  some.  Others  were  banished  or  sold  as  slaves. 
Some  were  shot  without  trial.  A  pious  carrier,  John 
Brown,  of  Priesthill,  Muirkirk,  for  refusing  to  attend  the  services 
of  some  worthless  curate's  ministry,  was  arrested  by  Claverhouse 
while  working  in  the  field,  taken  to  his  own  house,  and  ordered  to 
pray,  for  he  must  die.  After  praying,  Brown  kissed  his  wife  and 
children  good-bye,  and  Claverhouse  ordered  his  soldiers  to  fire. 
They  refused.  Then  he  shot  him  through  the  head  with  his  own 
hand,  and  said  to  the  widow,  "  What  thinkest  thou  of  thy  hus- 
band now,  woman  ?  "  "I  ever  thought  much  good  of  him,  and 
so  much  now  as  ever,"  she  answered.  "  It  were  but  justice  to  lay 
thee  beside  him,"  said  the  persecutor.  "  If  you  were  permitted," 
replied  she,  "  I  doubt  not  but  your  cruelty  would  go  that  length  ; 
but  how  will  you  answer  for  this  morning's  work  ?  "     "  To  man  I 

later  effort  to  do  justice  to  the  Covenanters  was  due  to  a  change  of  view, 
to  a  conviction  that  he  had  not  done  them  justice  in  his  earlier  writings. 

1  Pearson  McAdam  Mutr,  The  Church  of  Scotland,  p.  48. 

9  Torture  was  not  legally  abolished  in  Scotland  until  1709. — Lea,  Supersti- 
tion and  Force,  4th  ed.,  rev.,  p.  574.  Lea  says  that  no  trace  of  torture  in 
England  can  be  found  later  than  1640,  though  the  equally  barbarous  custom 
of  peine  forte  et  dure — torture  to  make  a  prisoner  plead — was  not  abolished 
until  1772.  Ibid.,  pp.  569,  574,  note.  In  fact  the  persistence  of  torture  in 
the  legal  procedures  of  Christian  states  is  one  of  the  discouraging  revelations 
of  history. 


POST-REFORMATION   SCOTLAND.  731 

can  be  answerable,"  said  Graham  of  Claverhouse,  of  whom  Aytoun 
sings  in  eulogistic  lays,  "and  as  for  God  I  will  take  him  in  my 
own  hand."  Then  the  brutal  Claverhouse  wheeled  away  with  his 
troops,  leaving  the  desolate  widow  to  gather  up  the  brains  of  her 
husband  and  compose  his  body  to  its  eternal  sleep. 

Another  victim  was  Andrew  Hislop,  of  County  Dumfries,  whom 
the  soldiers  requested  to  cover  his  eyes  with  his  bonnet  before  they 
fired.  "  Raising  it  higher  on  his  dauntless  brow,  and  stretching 
out  his  hand,  in  which  he  held  his  Bible,  he  replied  that  he  could 
look  his  death-bringers  in  the  face  without  fear,  charging  them 
to  answer  for  what  they  had  done  and  were  about  to 

HISI  OF*      aw. 

do  in  the  Great  Day,  when  they  should  be  judged  by  cher,  and 
that  Book — and  so  fell  a  dreadless  martyr  for  the 
truth."1  Sometimes  the  persecutors  in  their  search  for  some  hap- 
less Presbyterian  would  gather  the  children  together,  draw  them 
up  in  a  line,  place  soldiers  before  them,  and  tell  them  to  pray,  for 
they  were  now  to  be  shot.  Then,  while  they  were  in  mortal  fear, 
they  were  promised  that  on  revealing  the  hiding  places  of  their 
relatives  and  friends  their  lives  would  be  spared.  A  promising 
young  minister,  Thomas  Archer,  was  swung  from  the  gallows. 
Another  young  preacher — the  eloquent  and  devout  Hugh  McKail 
— had  been  associated  with  some  efforts  at  self-defense,  but  only 
for  a  short  time.  He  told  frankly  his  whole  relation  to  the  move- 
ment, but  this  was  not  enough.  The  persecutors  wanted  to  know 
more,  and  applied  the  torture  of  the  boot.  Harder  and  harder 
did  they  screw  that  horrible  instrument,  crushing  his  flesh  and 
bones,  but  he  repeatedly  declared  that  he  had  nothing  more  to  say. 
Finally  a  swoon  relieved  him.  When  he  was  brought  to  execution 
his  face  shone  with  the  joy  of  Christian  triumph.  He  closed 
his  speech  on  the  scaffold  with  these  words  :  "  And  now  I  leave  off 
to  speak  any  more  to  creatures,  and  turn  my  speech  to  thee,  0 
Lord.  I  begin  my  intercourse  with  God,  which  shall  never  be 
broken  off.  Farewell,  father  and  mother,  friends  and  relations  ; 
farewell,  the  world  and  all  delights ;  farewell,  meat  and  drink  ; 
farewell,  sun,  moon,  and  stars.  Welcome,  God  and  Father ;  wel- 
come, sweet  Jesus,  the  mediator  of  the  New  Covenant ;  welcome, 
blessed  Spirit  of  grace,  and  God  of  all  consolation;  welcome,  glory; 
welcome,  eternal  life  ;  welcome,  death.  0  Lord,  into  thy  hands  I 
commit  my  spirit ;  for  thou  hast  redeemed  my  soul,  Lord  God  of 
truth."  The  imprisonment  of  two  hundred  men  and  women  in  one 
vault  in  Dunnottar  Castle  for  almost  one  whole  summer  (1685),  all 
1  Hetherington,  Hist,  of  Church  of  Scotland,  pp.  280,  281. 


732  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

crowded  together  in  a  mass,  some  happily  relieved  by  death  from 
that  long  agony,  and  others  later  sold  as  slaves,  equals  in  inhu- 
manity the  famous  incident  of  the  Black  Hole  of  Calcutta.1 

In  regard  to  the  armed  resistance  which  the  Anglican  persecutors 
aroused,  it  may  be  said  that  this  resistance  was  never  formidable, 

but  rather  pathetically  feeble,  and  that  on  any  just 
distance         principles  of  government  it  was  both  righteous  and 

necessary.  For  far  less  provocation  England  was  con- 
vulsed with  civil  war,  Charles  I  was  beheaded,  and  James  II 
was  dethroned.  The  Revolution  of  1688  is  the  complete  vindica- 
tion of  Argyll  and  Richard  Cameron.  These  defensive  movements, 
however,  were  never  national,  but  rather  sporadic  and  short-lived. 
The  murder  of  Archbishop  Sharp  is  also  alleged  as  palliation  for 
the  "Killing  Times."     This  was  cruel  and  impolitic.     Sharp  had 

been  professor  at  St.  Andrew's,  and  was  intrusted  by 
archbishop     the  Presbyterians  with  responsible  missions.     But  he 

SHARP 

turned  traitor,  and  in  1661  was  consecrated  archbishop 
of  St.  Andrew's.  With  the  zeal  of  a  convert  he  entered  into  the 
work  of  persecution,  sending  nine  persons  to  death,  it  is  said,  after 
the  king  had  desired  the  bloody  work  to  cease.  A  company  of 
desperate  men  intercepted  his  carriage  on  Magus  Muir,  near  St. 
Andrew's,  May  3,  1679,  and  dispatched  him  before  the  eyes  of  his 
daughter.  This  single  murder  by  a  company  of  enthusiasts  crazed 
by  oppression  can  hardly  excuse  the  horrible  barbarities  executed 
in  cold  blood  on  Hackston,  the  chief  of  the  murderers.2 

William  of  Orange,    king    1689-1702,  believed   in    the   divine 
right  of  neither  presbytery  nor  episcopacy,  and  was  indifferent  as 

to  which  was  established  by  law,  providing  that  both 

UNDER  WIE-  -  -i   .  -i  .  .. 

liam  of  or-  were  iully  loyal  to  him  and  to  the  constitutional  govern- 
ment for  which  his  name  stood.  As  the  Episcopalians 
were  the  disaffected  in  Scotland — many  of  them  being  the  partisans 
of  the  deposed  James,  and  as  presbytery  was  the  national  polity,  the 
Presbyterian  Church  was  established  in  Scotland,  but  with  large 
provision  for  toleration.  As  early  as  1712,  with  the  memories  of 
the  Anglican  Reign  of  Terror  still  fresh,  an  act  of  toleration  was 
passed  giving  freedom  to  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Scotland.  For 
the  large  and  broad  lines  on  which  the  Scottish  Church  was  recon- 
stituted credit  is  due  not  only  to  a  liberal  sovereign,  but  to  Princi- 
pal Carstares  of  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  one  of  the  most 
illustrious  names  of  modern  times. 

1  On  Dnnnottar  see  Wodrow,  v,  323-328,  333  ;  Hetherington,  282,  283. 
5  See  N.  L.  Walker,  Scottish  Church  History,  p.  82. 


IRELAND   FROM   ELIZABETH   TO   ANNE.  733 


jy 


CHAPTEK  XII. 

IRELAND  FROM  ELIZABETH  TO  ANNE. 

Whatever  the  shortcomings  of  the  Irish  Eeformation  there 
were  no  burnings.  During  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  the  Roman  Cath- 
olics were  not  molested,  nor  were  any  severe  acts  passed  by  the  Irish 
parliament.  The  presence  of  a  large  number  of  Roman  Catholic 
peers  there,  and  the  fact  that  most  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  coun- 
try were  still  of  the  old  faith,  made  persecuting  measures  impossi- 
ble. But  this  did  not  prevent  suffering  under  the  guise  of  treason. 
Patrick  O'Hale,  bishop  of  Mayo,  and  priest  O'Rourke  were  hanged 
for  supposed  complicity  in  rebellious  designs,  but  without  proof. 
Archbishop  Creagh  of  Armagh  was  kept  in  prison  in  the  Tower  of 
London  until  he  died.  His  loyalty  was  suspected,  though  even  Kil- 
len  mentions  no  proof.  Archbishop  Dermot  O'Hurley  of  Cashel 
was  supposed  to  be  in  touch  with  some  rebel  chiefs,  but  as  no  sub- 
stantial evidence  could  be  obtained  he  was  subjected  PERSECUTI0N 
to  frightful  tortures.     Even  this  method  of  eliciting  ™DE,?T??*;IT- 

°  °     ICAL  GUISE. 

evidence  did  not  avail ;  but  under  the  impression  that 
he  knew  more  than  he  confessed  he  was  hung  in  Dublin  in  June, 
1584.  The  activity  of  the  Anglican  archbishop  of  Dublin,  Loftus, 
in  these  inquisitorial  horrors,  is  an  admirable  commentary  on  the 
apostle's  directions  to  ministers  in  regard  to  opponents  (2  Tim.  ii, 
24,  25). 

Under  the  barbaric  treatment  of  England,  with  the  attendant 
disturbances,  destruction  of  crops  and  cattle,  wars  and  massacres, 
Ireland  was  being  reduced  to  desolation.  The  poet  Spenser  thus 
describes  the  wretchedness  of  the  peojile  of  Munster :  MOral  and 
' '  Out  of  every  corner  of  the  woods  and  glens  they  came  deflation 
creeping  forth  upon  their  hands,  for  their  legs  could  continued. 
not  bear  them  ;  they  looked  like  anatomies  of  death,  they  spake  like 
ghosts  crying  out  of  their  graves ;  and  if  they  found  a  plot  of  water- 
cresses  or  shamrocks  there  they  flocked  as  to  a  feast  for  a  time  ;  that 
in  short  space  of  time  there  were  none  almost  left,  and  a  most  popu- 
lous and  plentiful  country  suddenly  left  void  of  man  and  beast. "l 
The  old  Irish  annalists  confirm  the  testimony  of  Spenser  as  to  the 

1  View  of  State  of  Ireland,  xirobably  -written  1590  ff . ,  though  not  printed 
until  1633,  ed.  1809,  p.  166. 


734  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

desolation  of  the  country.  "At  this  period  it  was  commonly  said 
that  the  lowing  of  a  cow  or  the  voice  of  the  plowman  could  scarcely 
be  heard  from  Dunqueen  [the  most  western  part  of  Kerry]  to 
Cashel  in  Munster."1  "There  hath  died  by  famine  only,"  said  a 
government  official,  "not  so  few  as  thirty  thousanl  in  this  prov- 
ince [Munster]  in  less  than  half  a  year,  besides  others  that  are 
hanged  and  killed."2  The  country  was  in  a  state  of  moral  and 
spiritual  degradation  as  well  as  of  physical  suffering  and  destitu- 
tion. Superstition  was  everywhere  and  crime  was  rampant.  It 
is  evident  that  the  English  occupation  brought  no  cessation  to 
Erin's  woes. 

It  is  pleasant  to  turn  from  this  to  the  founding  of  Trinity  Col- 
lege, Dublin.  The  English  authorities — to  their  credit  be  it  said 
founding  of  — were  ansious  for  a  Protestant  university,  and  in 
leg^dVb^  1501  their  plan  was  carried  out.  The  site  of  an  old 
LIN-  monastery  was  chosen,  by  the  aid  of  personal  sub- 

scriptions buildings  were  erected,  and  on  January  9, 1594,  students 
were  admitted.  "Josephus  reports,"  says  Thomas  Fuller,  "that 
during  the  time  of  the  building  of  the  temple  it  rained  not  in  the 
daytime,  but  in  the  night,  that  the  showers  might  not  hinder  the 
work.  I  say  what  by  him  is  reported,  hath  been  avouched  to  me 
by  witnesses  without  exception,  that  the  same  happened  here,  for 
from  the  founding  to  the  finishing  of  this  college — the  officious 
heavens  always  smiling  by  day,  though  often  weeping  by  night,  till 
the  work  was  completed."3  The  Roman  Catholics  were  not  idle  in 
the  matter  of  education  for  their  priests.  Irish  colleges  were  estab- 
lished in  Spain  in  1582  and  1590,  and  in  Douay  in  Flanders  in  1595, 
by  the  French  government  in  Paris,  and  perhaps  in  other  places  in 
France  and  the  Netherlands. 

The  Episcopal  clergy  in  Ireland  were  in  a  sorry  condition.  Many 
had  conformed  to  the  new  religion  in  a  purely  mechanical  fashion, 
episcopal  and  brought  over  with  them  their  greed  and  impiety. 
oATHOLuf N  "  Whatever  disorders,"  says  an  eyewitness,  "  you  see  in 
clergy.  the  church  0f  England  you  may  find  there  [Ireland], 

and  many  more,  namely,  gross  simony,  greedy  covetousness,  fleshly 
incontinence,  careless  sloth,  and  generally  all  disordered  life  of  the 
common  clergymen.    And  besides  all  these  they  have  their  particu- 

1  O'Donovan,  ed.  of  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters,  sub  A.  D.  1582,  v.  1785. 

2  Sir  Warham  St.  Leger  to  Sir  John  Perrot,  April  22,  1582 ;  Froude,  Hist,  of 
England,  xi,  249. 

8  Church  Hist,  of  Britain,  iii,  123  (book  ix,  cent,  xvi,  §§  43-47).  The  queen's 
object  was  a  safeguard  against  popery. 


IRELAND   FROM  ELIZABETH   TO   ANNE.  735 

lar  enormities ;  for  all  Irish  priests,  -which  now  enjoy  the  Church 
livings,  are  in  a  manner  mere  laymen,  saving  that  they  have 
taken  holy  orders  ;  but  otherwise  they  do  go  and  live  like  laymen, 
following  all  kinds  of  husbandry  and  other  worldly  affairs,  as  other 
Irishmen  do.  They  neither  read  Scriptures,  nor  preach,  nor  ad- 
minister the  communion ;  but  baptism  they  do,  for  they  christen 
yet  after  the  popish  fashion."1  Some  of  the  Catholic  clergy  in 
morals  were  no  better,  for  they  indulged  in  drunkenness,  lying, 
revenge,  perfidy,  and  profane  swearing.2  But  affliction  had  worked 
its  noble  fruits  among  many,  for  we  find  them  at  the  risk  of  free- 
dom and  of  life  carrying  the  consolation  of  religion  to  their  fellow- 
countrymen.  Spenser  contrasts  their  godly  zeal  with  the  culpable 
negligence  of  the  Episcopal  ministers.3 

Perhaps  the  most  important  event  in  this  intermediate  period 
was  the  plantation  of  Ulster  in  1610.  The  earls  of  Tyrone  and 
Tyrconnel,  who  had  formerly  been  in  rebellion,  but  plantation 
were  now  at  peace,  finding  no  standing  ground  in  Ire-  OF  ULSTER- 
land,  quietly  left  for  the  Continent.  Another  Ulster  chieftain  came 
to  grief,  and  that,  with  the  "  flight  of  the  earls,"  left  a  large  por- 
tion of  the  northern  province  confiscated  to  the  crown.  There  is 
some  dispute  as  to  the  extent  of  the  confiscated  lands,  but  perhaps 
the  careful  estimate  of  Reid  comes  near  to  the  truth :  "  The  ex- 
tent of  the  forfeited  lands  is  stated  by  Carte  at  above  '  half  a  mil- 
lion acres/  but  Pynnar,  who  is  much  more  accurate,  gives  it  at 
400,000  acres.  ...  I  find  that  of  the  400,000  forfeited  acres 
100,000  were  granted  for  Church,  school,  and  corporation  lands, 
above  60,000  were  granted  to  the  native  Irish,  and  the  remaining 
240,000  were  granted  to  the  British  undertakers  or  colonists,  the 
majority  of  whose  tenants  were  also  Irish,  the  original  inhabitants 
of  Ulster."4  O'Conor  makes  the  extent  of  the  plantation  250,682 
acres,  and  says  that  many  thousands  of  the  planters  were  Soman 
Catholics.6  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  on  any  just  ethical  princi- 
ples the  forcible  seizure  of  these  lands  was  indefensible.  Some 
facts,  however,  must  be  noted.  (1)  Although  the  majority  of  the 
planters  were  Scotch  Presbyterians  and  English  Protestants,  yet 
many  were  Catholics.  (2)  To  many  thousands  of  Catholics  land 
was  given  under  the  planters.     For  instance,  Lord  Castlehaven 

1  Spenser,  I.  c,  pp.  139,  140.  2  Killen,  I.  c,  i,  467. 

3  L.  c,  pp.  253-255.     For  farther  contemporary  testimonies  as  to  the  igno- 
rance, inefficiency,  and  degradation  of  the  Episcopal  clergy,  see  Killen,  i,  471-473. 

4  Hist,  of  Presb.  Church  in  Ireland,  i,  90,  note. 

5  Historical  Address,  part  ii,  pp.  296-298. 


736  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

planted  9,000  acres  with  3,000  Catholic  Irish.1  (3)  From  being  a 
hotbed  of  rebellion  Ulster  became  the  most  stable  and  peaceable 
province  in  Ireland,  so  that  an  era  of  prosperity  began  there  for 
both  the  Catholic  and  the  Protestant.  (4)  The  condition  of  the 
Catholic  native  tenants  under  their  old  Catholic  chiefs  was  wretched, 
being  practically  slavery.  The  tenants  were  now  taught  that  they 
had  the  equal  protection  of  the  laws,  that  they  had  certain  rights 
as  tenants  which  the  landlords  must  respect,  and  the  latter  were 
compelled  to  grant  leases  for  a  number  of  years.2  (5)  Under  the 
new  influences  many  of  the  Catholic  Irish  of  Ulster  became  pros- 
perous and  content,  and  many  passed  over  to  Protestantism. 
Great  injustice,  however,  was  done  to  some,  and  this  was  remem- 
bered in  the  fateful  year  1641. 

Of  the  Episcopal  clergy  in  Ireland  during  this  period  there  were 
two  men  who  would  have  done  honor  to  any  age — Ussher  and  Be- 
dell. Ussher  was  professor  of  divinity  in  Trinity  College,  Dublin, 
1607  ;  bishop  of  Meath,  1621 ;  archbishop  of  Armagh,  1625,  and 
resident  of  England,  1640-56.  He  is  chiefly  famous,  perhaps,  for 
his  stanchly  Calvinistic  Articles  of  Religion,  1615 ;  his  Answer 
ussher  and  ^o  a  Jesuit,  1625,  the  first  attempt  to  meet  Rome  in 
bedell.  Ireland  by  an  appeal  to  the  fathers ;  his  labors  on  the 

antiquities  of  the  Irish  and  British  Churches,  and  his  Annales 
Veteris  et  Novi  Testamenti,  1650-54,  where  he  worked  out  a  chro- 
nology of  the  Bible  which  was  accepted  by  the  editors  of  the  Au- 
thorized Version.  But  no  less  was  he  distinguished  for  his  charity, 
his  sweetness  of  temper,  and  his  humility — rare  qualities  in  that 
stormy  age.  "  Come,  doctor,  let  us  say  something  about  Christ 
before  we  part/'  he  used  to  say  to  his  friend,  Dr.  John  Preston, 

1  Hill,  in  his  Macdonnells  of  Antrim,  Belfast,  1873,  greatly  exaggerates  when 
he  says  (p.  65),  "  Throughout  every  corner  of  Ulster,  with  a  few  rare  exceptions, 
the  Irish  had  been  swept  from  all  the  arable  lands. "  We  have  explicit  contem- 
porary testimony  to  the  contrary.  Sir  John  Davys,  who  was  at  this  time  Irish 
Attorney  General,  in  his  letter  to  the  Earl  of  Salisbury,  dated  Nov.  8,  1610, 
giving  an  account  of  the  proceedings  of  the  plantation  commissioners,  says, 
"  First,  the  land  assigned  to  the  natives  we  distributed  among  the  natives  in 
different  quantities  and  portions,  according  to  their  different  qualities  and 
deserts."— Historical  Relations,  Dubl.,  1704,  p.  58. 

"  The  common  people  were  taught  by  the  justices,"  says  Davys,  "  that  they 
were  the  free  subjects  of  the  kings  of  England,  and  not  slaves  and  vassals  to 
their  pretended  lords  ;  that  the  cuttings,  cosheries  [entertainment  of  lords  and 
lords'  retainers],  cessings  [billeting  of  soldiers  upon  the  people],  and  other 
extortions  of  the  lords,  were  now  unlawful,  and  that  they  should  not  any  more 
submit  themselves  thereto.  "—Historical  Relations,  p.  55. 


IRELAND   FROM   ELIZABETH  TO  ANNE.  737 

the  learned  Puritan.  Ussher  had  broad  and  comprehensive  views 
of  Episcopacy.  William  Bedell  was  an  Englishman  by  birth,  and  a 
graduate  of  Cambridge  University.  He  was  made  provost  of  Trin- 
ity College,  Dublin,  in  1627,  and  bishop  of  Kilmore  in  1629.  His 
piety  made  a  deep  impression  on  his  Catholic  neighbors,  and  he 
labored  for  their  conversion  with  intelligence  as  well  as  with 
love.  "What  a  picture  of  goodness !"  exclaims  Coleridge.  "I 
confess  in  all  ecclesiastical  history  I  have  read  of  no  man  so 
spotless."  ' 

A  word  must  be  spoken  concerning  the  Irish  rebellion  and  massa- 
cres of  1641.  The  withdrawal  of  the  English  army  in  consequence 
of  the  civil  wars  left  Ireland  exposed.  The  Roman  THE  KEBei> 
Catholic  malcontents  took  advantage  of  the  situation  massactke 
by  beginning  a  marauding,  desolating,  and  desultory  OF  1641, 
onslaught — half  war  and  half  massacre.  Eecent  historians  are  in- 
clined to  the  view  that  the  massacres  were  no  part  of  the  original 
program,  but  they  formed  no  inconsiderable  part  of  the  actual 
proceedings.  On  the  very  day  the  rebellion  opened,  October  23, 
1641,  Maguire  hanged  eighteen  persons  in  the  church  of  Clones 
and  then  set  fire  to  the  church,  and  a  widow  testified  on  oath  that 
on  that  day  also  her  husband  and  thirty-two  others  were  mur- 
dered in  county  Monaghan.  The  next  day  196  English  Protestants 
— men,  women,  and  children — were  drowned  at  the  bridge  at  Porta- 
down,  and  Sir  Phelim  O'Neill,  the  leader  of  the  rebels,  issued  an 
order  for  an  indiscriminate  massacre  exactly  one  week  after  the  com- 
mencement of  the  rising.  As  a  part  of  the  effort  of  Eoman  Catholic 
historians  to  expurgate  all  history  of  damaging  passages  concern- 
ing the  Church  the  great  rebellion  of  1641  has  received  its  share 
of  the  apologizing  process.  But  numerous  contemporary  records 
tell  the  fearful  story.  Even  the  names  of  the  Presbyterian  min- 
isters whom  they  put  to  death  in  Ulster  are  preserved.2  Eecent 
research  into  the  archives  of  the  time  has  not  only  shown  the 
reality  of  the  massacres,  but  has  confirmed  what  we  already  knew 
about  the  close  relation  of  the  Church  to  that  carnival  of  slaughter.3 
The  Eoman  clergy  too  often  stood  behind  the  massacres,  urging 
them  on  with  their  exhortations  and  excommunications,  though  it 
is  also  true  that  other  members  of  the  same  clergy  took  no  part  in 
the  rebellion,  and  looked  upon  its  methods  with  horror.  How 
many  were  slain  in  that  fearful  time  ?  Petty,  a  contemporary, 
and  well  acquainted  with  the  whole  country,  says  that  37,000  were 

1  Notes  on  English  Divines,  ii,  5.  2  See  a  list  in  Reid,  i,  331. 

3  See  Hickson,  Ireland  in  the  Seventeenth  Century,  Lond. ,  1883. 

49  « 


738  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

massacred  in  the  first  year  of  the  tumults.1  Clarendon  estimates 
the  number  of  the  slain  at  40,000  or  50,000.  The  exact  number 
who  perished  will  never  be  known.2 

What  were  the  causes  of  this  sanguinary  outbreak  ?  Doubtless 
they  were  (1)  The  rigor  of  Strafford's  administration.  This  cold- 
blooded High  Churchman  was  cheek  by  jowl  with  Laud,  and 
enforced  the  penal  laws  against  Irish  dissenters — both  Catholic 

and  Protestant.  (2)  The  memory  of  the  uncom- 
thk  rebel-     promising    measures    of     the    English    government. 

Especially  the  matter  of  confiscation  made  the  Irish 
feel  that  it  was  with  them  a  question  of  simple  existence.  (3)  The 
ruthless  nature  of  Irish  wars  had  an  influence.  In  the  deeds  of 
1641  the  Irish  were  following  abundant  precedents  in  their  mourn- 
ful history,  though  it  must  be  confessed  that  in  this  case  they 
bettered  their  instruction.  It  must  be  said,  however,  that  some 
of  the  English  reprisals  for  the  events  of  1641  were  as  brutal  and 
as  far  beyond  the  legitimate  methods  of  war  as  the  deeds  of  the 
insurgents. 3 

Under  Cromwell  Ireland  was  quickly  brought  to  peace  and 
prosperity,  though  at  the  expense  of  suffering  and  exile  to  many 
Catholics.  Under  Charles  II  the  Anglican  ascendency  was  once 
more  assured,  with  the  usual  persecution  to  both  Presbyterians 
and  Catholics.  The  great  name  of  the  holy  Jeremy  Taylor  lies 
under  the  reproach  of  using  the  hand  of  force.  The  modern  era 
for  Ireland  dawned  with  the  conquest  of  William  III,  1690-91, 

1  Political  Anatomy,  ch.  iv. 

2  Gardiner  holds  to  the  fact  of  isolated  massacres,  but  not  to  a  predeter- 
mined general  massacre. — Hist,  of  England,  1603-42,  x,  64-69.  An  authority 
favorable  to  the  Irish,  Justin  McCarthy,  M.P.,  agrees  with  Gardiner.  He 
says  :  "  The  struggles  of  that  time,  indeed,  show  over  and  over  again  hideous 
incidents  which  can  hardly  be  described  as  anything  but  massacres.  The 
question  in  this  case  is,  Was  there  a  conspiracy  to  massacre  the  Protestant 
settlers — was  that  the  conspiracy — or  was  there  a  conspiracy  for  a  rebellion  in 
the  outbreak  of  which  a  slaughter  of  a  great  number  of  Protestants  was  a 
ghastly  incident  %  Mr.  Goldwin  Smith,  who  certainly  is  not  in  much  sympathy 
with  Irish  historians,  gives  it  as  his  conviction  that  the  massacre  was  '  unpre- 
meditated and  opposed  to  the  policy  of  the  leaders,'  and  that  in  any  case  it 
was  not  so  bad  as  some  of  the  massacres  done  by  the  other  side." — Art. 
Ireland  :  History,  in  Chambers's  Encyc,  last  ed.,  vi,  205.  As  to  the  number 
of  victims,  Miss  Hickson,  after  a  thorough  study  of  the  depositions,  estimates 
that  the  number  of  the  slain  and  those  who  died  of  starvation  the  first  two 
or  three  years  of  the  rebellion  was  20,000  or  25,000.— Gardiner,  Op.  cit,  x,  69, 
note. 

3  See  KiUen,  ii,  51,  52. 


IRELAND   FROM  ELIZABETH   TO   ANNE.  739 

though  freedom  was  long  delayed.  Catholics  suffered  for  over  a 
hundred  years  under  most  exasperating  and  atrocious  penal  laws, 
and  the  Presbyterians  and  other  dissenters  were  not  legally  entitled 
to  complete  toleration  until  1780.  The  longevity  of  Episcopal 
intolerance  is  one  of  the  humiliating  things  of  history.  The  test 
act  was  not  repealed  in  England  until  1828. 

As  we  dismiss  the  Church  History  of  Great  Britain  and.  Ireland 
at  the  close  of  the  Intermediate  Period  we  may  quote  the  words  of 
Lecky,  one  of  the  keenest  students  of  historical  forces,  whose 
judgment  is  confirmed  by  all  our  survey  from  Puritanism  to  Meth- 
odism :  "  It  is  to  Puritanism  that  we  mainly  owe  the  fact  that  in 
England  religion  and  liberty  were  not  dissevered ;  among  all  the 
fluctuations  of  its  fortunes  it  represented  the  alliance  of  these  two 
principles  which  the  predominating  Church  invariably 
pronounced  to  be  incompatible.  The  attitude  of  this  anglican- 
latter  Church  forms  indeed  a  strange  contrast  to  that 
of  Puritanism.  Created  in  the  first  instance  by  court  intrigue, 
pervaded  in  all  its  parts  by  a  spirit  of  the  most  intense  Erastian- 
ism,  and  aspiring  to  a  spiritual  authority  scarcely  less  absolute  than 
that  of  the  Church  which  it  had  superseded,  Anglicanism  was  from 
the  beginning  at  once  the  most  servile  and  the  most  efficient  agent 
of  tyranny."1  During  the  brief  reign  of  James  II,  when  her  own 
supremacy  was  menaced,  the  Anglican  Church  resisted  the  crown. 
"But  no  sooner  had  William  mounted  the  throne  than  her  policy 
was  reversed,  her  whole  energies  were  directed  to  the  subversion  of 
the  constitutional  liberty  that  was  then  firmly  established,  and  it 
is  recorded  by  the  great  historian  of  the  Eevolution  that  at  least 
nine  tenths  of  the  clergy  opposed  the  emancipator  of  England. 
All  through  the  reaction  under  Queen  Anne,  all  through  the  still 
worse  reaction  under  George,  the  same  spirit  was  displayed.  In 
the  first  period  the  clergy,  in  their  hatred  of  liberty,  followed  cor- 
dially the  leadership  of  the  infidel  Bolingbroke ;  in  the  second 
they  were  the  most  ardent  supporters  of  the  wars  against  America 
and  against  the  French  Eevolution,  which  have  been  the  most 
disastrous  in  which  England  has  ever  been  engaged.  From  first 
to  last  their  conduct  was  the  same,  every  triumph  of  liberty  was 
their  defeat."  2 

1  Rationalism  in  Europe,  ii,  193,  194.  5  Ibid.,  pp.  197,  198. 


a 


740  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


LITERATUKE:  RATIONALISM. 

1.  Amand,  Saintes.     A  Critical  History  of  Rationalism  in  Germany  from  its 

Origin  to  the  Present  Time.     Transl.  by  Beard.     Lond.,  1849. 

2.  Tholuck,  A.  F.  T.     Vorgeschichte  des   Rationalismus.      2  pts.     Halle, 

1853-54. 

3.  Farrar,  A.  S.     A  Critical  History  of  Free  Thought  in  Reference  to  the 

Christian  Religion.     Lond.,  1863. 

4.  Tholuck,  A.  F.  T.     Geschichte  des  Rationalismus.     1865. 

5.  Mackay,  R.  W.     The  Tubingen  School  and  its  Antecedents.     Lond.,  1863. 

6.  Hagenbach,   K.  R.      German   Rationalism.      Transl.  from   the   German. 

Lond.;  1865. 

7.  Hurst,  J.  F.    A  History  of  Rationalism,  embracing  a  Survey  of  the  Present 

State  of  Protestant  Theology.     N.  Y.,  1866.     9th  ed.,  N.  Y.,  1875. 

8.  Lecky,  W.  E.  H.   History  of  the  Rise  and  Influence  of  the  Spirit  of  Ration- 

alism in  Europe.     2  vols.     Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1866. 

9.  Cairns,  John.     Unbelief  in  the  18th  Century  as  Contrasted  with  its  Earlier 

and  Later  History.    N.  Y.,  1881. 

10.  Gostwick,  Joseph.     German  Culture  and  Christianity  :  Their  Controversy 

in  the  Time  1770-1880.     Lond.,  1882. 

11.  Lichtenberger,  F.     History  of  German  Theology  in  the   19th  Century. 

Transl.    Edinb.,  1889. 

12.  Pfteiderer,  Otto.     Development  of  Theology  in  Germany  since  Kant  and 

its  Progress  in  Great  Britain  since  1825.     Transl.  by  J.  Frederick  Smith. 
2d  ed.     Lond.,  1893. 

13.  Robertson,  J.  M.     Short  Hist,  of  Free  Thought.     Lond.,  1899.     See  The 

Athenaeum,  June  17,  1899,  746  ;  and  J.  S.  Rait  in  Crit.  Rev.,  Jan.,  1900, 
227  ff.,  written  in  controversial  spirit  from  infidel  standpoint. 


THE   PERIOD   OF   RATIONALISM.  741 


PART   IV. 

THE  RECENT  PERIOD. 


I.    ON    THE   CONTINENT. 
CHAPTER   I. 

THE    PERIOD    OF    RATIONALISM. 

The  first  great  characteristic  of  Rationalism  was  its  disposition 
to  throw  off  the  yoke  of  tradition.  Nothing  was  to  be  accepted 
because  it  was  old  or  had  come  down  from  a  remote  THREE  CHAR. 
past.  Social  customs,  civil  government,  and  religion  ofTbationaL 
must  all  be  subjected  to  critical  examination  in  order  ISM- 
to  determine  their  worth,  and  only  that  which  was  rational,  not 
that  which  was  customary,  was  to  be  perpetuated.1  A  second 
characteristic  was  the  elevation  of  the  reason  to  the  supreme  judge- 
ship in  all  affairs  within  the  domain  of  human  interest.  This 
arbitration  in  the  court  of  human  reason  was  carried  even  to  the 
point  of  making  the  claims  of  revealed  religion  wholly  subject  to 
its  capricious  decisions.  This  same  spirit  of  subjectivity  had  dis- 
tinguished Pietism  also,  which,  no  more  than  Rationalism,  was 
willing  to  be  held  in  bonds  to  outward  authority.  But  while 
Pietism  cherished  the  subjectivity  of  feeling  Rationalism  favored 
that  of  the  reason.  A  third  characteristic  was  the  unbalanced 
moral  estimate  placed  upon  man  as  man.  God  became  less  neces- 
sary to  an  age  which  made  man  the  end  of  all  things. 

These  three  distinguishing  marks  of  Rationalism  carried  with 
them  some  tremendous  practical  consequences.  Not  only  were 
the  contents  of  the  Bible  to  be  subjected  to  the  criti- 

J  CONSE- 

cism  of  reason,  but  even  the  Bible  itself  was  unneces-  quences  of 

RATIONALISM. 

sary ;  for  with  man  so  important  a  factor  m  human 
affairs  and  the  reason  so  competent  for  all  things,  divine  inter- 
positions were  resented  and  the  religion  of  nature  rose  to  suprem- 
acy. The  reason  could  not  accept  miracles,  and  revelation  was 
miraculous.  Christ  must  also  have  been  a  mere  man,  since  the 
1  Comp.  Sohm,  Gran  dries  der  Kirchengeschichte,  pp.  152  f. 


742  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

supernatural  has  no  place  in  the  world.  The  atonement  was  a 
mere  figment  of  priestly  power ;  for  man  was  too  good  and  great 
to  need  an  atonement  if  for  other  reasons  it  were  necessary  or 
possible.1  So  likewise  the  prevailing  forms  of  worship  were  out- 
worn superstitions ;  the  State  must  be  above  the  Church  and  allow 
perfect  freedom  to  worship  as  each  would,  or  not  to  worship  at  all ; 
hence  also  all  creeds  must  be  abolished.  There  was  nothing  left 
but  God,  virtue,  and  immortality,  and  God  was  inaccessible,  while 
virtue  was  the  result  of  our  own  efforts,  according  to  the  indi- 
vidual judgment  of  each. 

All  the  causes  which  led  to  such  opinions  were  evident.    English 

Deism  took  root  in  Germany  and  in  other  parts  of  the  Continent, 

and  soon  began  to  bring  forth  fruit.2    The  reaction  against  external 

authority  which  was  begun  in  the  Eeformation,  but 

causes  of       which  was  soon  checked  even  in  Protestant  countries, 

RATIONALISM.  ,    .  .,,  ,,  ,      »  ,  ,    .    , 

now  set  m  with  an  energy  theretofore  unknown,  which 
carried  it  beyond  the  bounds  of  common  sense.  Protestantism 
awakened  a  spirit  which  it  nourished  into  strength,  but  which  it 
failed  to  control.  The  philosophy  of  Wolff,  founded  on  the  princi- 
ple of  belief  in  nothing  which  could  not  be  demonstrated  by  rea- 
son, while  it  did  away  with  superstition,  also  did  away  with  all 
religion  ;  for  in  its  innermost  nature  religion  transcends  reason.3 

The  movement  was  aided  by  Frederick  Nicolai,  a  book  publisher 
in  Berlin,  who  issued  a  Universal  German  Library — 1765  and  on- 
ward— in  which  the  new  sentiments  were  most  ably  represented.4 
Basedow  gave  himself  to  the  work  of  education  on  the  principle  of 
leading  the  new  ideas,  emphasizing  especially  the  dignity  of 

fsTicTwRiT-  humanity  and  the  duty  of  training  all  the  faculties 
ER8-  of  the  human  nature. 6   Moses  Mendelssohn  also  took  up 

the  popular  philosophy  and  showed  its  consequences  for  religion 
and  particularly  for  the  relation  of  Church  and  State.6  Even  the 
Christian  apologists  of  the  period  were  so  infused  with  the  neologi- 
cal  doctrines  that  they  decried  the  introduction  of  elements  into 
theology  which  gave  offense  to  many  people,  while  in  fact  the  real 
purpose  of  religion  was  to  aid  men  in  practical  self-improvement. 
Hence  but  few  doctrines  are  needed,  and  those  only  which  would 
tend  to  the  accomplishment  of  the  desired  results.7 

1  See  Hurst,  History  of  Rationalism,  pp.  199-220.  iIbid.,  pp.  113-117. 

3  On  the  influence  of  Wolff's  philosophy  see  Baur,  iv,  586  ff.,  593  f.,  596,  and 
Hurst,  Idem,  103-112.  *  Ibid.,  147,  148;  Baur,  iv,  593  f. 

8  See  Nippold,  Neueste  Kirchengesch. ,  i,  364-372,  and  Hurst,  Idem,  184-187. 
6  Baur,  iv,  596,  597.  i  Ibid.,  598,  599  ;  Hurst,  Idem,  195,  196. 


THE   PERIOD   OF   RATIONALISM.  743 

The  movement  was  powerfully  advanced  by  Lessing's  publication 
(1774-1778)  of  the  so-called  Wolfenbiittel  Fragments.  These 
fragments  were  parts  of  a  work  written  about  twenty  years 
earlier  by  Reimarus,  of  Hamburg,  in  which  he  took  m 

J  °7  .  THE    WOLFEN- 

strong  ground  in  favor  of  a  purely  natural  religion,  buttelfrag- 
In  the  disputes  which  followed,  the  principal  point 
was  the  strife  between  reason  and  revelation.1  The  effect  of  Les- 
sing's work  was  made  the  greater  by  that  of  Semler,  an  offshoot, 
so  far  as  his  moral  and  spiritual  life  were  concerned,  of  Pietism, 
but,  in  spite  of  his  early  training,  a  child  of  his  age.  He  soon  be- 
came the  center  about  which  the  disputes  relative  to  the  new  doc- 
trines revolved.  Free  as  he  was,  however,  in  his  thinking,  he  never 
allowed  himself  to  pass  a  certain  point,  and  when  Bahrdt  carried 
the  neological  views  too  far,  he  opposed  him  with  all  his  might, 
as  he  did  also  the  doctrines  of  the  Wolfenbiittel  Fragmentists.8 

While  Lessing  and  Semler  may  be  classed  as  rationalists  they 
must,  nevertheless,  together  with  Ernesti,  be  regarded  as  the  agents 
by  which  a  more  favorable  turn  in  religious  thought 

.  ,  m,  .  .  .  r  LESSING, 

was  introduced.     They  employed  the  historico-cntical    semler,  and 

•i  »i  \  ,i  i  -i  ERNESTI. 

principles  of  the  present  day,  though  not  with  com- 
plete consistency.  These  are  destructive  of  the  rationalistic  prin- 
ciples, since  they  do  not  so  much  ask  what  is  consistent  with 
reason  as  what  is  true.  While  some  of  the  earlier  conservative 
views  suffer  little  less  by  these  principles  than  by  those  of  Ration- 
alism the  religious  life  is  not  cut  out  by  the  roots  thereby.  Room 
is  given  for  a  genuine  religious  experience. 

Although  the  way  was  prepared  by  the  work  of  Lessing  and 
Semler,  it  is  to  Schleiermacher  that  we  owe  the  more  complete 
restoration  of  faith.3  He  maintained,  in  the  early  part  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  that  the  center  of  the  religious  schleier- 
life  was  in  the  emotional  rather  than  in  the  intellectual  macher. 
nature  of  man.  By  defining  religion  as  a  feeling  of  dependence 
upon  God  he  made  it  measurably  independent  of  the  results  of 
critical  researches.  The  exclusive  domination  of  the  intellect  in 
religion  had  forever  passed  away,  first  under  the  wand  of  Wesley  in 
England,  and  then  under  that  of  Schleiermacher  in  Germany. 

1  On  the  Wolfenbiittel  Fragments  see  Hurst,  History  of  Rationalism, 
pp.  149-156,  and  Baur,  iv,  604-606. 

a  On  the  writings  of  Bahrdt  see  Hurst,  Idem,  pp.  139-143.  On  the  relation 
of  Semler  to  Bahrdt  and  the  Wolfenbiittel  Fragmentists  see  Baur,  iv,  603. 

3Comp.  Nippold,  Neueste  Kirchengesch.,  iii,  23-45,  and  Hurst,  Idem, 
chap.  is. 


744  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


LITERATURE  :   PROTESTANT  GERMANY  UNTIL  MOST 
RECENT  TIMES. 

I.    ROMANTICISM    AND   PRESENT   DAY   THEOLOGY. 

1.  Gostwick,  J.    German  Culture  and  Christianity.    Lond.,1882.    Chap.  xiv. 

2.  Schawaller,  F.     Joh.  Geo.  Hamann  als  Padagog.     Darkehm.,  1886. 

3.  Grau,R.  F.    J.  G.  Hamanns  Stellg.  zu  Religion  u.  Christenthum.  Berl.,  1888. 

4.  Carr,  Edwin  Studley.     The  Development  of  Modern  Religious  Thought 

Especially  in  Germany.     Bost.,  1895.     Second  Period.     Chap.  iv. 

5.  Williams,  E.  F.    Christian  Life  in  Germany  in  State  and  Church.  N.  Y. ,  1899. 
G.  Froboss  has  traced  minutely  the  history  of  the  Evangelical  Luth.  Church 

in  Germany,  1845-95,  Elberfeld,  1896,  and  R.  Rocholl  has  written  an  admirable 
Hist,  of  the  Evangelical  Church  in  Germany,  Leipz. ,  1897.  See  also  the  most 
recent  parts  of  the  Church  Histories  of  Nippold,  Sell,  and  Hase,  and  Stucken- 
berg,  Tendencies  of  German  Thought.     Hartford,  1896. 

H.    SUPERNATURALISM. 

1.  Autobiography  of  Glaus  Harms.     2nd  ed.    Kiel,  1852. 

2.  Baumgarten,  M.     Ein  Denkmal  fiir  C.  Harms.     Braunschw.,  1855. 

3.  Die  Gedachtnissf eier  fiir  C.  Harms  an  sein.  hunderts  Geburtstag.  Kiel,  1878. 

III.    SCHLEIERMACHER. 

1.  Autobiog.  pub.  in  Niedner's  Zeitschrift  fur  hist.  Theologie.    Leipz.,  1851. 

2.  Jonas,  L. ,  and  W.  Dilthey.    Aus  Schleiermachers  Leben  in  Brief  en.    4  vols, 

Berl.,  1858-61.    Transl.  in  part  by  Frederica Rowan.    2  vols.    Lond.,  1860. 

3.  Dilthey,  W.     Leben  Schleiermachers.      Berl.,  1867. 

rv.   RITSCHL. 

Principal  Works.  Theologie  und  Metaphysik.  Bonn,  1887.  Drei  akadem- 
ische  Reden.  Bonn,  1887.  Die  christliche  Volkommenheit.  Gotting.,  1889. 
Die  christliche  Lehre  von  der  Rechtfertigung  und  Versohnung.  3  Aufl.  Bonn, 
1889.     Unterricht  in  der  christlichen  Religion.     Bonn,  1890. 

Life  and  Theology.  Thikotter,  J.  Darstellung  und  Beurtheilung  der  Theo- 
logie A.  Ritschls.  Bonn,  1887.  Stahlin,  L.  Kant,  Lotze,  Albrecht  Ritschl. 
Leipz.,  1888.  Pfleiderer,  Otto.  Die  Ritschlische  Schule  Kritische  beleuchtet. 
Braunschw.,  1891.  Frank,  H.  R.  Zur  Theologie  A.  Ritschls.  Leipz.,  1891. 
Schnedermann,  G.  H.  Frank  und  Ritschl.  Leipz.,  1891.  Mielke.  Das  Sys- 
tem Albrecht  Ritschls  dargestellt  nicht  kritisirt.  Bonn,  1894.  Wenley,  R.  M. 
Contemporary  Theology  and  Theism.  Lond.,  1897.  Orr,  James.  The  Ritsch- 
lian  Theology  and  the  Evangelical  Faith.  Lond. ,  1897.  Contains  an  annotated 
bibliography  of  five  pages.  Garvie,A.E.  The  Ritschlian  Theology.  Edinb.,1899. 

See  J.  S.  Banks,  The  Tendencies  of  Modern  Thought,  Lond.,  1897,  and  arti- 
cles in  Amer.  Journal  of  Theol.,  Apr.,  1898,  268  ff.  ;  The  Reformed  Ch.  Rev., 
Apr.,  1898,  145  ff.  ;  Bib.  Sacra,  Apr.,  1896,  256  ff.  ;  Presb.  and  Ref.  Rev.,  viii, 
309  ff.  (Prof.  F.  H.  Foster) ;  Presb.  Rev.,  1886,  559  ff.,  1889,  512 ;  Meth.  Rev., 
March-Apr.,  1891  (Prof.  Rishell) ;  Crit.  Rev.,  iv,  200  ff. 


PROTESTANT  GERMANY  UNTIL  MOST  RECENT  TIMES.    745 


CHAPTER  II. 

PROTESTANT  GERMANY  UNTIL  THE  MOST  RECENT  TIMES. 

The  early  years  of  the  nineteenth  century  were  distinguished 
by  an  event  of  so  great  importance  as  to  warrant  its  mention  before 
the  causes  which  led  up  to  it  are  discussed.  It  was  the  formal 
union  throughout  most  of  Germany  between  the  Re-  THE  UNI0N 
formed  and  Lutheran  parties,  which  had  so  long  been  OF  181~- 
in  conflict.1  The  union  was  first  effected  in  Nassau,  i a  August, 
1817.  On  September  27  of  the  same  year  Frederick  William 
III  of  Prussia  issued  an  appeal  to  the  clergy  to  strive  for  a 
union  as  one  of  the  best  means  for  a  proper  celebration  of  the  three 
hundredth  anniversary  of  the  Reformation,  October  31,  1817. 
The  influence  of  this  proclamation  was  great,  but  it  could  have 
effected  nothing  had  not  the  progress  of  events  been  most  helpful. 
Both  the  people  and  the  theologians  were  convinced  that  the  points 
of  division,  even  with  reference  to  the  ritual  observance  of  the 
Lord's  Supper,  were  not  clearly  set  forth  in  Scripture,  and  were 
therefore  not  essential.3  The  king  saw  and  embraced  his  op- 
portunity, and  accomplished  what  the  Hohenzollerns  had  long  been 
seeking.  Many  places  celebrated  the  union  by  the  solemn  admin- 
istration of  the  Lord's  Supper,  in  which  the  two  parties  united. 
The  terms  "Lutheran"  and  "Reformed"  were  abolished,  and 
the  united  Church  was  called  the  "Evangelical."3  The  union  did 
not  compel  the  relaxation  of  opinions  previously  held,  but  only 
provided  for  mutual  toleration,  and  the  admission  that  in  each 
communion  the  pure  word  of  God  was  preached  and  the  sacraments 
duly  administered.  Nevertheless,  the  introduction  of  a  new  lit- 
urgy in  1821  caused  difficulty.  To  the  Reformed  it  appeared  too 
much  like  the  Roman  Catholic  mass  ;  to  the  Lutherans  it  was 
but  too  plain  that  the  underlying  presuppositions  were  those  of 
Calvinism.  The  desire  for  union  prevailed,  however,  with  the 
vast  majority. 

The  first  real  difficulty  occurred  in  Breslau/  where  Scheibel  was 

'Gieseler,  Lehrb.  d.  Kirchengesch.,  v,  209-216  ;  Hase,  Kirchengesch.,  572  f. 
2Hase,  Kirchengeschichte,  573.  3  Ibid.,  573. 

±Ibid.,  574-576,  and  Nippold,  iii,  1,  pp.  131  ff. 


74G  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

professor  and  pastor.  He  refused  to  employ  the  new  liturgy, 
claiming  that  it  must  lead  to  a  fatal  indifferentism  to  tolerate,  for 

the  sake  of  peace,  errors  of  faith  in  the  Church.'  His 
ans  at  persistence  was  so  great  that  in  1830  he  was  deposed 

by  the  magistracy,  and  with  him  went  about  two  thou- 
sand of  his  flock  and  a  number  of  scholars.  The  beginning  had 
been  made,  and  although  Frederick  William  III  would  not  tolerate 
these  so-called  Old  Lutherans,  but  forbade  their  assemblies,  and 
punished  their  clergy  for  administering  the  sacraments,  congrega- 
tions arose  in  many  parts  of  Germany.  Vast  numbers  of  them 
emigrated  to  America,2  while  others  remained  at  home  and  en- 
dured the  persecution  so  unjustly  inflicted  upon  them,  and  have 
perpetuated  their  branch  of  the  Church  to  the  present  day. 

The  smooth  progress  of  the  Church  was  interrupted  by  a  variety 
of  other  causes.  The  Mysticism  which  has  been  mentioned  in 
connection  with  Switzerland  made  its  appearance  and  won  its  con- 
fanatical  verts  in  Germany.  In  Wiirtemberg  the  followers  of 
sects.  George  Eapp,  a  peasant,  separated  from  the  Church 

and  gave  themselves  up  to  ascetic  practices,  such  as  the  rejection 
of  marriage  and  abstinence  from  animal  food.3  There  were  also 
the  Michelians,  the  followers  of  Johann  Michael  Hahn,  also  a  peas- 
ant, and  the  Pregizerians,  adherents  of  a  clergyman  by  the  name 
of  Pregizer.4  These  last  professed  such  holiness  of  life  as  to  make 
prayer  for  the  forgiveness  of  their  sins  unnecessary.  Most  of  the 
movements  of  this  kind  sprang  from  the  bosom  of  Pietism,  of 
which  they  were  perversions  rather  than  representatives. 

Besides  these  more  external  difficulties  this  century  has  wit- 
nessed a  number  of  tremendous  intellectual  upheavals,  some  bene- 
ficial, others  injurious,  to  German  Protestantism.  Among  these 
we  mention  first   Eomanticism,   a  reactionary  movement  against 

Eationalism,  and  as  varied  in  its  manifestations  and 

ROMANTICISM.  . 

applications  to  human  life  as  the  movement  which  it 
sought  to  displace. 6  Eationalism  brought  everything  to  the  touch- 
stone of  reason,  Eomanticism  to  that  of  nature.  Both  in  large 
measure  renounced  the  products  of  historical  development,  the 
former  because  of  their  nonconformity  with  reason,  the  latter  be- 
cause of  their  artificiality.      As  the   intellect  dominated   in  the 

1  Gieseler,  v,  212.  » ibid.,  214. 

3  Ibid. ,  v,  190  f .  Hase  gives  a  somewhat  different  version  of  the  sect  and 
its  history  (Kirchengeschichte,  555).  4Ibid.,v,  191. 

6  Compare  Sohm's  charming  section  (48),  Die  Restauration  und  die  Roman- 
tik,  in  his  Grnndriss  der  Kirchengeschichte. 


PROTESTANT  GERMANY  UNTIL  MOST  RECENT  TIMES.    747 

former,  so  the  feelings  in  the  latter.  In  the  light  of  these  ruling 
principles  it  is  easy  to  see  why  such  numbers  were  attracted  to  the 
religion  of  nature,  while  others  forsook  the  more  rational  Prot- 
estant forms  of  Christianity  for  the  more  emotional  and  spectac- 
ular ones  of  Romanism.1  The  number  of  those  who  fell  away 
from  Protestantism  to  Rome  was  much  smaller  than  of  those  Ro- 
manists who  became  Protestants,2  yet  the  character  and  eminence 
of  the  former  made  the  movement  notable  in  this  regard.  This 
result  was  brought  about  by  the  peculiar  interest  which  the  Ro- 
manticists felt  for  the  Middle  Ages,  its  art  and  its  literature,  which 
were  so  intimately  associated  with  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.3 
The  severity  of  Protestantism,  which  depreciated  the  sensuous  ele- 
ments of  worship,  offended  their  taste,  and  led  such  men  as  Schle- 
gel,  Tieck,  and  Werner  to  Romanism.  However,  while  Protestant- 
ism suffered  from  this  movement,  on  the  whole  it  gained  by  it,  since 
it  not  only  led  directly  to  the  union  of  the  Reformed  and  Lutheran 
parties,  but  to  a  renunciation  by  vast  numbers  of  the  principles  of 
Rationalism  and  a  revival  of  interest  in  true  Christianity.4 

Closely  connected  with  this  movement  was  the  struggle  between 
Rationalism  and  Supernaturalism.6  Revelation  in  some  form  was 
accepted  as  a  fact  by  both  parties.     The  principal  point 

r  J  x  ,.      ,  .  SITPERNAT- 

in  dispute  was  the  test  which  should  be  applied  to  it.  uralism  and 

x       ,  .  .  /  x  .  RATIONALISM. 

The  Rationalists  claimed  that  the  revelation  contained 
in  the  Bible  was  conditioned  as  to  its  form,  as  well  as  to  the  concep- 
tion which  the  biblical  writers  had  of  it,  by  historical  developments, 
and  was  therefore  of  necessity  mixed  with  error  which  the  reason 
alone  could  detect.  The  Supernaturalists  said  that  when  anyone 
whose  veracity  and  sobriety  were  unquestioned  claimed  to  have 
received  a  revelation  from  God  it  must  be  accepted,  whether  in 
accordance  with  the  dictates  of  human  reason  or  not,  and  such 
were  the  writers  of  the  Bible.  The  latter  declared  that  Rationalism 
gave  undue  prominence  to  the  reason  and  too  completely  ignored 
the  feelings,  thereby  making  religion  a  matter  of  the  understanding 
rather  than  of  the  heart.  But  the  Rationalists  retorted  that  the 
Supernaturalists  do  not  sufficiently  heed  the  reason,  that  they  allow 
too  much  influence  to  feelings  which  cannot  bear  the  light  of  an- 
alysis, and  that  they  too  blindly  accept  the  teachings  of  tradition. 

1  Gieseler,  v,  183. 

s  Whole  congregations  became  Protestants.     Ibid.,  v,  186,  187. 
3  Ibid.,  v,  182 ff.  4Sohm,  Grundriss,  pp.  173,  174. 

5  Hase,  546  f .  Gieseler  gives  an  extended  account  of  the  struggle  and  its 
later  developments,  v,  200-209.     See  also  Hurst,  Rationalism,  chap.  x. 


748  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

The  majority  of  the  people  were  with  the  Supernaturalists,  the 
more  educated  holding  themselves  aloof  from  the  strife,  although 
leaning  toward  Supernaturalism  rather  than  Rationalism.  Among 
those  who  distinguished  themselves  on  the  side  of  the  former 
were  Claus  Harms/  archdeacon  in  Kiel;  Professor  Hahn,  of  Leip- 
zig, and  especially  Professors  Hengstenberg  and  Neander,  although 
the  latter  broke  away  from  the  party  because  of  the  bitterness  of  its 
spirit.  Hengstenberg2  accepted  and  defended  the  old  Lutheran 
symbols,  while  the  majority  of  the  party  disregarded  human  creeds 
and  strove  to  hold  themselves  strictly  to  the  Bible.  The  victory 
was  with  the  Supernaturalists,  though  not  so  much  because  of  their 
argumentative  power  as  because  the  spirit  of  the  times  had  changed. 

Some  other  names  which  cannot  be  overlooked  are  Schleier- 
macher,  Hegel,  D.  F.  Strauss,  and  F.  C.  Baur. 

Friedrich  Schleiermacher,3  pastor  and  professor  of  theology  in 
Berlin  (1834),  founded  no  school,  although  he  was  so  fruitful  in 
sohleier-  ideas  that  he  has  left  his  impress  on  all  theology  from 
macher.  h.is  day  to  the  present  time.     His  definition  of  religion 

makes  it  a  feeling  of  absolute  dependence  upon  God,  thus  working 
directly  against  the  old  Rationalism.  The  effect  of  this  definition 
was  to  rob  dogmas  of  their  absolute  value,  and  this  led  to  the  idea 
that  they  are  but  the  formulation  of  the  Christian  consciousness  of 
a  given  period,  and  must  be  changed  with  the  times.  The  one  per- 
manent phenomenon  was  the  feeling  of  dependence  upon  God, 
which  is  in  all  people  and  by  which  all  are  naturally  pious.  The 
Christians  are  bound  together  by  the  consciousness  of  redemption 
in  Christ,  thus  differing  from  the  followers  of  other  religious 
founders.  His  Christology  was  equally  opposed  to  Rationalism. 
God  dwelt  in  the  consciousness  of  Christ  to  such  a  degree  that 
that  indwelling  constituted  him  the  Son  of  God.  With  these  high 
thoughts  of  God  and  Christ,  and  the  relation  of  the  human  soul 
to  them,  he  united,  however,  certain  concessions  which  demon- 
strated his  total  freedom  from  traditional  opinion.  He  would  not 
insist  upon  the  immortality  of  the  soul  nor  the  personality  of  God, 
but  declared  that  a  pantheist  could  enjoy  as  high  a  grade  of  piety 
as  any  other.  Notwithstanding,  he  cooperated  with  Romanticism 
and  other  influences  to  make  the  German  Protestantism  of  the 
nineteenth  century  far  more  religiously  fruitful  than  that  of  the 
eighteenth  century  had  been.4 

1  Hurst,  Rationalism,  233-236.       *Ibid.,  305-307.       zIbid.,  224-229,  241-244. 
4Comp.    Gieseler's   masterly  summary  of  the  teachings  and   influence   of 
Schleiermacher,  v,  237-242  ;  also  Hase,  551,  552. 


PROTESTANT  GERMANY  UNTIL  MOST  RECENT  TIMES.    749 

The  influence  of  the  Hegelian  philosophy  was  in  the  main  exceed- 
ingly hurtful  to  the  cause  of  true  Christianity.1  Hegel  did  not, 
indeed,  regard  himself  as  occupying  antichristian  HEGEL> 
ground  ;  and  when  first  his  philosophy  began  to  attract  «™auss^ 
attention  there  were  not  a  few  who  thought  that  the  final 
solution  of  all  the  great  problems  had  been  found.  It  was  not  long, 
however,  until  its  dangerous  consequences  began  to  appear.  It  made 
a  revelation  to  an  individual  impossible.  The  historical  person  of 
Christ  was  of  no  account ;  only  the  idea  of  Christ,  that  is,  the  idea 
of  humanity  in  its  total  development,  was  of  any  value  in  the 
eyes  of  this  philosophy.  Hence  it  was  that  Strauss  could  main- 
tain that  the  history  of  Jesus  was  a  myth  and  yet  not  feel  that  he 
was  contradicting  the  essentials  of  religion.2  The  extreme  was 
reached  by  Bruno  Baur  when  he  held  that  the  evangelical  history 
was  a  deliberate  invention.3  Matters  were  only  made  more  notori- 
ously and  dangerously  alarming  by  Frederick  William  IV,  when, 
upon  his  accession,  in  1840,  to  the  throne  of  Prussia,  he  filled  all 
possible  pulpits  and  professorships  with  orthodox  pastors  and 
scholars.4  Long  did  the  battle  rage  before  the  learned  world  for- 
sook the  principles  which  had  wrought  so  much  disaster.  Perhaps 
the  one  greatest  blessing  which  sprang  from  the  Hegelian  theology 
was  the  more  careful  study  of  the  conditions  under  which  our  New 
Testament  literature  arose,  and  especially  of  the  life  of  our  Lord.6 
To  this  end,  though  by  way  of  reaction,  Ferdinand  Christian  Baur,6 
as  well  as  Strauss,  powerfully  contributed. 

Two  movements  of  a  practical  kind  which  originated  prior  to 
the  middle  of  the  present  century  must  here  be  mentioned.7  The 
first  is  the  organization  and  development  of  the  order  of  dea- 
conesses.8 Pastor  Fliedner,  of  Kaiserswerth,  Prussia,  inspired  by 
the  work  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Sisters  of  Mercy  and  following 
the  example  of  the  early  Church,  established  an  insti- 
tution for  the  training  of  young  unmarried  women  and  deacon- 
and  widows  in  the  care  of  the  sick  and  poor  and 
in  the  instruction  of  children.     While  these  deaconesses  wear  a 

1  Gieseler,  v,  242-245.  2  Ibid.,  v,  246,  247  ;  Hurst,  Rationalism,  257-278. 

3  In  his  Kritik  der  evangelischen  Geschichte,  Bremen,  1840. 

4  Nippold,  iii,  1,  pp.  290-307.  5  Ibid.,  iii,  2,  pp.  119-139. 

6F.  C.  Baur's  influence  belongs  to  the  history  of  doctrine.  Comp.  Hurst, 
Rationalism,  278-280.  '  Nippold,  iii,  1,  pp.  557-576. 

8  The  English  reader  will  find  full  information  in  Wheeler,  Deaconesses, 
Ancient  and  Modern,  New  York,  1889,  and  in  Miss  Jane  M.  Bancroft's  Dea- 
conesses in  Europe,  New  York,  1889. 


750  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

distinctive  garb  and  live  in  a  common  Home,  or  Mother  House,  yet 
the  principles  of  the  order  are  not  those  of  the  nunnery.  The 
idea  was  not  altogether  new  to  modern  times,  and  Fliedner  was 
probably  guided  by  the  actual  witness  of  deaconesses  among  the 
Mennonites  during  a  visit  which  he  made  to  Holland.  Neverthe- 
less to  him  the  modern  movement  as  such  must  be  traced.  His 
plans  were  sober  and  his  zeal  in  their  execution  untiring.  His  en- 
thusiasm kindled  a  like  flame  in  many  others  of  low  and  high  de- 
gree. Frederick  William  IV  was  one  of  his  most  enthusiastic 
supporters.  As  a  consequence  the  movement  spread  with  remark- 
able rapidity  in  Germany,  and  its  influence  has  begun  to  be  deeply 
felt  in  other  branches  of  the  Christian  Church. 

The  second  movement  is  that  which  is  known  in  Germany  as 
the  Inner  Mission,'  or  Domestic  Mission.  It  has  for  its  objects 
works  of  mercy  to  the  bodies  of  men,  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel 
among  those  who  neglect  the  churches,  and  the  reform  of  Church 
wichern  ^e*  Segregated  and  local  attempts  in  this  direction 
^JLoHE  had  not  been  wanting  ;  but  when  Johann   Heinrich 

IiNNER  °   7 

mission.  Wichern,  then  a  mere  youth  without  a  pastoral  charge, 

opened  his  Home  (Rauhes  Haus)  for  neglected  children  in  Horn,2 
near  Hamburg,  in  1833,  a  beginning  was  made  which  was  destined 
to  extend  its  influence  over  every  phase  of  human  distress  or 
danger  which  organization  could  possibly  tend  to  relieve.  The 
idea  of  Wichern  was  broader  than  that  of  Fliedner,  whose  deacon- 
ess work  is  really  a  part  of  the  Inner  Mission.  For  his  work 
Wichern  found  it  necessary  to  establish  an  order  of  lay  brothers 
whose  duties  correspond  in  part  to  those  of  the  deaconess.  In 
order  to  the  proper  development  of  the  Brotherhood,  the  Brtider- 
haus3  (Brother  House)  is  necessary.  The  system  of  work  thus 
brought  into  existence  is  the  most  comprehensive  known  to  any 
land.  In  the  main  it  has  the  support  of  all  classes  of  the  people, 
although  at  first  it  had  to  contend  against  the  prejudices  of  many, 
both  of  the  clergy  and  the  laity. 

1  For  full  information  concerning  this  interesting  movement  see  Theodor 
Schafer's  Leitfaden  der  inneren  Mission,  2d  ed.,  Hamburg,  1889.  That  work 
is  a  valuable  repository  of  facts  concerning  the  origin,  aims,  departments, 
agencies,  means,  and  benefits  of  the  domestic  mission  work  of  Germany. 

2  "Wichern  was  born  in  1808  and  died  in  1881.  He  is  known  as  the  "  Father 
of  the  Inner  Mission."  Rauhes  Haus  is  not  to  be  translated  Rough  House,  as 
some  think.  It  received  its  name  from  a  previous  inhabitant  by  the  name  of 
Rauhe.     See  Schafer,  Leitfaden,  pp.  52,  53. 

3  Sometimes  called  also  Diakonenhaus  (Deacon  House). 


PROTESTANT  GERMANY  UNTIL  MOST  RECENT  TIMES.     751 

The  Ritschl  school1  occupy  a  middle  position  in  theology. 
To  the  formal  principle  of  independence  the  Ritschlians  add  ad- 
herence to  the  material  principle  of  the  Eitschlian  THE  RITSCHIj 
theology.  Albrecht  Ritschl,  the  unintentional  founder  school. 
of  the  school,  was  originally  a  Tiibingenite.  Further  study,  how- 
ever, convinced  him  of  the  errors  of  that  school,  and  he  has  prob- 
ably contributed  more  than  any  other  to  the  overthrow  of  the 
system.  In  the  effort  to  find  the  true  contents  of  the  Christian 
faith  and  the  true  nature  of  the  Christian  religion,  he  was  guided 
by  two  important  principles  which  negatived  the  prevailing  theory 
both  among  the  orthodox  and  rationalist  wings  of  the  theologians. 
The  first  is  the  worthlessness  of  the  so-called  natural  theology  for 
the  Christian.  The  second  is  the  worthlessness  of  metaphysics  in 
Christian  theology.  Both  of  these  elements  are  regarded  as  not  only 
without  value  but  as  actually  harmful.  Both  may  be  summed  up  in 
the  positive  assertion  of  the  sufficiency  of  the  Christian  revelation 
for  Christian  faith  and  practice.11  In  accordance  therewith  he 
rejects  all  the  ordinary  proofs  of  the  existence  of  God — the  ontolog- 
ical  and  the  teleological 3 —  and  also  all  elements  of  Christian  dog- 
matics which  have  their  origin  in  the  content  of  any  metaphysic. 
He  would  let  the  metaphysician  and  the  natural  scientist  go  their 
ways,  but  he  would  claim  for  the  theologian  the  right  to  go  his  own 
way  also  ;  and  the  way  of  the  theologian  is  as  legitimate  as  that  of 
the  metaphysician  and  scientist,  and  must  be  as  logical  as  the  one 
and  as  scientific  as  the  other.  Ritschl's  theory  of  knowledge  is 
essentially  that  of  Lotze,  that  in  knowing  the  phenomena  we  know 
the  thing  only  so  far  as  its  phenomena  reveal  it  to  us. 

Having  renounced  all  the  deductions  of  natural  theology  and 
metaphysics  we  are  shut  up  to  the  phenomena  of  experience,  or, 
which  is  the  same  thing,  revelation.     As  God  reveals     ritschlian 
himself  in  Christ,  so  is  he.     We  may  not  add  to  nor     THEOLO( 
subtract  from  the  God  of  revelation,  for  the  purposes  of  Chris- 

1  On  the  Ritschlian  theology,  in  German,  we  recommend  Nippold,  iii,  1,  pp. 
439-465  ;  and  Frank,  Zur  Theologie  A.  Ritschls.  They  give  an  estimate  from 
two  distinct  and  opposing  standpoints,  both  unfavorable.  Mielke,  Das  Sys- 
tem Albrecht  Ritschls  dargestellt,  nicht  kritisirt,  is  valuable  because  it  states 
briefly  and  clearly  the  system,  without  an  attempt  to  estimate  it.  In  English 
see  Stuckenberg,  Tendencies,  pp.  163-184,  andRishell,  The  Ritschlian  Theology, 
in  Methodist  Review,  March- April,  1891. 

2  Ritschl,  Die  christliche  Lehre  von  der  Rechtfertigung  und  Versohnung, 
3.  Aufl.  iii,  6,  184  ff.  ;  Theologie  und  Metaphysik,  p.  16  ;  Unterricht  in  der 
christlichen  Religion,  4  Aufl.  §  1  ;  Mielke,  Das  System  Albrecht  Ritschls,  7-14. 

3  Ritschl,  Rechtfertigung  und  Versohnung,  iii,  203  ff . 


752  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

tian  theology.1  As  a  consequence  we  may  not  express  ourselves 
dogmatically  concerning  the  essential  nature  of  Christ;  that  would 
be  a  metaphysical  (ontological)  speculation.2  But  since  Christ 
had  the  attributes  of  the  God  of  revelation,  he  is  God,  and  must  be 
worshiped  as  such.3  Through  the  Christian  revelation  we  know 
that  Christ  founded  the  kingdom  of  God,  which  was,  therefore, 
the  great  end  of  God  in  all  his  creation.  This  kingdom  is  the 
object  of  God's  love,  and  each  individual  is  included  therein  by  his 
adoption  of  this  great  end  as  his  own.  Within  the  kingdom  the 
ideal  is  loving  service  to  one  another  and  the  widening  or  spread 
of  the  kingdom  among  those  who  are  without.4  Sin  is  universal :  * 
the  redemption  is  also  universal,  although  available  only  for  those 
who  will  to  become  members  of  the  kingdom.  Sin  consists  in  in- 
difference to  God  or  mistrust  of  him  on  the  one  side,  and  selfish- 
ness on  the  other.  The  reconciliation  wrought  by  Christ  was  not 
an  effect  produced  upon  God,  but  one  produced  upon  men.8  God 
did  not  need  to  be  appeased,  but  man  needed  to  have  his  indiffer- 
ence to  God  taken  way.  Eedemption,  or  the  forgiveness  of  sin,  or 
justification,  is  designed  to  accomplish  this  removal.  The  perfec- 
tion of  the  Christian  life,7  which  must  be  held  as  a  goal  to  be 
striven  after,  consists  in  faith  in  the  providence  of  God,  humility, 
patience,  prayer,  and  morality  in  the  civil  and  social  life.  The 
distinguishing  signs  of  the  Church 8  are  prayer  in  common,  the 
public  proclamation  of  the  word  of  God,  and  the  administration  of 
the  sacraments.  The  unity  of  the  Church  is  found,  not  in  exter- 
nals, but  in  the  above-named  characteristics.9  The  teaching  of 
the  Church  must  be  in  accordance  with  the  Holy  Scripture  ; ,0  but 
must  not  be  regarded  as  an  official  confession,  adherence  to  which 
shall  be  made  a  condition  of  membership  in  the  Church.  This 
condition  is  rather  to  be  sought  in  the  Christian  perfection  of 
evangelical  doctrine. 

1  Ritschl,  Rechtfertigung  nnd  Versohnong,  iii,  217-225  ;  Mielke,  Das  System 
Albrecht  Ritschls,  18-24. 

2  Ritschl,  Idem,  iii,  380  ff.,  429  ff.;  Unterricht  in  der  christlichen  Religion, 
§23  ;  Mielke,  Idem,  24-27. 

3  Mielke,  Idem,  26.  4Ibid.,  27,  28. 

6  Ritschl,  Rechtfertig.  nnd  Versohn.,  iii,  §§40-43;  Mielke,  Idem,  30-32. 
6  Mielke,  Idem,  33-38. 

1  Ritschl,  Die  christliche  Vollkommenheit ;  Rechtf  ertignng  und  Versohnung, 
iii,  §§  63-68  ;  Mielke,  Idem,  50-57. 
8  Mielke,  Idem,  57,  58.  9 Ibid.,  58,  59.  10  Ibid.,  59,  60. 


THEOLOGICAL   SCIENCE.  753 


CHAPTER  III. 

THEOLOGICAL    SCIENCE   IN    THE    ROMAN  CATHOLIC  CHURCH  OF 

GERMANY. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  and  the  first  part  of  the 
eighteenth  century  the  Roman  Catholic  Germans  fell  into  gross 
theological  darkness.  The  belief  in  witches  continued,  and  number- 
less victims  were  burned.  Here  and  there  one  was  extinction 
found  to  cry  out  against  the  cruelty  and  superstition  supersti- 
of  the  times,  but  as  late  as  1729  a  nun  supposed  to  be  TION' 
a  witch  was  burned  in  Wiirzburg.  Maria  Theresa  put  an  end  to 
the  burning  of  witches  in  Austria.  In  Bavaria  the  practice  con- 
tinued to  a  much  later  period,  but  before  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century  the  witch  superstition  was  practically  extinct.1 

In  1740,  in  connection  with  the  University  of  Salzburg,  a  re- 
markable dispute  relative  to  mariolatry  occurred.  The  Virgin  was 
here  adored,  and  faith  in  her  immaculate  conception  was  unques- 
tioned. Some  young  priests  who  had  been  in  Italy  DISPUTE  ON 
returned  to  Salzburg  and  brought  with  them  more  mariolatry. 
enlightened  views.  They  disseminated  Muratori's  book,  De  in- 
geniorum  moderatione  in  religionis  negotio,  in  which  he  defends 
and  defines  the  limits  of  freedom  of  religious  thought.  Through 
this  book  and  by  the  efforts  of  the  society  the  worship  of  Mary 
and  the  doctrine  of  the  immaculate  conception  were  endangered.2 
This  stirred  the  anger  of  the  theologians,  who,  confusing  the 
name  of  Muratori  with  the  liberorum  Murariorum,  took  him  for 
the  founder  of  the  Free  Masons.  The  discovery  of  their  error 
robbed  them  of  their  influence.  They  were  removed  from  the 
professorships,  and  men  of  more  intelligent  views  took  their  places. 

During  this  period  the  institutions  of  learning  were  controlled 
by  members  of  monastic  orders,  especially  by  Jesuits.  As  a  result 
there  was  no  literature  of  value  produced,  unless  one  may  except 
polemical  works  against  Protestantism.     In  1773  Pope  Clement 

1  Nippold  gives  a  valuable  and  readable  account  of  the  persecution  of  sup- 
posed witches.     Neueste  Kirchengeschichte,  i,  97-106. 

a  The  book  took  the  position  that  the  oath,  required  of  all  who  aspired  to 
academic  honors,  to  defend  the  doctrine  of  the  immaculate  conception  with 
their  property  and  lives  if  necessary,  should  not  be  demanded,  since  the  doc- 
trine was  one  of  human  opinion,  not  of  divine  revelation. 

50  2 


754  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

XIV  complained  that  the  priests  and  monks  of  Germany  were  ex- 
ceedingly ignorant  and,  as  a  result,  blindly  superstitious.    He  urged 
the   study  of  the  fathers  of  history,  philosophy,  and 

EDUCATION  J  i  i         t 

retarded,  theology,  declaring  that  all  the  best  books  were  writ- 
ten by  Protestants,  and  commending  what  the  king  of  Protestant 
Prussia  was  doing  for  the  education  of  his  Eoman  Catholic  subjects. 

Under  the  reign  of  Maria  Theresa  a  period  of  more  free  inquiry 
began.  She  determined  to  exercise  her  rights  as  a  sovereign 
educational  and  at  the  same  time  to  advance  the  cause  of  theolog- 
undekC»iaria  ical  education.  Her  efforts  were  rendered  more  ef- 
theresa.  fective  by  the  gradually  declining  influence  and  final 
abolition  of  the  order  of  Jesuits;  so  that  a  decided  impetus 
was  given  to  theological  learning  during  her  reign  and  that  of 
Joseph  II.  Von  Hontheim  (Febronius)  by  his  book,  De  Statu  Ec- 
clesiae,  contributed  not  only  to  the  introduction  of  reforms,  but 
set  an  influential  example  of  independence.  The  appointment  of 
Stephan  Eautenstrauch,  a  Benedictine  of  Prague,  as  director  of  the 
theological  faculty  at  Vienna  was  a  long  step  in  advance,  affecting 
as  it  did  all  faculties  of  theology  in  Eoman  Catholic  Germany.  He 
required  all  theological  students  to  pursue  their  studies  for  a  period 
of  five  years,  beginning  with  the  Oriental  languages,  especially  He- 
brew, church  history,  hermeneutics,  and  exegesis.  These  were  to 
be  followed  by  dogmatics,  ecclesiastical  law,  and  pastoral  theology.1 

Joseph,  even  during  his  co-regency,  aided  all  these  more  liberal 
measures,  and  his  brother  Maximilian,  the  elector  of  Cologne, 
further  labored  to  the  same  end  in  his  own  territories,  encour- 
investiga^f  aging  freedom  of  investigation  and  protecting  those 
tion.  w]10  were  accused.     The  secularization  of  many  of  the 

spiritual  princedoms  in  1803  by  the  treaty  of  Luneville  placed 
them  under  the  control  of  Protestant  princes,  thus  giving  freedom 
of  investigation  and  affording  the  clergy  leisure  for  the  work. 

It  was  a  characteristic  of  the  learning  of  the  German  Eoman 
practical  Catholics  that  it  aimed  more  directly  than  in  some 
results.  other  countries  at  practical  results.  Throughout  it 
strove  to  do  away  with  old  prejudices  in  favor  of  the  canonical 
rights  of  the  pope,  to  limit  papal  encroachments,  and  to  enlarge 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  national  rulers  and  bishops.  It  also  en- 
deavored to  clarify  the  religious  conceptions  of  the  people  and  to 
give  the  public  religious  services  a  less  antique  form.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  archbishop  of  Vienna  (1750)  and  the  bishop  of 
Gurk  (1751)  labored  to  secure  a  more  correct  statement  of  the  doc- 
1  Comp.  Nippold,  Neueste  Kirchengeschichte,  i,  395-399. 


THEOLOGICAL   SCIENCE.  755 

trines  concerning  repentance,  the  forgiveness  of  sin,  and  indul- 
gences, together  with  a  correction  of  abuses  with  reference  to  the 
reverence  of  saints,  the  use  of  pictures,  processions,  and  other 
usages.  Certain  dogmas  which  had  been  distorted  by  later  think- 
ing were  reduced  by  the  more  independent  theologians  to  their 
original  contents,  pastoral  conferences  were  held,  and,  in  Cologne, 
the  public  religious  services  were  conducted  in  German. 

But  these  liberalizing  tendencies  were  not  carried  out  without 
opposition  and  many  hindrances.  The  papacy  was  opposed  to  the 
spirit  of  national  independence,  to  the  abolition  of 
abuses,  and  to  the  rationalizing  of  doctrines.  To  the  without 
extent  of  their  power  the  Jesuits  aided  the  popes  in 
this  opposition.  In  some  instances  the  change  of  secular  rulers 
affected  these  reforms.  On  both  sides  the  press  was  utilized.  The 
Obscurantists  exerted  every  effort,  and  often  with  only  too  great 
success,  to  humiliate  and  to  deprive  of  their  influence  the  men  of 
progress.  As  illustrations  of  the  effect  of  the  change  in  secular 
rulers  Austria  and  Bavaria  may  be  mentioned.  In  Austria,  under 
Francis  I,  the  reforms  of  Joseph  were  in  many  instances  abolished, 
and  theologians  placed  under  strict  scrutiny,  thus  gradually  lead- 
ing that  country  back  to  the  darkness  of  the  past,  a  result  which 
has  only  been  prevented  from  complete  fulfillment  by  the  light 
which  has  broken  in  from  surrounding  countries. 

In  Bavaria,  under  the  Elector  Max  Joseph  (1745-77),  a  ruler  of 
liberal  ideas,  there  was  a  degree  of  freedom  and  prog- 
ress. This  was  especially  marked  by  the  founding  of  tions  in 
the  Academy  of  Science  at  Munich  (1759),  an  institu- 
tion which  has  done  much  for  Bavarian  scholarship,  and  has  en- 
joyed from  the  beginning  the  patronage  and  the  protection  of  the 
elector.  Under  Elector  Carl  Theodor  (1777-99),  however,  a 
change  of  attitude  toward  the  spirit  of  progress  took  place  in  the 
government.  Carl  was  completely  under  the  influence  of  the  Jes- 
uits and  was  directly  opposed  to  the  measures  of  Max  Joseph.  At 
Carl's  death  and  upon  the  accession  of  Maximilian  Joseph  to  the 
throne,  monasticism  and  superstition  were  at  an  end.  The  pro- 
cessions and  pilgrimages  which  Carl  had  recommended  were  now 
discouraged,  freedom  of  doctrine  and  of  the  press  were  permitted, 
and  the  rights  of  the  secular  rulers  as  against  the  hierarchy  were 
emphasized.  Protestants  were  also  tolerated,  and  Protestant 
scholars  were  even  offered  such  attractions  as  allured  them  to  the 
country.  As  a  result  the  institutions  have  themselves  been  im- 
proved and  learning  has  been  advanced. 


756  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


LITEEATUEE:  THE  GEEMAN  CATHOLIC  CHUECH 
DUEING  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTUEY. 

1.  Witte,  Leopold,  and  August  Dorner.      Addresses  in  Evangelical  Alliance 

Conference.     N.  Y.,  1873. 

2.  Hahn,  Ludwig.     Geschichte  des  Kulturkampfes.     Berl.,  1881. 

3.  Majnnke,  P.      Geschichte  des   Kulturkampfes    in    Preussen-Deutschland. 

Paderb.,  1886. 

4.  Wiermann,  H.     Geschichte  des  Kulturkampfes.     Ebd.,  1886. 

5.  Fechenbach-Lautenbach,   F.  C.     Papst,  Centrum  und  Bismarck  oder  die 

Kernpunkte  der  Situation.     Berl.,  1887. 

6.  Troxler,  F.     Der  Kulturkampf  von  1863-1888.     Biel,  1890. 

7.  Nurnberg,  A.  T.     Zur  Kirchengeschichte  des  XIX  Jahrhunderts.     Mainz, 

1897.     See  P.  Tschakert  in  Th.  Litz.,  1898,  No.  15. 

8.  Sell,  K.     Die  Entwickelung  der  kathol.  Kirche  im  19  Jahr.      Freib.  i.  B., 

1898. 

THE  OLD  CATHOLIC  MOVEMENT. 

1.  The  New  Reformation,  a  narrative  of  the  Old  Catholic  movement,  1870-75. 

Lond.,  1875. 

2.  Hyacinthe,  Pere.     Catholic  Reform.     Lond.,  1874. 

3.  Proceedings  of  the  Conference  at  Bonn,  Aug.,  1875.     N.  Y.,  1876. 

4.  Merrick,  F.     The  Old  Catholic  Movement.     Lond.,  1877. 

5.  Biihler,  C.     Der  Altkatholicismus.     Leid.,  1880.     This  contains  some  ac- 

count of  the  literature  of  the  movement. 

6.  Reinkens,  Bishop  J.  H.     Ursprung,  Wesen  und  Ziel  des  Altkatholicismus. 

Heidelb.,  1882. 

7.  Scarth,  A.  M.  Story  of  the  Old  Catholic  and  Kindred  Movements.  Lond. ,  1883. 

8.  Schulte,  J.  F.  von.     Der  Altkatholicismus.     Geschichte.     Giess. ,  1887. 

9.  Braasch,  A.  H.    Altkatholicismus  und  Romanismus  in  Oesterreich.    Frankf  t. 

a.  M.,  1890. 
See  also  Andover  Rev.,  i,  451;  ii,  326;  Church  Rev.  (N.  Y.),  Jan.,  1890; 
Church  Quar.  Rev.,  xxx,  252 ;  Hunt,  Ess.  in  Theol.,  78,  376,  413,  437 ;  and 
especially  W.  Beyschlag,  Origin  and  Development  of  the  Old  Catholic  Move- 
ment, in  Amer.  Jour,  of  Theol.,  July,  1898,  p.  481,  and  A.  Ten  Brook,  Incidents 
in  Inception  of  ditto,  in  the  same,  632. 


THE  GERMAN  CATHOLIC  CHURCH.         757 


IS 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE    GERMAN    CATHOLIC    CHURCH    DURING    THE    NINETEENTH 

CENTURY. 

The  mystical  influences  which  affected  the  Protestantism  of 
Germany  and  Switzerland  in  the  early  years  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury also  spread  widely  within  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  and 
affected  deeply  those  whom  it  touched. '  The  type  was  that  of  the 
Protestant  pietists,  and  had  an  origin  somewhat  simi-  ROMAN  CATH- 
lar  to  the  Protestant  pietistic  movement,  namely,  in  olio  pietists. 
a  reaction  against  mere  external  form  and  authority  in  religion. 
Owing  to  the  restraints  placed  upon  them,  many  Romanists  became 
Protestants.  Gradually  the  stricter  Romanist  party  gained  control 
of  the  Church,  and  Roman  Catholic  Pietism  was  crushed  out. 

Parallel  with  this  ran  the  so-called  liberal  movement.2  It  tended 
away  from  Roman  domination,  and  was  as  much  opposed  to  the 
superstitions  and  externality  of  the  Church  as  was 

t»-        •  •      i        i  i  !••  •  ■  LIBERALISM. 

Pietism;  but  it  lacked  the  religious  impulse  which  actu- 
ated the  pietists,  and  offered  no  positive  substitute  for  its  proposed 
changes.    Besides,  it  was  in  the  interest  of  a  political  idea  antagonis- 
tic to  Rome,  and  was  therefore  a  menace  to  the  hierarchy. 

To  these  troubles  from  within  were  added  disasters  from  with- 
out. The  war  between  the  German  Empire  and  the  French  Re- 
public resulted  in  the  cession  of  the  lands  on  the  left  bank  of  the 
Rhine  to  France ; 3  and  it  was  arranged  that  the  secu- 

.  .  °  NEWTEKRI- 

lar  princes  of  those  territories  should  be  compensated  torial  ad- 
by  the  secularization  of  the  Roman  Catholic  spiritual 
princedoms  and  sovereignties  on  the  right  bank  and  their  partition 
among  the  secular  princes,  most  of  whom  were  Protestants.  The 
sovereigns  were  permitted  to  secularize  all  religious  foundations 
and  monasteries,  and  even  the  properties  of  the  cathedrals,  and  to 
do  with  them  as  they  would. 

These  arrangements,  all  of  which  were  inimical  to  the  interests 

1  See  Nippold,  i,  516-522.  Gieseler  gives  a  detailed  account  of  the  phe- 
nomenon, v,  332-342. 

2  Compare  Sohm,  174-180  ;  Gieseler,  v,  316-332,  and  Nippold's  treatment  of 
Wessenberg's  part  in  the  movement,  i,  524-531. 

3  Gieseler,  v,  301  ff . 


758  HISTORY   OP   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

of  the  pope,  were  opposed  by  him,  though  to  no  effect.      Both 
Protestant  and  Komanist  princes,  in  the  readjustment  which  was 

slowly  brought  about,  availed  themselves  of  the  oppor- 
tnTHSTHE        tunity  to  deprive  the  pontiff  of  much  of  the  authority 

he  had  theretofore  exercised.  With  the  Romanist  rulers 
he  made  treaties  whose  contents  were  made  public  under  proper 
forms.  The  treaties  with  the  Protestant  princes  were  secretly 
made,  while  the  pope  preserved  his  outward  appearance  of  author- 
ity over  them  by  making  known  the  contents  of  the  treaties  in  the 
form  of  bulls.  In  all  cases  concessions  were  made  to  and  by  the 
pope,  thus  bringing  about  the  possibility  of  an  understanding.  In 
every  land  both  sovereign  and  pope  had  a  part  either  directly  or 
indirectly  in  the  nomination  or  confirmation  of  bishops.1 

The  dominion  of  so  many  Protestant  princes  over  Roman  Cath- 
olic territories  might,  it  would  be  supposed,  have  been  favorable  to 

the  growth  of  the  liberal  party  in  the  Church.     But 

INCREASED  °    .  i         -i   • 

ultramon-  two  circumstances  counteracted  this  tendency  and 
brought  about  an  increase  in  ultramontane  sentiment. 
The  first  was  the  natural  suspicion  of  the  Romanists  that  the  Prot- 
estants would  employ  their  power  for  the  suppression  of  Romanism. 
This  fear,  though  ill-grounded,  had  sufficient  force  to  cause  even 
liberal  Romanists  to  take  ultramontane  ground  when  they  had  to 
deal  with  Protestantism.2  The  second  occasion  of  increased  ultra- 
montanism  was  the  controversy  which  sprang  out  of  the  three  hun- 
dredth anniversary  of  the  German  Reformation  and  the  Protestant 
literature  which  the  anniversary  provoked. 

The  Kulturkampf 3  was  in  reality  but  a  result  of  the  Vatican 
Council,  and  especially  of  the  newly  promulgated  dogma  of  the  in- 
the  kultur-  fallibility  of  the  pope.  The  ultramontane  party  could 
not  tolerate  the  State  supervision  of  schools  exercised 
by  Germany  in  return  for  its  endowment  of  the  Church  of  Rome 
as  one  of  the  State  Churches.  When  certain  German  Roman  Cath- 
olic teachers  refused  to  accept  the  dogma  of  infallibility  they  were 
deposed  by  authority  from  Rome.  Bismarck  objected,  and  the  con- 
flict was  precipitated.  The  party  of  the  center — Roman  Catholic — 
was  to  be  annihilated.  In  1873  the  so-called  May  Laws,  or  Falk  4 
Laws,  were  enacted.    They  took  the  education  of  the  Roman  clergy 

1  Seethe  able  treatment  of  this  whole  subject  in  Gieseler,  v,  304-316. 
*  Nippold,  ii.  536 ;  Gieseler,  v,  303. 

8  The  name  was  given  to  the  struggle  by  Professor  Virchow,  of  Berlin,  who 
said  it  was  a  Kulturkampf,  that  is,  a  fight  for  civilization. 

4  Named  after  Falk,  then  Minister  of  Public  Worship  and  Instruction. 


THE  GERMAN  CATHOLIC  CHURCH.         759 

from  the  hands  of  the  Church  and  placed  it  in  the  hands  of  the 
State  ;  deprived  the  Church  of  the  right  to  appoint  clerical  inspect- 
ors of  the  schools,  or  members  of  religious  orders  as  teachers  ;  mar1e 
all  ecclesiastical  appointments  subject  to  confirmation  by  the  State, 
civil  marriage  obligatory,  a  royal  court  the  final  arbiter  in  ecclesias- 
tical questions,  and  required  from  the  clergy  of  all  ranks  a  declara- 
tion of  submission  to  State  laws.  All  the  Roman  Catholic  feel- 
ings of  resentment  against  the  German  Empire,  the  symbol  of 
Protestant  power  in  continental  Europe,  were  aroused  to  the  highest 
pitch.  Windhorst  rallied  the  entire  Roman  Catholic  population, 
and  consolidated  the  party  of  the  center.  Nearly  all  of  the  May 
Laws  have  been  repealed.  Falk  was  obliged  to  resign  in  1879,  and 
the  victory,  though  in  its  completeness  somewhat  delayed,  was 
with  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  and  came  before  Windhorst 
died.1  Probably  at  no  period  since  the  Thirty  Years'  War  has  Ro- 
manism been  so  confident  in  Germany  as  now. 

Another  direct  result  of  the  dogma  of  papal  infallibility  is  the 
Old  Catholic  movement.2  Many  learned  and  loyal  sons  of  the 
Church  protested  against  the  discussion,  and  against  the  promul- 
gation of  the  infallibility.  A  small  but  conscientious  THE  OLD 
party,  whose  scholarly  exponent  Dollinger  became,  catholics. 
met  and  organized  the  Old  Catholic  Church.  Their  influence 
has  been  small.  The  movement  was  too  much  negative  in  tone. 
A  Church  cannot  be  built  upon  a  denial,  however  monstrous  the 
error  denied  may  be.  The  Old  Catholics  were  the  successors  of  the 
liberals  of  the  early  part  of  the  century.  They  were  not  moved, 
like  the  Reformers,  by  positive  religious  convictions,  but,  like  the 
Humanists,  by  repugnance  for  the  excesses  and  abuses  of  the  papal 
system.  Furthermore,  the  true  goal  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
was  reached,  so  far  as  its  principle  of  authority  is  concerned,  when 
the  new  dogma  was  proclaimed.  The  Old  Catholics  assaulted  rather 
the  fruit  than  the  root  of  the  difficulty.  Though  this  movement 
was  not  confined  to  Germany  it  had  its  stronghold  there.  Switzer- 
land has  proved  a  more  favorable  climate  for  Old  Catholicism. 

Much  of  the  strength  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  of  Germany 
is  due  to  the  apparently  opposite  yet  really  harmonious  policies  of 
the  two  popes,  Pius  IX  and  Leo  XIII  ;  for  the  popes  always  har- 
monize in  this,  that  they  employ  the  times  in  which  they  live  in 
the  interest  of  the  Church  they  rule. 

1  Nippold  discusses  the  Kulturkampf  with  his  usual  ability,  ii,  729-737.    See 
also  Sohin,  186-188,  and  Hurst,  Short  History  of  the  Christian  Church,  390  f . 
J  Nippold,  ii,  737-749  ;  Sohm,  185  f.;  Hurst,  Short  Hist,  of  Chr.  Ch.,  399-401. 


760  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


LITERATURE:   STRUGGLE   OF  JOSEPH  II  AGAINST 
THE  PAPACY. 

I.    PIUS   VI. 

1.  Acta  in  consistorio  secreto  habito  Pio  VI.     Rome,  1779. 

2.  [Ade]  Vita  Pii  VI.     6  vols.     Ulm,  1781-96. 

3.  Sonnenfels.     Ueber  die  Ankunst  Pius  VI  in  Wien.     Vienna,  1782. 

4.  Wolf,  P.  P.     Geschichte  der  katholischen  Kirche  unter  Pins  VI.     7  vols. 

Ziir.,  1792-1802. 

5.  Beccatini.     Vita  Pii  VI.     4  vols.     Venice,  1801. 

6.  Ferrari.     Vita  Pii  VI.     Petav.,  1802. 

7.  Tavanti.     Vita  Pii  VI.     3  vols.     Flor.,  1804. 

8.  Baldassari.  Histoire  de  l'enlevement  et  de  la  captivite  de  Pie  VI.  Paris,  1839. 

9.  Bertrand,  J.     Le  Pontificat  de  Pie  VI  et  atheisme  Revolutionaire.     2  vols. 

Paris,  1878. 

II.   JOSEPH  n. 

Tbe  earlier  lives  were  by  Geissler,  1783  ;  Mensel,  1790 ;  Perzi,  1790  ;  Huber, 
1792 ;  Cornova,  1801 ;  Meynert,  1832  ;  Hoffinger,  1835 ;  Heyne,  1848. 

1.  Brnnner  S.     Joseph  II.     Charakteristik,  sein  Lebens,  sein  Regierg.  und 

sein  Kircbenreform.     5  vols.     Freib.  i.  B.,  1868-85. 

2.  Lustkandl,  W.      Die    Josephiniscben    Ideen    und  ihr   erfolg.    Festrede. 

Wien,  1881. 

3.  Riehl,  A.  und  Rainer  v.  Reinohl.     Kaiser  Josef  II  als  Reformator  auf 

kircbl.  Gebiete.     Wien,  1881. 

4.  Frank,  G.     Toleranz-Patent  Kaiser  Joseph  n.     Wien,  1882. 

5.  Nosinich,    J.,   und    L.   Wiener.    Kaiser   Josef    II    als    Staatsmann  und 

Feldherr.     Wien,  1885. 

6.  Leger,  Louis.     History  of  Austria-Hungary  to  1889.     Transl.  from  the 

French.     Lond.,  1889. 

7.  Braunschweig,  R.     Kaiser  Joseph  II.     Dresd.,  1889. 

8.  Bright,  J.  F.     Joseph  II.     Lond.,  1898. 

III.    CONGRESS   OF  EMS. 

1.  Weidenfeld,  C.  F.     Geschichte  des  Nuntiatur-streites — 1788. 

2.  Munch,  K.     Geschichte  des  Emser  Congresses.     Ems,  1840. 

3.  Ramshorn,  Carl.     Die  Emser  Punktation  und  die  Sache  der  deutschkath- 

olischen  Gemeinden  in  ihrem  Verhaltniss  zum  Protestantismus.     Leipz., 
1845. 

IV.    MARIA   THERESA. 

1.  Arneth,  Alfred  Ritter  von.     Geschichte  Maria  Theresias.     10  vols.     Vi- 

enna, 1863-1880.     "As  a  history  of  Austria  during  the  most  important 
period  of  the  last  century  it  is  without  a  rival." 

2.  Broglie,  Due  de.     Frederick  the  Great  and  Maria  Theresa.     Lond.,  1883. 

3.  Wolf,  G.     Die  Zeit  die  Kaiserin  Maria  Theresia.     Wien,  1888. 

4.  Bright,  J.  F.     Maria  Theresa.     Lond.,  1898. 


STRUGGLE   OF   JOSEPH  II   AGAINST   THE   PAPACY.       761 


1/ 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  STRUGGLE  OF  JOSEPH  II  AGAINST   THE   PAPACY-OTHER 
ATTEMPTED  REFORMS. 

The  German  lauds  which  remained  Roman  Catholic  subsequent 
to  the  peace  of  Westphalia  were,  with  but  little  interruption,  under 
strict  subjection  to  the  pope.  This  was  chiefly  due  to  the  efforts 
of  the  Jesuits  and  their  success  in  influencing  the  EFFORTS  F0B 
various  German  courts  in  favor  of  Rome.  Toward  cawnm-"" 
the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  however,  a  pen»ence. 
movement  began  in  many  countries  looking  toward  a  greater 
degree  of  ecclesiastical  independence.  In  order  to  save  the  papacy 
those  popes  who  were  wisest  yielded  somewhat  to  the  tendency  of 
the  time,  not  opposing  too  vigorously  the  disposition  of  the  sov- 
ereigns to  rule  the  Church  in  their  own  domains. 

In  1763  appeared  the  first  volume  of  a  work  which  more  accu- 
rately defined,  and  at  the  same  time  more  fully  developed,  the 

spirit  of  the   age.     It  was  entitled  De  statu   eccle- 
f  o  .  THE  BOOK8 

siae  et  legitima  potestate  Romani  Pontificis.1  It  of  febro 
taught  that  the  true  form  of  ecclesiastical  government 
is  not  monarchical,  but  that  the  power  of  the  keys  is  the  possession 
of  the  entire  Church,  to  be  exercised  by  all  bishops  alike  ;  that 
the  pope  is  not  the  universal  bishop  with  the  bishops  as  his  offi- 
cials, receiving  and  exercising  their  rights  in  his  name,  but  that 
the  bishops  are  the  successors  of  the  apostles,  and  that  the  epis- 
copal dignity  is  of  divine  origin.  Notwithstanding  the  primacy 
of  Peter  the  apostles  were  all  equal  ;  the  papal  primacy  is  the  gift 
of  Peter  and  the  Church,  and  if  the  Church  will  it  can  connect 
the  papacy  with  some  other  bishopric  than  the  Roman.  The  foun- 
dation of  the  papacy  is  the  unity  of  the  Church  ;  the  duty  of  the 
pope  is  to  preserve  unity  of  faith  and  to  care  for  the  observance 
of  the  laws  of  the  Church,  but  only  by  means  of  advices  and  re- 
minders, not  by  commands  within  the  bounds  of  other  dioceses 
than  his  own.  All  those  rights  over  the  Church  which  the  pope 
obtained  during  the  Middle  Ages  must  be  abolished.2 

1  The  pseudonym  of  the  author  was  Justinus  Febronius.    His  real  name  was 
Johann  Nicolaus  von  Hontheim. 

2  Comp.  Gieseler,  iv,  78,  79. 


762  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Upon  the  appearance  of  the  first  volume,  Pope  Clement  XIII, 
who  had  been  particularly  presumptuous  in  his  claims,  strove  with 
all  his  power  to  suppress  it.  His  efforts  were  vain, 
sition  to  and  only  served  to  deepen  the  impression  made  by  the 
work,  which  was  soon  translated  into  German,  French, 
and  Italian,  while  new  editions  in  the  Latin  were  issued,  and  the 
work  was  read  with  approval  even  in  Portugal  and  Spain. 

The  reforms  attempted  by  Emperor  Joseph  II  followed  closely 

the  principles  laid  down  by  Febronius.     Joseph  became  the  sole 

ruler  of  the  Austrian  hereditary  lands  in  1780,  upon 

TOSFPH   II 

and  his  the   death   of  his  mother,  the   famous  but  bigoted 

Maria  Theresa.  He  had  cherished  plans  of  reform, 
and  his  purpose  was  to  do  away  with  every  power  of  the  papacy  in 
Austria  except  such  as  pertained  to  the  unity  of  the  Church  and  to 
uniformity  of  doctrine.1  In  so  doing  he  did  not  even  take  the  trou- 
ble to  consult  the  pope,  but  proceeded  solely  by  virtue  of  his  author- 
ity as  national  ruler.  The  opposition  of  the  pope  was  prompt  and 
strong,  and  Joseph  himself  proved  too  lacking  in  persistence  and  fore- 
sight to  carry  out  his  purposes  in  the  face  of  increasing  difficulty. 

Joseph  distinguished  between  the  exercise  of  public  worship  and 

the  external  forms  of  the  Church,  all  of  which  belonged  to  the  sphere 

of  the  secular  ruler,  and  affairs  purely  spiritual,  which 

JOSEPH  II  .  .  L  .  ... 

versus  pertained  to  the  bishops,  and  concerning  which  each 

bishop  in  his  own  diocese  was  the  final  authority.  No 
papal  bulls  or  briefs  were  to  be  made  public  without  the  consent 
of  the  secular  ruler,  and  the  famous  bulls,  In  Coena  Domini  and 
Unigenitus,  were  to  be  extracted  from  all  books  of  ritual,  on  pain  of 
severe  penalties.  Newly  elected  bishops  and  archbishops  were  no 
longer  to  take  oath  as  vassals  of  the  pope,  but  only  the  oath  of 
canonical  obedience  in  the  original  sense.  The  bishops  had  full 
power  of  absolution  and  the  exclusive  right  to  decide  concerning 
marriages,  and  no  recognition  was  granted  of  reserved  cases  nor  of 
recourse  to  Rome.  Gifts  to  religious  establishments  might  not  ex- 
ceed fifteen  hundred  florins,  monasteries  were  forbidden  to  send 
money  to  Rome,  the  connection  of  monks  with  foreign  superiors  was 
forbidden,  their  exemptions  were  abolished,  and  they  were  placed 
under  the  oversight  of  the  bishops  ;  all  orders  which  did  not  have 
to  do  with  pastoral,  educational,  or  hospital  duties  were  disbanded, 
and  their  properties  were  united  in  a  fund  for  the  establishment  of 
additional  schools  and  pastoral  charges,  while  for  each  monastery 

1  Gieseler,  iv,  83.     Nippold  furnishes  a  most  able  discussion  of  Joseph  and  his 
times,  i,  409-426.     Wolf  gives  in  vol.  iii  a  summary  of  the  original  documents. 


STRUGGLE   OF   JOSEPH   II   AGAINST   THE   PAPACY.       763 

the  numbers  of  members  was  fixed  and  monks  were  forbidden  to 
travel  as  such  from  place  to  place.  Joseph  forbade  study  in  Rome, 
and  established  general  seminaries,  in  which  the  future  clergy  were 
to  be  educated,  while  he  ordered  the  careful  examination  of  all  can- 
didates and  monastic  clergy.  He  also  abolished  a  number  of  the 
more  glaring  superstitions  in  use  in  public  worship. 

Many  of  the  bishops  strenuously  opposed  the  new  measures.  The 
pope,  Pius  VI,  was  extremely  vain  and  self-satisfied.  Upon  such 
external  matters  as  his  handsome  personal  appearance  and  manners, 
and  upon  deeds  which  called  attention  to  himself,  he  relied  for  suc- 
cess in  his  undertakings.1  In  this  spirit  he  journeyed  to  Vienna, 
in  March,  1782,  expecting  to  dissuade  Joseph  from  his  more  extreme 
reforms.  Joseph  gave  him  a  splendid  reception,  but  referred  him 
to  his  minister,  Prince  Kaunitz,  in  the  matter  of  the  reforms  which 
even  during  the  visit  of  the  pope  were  further  extended. 

Pius  saw  that  his  visit  had  been  in  vain,  and  soon  returned  to 
Rome.  He  now  undertook  by  correspondence  to  alter  Joseph's 
mind  ;  but  the  effort  was  futile.  The  pope  grew  more  Joseph's  vis- 
and  more  intense  in  his  appeals,  and,  finally,  in  1783,  IT  TO  ROME- 
demanded  the  cessation  of  several  of  the  innovations.  Joseph  re- 
turned this  letter  without  answer  and  was  about  to  break  away 
altogether  from  the  pope,  when  it  was  thought  best  first  to  take 
counsel  with  Cardinal  Bernis,  the  French,  and  Azara,  the  Spanish 
ambassador  to  Rome.  Under  the  pretense  of  returning  the  pope's 
visit  and  of  disposing  of  the  difficulty  with  his  holiness,  Joseph 
went  to  Rome.  There  these  two  counselors  called  his  attention  to 
the  unpreparedness  of  his  people  for  these  reforms  and  the  possi- 
bility of  political  difficulties  connected  therewith.  Persuaded  of 
the  correctness  of  their  representations  Joseph  began  to  yield  to  the 
wishes  of  the  pope,  and  while  he  did  not  abolish  the  new  laws  he 
did  not  insist  on  their  enforcement.  Under  such  a  spirit  of  hesita- 
tion and  inconsistency  he  could  do  nothing  against  the  pope,  who 
practically  had  his  own  way.  While  the  reforms  which  Joseph 
undertook  met  with  bitter  opposition,  both  from  clergy  and  sec- 
ular authorities  in  the  Belgian  provinces,2  leading  to  open  rebellion 
in  1789,  the  reforms  attempted  in  the  Austrian  hereditary  lands 
made  so  favorable  an  impression  in  other  German  Catholic  coun- 
tries that  these  strove  to  introduce  similar  changes. 

1  Compare  Baur,  iv,  489. 

2  The  circumstance  which  was  particularly  offensive  was  the  order  closing  all 
episcopal  seminaries  and  establishing  one  general  seminary,  the  action  being 
taken  in  order  to  provide  for  the  better  education  of  the  clergy. 


764  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

The  papal  nuncio  in  Cologne  had  disregarded  the  rights  of  the 
clergy,  and  on  his  return  from  Vienna  to  Eome  the  pope  had 
the  issue  granted  the  request  of  Carl  Theodor  of  Bavaria,  who, 
in  bavaria.  influenced  by  the  ex- Jesuits,1  had  besought  the  pope 
to  send  a  nuncio  to  his  court.  As  the  four  German  archbishops 
had  exercised  jurisdiction  over  Bavaria  they  saw  that  the  presence 
of  a  nuncio  in  Munich  meant  the  curtailment  of  their  jurisdiction 
and  the  diminution  of  their  power.  As  a  consequence  they  appealed 
to  the  emperor,  who  pledged  himself  to  protect  them  in  the  exercise 
of  their  rights  and  to  recognize  the  nuncios  only  in  so  far  as  they 
represented  rights  which  he  acknowledged  the  pope  to  possess. 
congress  The  archbishops  called  a  congress  at  Ems  at  which  they 
of  ems.  adopted  a  declaration  to  the  effect  that  the  pope  was 

primate  and  the  center  of  Church  unity,  but  denying  all  the  priv- 
ileges which  had  been  based  on  the  pseudo-Isidorean  decretals.8 
The  bishops  should  exercise  the  right  of  loosing  and  binding  with- 
in their  own  dioceses,  and  papal  interference,  whether  direct  or 
through  nuncios,  must  cease.  The  power  to  fill  ecclesiastical  po- 
sitions from  Eome  and  the  sending  of  such  vast  sums  of  money  to 
the  pope  must  be  limited.  In  all  spiritual  affairs  the  bishops  have 
the  first  and  the  archbishops  the  second  right  of  decision  without 
any  interposition  on  the  part  of  nuncios;  but  the  final  appeal 
maybe  to  papal  judges  in  Germany,  provided  the  judges  are  them- 
selves Germans. 3 

Unfortunately  the  archbishops  had  acted  without  the  cooperation 

of  the  bishops  who  feared  that  they  would  be  more  oppressed  by 

their  immediate  superiors  than  by  the  pope.     Not  only 

torv  over      olid  the  pope  have  the  support  of  the  bishops,  but  also 

ARCHBISHOPS  r     r  rr  r    ' 

and  emper-  0f  the  Bavarian  court,  which  claimed  that  if  Joseph 
or.  ,  '  r 

had  the  right  to  determine  the  affairs  of  the  Church 

in  his  own  hereditary  lands  the  elector  of  Bavaria  had  the  right 
to  receive  the  nuncio  in  his  domains  and  that  the  emperor  could 
not  interfere.  Supported  by  the  Bavarians,  and  by  the  bishops, 
the  pope  was  more  than  a  match  for  the  archbishops  and  the  em- 
peror, and  in  1789  the  affair  was  ended  by  the  pope  who  severely 
rebuked  the  four  archbishops  for  their  conduct.  The  emperor  and 
the  archbishops  had  been  outgeneraled  and  defeated. 

1  The  Order  of  Jesuits  had  been  disbanded  in  1773  by  papal  command. 

5  Baur  gives  an  excellent  outline  of  this  so-called  Emser  Punktation  (points 
to  be  embodied  in  a  treaty),  iv,  494  f . 

3  The  elector  and  archbishop  of  Cologne  was  Maximilian,  the  brother  of  the 
emperor,  and  shared  his  views  as  to  the  relation  of  the  pope  to  the  Church. 


THE   SALZBURGERS— VARIOUS   PERSECUTIONS.         765 


CHAPTER    VI. 

THE     SALZBURGERS-OPPRESSION    IN    HUNGARY,    SILESIA, 
POLAND,  AND  THE    PALATINATE. 

The  persecution  which  lias  attracted  most  attention,  because  of 
its  peculiar  hardships  and  its  great  extent,  is  that  in  Salzburg,  Aus- 
tria, where,  on  account  of  the  Waldensians  and  Hus- 

.  .  .  THE    PERSE- 

ites,  a  certain  freedom  had  existed  prior  to  the  time  cution  is 
of  Luther,  whose  reforms  had  taken  special  hold  upon 
the  inhabitants  of  the  mining  districts.  It  was  the  custom  of 
these  Protestants  to  join  in  public  worship  with  the  Romanists, 
but  in  secret  they  read  the  Bible  and  other  devotional  works.  In 
spite  of  their  outward  conformity  to  Roman  Catholic  usages  their 
true  beliefs  were  occasionally  discovered,  and  persecution  was  sure 
to  follow.  About  1684  they  manifested  indifference  toward  Roman 
customs,  and  a  persecution  ensued  in  which  they  were  arrested  and 
banished,  not  even  being  permitted  to  take  with  them  their  children. 
Under  the  archbishopric  of  Franz  Anton,  during  twenty  years, 
the  Protestants  grew  strong  again.  But  upon  the  accession  of 
Leopold  Anton,  count  of  Pirmian,  to  the  archbishopric  in  1729,  a 
merciless  oppression  began.  By  the  aid  of  a  group  of  secret  Jesu- 
its he  was  able  to  discover  them.  They  were  distinguished  by 
their  nonuse  of  a  special  greeting, '  recommended  by  Pope  Benedict 
XIII,  with  the  employment  of  which  indulgences  were  connected. 
The  Protestants  could  not  use  it  because  of  the  indulgences.  When 
they  could  not  be  discovered  by  their  secret  prayers  or  their  devo- 
tional books,  this  sign  was  sufficient,  and  it  was  public.  But  to 
make  the  proof  more  sure  Jesuits  were  sent  to  search  the  houses 
of  those  who  refused  to  employ  the  greeting.  Upon  refusal  to  give 
up  the  prayer  books  thus  found  and  to  retract  their  opinions  they 
were  thrown  into  prison  and  treated  as  rebels.  The  archbishop 
even  appealed  to  the  emperor  for  soldiers  to  aid  him,  and  no  ap- 
peals for  an  investigation  were  heeded.  A  dramatic  THE  COVE. 
incident  occurred  on  a  Sunday  morning  in  August,  hamtofsamj. 
1731,  when  one  hundred  of  the  elders  met  in  a  rocky  valley  near 
Salzach  and  solemnly  kneeling  about  a  table  on  which  stood  a  ves- 
sel filled  with  salt  dipped  into  it  their  moistened  fingers,  stretched 

1  The  greeting  was  "  Blessed  be  Jesus  Christ;  "  the  response,  "Forever,  Amen." 


7G6  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

their  right  hands  toward  heaven,  and  swore  never  to  yield  the 
evangelical  faith,  pledged  unity  of  feeling  and  action,  faithfulness 
and  brotherliness,  and  then  swallowed  the  salt. 

This  was  the  Covenant  of  Salt.  In  October,  1731,  all  Protes- 
tants were  ordered  to  leave  the  country  on  pain  of  severe  punish- 
ment. More  than  twenty  thousand  had  the  courage  to  declare 
themselves  Protestants.  The  three  years  provided  for  by  the 
peace  of  Westphalia  were  reduced  to  two  or  three  months.1  It 
was  impossible  in  so  short  a  time  for  them  to  sell  their  lands,  and 
in  midwinter  they  were  compelled  to  leave  their  homes  and  prop- 
erty and  go  they  knew  not  where.  The  wanderers  constituted 
the  march  about  one  tenth  of  the  entire  population.  Their  jour- 
sion  of?the  ney  through  Protestant  lands  was  a  triumphal  march, 
salzburgers.  an(j  ag  ^gy  gang  ^eir  hymns  of  praise  to  God  the 

effect  upon  the  observers  was  tremendous.  Even  England  and 
Holland  contributed  to  the  fund  which  was  raised  for  their  relief. 
King  Frederick  William  I  of  Prussia  received  about  seventeen 
thousand  of  the  refugees,  whom  he  cared  for  and  settled  in  Littau 
and  other  parts  of  Prussia.  Others  of  them  emigrated  to  Georgia, 
where  they  built  the  city  of  Ebenezer,  and  where  Whitefield  found 
them  sympathetic  helpers.  The  authorities  did  not  prevent  their 
voluntary  emigration,  but  demanded  a  small  recompense  per  head 
for  all  who  joined  in  the  exodus.  They  settled  in  Berlin,  in  Han- 
over, and  elsewhere,  and,  being  skilled  artisans,  became  valuable 
citizens  wherever  they  went.3 

Of  all  the  Austrian  territories  Hungary  was  in  some  respects 
most  unfavorable  for  the  Protestants.  The  peace  of  Vienna  (1606) 
and  again  the  peace  of  Linz  (1647)  had  granted  them  full  religious 
freedom.  But  since  Hungary  was  not  named  in  the  peace  of 
persecution  Westphalia  (1648)  as  one  of  the  countries  in  which 
in  Hungary.  protestantism  should  be  tolerated,  the  authorities 
ignored  all  previous  treaties.  Leopold  I  and  Joseph  I  were  em- 
perors who  would  naturally  have  dealt  mildly  with  their  Protestant 
subjects,  but  the  Jesuits,  by  their  misrepresentations,  prevented 
such  weakness.     During  the  twenty-nine  years  of  the  reign  of 

1  To  all  appeals  on  the  part  of  Protestant  princes  the  authorities  had  replied 
that  the  Salzburg  heretics  did  not  belong  to  any  one  of  the  three  religions  pro- 
vided for  by  the  peace  of  "Westphalia. 

2  Strobel,  P.  A.  The  Salzburgers  and  their  Descendants.  Bait.,  1855. 
Dannappel,  E.  Die  Literatur  die  Salzburger  Emigration.  1731-35.  Stuttg., 
1886.  Weitbrecht,  E.  Die  Evangelischen  Salzburger.  2  pts.  Barm.,  1888. 
Bodemann,  F.  W.  Die  Evangelischen  Salzburger  und  Zillerthaler.  Berl., 
1889. 


THE   SALZBURGERS— VARIOUS    PERSECUTIONS.  767 

Karl  VI  (1711-1740)  the  Protestants  were  bitterly  treated.  The 
plan  of  operations  was  to  deprive  them  of  their  churches  and  thus 
prevent  the  holding  of  public  services.  From  1715  to  1721  no  less 
than  one  hundred  and  forty  churches  were  taken  from  them.  This 
state  of  affairs  continued,  in  spite  of  the  protest  of  Frederick  the 
Great,  until  the  time  of  Joseph  II,  whose  reign  brought  to  the 
Protestants  a  period  of  rest,  which,  however,  was  ended  by  the 
accession  of  Francis  I. 

Silesia  was  one  of  those  territories,  the  only  one  in  Austria,  to 
whose  Protestant  population  toleration  had  been  expressly  granted 
by  the  peace  of  Westphalia.  But  notwithstanding  this  provision 
Protestants  were  early  oppressed,  and  their  disad-  silesia  a 
vantages  grew  until  remedied  by  Charles  XII  of  refuge. 
Sweden,  who  in  the  treaty  of  1707  compelled  the  emperor  to  restore 
the  religious  privileges  guaranteed  the  Protestants  in  1648,  to 
return  to  them  all  the  churches  of  which  they  had  been  deprived 
during  the  preceding  fifty  years,  and  to  permit  the  erection  of  six 
new  churches.  Oppressions  began  once  more,  and  the  activity  of 
the  Jesuits  became  a  cause  of  alarm.  At  this  critical  juncture  the 
peace  of  Breslau  bestowed  the  government  of  Silesia  upon  Fred- 
erick the  Great.  As  a  Prussian  territory  it  became  the  refuge  for 
the  oppressed  of  many  lands. 

In  Upper  Austria  no  provision  was  made  by  the  peace  of  West- 
phalia for  the  toleration  of  the  Protestants,  and  earlier  treaties 
were  disregarded.     Even  the  right  of  emigration  had 

.  °  .  °     ,  °       _  CONDITIONS 

been  denied.     But  during  the  period  of  the  Salzburg     in  upper 

' °  f  AUSTRIA. 

exodus  the  Austrian  Protestants  were  promised  free- 
dom of  departure,  a  promise  which,  on  account  of  the  large  num- 
bers who  gave  notice  of  their  purpose  to  forsake  the  country,  was 
soon  recalled.  Beginning  with  1733  it  became  the  custom  to  trans- 
port families  of  Protestants  to  Transylvania,  where  the  conditions 
were  much  more  favorable.  In  Vienna  certain  Protestant  families 
had  been  protected  as  a  reward  for  a  money  payment.  But  in  1737 
the  archbishop  of  Vienna  called  the  attention  of  the  emperor  to 
the  corruption  of  doctrine  which  resulted  from  the  importation  of 
forbidden  books  smuggled  through  the  customs  in  bales  and  boxes. 
Thenceforth,  in  order  to  secure  protection  they  were  compelled  to 
turn  Romanists,  at  least  in  external  form.  Their  disabilities  con- 
tinued throughout  the  reign  of  Maria  Theresa,  who  denied  that 
she  was  in  any  way  guilty  of  violence  to  the  consciences  of  men, 
but  affirmed  that  she  only  strove  to  oppose  the  growth  of  religious 
indifference  and  the  causes  of  religious  dispute. 


768  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Under  Joseph  II  a  much  improved  condition  for  Protestantism 
was  introduced.  According  to  his  edict  of  toleration  issued  in 
favors  to  1781,  to  all  his  subjects,  whether  Romanist,  Greek, 
fkomEjosAeNph  Lutheran,  or  Reformed,  was  granted  the  right  to 
"•  choose   their   confession.      Whenever    one    hundred 

families  of  non-Romanists  were  found  in  the  same  neighborhood 
they  were  permitted  to  have  a  church,  though  without  tower,  bell, 
or  public  entrance  from  without.  The  number  of  Protestants  who 
had  yielded  to  the  compulsory  external  forms  of  Romanism  was 
now,  however,  found  to  be  so  great  that  the  Romanist  clergy  in 
alarm  sought  and  secured  certain  limitations  of  Protestant  rights. 
Those  who  wished  to  become  adherents  of  another  confession  were 
required  to  receive  in  cloisters  instruction  in  the  truth  of  the  Ro- 
man Catholic  faith  for  a  period  of  from  four  to  six  weeks.  The 
instruction  often  took  the  form  of  threats  and  abuse.  Protestants 
were  not  only  required  to  pay  for  their  own  churches  and  the  ex- 
penses of  their  support,  but  also  to  bear  much  of  the  burden  of 
Romanism.  Nevertheless,  during  the  reign  of  Joseph  II,  Protes- 
tantism flourished,  though  after  his  death  the  situation  was  grad- 
ually altered  in  favor  of  Rome. 

From  the  time  of  the  expulsion  of  the  Socinians  the  other 
Protestants  of  Poland  enjoyed  very  little  religious  liberty.  The 
sufferings  diet  of  Warsaw  did  much  to  the  disadvantage  of  the 
tantoTn  s"  Protestants.  For  example,  Protestants  were  not  al- 
lowed to  erect  new  churches,  nor  even  to  hold  those 
already  built  from  a  given  time  forward.  In  the  city  of  Thorn, 
which  then  belonged  to  the  kingdom  of  Poland,  a  tumult  arose 
because  Jesuits  undertook  to  compel  Protestants  to  remove  their 
hats  upon  the  occasion  of  a  Romish  procession.  Upon  complaint  of 
the  Jesuits  a  commission  was  appointed  whose  investigations 
resulted  in  the  beheading  of  the  mayor  and  nine  citizens,  and  the 
replacing  of  one  half  the  magistracy  with  Roman  Catholics,  together 
with  the  loss  to  the  Protestants  of  their  principal  church.  Oppress- 
ive laws  continued  to  be  enacted  and  enforced  whereby  the  Prot- 
estants lost  large  numbers  of  their  churches.  The  first  successful 
efforts  to  secure  a  mitigation  of  the  prevalent  religious  conditions 
were  in  the  federation  of  dissenting  nobles  under  the  protection 
of  Russian  troops.  In  1768  the  Russian  ambassador,  in  the  inter- 
est of  the  oppressed  Greek  Christians,  secured  a  treaty  according 
to  which  the  laws  against  the  dissenters  should  be  revoked,  while 
dissent  was  not  to  be  regarded  as  heresy.  Protestant  and  Greek 
Christians  might  exercise  freedom  of  worship,  be  relieved  of  the 


THE   SALZBURGERS— VARIOUS   PERSECUTIONS.  769 

support  of  the  Roman  Catholic  clergy,  guaranteed  fair  trial,  and 
be  admitted  to  civil  offices.  Nevertheless  Romanism  was  to  be  the 
established  religious  faith,  and  to  adopt  any  other  was  punishable 
by  expulsion  from  the  country.  Only  with  the  division  of  Poland 
did  the  troubles  arising  from  the  mixed  laws  relative  to  religious 
freedom  cease.  In  Prussian  and  Russian  Poland  Protestantism 
was  perfectly  free.  In  Austrian  Poland  Protestants  enjoyed  such, 
liberty  as  was  allowed  them  in  Austria  proper. 

By  the  extinction  of  the  Reformed  line  of  electors  in  the  Palat- 
inate the  Roman  Catholic  line  of  Neuberg  came  to  rulership  in 
1685.  Louis  XIV  of  France  laid  claim  to  several  komish 
parts  of  the  Palatinate,  and  in  the  war  which  was  inthepal- 
waged  about  the  dispute  the  French  succeeded  in 
overthrowing  Protestantism  in  many  places  and  in  giving  the 
churches  to  Roman  Catholic  priests.  In  the  peace  of  Ryswick, 
1697,  Louis  secured  the  insertion  of  a  clause  to  the  effect  that  in 
those  portions  of  the  country  then  occupied  by  the  French  the 
Roman  Catholic  religion  should  not  be  disturbed.  This  was  in 
direct  violation  of  the  provisions  of  the  peace  of  Westphalia,  which 
took  1624  for  its  normal  year.  Although  the  great  majority  of 
the  population  were  Reformed,  the  Roman  Catholic  rulers  gave  ear 
to  the  Jesuits  and  by  appealing  to  the  provisions  of  Ryswick  began 
a  systematic  oppression  of  the  Protestants.  Elector  Johann  Wil- 
lie] in  forcibly  undertook  to  administer  Protestant  church  property, 
and  required  the  Lutherans  and  Reformed  to  give  the  Romanists 
equal  right  to  the  use  of  the  churches,  and  children  of  mixed  mar- 
riages were  required  to  be  instructed  as  Roman  Catholics. 

Even  in  the  Reformed  University  of  Heidelberg  several  profess- 
orships were  filled  by  Jesuits  who  made  themselves  most  obnox- 
ious by  their  constant  charges  of  heresy  against  the  jesuits  in 
Reformed  professors.  They  even  strove  to  have  the 
Heidelberg  Catechism  forbidden  as  heretical  and  as  an  insult  to 
the  person  of  the  elector.  In  Heidelberg  the  Protestants  far  out- 
numbered the  Roman  Catholics,  yet  the  latter  had  seven  churches 
while  the  Protestants  had  but  two,  and  of  these  the  principal  one, 
the  Church  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  was  taken  from  them.  Not 
until  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  Maximilian  Joseph  (1799), 
who  refused  to  follow  the  path  pursued  by  his  bigoted  predecessors, 
did  the  persecuted  Protestants  receive  any  recognition  of  their 
rights.  Upon  the  accession  of  the  Grand  Duke  of  Baden,  who 
was  a  Protestant,  to  the  rulership  of  the  Palatinate,  the  rights  of 

the  Reformed  were  fully  restored. 

51  « 


770  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE    CHURCH    IN    AUSTRIA    SINCE    THE    TIME    OF    JOSEPH    II. 

Essentially  the  same  problems  arising  from  the  relation  of 
Church  and  State  on  the  one  hand  and  of  Eomanism  and  Protes- 
regulation  tantism  on  the  other  had  to  be  met  in  Austria  as  in 
of  marriage.  other  iande#  One  of  the  principal  of  these  is  the  mar- 
riage question.  The  State  asserted  its  right  to  regulate  marriages, 
a  right  which  the  Eoman  Church  would  gladly  have  preserved  for 
itself.1  Growing  out  of  this  was  the  question  as  to  the  religious 
confession  to  which  the  children  of  mixed  marriages  should  be- 
long. The  Romanists  demanded  that  only  Roman  priests  should 
solemnize  marriages,  and  that  all  children  of  mixed  marriages 
should  be  under  Roman  Catholic  training.  Relative  to  this  point 
there  was  much  disturbance  and  jealousy.  In  some  cases  it  was 
agreed  that  when  one  parent  was  Protestant  the  children  of  the 
same  sex  should  be  Protestants,  those  of  the  other,  Romanists. 
The  priests  not  infrequently  resorted  to  violence  to  secure  the  chil- 
dren for  Rome.3 

The  education  of  the  Protestant  clergy  was  likewise  a  point  in 
dispute.  At  first  the  theological  students  were  permitted  to  pur- 
sue their  studies  in  foreign  universities.     When  this 

PROTESTANT  .       .  ° 

clerical         permission   was   withdrawn    a  Protestant  theological 

EDUCATION.  ... 

faculty  was  established  in  Vienna  as  a  substitute.  But 
as  foreigners  were  not  permitted  to  occupy  professors'  chairs  the 
faculty  was  limited  to  the  comparatively  incapable  theologians  at 
home.  There  was  also  lacking  the  necessary  philosophical  faculty 
as  an  adjunct  to  theological  education,  and  in  accordance  with  the 
laws  of  the  land  the  text-books  were  prescribed  by  the  secular 
authorities." 

In  respect  of  all  these  points  the  struggle  for  even  justice  was 
long  and  painful.  Many  suffered  imprisonment,  which  was  in- 
flicted chiefly  with  a  view  to  compelling  an  exchange  of  Protestant- 
ism for  Romanism.  Not  everything  has  been  gained  as  yet  which 
religious  equality  demands,  but  most  of  the  matters  to  which  refer- 
ence has  been  made  have  undergone  a  change  for  the  better  in  the 
interests  of  the  dissenting  religious  bodies. 

1  Gieseler,  v,  363.  3  Ibid.,  362.  s  Ibid.,  364  f. 


CHURCH  IN  AUSTRIA  SINCE  THE  TIME  OF  JOSEPH  II.    771 

With  the  accession  of  Francis  I  the  policy  of  the  government 
toward  the  Eoraan  Catholic  Church  was  somewhat  modified.  Jo- 
seph II  had  been  compelled  to  relax  his  measures  EMPEror 
against  Roman  domination  ;  Francis  I  positively  fa-  fkancis  i. 
vored  the  advance  of  churchly  authority  by  legal  enactment.  All 
books  published  within  his  dominions  or  seeking  entrance  from  with- 
out were  subjected  to  a  strict  examination,  and  were,  if  objectionable, 
either  forbidden  altogether  or  allowed  only  to  those  to  whom  spe- 
cial permission  had  been  granted.  In  1818  all  public  officers  were 
commanded  by  the  emperor  to  attend  the  services  of  the  chief 
church  of  their  respective  towns  on  Sundays  and  festivals.1  The 
Order  of  Redemptorists  were  favored  with  every  mark  of  imperial 
approval,  and  in  a  short  time  thereafter  the  Order  of  Jesuits, 
having  been  reestablished,  were  admitted  to  Austria  and  permit- 
ted to  establish  institutions  of  learning.  These  facts  show  how 
favorably  everything  was  arranged  in  the  interest  of  the  purely 
religious  phase  of  Church  life.  Nor  were  any  influences  inimical 
thereto  tolerated.  A  Hungarian  Bible  Society,  founded  in  Pres- 
burg  in  1812,  was  suspended,  and  its  stock  seized,  while  the  distri- 
bution of  foreign  Bibles  was  forbidden.2 

It  will  be  observed,  however,  that  none  of  these  things  affected 
the  rights  of  the  State  as  such  in  opposition  to  the  authority  of  the 
Church  of  Rome.    Even  the  ameliorations  afforded  the  RIGOROUS 
Protestants  in  the  matter  of  marriage  and  the  like  were  :^™Al,lPER~ 

o  VISION  IN 

not  so  much  in  the  interest  of  religious  equality  as  in  Austria. 
that  of  the  right  of  the  State  to  deal  with  such  affairs  regardless  of 
the  Church.  This  may  be  seen  in  the  fact  that  the  Protestant 
Church  was  dealt  with  in  essentially  the  same  way.  In  Hungary  the 
Protestants  were  compelled  to  wait  until  1844  for  partial  justice.3 
In  Transylvania  the  conditions  were  more  favorable  owing  to  the 
fact  that  all  the  different  religious  confessions  were  represented  in 
the  government,  thus  tying  the  hands  of  the  emperor.4  As  the  cen- 
tury has  advanced  progress  has  been  made  in  the  direction  of  larger 
religious  toleration  ;  but  even  now  under  the  comparatively  enlight- 
ened reign  of  Francis  Joseph  religious  freedom  is  an  unknown 
reality.  The  great  question  at  present  agitating  the  Austrian  reli- 
gious world  is  that  of  the  relations  of  the  Jews  to  the  State.  The 
antisemites  are  ostensibly  a  political  party.  Their  repressive  de- 
mands, however,  are  so  framed  as  to  bear  hard  upon  the  non-Semitic 
Protestants. 

1  Gieseler,  v,  358.        2  Ibid.,  357-359.        3  Ibid.,  361  f.        4 Ibid.,  363. 


772  HISTORY   OF    THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

THE   CHURCH  IN   HOLLAND   AND  SWITZERLAND. 

The  theology  of  the  Protestant  Church  in  Holland  was  distin- 
guished in  the  seventeenth  century  by  its  scholastic  character. 
boetius  and  Gisbert  Boetius,  a  strict  Calvinist,  was  the  leader  of 
the  orthodox  forces.  Their  chief  opposers  were  the 
adherents  of  the  Cartesian  philosophy,  and  John  Cocceius  with 
his  followers.  Cocceius '  adopted  the  typical  method  of  scriptural 
interpretation  and  rejected  the  philosophical  elements  of  the  cur- 
rent dogmatics.  The  covenant  of  grace,  he  taught,  had  followed 
the  covenant  of  works,  or  of  nature,  which  had  existed  previously  to 
the  fall.  In  the  covenant  of  grace  there  were  three  economies : 
that  which  existed  prior  to  the  law,  that  under  the  law,  and  that 
under  the  Gospel.  The  Cocceians  were  far  more  free  in  their 
views  than  were  the  Boetians,  and  were  drawn  to  the  Cartesians  by 
the  bond  of  a  mutual  opposition  and  certain  congenial  philosoph- 
ical principles. 

The  developments  of  German  theology  were  not  without  in- 
fluence on  the  theology  of  Holland,  although  the  national  charac- 
ter together  with  the  form  of  church  government  then 

GERMAN  §  &  ° 

theology  in    in  vogue  hindered  its  progress.     Not  until  the  middle 

HOLLAND.  i  •     i 

of  the  eighteenth  century  was  the  grammatico-historical 
interpretation  of  Scripture  introduced  through  the  writings  of  Sem- 
ler  and  Ernesti.  On  the  other  hand  the  inaccessibility  of  the  Neth- 
erlanders  to  philosophical  ideas  has  limited  them  to  verbal  exegesis. 
A  new  ecclesiastical  constitution  permitted  by  the  king  in  1816 
gave  the  State  an  increased  authority  over  the  Church.  The  strict 
increasing  obligations  of  the  creed  statements  were  somewhat  re- 
laxed and  the  different  Protestant  parties  assumed  a 
more  friendly  attitude  toward  each  other.  Against  these  more 
liberal  movements  there  arose  a  party  led  by  Wilhelm  Bilderdyk, 
Da  Costa,  and  Abraham  Capadose."  These  men  accomplished  little, 
however,  in  the  way  of  restoring  the  strict  Calvinistic  regime.  Nor 
was  the  attempt  of  Hendrik  de  Cock  a  little  later  (1832)  much 

1  Comp.  Hurst,  History  of  Rationalism,  336  f. 

2  Capadose  was  a  physician  and  opposed  vaccination  as  an  attempt  to  thwart 
the  purposes  of  God.     Comp.  Gieseler,  v,  286 ;  Hurst,  Rationalism,  chap.  xv. 


THE   CHURCH   IN   HOLLAND   AND    SWITZERLAND.        773 

more  successful.  At  first  they  brought  about  the  introduction  of 
a  stricter  requirement  of  subscription  for  ministers,  but  they  soon 
separated  from  the  main  body  of  the  Church,  which  went  forward 
in  its  chosen  path  of  liberalism. 

In  Switzerland '  .the  spirit  of  independence  developed  to  such 
an  extent  through  the  influence  of  Swiss  youth  who  studied  in 
France  that  an  attempt  was  made  to  check  its  further  the  formula 
growth.  Heinrich  Heidegger  of  Zurich,  and  Franz  ££  switzer- 
Turretin  of  Geneva,  together  with  other  theologians  LAND- 
of  like  mind,  prepared  (1676)  what  was  known  as  the  Formula 
Consensus,2  a  new  creed,  which  was  adopted  by  most  of  the  Prot- 
estant cantons.  To  this  preachers  were  required  to  subscribe. 
Friends  of  the  Reformed  faith  in  other  countries,  particularly  the 
elector  of  Brandenburg,  pointed  out  the  danger  of  division  in  the 
Reformed  ranks  as  well  as  the  chasm  which  the  creed  formed  be- 
tween the  Reformed  and  the  Lutherans.  But  excepting  Basel, 
which  did  away  with  the  formula  in  1685,  the  cantons  paid  no  at- 
tention to  these  warnings.  Geneva  maintained  the  formula  until 
1706,  and  Berne  until  1722.  By  1725  it  became  customary  to  re- 
quire no  subscription  to  creeds  on  the  part  of  the  clergy.  Grad- 
ually the  views  of  the  ministry  became  more  lax  until  many  had 
practically  given  up  faith  in  the  divinity  of  Christ,  the  doctrine  of 
original  sin,  and  of  predestination. 

Basel  was  for  a  long  period  completely  under  the  theological  in- 
fluence of  Germany,  first  in  adopting  the  general  principles  and 
practices  of  Pietism,  and  afterward  through  De  Wette,  who  was 
called  to  the  university  in  Basel  in  1822,  in  accepting  the  principles 
which  prevailed  in  modem  biblical  and  theological  study.  While 
Zurich  became  rationalistic,  Berne  remained  orthodox. 

Throughout  French  and  German  Switzerland  the  changes  of 
condition  followed  each  other  with  great  rapidity.  The  religious 
life  of  the  Church  failed  to  satisfy  large  masses,  who,  religious 
as  a  result,  became  infected  with  fanaticism,  leading  ?S^witzer- 
to  serious  consequences  for  the  faith.  Modifications  LAND- 
in  the  form  of  government  prepared  the  way  for  neglect  not  only 
of  the  Church,  but  of  the  private  exercise  of  religion,  and  had  the 
effect  of  a  moral  degeneration  among  the  people,  which  has  im- 
proved, however,  until  together  with  the  general  life  of  the  Church 
it  equals  the  best  ecclesiastical  conditions  of  the  Continent. 

1  On  Rationalism  in  Switzerland,  see  Hurst,  History  of  Rationalism,  chap, 
xviii,  and  Nippold,  Neueste  Kirch engeschichte,  i,  204-224. 
5  It  may  be  found  in  Schaff,  Creeds  of  Christendom,  vol.  ii. 


774  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


4 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  ROMAN  CATHOLIC  CHURCH  IN  THE  NETHERLANDS  AND 

SWITZERLAND. 

By  the  establishment  of  the  kingdom  of  the  Netherlands  through 
the  union  of  Holland  and  Belgium,  in  1814,  two  countries  with  op- 
posing religious  traditions  and  interests  were  brought  into  imme- 
diate contact.  But  while  Belgium  profited  greatly  thereby,  the  dis- 
solution of  the  kingdom,  twenty-five  years  later,  demonstrated  how 
impossible  it  was  to  reconcile  the  conflicting  tendencies  of  the  two 
nations.1  The  Eoman  Catholic  party  could  not  tolerate  the  Prot- 
estant house  of  Orange  ;  nor  was  it  at  all  suitable  to  their  wishes 
that  religious  equality  was  vouchsafed  to  all  ecclesias- 

FRICTIONOF  .  °.  *  J  .  . 

boman  cath-  tical  parties  alike.      They  carried  their  opposition  so 
pkotes-  far  as  to  refuse  the  usual  prayers  for  the  Princess  of 

TANTS. 

Orange  in  view  of  the  expected  birth  of  an  heir  to  the 
throne.  Neither  the  efforts  of  the  pope  to  secure  peace  nor  the  ban- 
ishment of  the  bishop  of  Ghent,3  the  principal  agitator,  on  the 
charge  of  high  treason,  brought  about  a  cessation  of  hostilities. 
Priests  preached  from  the  pulpits  in  a  tone  adapted  to  stir  up  ill 
feeling  and  through  the  use  of  the  press,  and  the  organization  of 
societies  for  the  purpose,  ultramontanist  ideas  were  widely  spread 
among  the  people. 

Schools  were  established  by  secret  Jesuits,  who  had  come  into 
the  country  under  the  name  of  freres  ignorantins.'  The  organi- 
_.„„„,  „_  zation  of  these  schools  and  the  custom  of  sending  the 
questiTon^al  y  France  to  the  Jesuit  institutions  there,  led  to 

an  open  struggle  between  the  government  and  the 
ultramontanists,  in  which  the  former  was  defeated. 

The  revolution  of  1831,  by  which  Belgium  became  an  independ- 
ent kingdom,  though  it  was  not  finally  agreed  to  by  Holland  until 
independ-  1839,  was  carried  out  by  two  entirely  opposing  fac- 
«™™?£  tions,  the  ultramontanists  and  the  liberals,  who  were 

opposed  to  religion.  Having  united  to  win  their 
cause  these  two  parties  have  continued  in  existence  with  alterna- 
ting control  of  the  government. 

1  See  the  able  discussion  in  Nippold,  Neueste  Kirchengeschichte,  ii,  §  30. 

2  Ibid.,  ii,  400,  401.  3  Ihid ^  401  4  Ibid  }  401 


ROMAN  CATHOLIC  CHURCH  IN  THE  NETHERLANDS.  775 

The  same  influences,  essentially,  which  determined  the  Church 
history  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Netherlands,  have  also  molded  that 
of  Roman  Catholic  Switzerland  during  the  same  pe- 
riod. The  aristocracy  which  gained  the  supremacy  olic  aggres- 
subsequent  to  the  adoption  of  the  new  constitution  in  switzer- 
1815  favored  the  ultramontane  party  because  it  was 
most  retrogressive  and  hence  less  likely  than  any  other  to  tolerate 
the  spirit  of  democracy  so  detrimental  to  the  interests  of  the  aristo- 
crats. But  the  Roman  agents,  not  discerning  the  danger  of  their 
course,  carried  their  efforts  to  such  extremes  as  led  their  aristocrat- 
ic rulers  to  put  a  check  upon  them.  Particularly  did  the  papal 
nuncio  make  himself  obnoxious  by  his  extraordinary  assumptions 
of  authority.  While  negotiations  were  in  progress  looking  toward 
the  erection  of  that  portion  of  Roman  Catholic  Switzerland  which 
had  been  under  the  supervision  of  the  see  of  Constance  into  an 
independent  bishopric,  the  nuncio  took  matters  into  his  own  hands 
and  appointed  an  apostolic  vicar  for  Switzerland.  The  Swiss  ap- 
pealed to  their  history  in  proof  of  their  ecclesiastical  freedom  ;  but 
the  pope  supported  the  nuncio  and  condemned  the  Swiss  claim. 

The  spirit  of  the  French  July  Revolution  bore  fruit  in  Switzer- 
land in  the  abolition  of  the  aristocratic,  and  the  introduction  of  a 
democratic  form   of  government.     At  first  it  seemed 
as  though  the  change  would  operate  disadvantageoiisly  political 

T»  ■  -D     Z.1.-L  1  f¥  V   A  EQUILIBRIUM 

to  Romanism.     But  the  popular  sunrage  or  democracy  in  switzer- 

.    .  •  ■  •  LAND. 

gave  the  church  authorities  the  opportunity  to  gain 
everything  for  themselves.  By  taking  advantage  of  every  act  of 
the  Reformed  and  of  the  liberal  party  to  impress  their  subjects  with 
the  fear  of  losing  their  religious  liberty,  the  priests  and  Jesuits  suc- 
ceeded in  stemming  the  tide  of  democratic  influences  and  in  bring- 
ing the  masses  back  to  the  ultramontane  ideas.  The  excesses  of 
the  strict  Romanists  at  length  led  to  a  reaction  which  endangered 
their  power.  To  prevent  this  result  they  formed  a  special  league 
(Sonderbund)  of  Roman  Catholic  cantons,  seven  in  all,  and  even 
proposed  secession.  The  diet  declared  the  special  league  incompat- 
ible with  the  articles  of  confederation,  and,  when  the  Romanists 
refused  to  yield,  a  brief  war,  in  which  but  little  blood  was  shed, 
brought  them  into  subjection.  The  liberal  party  again  came  into 
power,  but  unfortunately  showed  themselves  little  more  tolerant 
than  the  Romanists.  The  recent  developments  of  Swiss  Church 
history  have  been  more  peaceable.  The  election  of  a  Roman  Cath- 
olic president  of  the  republic  in  1894  shows  that  the  spirit  of 
animosity  between  the  two  confessions  has  largely  died  away. 


776  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


LITERATUEE  :  LATER  CHURCH  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE. 

1.  Guizot,  F.  P.     Le  reveil  Chretien  en  France  au  19e  Siecle.     Paris,  1866. 

2.  Bonar,  Horatius.     The  White  Fields  of  France.     2d  ed.,  Lond.,  1880. 

3.  Castelnare,  Westphal.     Yesterday  and  To-day ;  or,  The  Activities  of  French 

Protestants  since  the  Commencement  of  this  Century.     Paris,  1885. 

4.  Smith,  E.  T.     The  Church  in  France.     Lond.,  1894. 

See  also  Pere  Dom  Vincent  Maumus,  L'Eglise  et  la  France  Moderne.  Paris, 
1897.  Abbe  G.  Bazin,  Le  Grand  Schisme  en  France  aux  XIX  Siecle.  Paris, 
1892.  Bold  and  eloquent  plea  for  revival  of  Catholicism  in  union  with  liberal- 
ism and  republicanism.  Important  articles  in  Amer.  Journal  of  Theol. ,  i,  538, 
and  New  World,  ii,  256  ;  iv,  516  ;  and  vii,  113. 

I.    BOSSUET. 

1.  Tabaraud. — Supplement  aux  Histoires  de  Bossuet  et  Fenelon.     Paris,  1822. 

2.  Lear,  H.  L.  Sidney.     Bossuet  and  his  Contemporaries.     Lond.,  1874. 

3.  Reaume  (Life).     3  vols.     Paris,  1870. 

See  arts,  on  Bossuet  as  a  Preacher  in  Amer.  Theol.  Rev. ,  1868,  91  ff . ;  as  a 
Persecutor  in  Meth.  Quar.  Rev.,  1866,  22  ff.  ;  Life  and  Writings  in  Lond.  Quar. 
Rev.,  vi,  400  ff.  and  The  Quar.  Rev.,  Apr.,  1884  ;  on  Inedited  Works  in  Church 
Quar.  Rev.,  xvi,  246  ;  on  the  discovery  of  a  new  work,  The  Nation,  N.  Y.,  Sept. 
17,  1896,  p.  214.     See  C.  Griselle,  Mss.  de  Bossuet.     Lille,  1898. 

II.  FENELON. 

1.  Ramsay,  M.     Vie  de  Fenelon.     Paris,  1725. 

2.  Bausset.     Hist,   de  Fenelon.     4  vols.     Paris,  1808.     Transl.  by  Mudford. 

Lond.,  1810. 

3.  Follen,  Mrs.     Selections  from  the  writings  of  Fenelon  with   a  memoir. 

New  ed.     Boston,  1859. 

4.  De  Broglie,  E.     Fenelon  a  Cambrai.     Paris,  1884. 

5.  Ramsay,  A.M.    Hist,  of  Life  of,  with  notes  by  Cuthbertson.  Transl.   Lond., 

1897. 

6.  Mahrenholtz,  R.     Fenelon  :  ein  Lebensbild.     Leipz.,  1896. 

7.  Bontie,  P.  L.     Fenelon  d'apres  quelques  critiques  contemporaires,  in  Del- 

mont,  Etudes  Relig.,  Dec,  1895. 
See  also  Crousle,   L.,  Fenelon  et  Bossuet.     Paris,  1896.     The  Quar.  Rev., 
July,  1885. 

III.    MASSILLON. 

1.  Theremin,  C.    Demosthenes  und  Massillon.     Berl.,  1845. 

2.  Campignon,  B.     Massillon  d'apres  des  documents  inedites.     Paris,  1879. 
See   Sainte  Beuve's  Causeries  du  Lundi,  vol.  ix  ;  Van  Oosterzee,  in  Amer. 

Theol.  Rev.,  1868,  295  ff.  ;  The  Quar.  Rev.,  Oct.,  1884. 


LATER   CHURCH   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.  777 


iy 


CHAPTER  X. 

LATER   CHURCH    HISTORY   OF   FRANCE. 

About  1700  the  Catholic  Church  of  France,  says  Dr.  Dollinger,1 
possessed  more  learned  theologians  than  all  the  rest  of  Christen- 
dom  together.     At    the   head  of  these   stood  the  great  Jacques 
Benigne  Bossuet,  "The  Eagle  of  Meaux,"  famous  alike  as  preacher, 
bishop,  theologian,  historian,   controversalist,  and   a    degeneracy 
marvel  of  perfection  in  the  French  tongue.     Above   jesuitized 
him  in  religious  genius,  though  inferior  in  style  and    church. 
learning,  stood  the  younger  bishop,  Fenelon.     But  by 
1715  the  triumph  of  the  Jesuits  was  complete,  and  they  thrust 
their  wretchedly  inferior  partisans  into  all  the  high  places  of  the 
Church,  which  by  the  middle  of  the  century  had  become  the  center 
of  intellectual  feebleness  and  ignorance. 

The  immeasurable  detriment  sustained  by  France  in  the  loss  of 
half  a  million  of  her  Protestant  subjects,  including  the  whole  body 
of  their  clergy,  needs  no  comment.  That  larger  fraction  of  the 
Huguenots,  about  two  thirds,  that  had  been  unable  or  unwilling  to 
flee,  remained  behind  in  an  apathy  of  dull  despair.  Most  of  them, 
in  view  of  certain  ruin,  offered  for  a  while  a  hollow  abjuration,  and 
were  enrolled  by  the  priests  as  "the  new  converts/'  but  continued 
to  hate  Catholicism,  and  clung  to  their  ancestral  religion  as  stub- 
bornly as  ever.     Protestantism,  open  or  slightlv  con- 

i  .  ...,„,  PERSISTENCE 

cealed,  was  not  only  maintaining  itself,  but  was  actu-    of  protes- 

°  T  ANT  ISM. 

ally  extending.     There  were  not  infrequent  instances 
of  original  Catholics  who  had  become  Protestants,  moved  by  com- 
passion and  edified  by  the  Christian  demeanor  of  the  persecuted 
Huguenots.    Even  some  priests  became  Protestants  after  attending 
Protestants  at  their  execution  or  in  the  galleys. 

The  attempt  to  compel  the  Huguenots  not  only  to  attend  the 
mass,  but  to  take  the  communion  from  the  priests,  was  denounced 
by  Madame  de  Maintenon,  as  well  as  by  Cardinal  de  Mailles  and 
Cardinal  Le  Cannes,  and  various  other  bishops,  as  a  sacrilege,  and 
was  finally  given  up.  Yet  in  the  very  year  of  his  death  Louis  XIV 
issued  a  savage  edict,  providing  that,  if  anyone  refused  the  sacra- 
ments at  death,  his  goods  should  be  forfeited  and  his  body  cast 
1  Akademische  Vortrage,  vol.  i,  p.  414.    Nordlingen,  1888. 


778  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

into  the  common  sewer.  The  hideous  scenes  often  involved  are 
portrayed  by  Baird.1  After  a  few  years  these  loathsome  exposures 
were  given  up  for  very  shame.  Yet  death  remained 
edict  of  the  penalty  for  any  minister  venturing  to  exercise  his 
office.  From  1685  to  1762,  when  the  executions  ceased, 
eighty-seven  Protestant  ministers  perished  on  the  gallows  or  were 
broken  on  the  wheel.  As  to  the  laity,  scores,  perhaps  in  all  hun- 
dreds, remained  dead  on  the  ground  in  the  wilderness  where  the 
soldiery  had  detected  them  worshiping  God. 

The  French  Protestants,  bereft  of  all  their  accredited  teachers, 
and  of  a  great  part  of  their  educated  laity,  were  wrought  up  into 
a  state  of  enthusiastic,  and  even  of  fanatical  exaltation.  Many 
thousands,  all  over  France,  declared  that  for  many  days  together 
they  heard  angelic  voices  in  the  air  singing  the  familiar  Huguenot 
psalms.  In  their  stolen  assemblies  men,  women,  and  even  children 
would  fall  on  the  ground  in  half-conscious  ecstasies,  during  which 
all  their  ejaculatory  commands  were  received  with  implicit  obedience 
as  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

In  1702,  under  the  pressure  of  the  persecution  and  under  the  in- 
citement of  these  imagined  prophesyings,  there  broke  out,  in  the 
the  proph-  mountain  region  of  the  South  known  as  the  Cevennes, 
the  war  of  the  Camisards,2  which  for  two  years  exer- 
cised all  the  skill  of  the  marshals  of  France,  and  of  many  thousand 
soldiers,  before  it  could  be  quelled.  Languedoc,  especially  this 
mountain  district,  was  the  chief  seat  of  French  Protestantism. 
Whole  parishes  had  scarcely  any  other  than  Huguenot  inhabitants. 
These  brave  peasants,  acquainted  with  all  the  intricacies  of  the 
wilderness  in  which  they  dwelt,  were  a  cause  of  infinite  perplexity 
and  dismay  to  the  royal  troops,  and  to  all  the  Catholics  of  the 
South.  Abhorring  plunder,  and  almost  wholly  guiltless  of  offenses 
against  female  honor,  they  soon,  under  the  provocation  of  suffering 
and  the  fury  of  strife,  became  more  murderously  cruel  than  even 
their  antagonists. 

Their  main  leader  was  the  young  peasant,  Jean  Cavalier,  a  mere 
boy  of  the  age  of  twenty,  but  full  of  military  vigor  and  resource, 
and,  though  of  no  real  greatness  or  tenacity  of  character,  having 
a  great  power  of  influencing  those  about  him.  After  two  years  of 
brilliant  exploits,  the  king  himself  made  flattering  offers,  which 
Cavalier  accepted  with  a  somewhat  selfish  eagerness.     He  did,  how- 

1  The  Huguenots  and  the  Revocation,  ii,  425  ff. 

2  So  called  probably  from  the  white  camise  (chemise)  which  they  were  said 
to  wear  at  night  over  their  other  clothes,  for  mutual  recognition. 


LATER   CHURCH   HISTORY   OF  FRANCE.  779 

ever,  secure  the  release  of  the  Protestants  who  had  been  sent  to 
the  galleys.  Well-warranted  misgivings  soon  led  him  to  escape 
from  France.  His  more  devoted  companions  held  out  JEAN 
a  little  longer,  but  surrendered  at  last,  the  leaders  be-  cavalier. 
ing  allowed  to  withdraw  from  the  kingdom.  Thus  ended  the  brief 
Camisard  War,  which  at  least  showed  all  the  world  how  ridicu- 
lous a  fiction  it  was  to  say  that  Protestantism  had  been  extin- 
guished in  France. 

After  the  Camisards  came  the  long  era  of  "  The  Church  of  the 
Desert."  Antoine  Court  became,  from  1713  onward,  the  restorer 
of  French  Protestantism.  He  was  but  seventeen  years  of  age  when 
he  began  among  the  Huguenots  of  the  Desert — the  one  compre- 
hensive name  given  to  all  the  secluded  retreats  of  their  worship — 
to  preach  sermons  of  his  own  composition.     Boy  as  antoine 

he  was,  his  judgment  was  ripened  into  soundness  and  court. 

strength.  He  soon  became  persuaded  that  two  things  were  indis- 
pensable if  French  Protestantism  was  not  to  perish.  One  was  that 
the  prophesyings  should  cease.  By  steady  calmness  of  appeal  to  the 
Bible  as  the  one  authority  for  Christians  and  for  Protestants  in  place 
of  all  imagined  private  revelations,  he  at  last  succeeded  completely. 

The  other  pillar  of  continuance  for  the  reviving  Church  was  to 
be  found  in  a  thorough  organization.  The  wise  and  stable  youth 
of  nineteen,  on  August  21,  1715,  held,  in  a  deserted  quarry  near 
Monoblet  in  Lower  Languedoc,  the  first  Synod  of  the  Desert,  com- 
posed of  nine  persons.  Court  presented  a  number  of  searching  and 
far-reaching  principles  of  action,  all  of  which  were  accepted,  thus 
banishing  anarchy,  unseemliness,  and  fanaticism  from  the  reconsti- 
tuted Church,  which  now  reentered  upon  the  possession  of  its  local 
consistories,  rising  grades  of  presbyteries,1  and  local 

'  °     °  .  RESTORED 

and  general  synods.    These  meetings  were  always  con-       protes- 

,,.,,  .  ...  TANTISM. 

ducted  with  the  utmost  precision  of  ecclesiastical  regu- 
larity.   Corteiz,  an  older  preacher,  was  sent  to  Switzerland  to  obtain 
ordination.     On  his  return  he  ordained  Court,  and  thus  the  succes- 
sion of  Reformed  pastors  in  France  was  reestablished. 

After  the  Revocation  the  law  refused  any  longer  to  accept  as  evi- 
dence of  baptism  or  marriage  the  certificate  of  a  Huguenot  min- 
ister. All  who  were  not  married  before  a  priest  were  protestant 
legally  esteemed  concubinaires,  and  their  children  ille-  MAKRIAGES- 
gitimate.  Yet  as  the  churches  of  the  Desert  multiplied,  the  Prot- 
estants again  flocked  to  the  ministers  for  the  baptism  of  their  chil- 
dren and  the  benediction  of  their  nuptials.  They  ultimately  com- 
1  Called  in  France,  colloquies. 


780  HISTORY   OF   THE  CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

pelled  the  State  to  give  its  tardy  sanction  to  the  moral  validity  of 
their  marriages  as  well  as  once  more  to  accept  their  baptismal 
registrations.  Progress  was  steady.  Court  says  :  "What  a  com- 
fort it  was  for  me  to  be  present,  in  1744,  at  meetings  of  ten  thou 
sand  souls,  on  the  identical  spots  where,  in  the  first  years  of  my 
ministry,  scarcely  had  I  been  able  to  bring  together  fifteen,  thirty, 
sixty,  one  hundred  persons. "  ' 

In  1729  Antoine  Court,  having  provided  a  sufficiency  of  ordained 
pastors  and  finding  the  pursuit  after  him  so  hot  as  to  make  it 
hardly  prudent  to  remain,  withdrew  into  Switzerland,  where,  at 
Lausanne,  he  founded  a  divinity  school,  which  long  continued  to 
supply  the  French  churches  with  preachers.  Court  lived  until 
1760,  but  occasionally  revisiting  France.  His  son,  Court  de  Gebe- 
lin,  was  a  marvel  of  erudition  and  talent,  and  was  universally 
esteemed  one  of  the  ornaments  of  France.  When  he  published  Le 
Monde  Primitif,  the  king  and  the  archbishop  of  Paris,  on  two 
occasions,  voted  him  one  of  the  highest  honors,  in  the  most  flatter- 
ing terms.  Yet  he  was  as  much  devoted  to  the  Church  of  the  Des- 
ert as  his  father.  Wretchedly  provided  for,  and  in  constant  dan- 
court  de  Eers>  ne  yet  never  withdrew  from  his  ministry.  His 
gebelin.  high  standing  in  the  learned  world  enabled  him  to 
work  with  great  influence  for  the  mitigation  of  the  persecutions, 
and  it  was  only  three  years  after  his  death,  in  1784,  that  the 
long-desired  Edict  of  Toleration  appeared. 

"  The  relentless  pursuit  of  the  ministers  of  the  Eef  ormed  Church," 
says  Baird,2  "  did  not  come  to  an  end  until  1762,  with  the  exe- 
cution at  Toulouse,  on  February  19,  of  Francis  Eochette,  the 
last  of  the  martyred  pastors.  The  long  list  of  noble  confessors  of 
the  faith  could  not  have  closed  with  a  worthier  name  than  this." 
Before  the  great  Church  of  Saint  Stephen,  as  if  the  judges  were 
swayed  unconsciously  by  the  will  of  God  to  make  a  parallel  between 
execution  the  elder  and  the  later  martyr,  Eochette,  attired  in  a 
ofrochette.  sjmpje  gh^  bareheaded  and  barefooted,  holding  in 
his  hand  a  great  yellow  taper,  with  the  label  on  his  back,  "  Min- 
ister of  the  Pretended  Eef  ormed  Church,"  was  condemned,  before 
mounting  the  ladder,  to  ask  pardon  of  God,  the  king,  and  justice. 
"  Of  God,"  said  he,  "  I  do  ask  forgiveness.  Of  the  king  I  have 
none  to  ask,  for  I  have  ever  obeyed  him,  save  when  to  obey  him 
was  to  disobey  God.  I  have  done  no  wrong  to  my  judges,  but  may 
God  forgive  them." 

1  The  Huguenots  and  the  Revocation,  ii,  431. 
sBaird,  ii.,  496-498. 


LATER  CHURCH   HISTORY   OP   FRANCE.  781 

Young  Louis  XVI,  who  succeeded  his  vile  grandfather,  was  dull 
and  weak,  but  thoroughly  kind,  spotless  in  life,  profoundly  con- 
scious of  his  duty  to  make  his  subjects  happy,  and 

J  J  L  rJ        .  LOUIS  XVI. 

deeply  religious,  but  with  no  tincture  of  persecuting 
malignity  in  his  religion.  His  wife,  Marie  Antoinette,  was  en- 
thusiastically engaged  in  favor  of  Protestant  emancipation.  His 
able  minister,  Turgot,  encouraged  these  royal  dispositions.  La- 
fayette, who  devoted  himself  to  the  Protestant  cause,  found  gracious 
audience  at  the  court.  Indeed,  the  young  king  in  1787  most  will- 
ingly subscribed  the  Edict  of  Toleration.  It  simply  declared  that 
the  great  Louis  could  never  have  meant  to  deprive  myriads  of  his 
subjects  of  essential  social  and  civil  rights,  but  that  he  had  been 
misled  into  supposing  that  all  had  become  Catholics.  Time  had 
refuted  this  assumption.  His  majesty  therefore  ordained  that  all 
baptisms  and  marriages  of  the  Desert,  duly  attested  by  the  parties, 
should  be  registered  by  the  parish  priests  as  of  full  force  and  effect 
from  the  first.  Thenceforward  marriage  might  be  contracted  in- 
differently before  the  judges  or  the  curates.  Baptism  the  Church 
had  always  pronounced  valid  by  whomsoever  conferred. 

In  1789  the  Constituent  Assembly,  finally,  while  providing  ex- 
clusively for  the  support  of  the  Roman  Catholic  worship,  assumed 
the  civil  equality  of  all  citizens,  and  the  right  of  all  Christians 
and  Jews  to  freedom  of  worship.  But  its  ill-advised  Civil  Consti- 
tution of  the  Clergy,  completely  disregarding  the  whole  historical 
development  of  French  Catholicism,  threw  the  consciences  of  the 
priesthood  into  such  perplexity  that  most  of  them  finally  rejected 
it.  This  refusal,  supported  by  Louis  XVI,  enraged  the  revolution- 
ists, and  emboldened  them  in  their  course  of  destruction.  At  last 
atheism  was  proclaimed,  a  harlot  adored  on  the  high  altar  of  Xotre 
Dame  as  the  Goddess  of  Reason,  the  statue  of  Eternal  Sleep  set  up 
in  the  cemeteries,  the  Sunday  abolished,  and  the  profession  of  any 
religion  treated  as  involving  at  least  the  suspicion  of  FrNAL  BUT 
treason.  The  deistic  reaction  under  Robespierre  soon  action  ofS 
sent  the  atheists  to  the  guillotine,  to  which  the  deists  bonaparte. 
speedily  followed  them  ;  but  even  under  the  Directory  Christianity 
remained  proscribed,  if  no  longer  actively  persecuted.  At  last, 
Bonaparte,  by  his  famous  Concordat  of  1801,  reestablished  Roman 
Catholicism  in  France,  and  also  provided  for  the  public  support 
of  Protestantism  and  Judaism.  However,  he  reduced  all  three  reli- 
gions into  an  abjectness  of  dependence  on  the  State  which  has  never 
since  been  essentially  relaxed. 


782  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


LITERATURE:   THE   POPES   AND   ITALIAN  UNITY. 

1.  Gioberti,  Vicenzo.     II  Gesuita  moderno.     Capolago,  1847. 

2.  Jarves,  J.  J.     Italian  Sights  and  Papal  Principles.     N.  Y.,  1855. 

3.  Wrightson;  Richard  H.     A  History  of  Modern  Italy,  from  the  first  French 

Revolution  to  the  Year  1850.     Lond.,  1855. 

4.  Trollope,  T.  A.     Social  Aspects  of  the  Italian  Revolution.     Lond.,  1861. 

5.  Arthur,  Win.     Italy  in  Transition,  illustrated  by  Official  Documents  from 

the  Papal  Archives  of  the  Revolted  Legations.     Lond.,  1860.     See  Lond. 
Quar.  Rev.,  xv,  285  ff. 

6.  Arrivabene,  Count  Charles.    Italy  under  Victor  Emmanuel.   2  vols.    Lond., 

1862.     See  Church  Quar.  Rev.,  xiii,  299  ff. 

7.  Curci,  Carlo  Paul.     II  Vaticano  Regio.     Firenze,  1888.     See  Church  Quar. 

Rev.,  xviii,  217  ff.;  xix,  486  ff.,  comp.  xiii,  477  ff. 
'8.  Thayer,  Wm.  Roscoe.      The  Dawn  of  Italian  Independence.     Italy  from 

the  Congress  of  Vienna,  1814,  to  the  Fall  of  Venice,  1849.    2  vols.    Bost., 

1893. 
■9.  Martinengo,  Cesaresco.    Liberation  of  Italy,  1815-70.     Lond.  and  N.  Y., 

1895.     See  The  Dial,  July  16,  1895,  p.  52. 

10.  Oliphant,  Mrs.     Makers  of  Modern  Rome.     Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1896. 

11.  Olivart.     Le  Pape,  les  Etats  e.  l'eglise  et  Italie.     Paris,  1897. 

12.  Stillman,  W.  J.     The  Old  Rome  and  the  New.     Lond.,  1895.     The  Union 

of  Italy,   1815-95.      Cambridge   Univ.   Press,   1899.      Francesco  Crispi. 

Lend.,  1899. 
The  Reviews  contain  many  articles  of  value.  See  Poole  and  other  Indexes. 
On  Pope  Pius  IX  see  Lives  by  Francis  Hitchmann,  Lond.,  1878  ;  T.  A.  Trol- 
lope, 2  vols.,  Lond.,  1877  ;  Wappmansperger,  Ratisbon,  1878,  and  J.  F. 
Maguire,  N  Y.,  1878,  rev.  and  enl.,  Dub.,  1893;  A.  C.  Coxe,  The  Pontificate 
of  Pius  IX,  in  The  Princeton  Rev.,  March,  1878  (30  pp.);  The  Speeches  of 
Pius  IX,  in  Quar.  Rev.,  Jan.,  1875  ;  Lives  of  Leo  XIH,  by  J.  F.  Talbot,  Bost., 
1886,  J.  McCarthy,  Lond.,  1896;  and  Julien  de  Narfon,  transl.,  Lond.,  1899. 
See  Lives  of  Garibaldi,  Mazzini,  and  Cavour. 


THE   POPES   AND   ITALIAN   UNITY.  783 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE    POPES    AND    ITALIAN    UNITY. 

Machiavelli  represents  the  temporal  kingdom  of  the  popes  in 
Middle  Italy  as  the  great  cause  why  Spain  had  remained,  throughout 
the  ages,  disjointed  and  helpless  before  the  foreigner.  Dante, 
before  him,  intensely  orthodox  as  he  is,  but  also  intensely  patriotic, 
is  thoroughly  possessed  of  the  same  opinion.  It  is  much  to  the 
credit  of  Rome  that,  while  she  has  condemned  some  DAnte  on 
of  Dante's  statements  in  his  prose  works,  she  has  powEifoF 
never  suffered  a  word  of  his  Commedia  to  be  put  papacy. 
under  censure.  The  Jesuits,  indeed,  when  they  arose,  soon  set 
about  organizing  a  "conspiracy  of  silence,"  under  which  the  fame 
of  Dante  suffered  an  eclipse  of  generations  in  his  own  land.  Most 
of  them  still  hate  him,  and,  according  to  Gioberti,  lose  no  oppor- 
tunity by  which  they  can  furtively  discredit  him.1  Yet  even  they 
do  not  venture  to  claim  for  the  pope's  immediate  temporal  author- 
ity in  Italy  anything  more  than  a  human  and  historical  right.  They 
allow  expressly  that  not  only  has  it  never  been,  but  that  it  never 
can  be  defined  as  an  article  of  faith.  On  the  other  hand,  the  emi- 
nent Luigi  Tosti,  Abbot  of  Monte  Cassino,  the  mother-house  of 
Benedictinism,  declares  the  ecclesiastical  State  and  Rome  itself 
essential  to  Italian  unity,  and  incapable  of  being  retroceded  to  the 
pope.     The  Benedictines  do  not  favor  the  temporal  dominion. 

The  grant  of  lands  to  the  Roman  see  by  Pepin  and  his  great 
son  differed  only  in  extent  from  similar  grants  to  any  other  bishop. 
In  Teutonic  view  an  estate  carried  with  it  jurisdic-  EREIGNTY 
tion.     This  explains  female  sovereignty,  which  was  a  and  owner- 

r  ,  SHIP. 

rare  exception.  A  queen  governed  because  she  was 
supreme  proprietress.  The  express  title  of  Isabella  and  her  daugh- 
ter in  Spain  was  reina  proprietaria.  The  ancient  view  of  sov- 
ereignty as  an  office  has  suffered  eclipse,  and  female  succession 
has  disappeared  from  Germany,  Belgium,  Italy,  Greece,  and  Scandi- 
navia, and  is  only  admitted  as  a  last  resort  in  Austria  and  Russia. 2 

1  H  Gesuita  moderno,  Tome  Terzo,  p.  236. 

3  Queen  Victoria  protests  against  it  as  an  unnatural  and  unsexing  thing,  but 
has  herself  rendered  it  so  popular  in  England  that  if  there  is  any  change,  it  is 
likely  to  be  the  other  way,  as  Freeman  proposes. 


784  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

In  like  mariner,  as  sovereignty  became  more  and  more  detached 
from  ownership,  one  prelatical  principality  after  another  disap- 
peared, until  the  great  shock  of  the  French  Revolution  broke 
them  all  up,  including  the  ecclesiastical  State.  The  revival  of  this, 
and  its  continuance  until  1870,  was  only  a  part  of  the  general 
reaction  following  the  fall  of  Napoleon,  which  has  now  exhausted 
itself. 

The  unequaled  greatness  of  the  papacy,  however,  and  its 
oecumenical  character  reduced  and  crushed  the  Soman  burgher- 
ship  to  a  mere  shadow  of  power.  Milan  or  Florence  could  easily 
bring  its  bishop  to  reason,  but  the  Roman  pontiff  had,  in  extrem- 
growthof  ity>  ail  Western  Christendom  to  fall  back  upon.  Ar- 
TtsPtem-ani>  n°ld  °^  Brescia,  and  Rienzi,  and  all  other  popular 
poral  sway,  tribunes  were  broken  against  this  adamantine  wall. 
They  fell  the  more  easily  because  of  their  futile  endeavors  to  reas- 
sert for  the  rude  and  shrunken  mediaeval  town  the  old  rights  of 
universal  dominion.  Europe  understood  the  papacy,  but  laughed 
at  the  weak  mimicry  of  the  Senatus  Populusque  Romanus.  And 
when  the  papacy  had  destroyed  the  mighty  Hohenstaufen  and 
crushed  the  empire  into  impotency,  forcing  it  at  last  to  resign  even 
the  pretense  of  sovereignty  over  Rome,  all  hope  fell  that  the  Roman 
bishop,  like  other  Italian  bishops,  could  ever  be  reduced  within  the 
bond  of  national  unity.  Whether  Italy  without  the  papacy  would 
have  kuit  together  in  the  Middle  Ages  may  be  doubtful ;  with 
the  papacy  it  was  quite  out  of  the  question. 

The  prevalence  of  the  papacy  over  the  tribunes  and  the  empire, 
however,  by  no  means  implied  the  existence  of  the  ecclesiastical 
State,  as  we  have  known  it.  It  was,  before  the  time  of  Julius  II, 
little  more  than  a  wavering,  turbulent  agglomeration  of  free  cities, 
lordships,  counties,  dukedoms,  baronies,  each  having  its  imme- 
morial and  jealously  guarded  liberties.  Over  those  the  popes 
states  of  exercised  a  vague  suzerainty,  varying  all  the  way  from 
1CH"  effective  sovereignty,  which  had  finally  been  estab- 
lished in  the  city  of  Rome,  to  the  mere  shadow  of  it  in  the  pros- 
perous and  virtually  independent  dukedom  of  Urbino,  or  in  the 
illustrious  city  of  Bologna.  Even  the  personal  exemption  of  the 
chief  pontiff  from  civil  authority,  although  the  Italian  law  of  guar- 
antees fully  concedes  it,  and  although  Roman  Catholics  talk  as  if 
it  was  as  self-evident  as  gravitation,  is  no  article  of  faith.  Every 
Roman  Catholic,  of  course,  is  bound  to  hold  the  pope  entitled  of 
divine  right  to  such  civil  exemptions  as  are  essential  to  the  free 
exercise  of  his  spiritual  authority.     But  the  Roman  bishops  for  a 


THE   POPES  AND   ITALIAN   UNITY.  785 

thousand  years  exercised  the  widest  attributes  of  their  office,  with- 
out ever  denying  their  civil  subjection  to  the  emperor,  whether  at 
Home,  Constantinople,  or  Aachen. 

The  simple  truth  is  that  the  popes  exercised  civil  authority  in 
the  Middle  Ages  only  because  other  bishops  did.  They  exercised 
it  in  a  much  greater  measure  because  they  were  incomparably 
greater  than  all  other  bishops,  and  because  the  terri-  civil  status 
tories  of  Middle  Italy  easily  reverted  into  subordina-  OF  POPES- 
tion  to  them.  They  knew  how  to  maintain  their  possessions,  be- 
cause they  were  fortified  in  the  awful  reverence  of  the  nations,  and 
because  they,  above  all  the  Powers,  had  the  instinct  of  government. 
Besides,  they  could  always  sanction  an  alienation  of  episcopal 
lands,  but  who  could  sanction  an  alienation  of  papal  territory  ? 
The  present  papal  obstinacy  against  this  is  not  purely  ambitious 
self-will ;  it  is  largely  mingled  with  conscientious  perplexity. 
Rome  moves  slowly,  but  as  she,  after  hesitating  more  than  a  gen- 
eration, finally  swung  over  from  the  luxuriousness  of  a  Leo  X  to 
the  Puritan  severity  of  a  Pius  V,  so  she  will  now,  after  a  long 
delay,  finally  learn  that  civil  sovereignty  has  been  merely  a  variable 
and  very  questionable  incident  of  her  long  history,  and  that  the 
thirty  years  since  she  has  lost  it  have,  for  the  first  time  in  genera- 
tions, introduced  her  into  what  may  really  be  called  spiritual  free- 
dom in  the  exercise  of  her  functions. 

The  reign  of  Julius  II  (1503-1513)  witnessed  the  transformation 
of  the  previous  loose  agglomeration  of  papal  possessions  to  the 
ecclesiastical  State  as  an  administrative  unity.  Cassar  TEMPORAL 
Borgia  had  prepared  the  way  for  it,  and  Julius  virtually  £2^*  yFOR. 
completed  it.  The  result  was  distinctly  unfavorable  EVER  PAST- 
to  the  prosperity  of  the  populations.  All  their  busy  local  life  was 
suppressed,  and  they  were  submitted  to  the  worst  of  all  possible 
governments,  a  government  of  priests.  If  the  pope  is  wise  he  will 
conclude,  like  Paul  at  Corinth,  that  he  "has  no  more  place  in 
these  parts,"  and  will  boldly  anticipate  the  future  by  transferring 
himself  from  the  banks  of  the  Tiber  to  those  of  the  Thames.  In 
England  he  would  find  a  frankly  accorded  and  fully  guaranteed 
freedom  in  the  use  of  his  spiritual  functions  which  he  would  find 
nowhere  else  in  the  world.  If  the  papacy  is  to  have  a  continuing 
office  in  Christendom  it  will  only  be  as  an  institute  imbued  with 
that  spirit  of  reasonable  leadership  of  which  England  is  the  great 
example.     If  it  cannot  accommodate  itself  to  this  its  good  and  evil 

days  alike  are  done. 
52 


?86  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE    LATER    SWEDISH    CHURCH. 

Returning  to  Gustavus  Vasa,  it  is  sad  to  relate,  that  in  1539 

his  two  great  instructors   in  Protestantism,   Lars  Andersen  and 

Olaf    Petersen,  were    supplanted  in  his  favor   by   a 

PETERSEN  '  rr  J 

and  ANDEK-     Dutchman,  Conrad  Peutinger,  and  a  German,  George 

SEN  SET  '  B       >  >  B 

aside.  Norman.     The  work  of  reformation  was  now  pushed 

with  a  heedless  precipitancy  showing  how  little  the  newcomers  un- 
derstood the  true  interests  or  temper  of  the  Swedes.  A  great  deal 
of  their  work  therefore  came  to  naught.  Gustavus  now  procured 
the  condemnation  of  Petersen  and  Andersen  to  death  on  a  charge 
of  high  treason.1  One  great  count  in  the  indictment  was  that 
they  had  not  been  willing  to  lay  the  Church  absolutely  at  the  feet 
of  the  king.  Their  condemnation  was  therefore  a  species  of 
martyrdom.  They  were  pardoned,  but  never  recovered  the  royal 
favor.  Gustavus  Vasa  was  a  great  and  beneficent  king,  but  had 
no  small  share  of  imperious  harshness  in  his  temper,  sometimes 
passing  over  into  decided  tyranny. 

We  owe  an  infinite  debt  to  Sweden,  for  when  continental  Prot- 
estantism was  in  straits,  and  almost  in  despair,  before  the  rapidly 
advancing  military  forces  of  the  restored  Catholicism,  whose  con- 
quest of   Lower  Germany  would  apparently  have  brought  with  it 
„  „ the  downfall  of  the  Reformation  everywhere,  Sweden, 

DEBT  OF  PROT-  J  >  > 

estantism       on  ju]y  4   1630    descended  like  a  thunderbolt  from 

TO  SWEDEN.  J         '  > 

the  North,  under  her  heroic  young  Gustavus  Adol- 
phus,  the  grandson  of  the  great  Vasa,  and,  sweeping  down  almost 
to  the  Alps,  in  victory  after  victory  crushed  and  broke  up  the 
ultramontanist  forces,  and  showed  the  Jesuits  and  their  disciples 
that  God  had  set  a  limit  to  their  proud  hopes. 

Gustavus  Adolphus  is  perhaps  the  most  fascinating  king  in  his- 
tory. Possessed  of  the  heroic  beauty  of  the  North,  of  its  fair 
gustavus  complexion,  blue  eyes,  and  sunny  hair,  he  had  the 
warmth  and  simplicity  of  the  Swedish  heart,  and  the 
God-fearing  Swedish  temper,  and,  although  doubtless  his  zeal  for 
his  persecuted  religion  was  largely  mingled  with  the  instinct  of 

1  A  conspiracy  against  the  king's  life,  confided  to  Andersen  and  Petersen 
under  seal  of  confession,  formed  part  of  the  charge. 


THE   LATER   SWEDISH   CHURCH.  787 

dominion,  yet  it  was  deep  and  true.  The  very  spirit  of  Luther 
breathes  in  his  famous  words  : 

"  Fear  not,  0  little  flock,  the  foe 
Who  madly  seeks  your  overthrow," 

dictated  by  him  in  prose  and  rendered  by  his  chaplain,  Fabricius, 
into  German  verse,  the  evening  before  the  heroic  king  crowned  his 
course  by  falling  on  the  victorious  field  of  Liitzen. 

In  Swedish  Christianity,  the  lay  parishioners  have  always  had  an 
undoubted  right,  out  of  the  episcopally  accredited  clergy,  to  choose 
and  refuse  pastors.     This  right,  for  many  ages,  was  mixed 

largely  overborne  by  the  chapters,  the  bishops,  the  polity. 
noble  patrons,  and  the  kings,  yet  it  was  never  extinguished  or  de- 
nied, and  it  seems  now,  with  certain  counterchecks,  to  be  fully 
established.  Socially  the  bishops  still  have  the  first  rank,  yielding 
precedence  after  royalty  only  to  the  great  nobles.  About  1750 
they  resumed  the  Eoman  Catholic  usage  of  wearing  the  pectoral 
cross.  This,  however,  did  not  signify  the  slightest  divergence  from 
the  Lutheran  doctrine  of  the  universal  priesthood,  while  it  has  been 
coincident  with  a  final  abandonment  of  the  former  absoluteness  of 
their  authority  over  the  clergy. 

From  of  old  the  dioceses  have  been  divided  into  provostships,  or  a 
sort  of  rural  deaneries.  The  provosts,  however,  or prostar,  have  had 
much  greater  authority  than  rural  deans.  They  have  THE  PRO_ 
been  sometimes  the  rivals,  but  much  more  commonly  vosts. 
the  efficient  helpers  and  deputies  of  the  bishops,  extending  a  vig- 
orous supervision  from  the  cathedral  center  throughout  the  dio- 
cese. The  cathedral  chapters  were  dissolved  by  Gustavus  Vasa,  as 
in  Denmark,  but  were  soon  reconstituted  on  a  new  basis,  and  have 
been,  since  the  Eeformation  as  before  it,  efficient  factors  in  the 
diocesan  administration.  They,  too,  have  sometimes  impeded,  but 
more  commonly  strengthened,  the  bishop's  authority. 

The  bishop  has  the  right  also  of  appointing  in  his  diocese  a 
number  of  honorary  provosts,  having  the  rank,  though  not  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  contract  or  district  provosts.  This  episcopal 
is  a  simple  but  very  effective  way  of  securing  to  the  helpers. 
bishop  a  strong  influence  over  his  leading  clergy.  Except  in  cer- 
tain rare  contingencies,  the  bishop  alone  can  ordain.  The  diacon- 
ate  has  been  abolished,  the  presbyterate  and  the  episcopate  only 
being  retained. 

Church  discipline  has  always  been  vigorous  in  Sweden,  as  in 
Scotland,  and  although  originally  exercised  in  forms  too  harsh  and 


788  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

crude   to  be  any  longer  applicable,  it  seems  to  have  been  on  the 

whole  a  beneficial  and  educating  influence  for   Christian  living. 

In  the  eighteenth  century  it  was  almost  or  altogether 

CHURCH    DIS-  °  ..in-  -i  i 

cipline.  detached    from   civil  penalties,  and  rendered   purely 

spiritual.  The  pastor  was  very  commonly  aided  and  controlled  by 
lay  assessors  or  elders. 

The  Swedes  have  suffered  vastly  from  intemperance,  and  even  a 
special  form  of  alcoholic  disease  has  been  developed  among  them. 
Yet  it  should  be  known  that  this  national  vice  dates  back  only  to 
„„„„„„,  about  1785,  the  evil  time  of  Gustavus  III.  He  es- 
temperance,  tablished  royal  distilleries  throughout  the  kingdom  and 
even  enjoined  on  the  clergy  to  preach  brandy  drinking  as  a  duty  of 
loyalty,  for  the  sake  of  the  king's  revenues.  Of  late  years  there 
has  been  a  powerful  temperance  movement,  greatly  aided  by  the 
increasing  numbers  of  Baptists  and  Methodists,  and  of  Walden- 
stromians.  Swedish  Lutheranism  is  in  little  danger  of  subversion, 
yet  it  had  been  so  long  settled  on  its  lees,  in  exclusive  possession 
of  power,  that  it  is  likely  to  be  incalculably  benefited  by  a  free  in- 
fusion of  regenerating  elements  from  the  great  Eeformed  wing  of 
Protestantism,  in  both  its  Calvinistic  and  its  Arminian  forms. 

The  Swedish  Church  has,  in  its  time,  passed  through  all  the  mu- 
tations of  German  Lutheranism,  but  usually  in  a  mitigated  form. 
Having  no  rivals,  and  being  remote  from  the  centers 

MODERATED  °  ,  . 

controver-  of  controversy,  and  under  the  steadying  influence  of  a 
well-digested  polity,  its  controversies,  though  often 
not  lacking  in  vehemence,  partook,  on  the  whole,  of  the  mildness 
of  the  national  temper.  With  these  mitigations  it  had,  like  Ger- 
man Lutheranism,  its  epoch  of  rigid  orthodoxy,  of  efforts  after 
union  with  the  Eeformed,  of  partly  persecuted  and  partly  prevail- 
ing Pietism,  of  dreary  and  shallow  rationalism,  of  reviving  and 
deepening  faith,  now  enlarged  by  a  more  generous  culture  and  a 
broader  charity.  It  now  exhibits  a  warm  and  growing  interest  in 
interior  and  foreign  missions,  and  in  all  the  familiar  forms  of  pious 
and  philanthropic  effort. 

The  narrowness  and  bigotry  which  too  much  High  Lutheranism, 

aided  by  long  seclusion,  has  developed  in  many  leading  persons, 

have    by    no    means    disappeared,    but    are    declining.     In  the 

seventeenth   century    several   persons  were  beheaded   for   secret 

Catholicism,  and  later  several  more  for  secret  Calvin- 

INCREASING  '  , 

religious       ism.     As  late  as  1844  a  Swedish  painter  was  deprived 

LIBERTY.  .  r  .     ,  .  „ 

oi  his  civil  rights  and  of  his  rights  of  inheritance  for 
becoming  a  Roman  Catholic,  and  banished  to  Copenhagen,  where 


THE   LATER   SWEDISH   CHURCH.  789 

he  died  the  next  year  in  penury.  Now,  however,  full  religious 
liberty  is  established.  The  evil  influence  of  Gustavus  III  over  the 
upper  classes  has  been  largely  redressed  by  the  moral  soundness  of 
the  Bernadottes.  French  and  Eoman  Catholic  in  origin,  they  have 
long  shown  themselves  thoroughly  Protestant  and  perfectly  Swedish. 
As  against  the  hierarchy  and  ritualism  of  Home,  Lutheranism 
was  long  marked  by  an  excessive,  not  to  say  arid,  intellectualism. 
Every  shade  of  doctrinal  opinion  had  its  embittered, 
and  even  mutually  persecuting  adherents.  While  the  ment  to 
compacter  structure   of   the   Swedish   Church    kept     tual  activ- 

.  ITY. 

these  disputes  more  within  bounds  than  in  Germany, 

they  at  least  stirred  up  the  mental  powers  of  the  clergy,  and  even 

of  the  cultivated  laity,  to  great  activity. 

Sweden  has  given  birth  to  one  very  remarkable  and  influential 
aberrant  type  of  Christianity,  Swedenborgianism.  It  has,  however, 
prevailed  much  more  over  English  and  American  swedenbor- 
thought  than  over  Swedish.  It  strongly  resembles  some  GIAKISM- 
of  the  better  forms  of  the  early  Gnosticism,  and  seems  destined,  like 
them,  to  be  absorbed  into  oecumenical  Christianity,  helping  to  give  it 
a  greater  interior  depth  than  its  forensic  and  juridical  theologies 
have  encouraged,  necessary  as  these  have  been  to  sustain  the  fabric 
of  Christian  thought.  Emmanuel  Swedenborg's  father,  Jasper 
Svedberg,  was,  perhaps,  the  most  eminent  and  beneficently  active 
bishop  of  Sweden  during  a  long  episcopate. 

The  grisly  superstition  of  the  witchcraft  trials  seems  to  have 
been  beyond  comparison  more  appallingly  destructive  in  the  Roman 
Catholic  and  Lutheran  world  than  in  the  Calvinistic  countries,  even 
including  Scotland.      Its  victims  within  this  range, 

°  -I        -I  WITCHCRAFT. 

between  about  1450  and  1750,  were  numbered  by  hun- 
dreds of  thousands,  even  millions.     Of  course  Lutheran  Sweden 
in  this,  too,  followed  after  Lutheran  Germany.     A  woman  was 
burnt  about  1690  because  she  did  not  weigh  a  hundred  pounds. 

There  is  very  little  illiteracy  in  Sweden,  and  primary  education 
seems  of  late  years  to  have  come  rapidly  forward.  The  famous 
University  of  TJpsala,  and  its  eminent  sister  of  Lund, 
have  lately  welcomed  a  third  associate,  the  new  Uni- 
versity of  Gothenburg.  The  Swedish  gymnasia,  instead  of  being, 
like  the  German,  something  between  our  academies  and  colleges, 
are  true  provincial  universities.  They  cannot  give  degrees,  and 
they  have  not  so  many  teachers  in  each  department  as  the  uni- 
versities, but  there  is  hardly  anything  taught  in  these  which  is  not 
also  taught  in  the  gymnasia. 


790  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


CHAPTEK  XIII. 

THE  LATER  DANISH  CHURCH. 

The  history  of  the  Danish  Church  since  the  Eeformation  has 
not  been  so  picturesque  as  that  of  Sweden.  Yet  Denmark  in  the 
nineteenth  century  developed  a  great  religious  movement  which 
has  powerfully  affected  the  general  national  life.  The  name  of 
gkukdt-  this  movement,  Grundtvigianism,  is  a  token  of  its  in- 

vigianism.  tense  national  peculiarity,  indeed,  particularism,  which 
renders  it  very  difficult  for  a  foreigner  to  understand,  and  much 
more  to  explain  it.  Even  the  Norwegians,  although  speaking  the 
same  language  and  having  nearly  the  same  ecclesiastical  constitution 
as  Denmark,  appear  to  have  been  only  moderately  affected  by  it, 
while  on  the  Swedes  it  seems  to  have  made  scarcely  any  impression. 
Nicolai  Fredrik  Severin  Grundtvig '  was  the  son  of  a  parish 
priest  of  Udby,  on  the  island  of  Zealand,  and  was  born  September 
8,  1783.  He  was  endowed  with  extraordinary  religious 
insight,  and,  what  is  closely  akin  to  it,  keen  poetical 
vision.  He  had  also  a  wonderful  power  of  influencing  and  im- 
pelling men,  and  of  transforming  them  into  his  firm  and  loyal 
disciples,  in  this  resembling  Loyola  or  Wesley,  although  hardly 
possessed  of  their  organizing  power.  Though  of  a  more  deeply 
creative  genius  than  Wesley,  he  fell  short  of  his  sunny  sanity. 

Grundtvig's  literary  development  antedated  his  spiritual.  He 
was  profoundly  attracted  by  the  ancestral  Northern  myths,  partly 
evolving  out  of  them  and  partly  imagining  into  them  deep  truths 
of  nature  and  the  spirit.  His  efforts  developed  in  him,  and 
through  him  in  the  Danes,  an  intense  revival  of  national  feeling, 
grundtvig's  which  helped  to  restrain  the  flood  of  German  influ- 
DEVELOP7-8  ence  that  had  through  the  ambiguous  union  with 
Schleswig-Holstein  partly  submerged  Danish  litera- 
ture. However,  he  did  not  find  rest  for  his  spirit  in  the  Eddas, 
and  was  more  and  more  drawn  to  the  Bible.  He  became  at  last 
convinced  that  the  redemption  of  the  world  can  be  found  only  in 
Christianity,  and,  as  his  faith  deepened,  only  in  Christ.  Thence- 
forward he  preached  the  Gospel  of  the  personal  Redeemer  with  a 

1  Paul  Pry,  N.  F.  S.  Grundtvig,  Copenh.,  1871 ;  J.  Kaftan,  Grundtvig,  der 
Prophet  des  Nordens,  Basel,  1876. 


THE  LATER  DANISH   CHURCH.  701 

regenerating  effect  throughout  Denmark  far  exceeding,  in  the 
apparent  fruits  of  individual  transformation,  all  that  appears  to 
have  been  seen  at  the  Reformation. 

This  experience  renewed  to  Grundtvig  the  apprehension  of  the 
truth  which  had  been  obscured  in  the  Protestant  reaction  against 
the    overvaluation    of   tradition  and   the   hierarchy, 

\FW  FM  J*FIA* 

namely,  that  the  Church  is  not  founded  on  the  Bible,     sis  on  the 

CHTTR.CIT 

but  the  Bible  on  the  Church.     The  written  word  is 
not  living  in  itself,  but  becomes  living  only  as  interpreted  and 
applied  by  a  community  of  living,  regeuerate  souls,  or,  rather,  it 
comes  forth  from  the  midst  of  such,  and  is  not  meant  to  be  other- 
wise interpreted  and  understood. 

Grundtvig's  fundamental  conviction  was  that  the  innermost 
Gospel  lies,  as  at  the  first,  in  proclaiming  the  facts  concerning 
Christ,  his  miraculous  birth,  his  incarnate  godhead, 

.  ,  .     .  ,'  .  .  ,  .  FUNDAMEN- 

his  sinless  life,  his  divine  teachings,  his   redeeming  tal  charao 

,,,...  .  ,7  ,.  .      ,  TER  OF  THE 

death,  his  victorious  resurrection,  his  continued  inter-  apostles' 
cession,  his  bestowment  of  the  Spirit,  and  his  return 
to  judgment.  These  truths  he  found  most  immediately  expressed 
or  implied  in  the  Apostles'  Creed.  He  therefore  gave  to  this 
symbol  eminently  the  title  of  the  Word  of  God.  The  Scriptures 
he  regarded  as  essentially  an  inspired  commentary  upon  it.  Into 
this  faith,  he  said,  Christians  have  been  baptized  from  the  begin- 
ning, and  he  who  is  not  baptized  into  it  has  not  been  baptized 
into  the  universal  Church. 

So  far  there  was  not  much  more  than  a  very  strong  expression  of 
a  profound  and  regenerating  truth.  However,  the  opposition  of 
the  traditional  Lutheranism  irritated  him,  and  still 

,.,..,.  ,  OPPOSITION 

more  his  disciples,  into  the  most  extravagant  and  un-   from  strict 

LUTHERANS 

tenable  positions.  All  would  allow  that  very  early, 
perhaps  even  from  apostolic  times,  it  was  usual  for  converts  at 
baptism  to  make  a  brief  profession  of  their  faith  in  the  facts  of 
the  Gospel,  and  that  the  so-called  Apostles'  Creed  is  the  expan- 
sion of  such  early  baptismal  formulas.  However,  the  Grundtvig- 
ians  were  not  contented  with  this.  They  affirmed  that  the  whole 
Apostolicum,  article  for  article,  just  as  we  have  it  in  words  and 
order,  was  communicated  by  our  Lord,  between  his  resurrection 
and  his  ascension,  to  the  apostles,  and  by  these,  in  oral  tradition, 
to  the  first  converts,  and  so  on,  through  all  the  ages,  to  us. 
Nay,  they  questioned  whether  a  priest  who  doubted  of  a  single 
article  could  give  an  authentic  baptism,  and  some  even  questioned 
whether,  in  Denmark,  the  change  of  an  archaic  to  a  modern  phrase 


792  HISTORY  OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

did  not  endanger  the  validity  of  baptism.  Out  of  this  sprang  all 
manner  of  distressing  scruples  of  conscience. 

As  the  creed  mentions  the  Church,  but  not  the  Bible  or  atone 
ment,  the  Church  again,  in  Grundtvigian  eyes,  sprang  into  a  con- 
spicuousness  which  almost  rendered  it  the  rival  of  the  Lord,  and 
quite  pushed  biblical  authority  into  the  background.  The  party 
tt^t^t  «™  Tnl,  began  to  desire  the  reintroduction  of  the  continuous 
J^SJiS^1^  succession  from  Sweden,  and  a  few,  we  believe,  be- 

CUBREM'S   OF  7  7> 

belief.  came  Eoman  Catholics  outright.     Yet  the  movement 

had  proceeded  from  too  profound  an  apprehension  of  the  redeem- 
ing power  of  Christ,  and  was  too  completely  Protestant  in  its 
root,  to  shed  much  of  its  ripened  harvest  into  the  bosom  of  Eome. 
Therefore,  as  Bishop  Martensen  and  the  clergy  generally  became 
more  fully  appreciative  of  the  essential  nobleness  and  beneficence 
of  the  movement,  Grundtvig  and  his  followers  relaxed  from  their  ex- 
travagances, and  the  two  believing  currents  of  the  Danish  Church 
joined  their  forces  against  the  merely  negative  rationalism,  and  also 
against  the  malignant  materialism  of  the  Brandes  brothers,  men  of 
Jewish  origin,  and,  like  so  many  Jews,  implacably  bent  on  destroy- 
ing all  faith  in  spiritual  reality,  in  God,  the  soul,  and  immortality. 

What  has  been  said  under  the  head  of  Sweden  of  the  growing 
influence  of  the  Baptists  and  Methodists,  and,  it  may  be  added,  of 
the  Catholic  Apostolic  movement  commonly  known 
nominations  as  Irvingism,  is  equally  applicable  to  Denmark.  The 
Eoman  Catholics,  also,  have  now  a  few  thousand  ad- 
herents. For  some  reason  or  other,  the  Mormons  have  succeeded 
in  making  a  relatively  large  number  of  converts  in  Scandinavia, 
and  especially  in  Denmark.  Yet  the  overwhelming  majority  of 
the  Danes  still  remain  Lutheran.  The  recent  religious  literature 
plainly  indicates  that  there  is  an  aggressive  Christian  faith  in  the 
little  kingdom. 

Frederick  Grundtvig,  in  consideration  alike  of  his  eminence  as 
a  Christian,  a  poet,  and  a  patriot,  was,  on  May  29,  1861,  the  fifti- 
eth anniversary  of  his  ordination  to  the  priesthood, 

T>T7"RT  t/-i  *>  ■*- 

honor  to        raised  bv  the  king  to  an  equality  of  rank  with  the 

GRUNDTVIG.         ...  *    tt       ■>  -i    -i    •  i  <•      ,1  •  ■  o    -rw  i 

bishop  of  Zealand  himself,  the  primate  ot  Denmark. 
He  was  not,  however,  consecrated,  nor  set  over  a  diocese,  nor  clothed 
with  authority  to  ordain.  The  day  was  celebrated  with  great 
demonstrations  of  honor  from  all  parties  in  the  Church.  The 
great  and  venerable  man  lived  until  September  2,  1872,  and  left 
behind  him  perhaps  the  most  honored  name  in  all  the  later  his- 
tory of  Denmark. 


LITERATURE  :    THE   GREEK  CHURCH.  793 


LITERATURE :   THE  GREEK  CHURCH. 

1.  Chytraeus,  David.     Oratio   de  statu  ecclesiarum  hoc   tempore   in  Graecia. 

Host.,  1569. 

2.  Allatius,  Leo.     De   Ecclesiae  occidentalis   et  orientalis  perpetua  conver- 

sione.     Colon,  1648.     Graecia  orthodox,  1652. 

3.  Vejelius,  Elias.     Exercitatio  de  ecclesia  grseca  hodierna.     Strassb.,  1666. 

4.  Beveridge,  Wm,   Synodikon  s.  Pandectae  canonum  apostolorum  ab  ecclesia 

graeca  receptorum.     2  vols.     Oxon.,  1672. 

5.  Smith,  Thomas.     Epistohe  de  grasca  ecclesia  hodierna.     Lond.,  1678.     An 

account  of  the  Greek  Church  as  to   its  Doctrine  and  Eites  of  Worship. 
Lond.,  1680. 

6.  Eicerut.     Histoire  de  l'etat  present  de  l'eglise  grecque  et  de  l'eglise  ar- 

menienne.     Witteb.,  1692. 

7.  Croix,  J.  de  la.    Etat  present  des  nations  et  des  eglises  grecques  amen,  et  ma- 

ron.  en  Turque.     Paris,  1695. 

8.  Fecht,  Johannes.     Kurze  Nachricht  von  der  Eeligion  der  heutigen  Griech- 

en.     Eost.,  1711. 

9.  Heineccius,  Michael.    Abbildung  der  alten  und  neuen  griechischen  Kirche. 

Leipz.,  1711. 

10.  King,  Wm.     The  Eites  of  the  Greek  Church  in  Eussia.     Lond.,  1722. 

11.  Covel,  John.     Some  Account  of  the  present  Greek  Church  with  reflections 

on  their  present  Doctrine  and  Discipline.     Cainb.,  1722. 

12.  Eisner,  Jacob.     Neueste   Beschreibung  der  griechischen  Christen  in  der 

Turkei.     Berl.,  1737. 

13.  Le  Quien.     Oriens  Christianus.     3  vols.     Paris,  1740. 

14.  Mirus,  E.     Kurze  Vorstellung  der  griechischen  Kirche.     Leipz.,  1752. 

15.  Platon,  Archbp.     Eechtglaubige   Lehre   oder   kurzer  Auszug  der  christ- 

lichen  Theologie.     Leipz.,  1760. 

16.  Morcelli,    S.    A.      Kalendarium    ecclesiae   Constantinopolitanae.      2  vols. 

Eoma,  1783. 

17.  Pinkerton,  Eobert.     The  Present  State  of  the  Greek  Church  in  Eussia,  or  a 

Summary  of  Christian  Divinity,  by  Platon,  late  Metropolitan  of  Moscow. 
Transl.  with  Preliminary  Memoir.     Edinb.,  1814  ;  also  N.  Y.,  1815. 

18.  Stourdza,  A.  de.    La  doctrine  et  l'esprit  de  l'eglise  orthodoxe.    Stuttg.,  1816. 

19.  Smith,  H.  J.     Morganlandisch-griechische  russische  Kirche.     Mainz,  1826. 

Kritische  Geschichte    der  neugriechischen  und  der  russischen  Kirche. 
Mainz,  1840. 

20.  Strahl,  Philipp.     Beitrage  zur  russischen  Kirchengeschichte.     Halle,  1827. 

Geschichte  der  russischen  Kirche.     Halle,  1830. 

21.  Wenger,  J.     Beitr.  zur   Kenntniss  des  gegenwartigen  Geistes  der  griech- 

ischen Kirche.     Berl.,  1839. 

22.  Mouravieff,  A.   N.     Doctrines  of  the  Eussian  Church.     Transl.  by  Black- 

more.     Lond.,  1842.     History  of  the  Eussian  Church.   Lond.,  1845.    Har- 
mony of  Anglican  with  Eastern  Doctrine.     Lond.,  1846. 


794  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

23.  Blackmore,  R.  W.     The  Doctrine  of  the  Russian  Church.     Lond.,  1845. 

24.  Neale,  J.  M.     A  History  of   the  Holy   Eastern   Church.     2  vols.     Lond., 

1847-73. 

25.  Wimmer,  H.     Die  griechische  Kirche  in  Russland.     Dresd.,  1848. 

26.  Waddington,    George.     Condition  and  Prospects  of  the   Greek   Church. 

Lond.,  1854. 

27.  Pichler,  A.     Protestantismus  in  der  orientalischen  Kirche.     Munch.,  1862. 

28.  De  Guitte.     De  l'eglise  grecque.     Paris,  1862. 

29.  Heppe,  L.  A.     Die  Epiklesis  d.  griech.  und  oriental.     Liturgieen  und  die 

romische  Consecrationscanon.     Schaffh. ,  1864. 

30.  Susza,  Jac.     Cursus   vitas   et   certamen  martyrii  B.  Josaphat  Kuncevicii, 

archiep.  Polocencis,  ed.  J.  Martinov.     Paris,  1865. 

31.  The  Faith  of  the  Eastern  Church  :  a  Catechism.     N.  Y.,  1867. 

32.  Romanoff,   H.    C.      Rites   and  Customs   of   the   Graeco-Russian   Church. 

Lond.,  1868. 

33.  Gass,  W.     Symbolik  der  griechischen  Kirche.     Berl.,  1872. 

34.  Philaret,  Archbp.    Geschichte  der  Kirche  Russlands  ubersetzt  von  Blumen- 

thal.     Frankft.,  1872. 

35.  Bassarow.     Die  russisch-orthodoxe  Kirche.     Stuttg. ,  1873. 

36.  Pfizmaier,  A.     Gottesmenschen  und  Skopzen  in  Russland.     Wien,  1884. 

37.  Heard,  A.  F.     The  Russian  Church  and  Russian  Dissent,  and  Erratic  Sects. 

Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1887. 

38.  Wehrmann,  F.     Griechentum  und  Christentum.     Bresl.,  1888. 

39.  Shann,  G.  V.     Euchology,  a  manual  of  prayers  of  the  Orthodox  Church 

done  into  English.  Kidderminster,  1891.  See  also  Katharine  Lady 
Lochmere,  Synopsis  of  Daily  Prayers,  Liturgy  and  Offices  of  the  Greek 
Orthodox  Church.     Lond.,  1890  ;  Church  Qnar.  Rev.,  Oct.,  1891,  269. 

40.  Kattenbusch,  Ferdinand.     Lehrbuch  der  vergleichende  Confessionskunde  : 

Die  orthodox  anatolische  Kirche,  Freib.  i.  B.  1882.  See  A.  Stewart  in 
Crit.Rev.,  iii,  156-163. 

41.  Howard,    George   B.      The   Schism   between   the   Oriental   and   Western 

Churches  with  Special  Reference  to  the  Addition  of  the  Filioque  to  the 
Creed.     Lond.,  1892. 

42.  The  Stundists  :  the  Story  of  a  Great  Religious  Revolt.     Lond. ,  1894. 

43.  Kostadina.      Das   Oekumen.   Patriarchat   von   Konstantinople.     Belgrad, 

1895. 

44.  Burkhardt,  O.     Die  Einfuhrung  der  Reformation  in  den  russischen  Lan- 

dern.     Leipz.,  1895. 

45.  Birkbeck,  W.  J.     Russia  and  the  English   Church   during   the  last  fifty 

years.     Vol.  i.     Lond.,  1896. 

46.  Urquhart,  D.     The  Greek  and  Russian  Churches.     Diplomatic  Rev.,  Book 

vii. 

47.  Hore,  A.  H.     Eighteen  Centuries  of  the  Orthodox  Greek  Church.     Lond., 

1899. 


RELATION   OF   THE   GREEK   CHURCH   TO   ROME.  795 


CHAPTEK  XIV. 

RELATION  OF  THE  GREEK  CHURCH  TO  ROME. 

Rome,  with  her  wonted  haughtiness  and  contempt  of  all  fact 
where  her  claims  are  concerned,  sometimes  speaks  of  the  Greek 
Church  as  a  revolted  daughter.     For  Rome  to  call  the 

°  GREEK  NOT 

Greek  Church  her  daughter  is  mere  midsummer  mad-    the  daugh- 

°  .  TEB  OF 

ness.  It  is  the  culmination  of  High  Church  absurd-  roman 
ity.  The  Gospel  did  not  proceed  from  the  West  east- 
ward, but  from  the  East  westward.  The  Roman  Church  itself,  as 
a  local  body,  is  almost  as  ancient  as  any.  It  can  hardly  be  called 
even  the  daughter  of  Antioch.  It  appears  to  have  been  the  im- 
mediate daughter  of  Jerusalem.  The  "  strangers  of  Rome  "  found 
in  Jerusalem  at  the  great  Pentecost  appear  on  their  return  to  have 
developed  into  a  growing  brotherhood,  which  we  find  less  than  a 
generation  later  already  renowned  throughout  the  world  for  the 
energy  of  its  faith  and  soon,  also,  of  its  beneficence,  a  reputation 
which  it  deservedly  retained  for  a  number  of  centuries.  Yet  East- 
ern Christianity  was  not  derived  from  it.  Rome  Was  an  eminent, 
and  soon  the  most  eminent,  sister  in  a  vast  confederation  of 
churches  ;  to  no  Eastern  church  was  she  a  mother. 

Rome  apart,  Eastern  Christianity  has  never  lost  the  conscious- 
ness and  pride  of  being  elder  than  Western.  Its  episcopate,  more- 
over, is  wholly  independent  of  the  West.  It  questions  whether 
the  apostolic  succession  has  been  maintained  in  the  eomeac- 
Occident,  but  the  Occident  raises  no  question  as  to  greek  edges 
that  of  the  East.  Rome  will  not  suffer  even  the  SUCCESSION- 
heretical  Monophysite  or  Nestorian  bishops  and  priests  to  be  re- 
ordained.1  Nay,  the  doctors  of  the  city  of  Rome,  says  Dollinger, 
concede  to  the  Eastern  bishops  not  merely  a  valid  succession,  but 
the  power  of  the  keys.  Even  Leo  XIII,  a  few  years  ago,  sent  a 
congratulatory  delegation  to  his  venerable  brother,  the  patriarch  of 
Constantinople,  on  his  accession,  a  courtesy  which  he  has  never 
dreamed  of  showing  to  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury.  The  latter, 
in  his  eyes,  is  a  mere  rebel,  and  he  has  at  last  declared  him  to  be 
an  unordained  layman  ;  the  former  he  cannot  forget  to  be  a  great 

1  The  occasional  reordinations  of  Abyssinian  clergy  rest  on  purely  local 
grounds. 


796  HISTORY   OF   THE    CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

bishop,  toward  whom,  even  yet,  he  finds  it  expedient  to  use  the 
language  of  fraternity  rather  than  of  command. 

The  council  of  Chalcedon,1  which  had  been  obliged  to  Leo 
for  the  luminous  exposition  of  the  points  a,t  issue  between  Eutyches 
and  Nestorius,  and  which  had  declared,  and  this  time  sincerely, 
that  "Peter  had  spoken  through  Leo,"  calmly  proceeded  to  ar- 
range precedence  between  Rome  and  Constantinople  in  utter  neg- 
lectfulness  of  everything  except  the  civil  rank  of  the  two  cities. 
The  council  is  not  contemptuous  of  the  Roman  claims  to  a  divine 
superiority.  It  is  profoundly  oblivious  of  them.  Once  the  whole 
East  was  for  thirty-five  years  out  of  communion  with  Eome,  yet 
treated  this  fact  as  a  mere  incident  of  more  important  contro- 
versies. And  at  the  second  oecumenical  council,  that  of  Constan- 
tinople, in  381,  the  bishops  called  Meletius  of  Antioch  to  the 
presidency,  entirely  neglecting  the  fact  that  he  was 
enoeto  under  the  ban  of  Rome.     Indeed,  Chrysostom,  until 

communica-     he  was  fifty-one  years  old,  had  never  been  in  com- 

TIONS.  ■  . 

munion  with  Rome  a  day  in  his  life.  Yet  this  did  not 
in  the  least  stand  in  the  way  of  his  being  made  archbishop  of  Con- 
stantinople. When  invested  in  this  great  see  he  at  length  arranged 
terms  of  accommodation  with  Rome,  not  by  an  act  of  submission, 
but  of  mutual  oblivion. 

The  transference  of  the  seat  of  sole  sovereignty  to  the  East, 
after  its  extinction  in  Rome,  adding  political  to  the  intellectual 
superiority  of  the  Greeks,  affected  the  Latins  with  a  mixture  of 
embarrassment  and  disgust.  At  last  they  determined  on  self-help. 
In  crowning  Charles  the  Great,  the  mighty  Frank,  with  the  Roman 
latent  an-  diadem,  they  took  a  final  leave  of  the  East.  True, 
tweenmst'  the  bonds  of  religious  communion  were  ostensibly  ac- 
knowledged for  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  longer. 
Yet  they  were  rapidly  losing  force,  so  that  the  final  breach  of  1054 
did  little  more  than  confirm  outwardly  a  schism  already  inwardly 
consummated.  Thenceforward  the  Roman  pope  was  to  the  Greeks 
a  foreign  phenomenon.  His  rapidly  mounting  greatness  in  the 
West  astounded  and  sometimes  dismayed  the  Easterns.  Rome, 
while  terming  Constantinople  schismatical,  has  never  called  her 
heretical.  Inconsiderate  Latin  writers  may  have  done  so  sometimes, 
but  not  the  apostolic  see.  Never,  we  believe,  has  a  Greek  been 
sent  to  the  stake  in  the  West  on  a  charge  of  unsound  doctrine. 3 

1  The  fourth  council  here  simply  extended  action  already  taken  by  the  second. 

2  Even  the  rejection  of  the  immaculate  conception  and  of  papal  infallibility 
has  not  provoked  Rome  into  calling  the  Greeks  heretics. 


RELATION   OF   THE   GREEK   CHURCH   TO   ROME.  797 

From  soon  after  622  the  crushing  ravages  of  Mohammedanism 
were  almost  the  death  of  the  Eastern  Church.  Myriads  of  its 
members  were  massacred  ;  myriads  were  lured  or  compelled  into 
Islam ;  the  flower  of  its  youth  was  swept  into  the  armies  or  the 
harems  of  the  conquerors,  and  trained  to  abhor  the  faith  of  its 
fathers,  while  the  merciless  exactions  of  the  Moslem  masters,  espe- 
cially after  the  utterly  barbarous  Turks  had  succeeded  to  the  much 
less  tyrannical  Arabs,  reduced  the  Oriental  Christians  to  such  utter 
poverty,  that  it  was  all  they  could  do  to  maintain,  in  a  wretched 
way,  their  churches,  priests,  and  bishops,  and  the  mere  elementary 
schools.  The  long  stagnation  of  the  Greek  mind  is  sufficiently 
explained  by  the  abject  ignorance  into  which  the  Greeks  were 
forced.  Ignorance  and  immorality  went  together. 
The  patriarchs,  compelled  by  the  Turks  to  pay  enor-  anoppres- 
mous  bribes  for  their  places,  and  for  restoration  after 
the  frequent  depositions,  oppressed  the  metropolitans,  these  the 
bishops,  these  the  priests,  and  these  the  people.  The  pastors  were 
accused  of  even  encouraging  wickedness  in  their  people  in  order  to 
find  bread  for  themselves  and  their  wives  and  children  by  the 
money  paid  for  the  mitigation  of  penances.  This  representation 
comes  from  a  highly  unfriendly  source,1  yet  we  can  see  it  to  have 
had  a  considerable  foundation  in  fact. 

The  Oriental  Church,  before  500,  had  practically  lost  Egypt, 
and  perhaps  the  greater  part  of  Syria,  while  the  Armenian  nation 
had  permanently  withdrawn  from  its  communion.  It  could 
reckon  on  little  except  Asia  Minor,  the  Islands,  Greece,  Mace- 
donia, Thrace,  and  Mcesia.  Then  came  the  teeming  Saracen,  and 
next  the  far  more  fearful  Turkish  hordes.  Under  this  unspeak- 
able oppression,  it  seemed  likely  to  collapse  altogether.  Little 
might  have  been  left  but  helpless  and  disjointed  CONVERSION 
fragments,  glad  to  hide  themselves  under  the  wing  of  OF  kussia. 
the  great  Roman  patriarch,  but  for  the  mighty  event  of  the  con- 
version of  Russia,  which  closed  the  first  Christian  millennium. 
The  almost  despairing  prayer  of  Christian  Constantinople,  "  Let 
there  arise  from  our  bones  some  avenger,"  *  was  thus  more  than 
answered.  She  herself  has  been  kept  alive,  and  religiously  inde- 
pendent, and  has  had  a  growing  barbarian  strength  at  her  dis- 
posal, which  has  been  steadily  advancing  toward  her  deliverance 
from  the  Moslem,  and  even  protected  her  against  the  murderous 
ravages  which  recently  laid  Armenia  waste.     In  Russia  a  destiny 

1  Pichler,  Protestantismus  in  der  orientalischen  Kirche,  pp.  28,  29. 
8  Exoriare  aliquis  nostris  ex  ossibus  ultor. 


798  HISTORY   OF   THE  CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

of  unknown  prospects  and  expanding  greatness  awaits  the  Oriental 
Church.  In  a  picturesque  exaggeration,  the  time  may  yet  come 
when  Kussian  and  Greek  writers,  in  their  turn,  may  speak  with 
sarcastic  disparagement  of  the  popes  as  "  the  leaders  of  the  great 
Italian  schism." 

The  great  mass  of  the  Slavonic  race,  the  Eussian,  is  still  essen- 
tially barbarous.  "What  it  will  be,  religiously,  when  thoroughly 
civilized,  does  not  yet  appear.  Yet  even  now  religion  has  a  far 
advancing  more  effective  sway  over  its  emotions  than  usually 
religion" in  among  the  Greeks,  and  as  its  development  proceeds, 
kussia.  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  it  will  come  to  have 

a  powerful  control  over  conduct.  The  Slavonians  may  not  have 
so  fine  a  fibre  as  the  Greeks,  but  they  seem  to  have  a  much  deeper 
nature.  Christianity  is  quite  as  effective  a  principle  in  Eussia  as 
in  America.1 

Not  much  attention  should  be  given  to  the  occasional  illusory 
successes  of  Eome,  in  persuading  the  Greek  emperors  and  patri- 
archs, when  peculiarly  hard  pressed  by  the  Mohammedans,  into 
a  futile  submission.  The  two  principal  were  the  Union  of  Lyons, 
in  1274,  and  especially  that  of  Florence,  in  1439,  only  fourteen 
years  before  the  fall  of  Constantinople.2  In  every  case  the  union 
roman  was  rejected  by  the  priests  and  people  almost  before 

mentsTn  ^ne  mk  °f  i^s  documents  was  dry.  Yet  by  opportu- 
theeast.  n}£y  0f  £jje  Crusades,  and  free  outlays  of  money 
among  impoverished  Easterns,  by  large  concessions  as  to  rite,  dis- 
cipline, administration,  and  even  as  to  doctrine,  and  by  the  grow- 
ing influence  of  the  Western  Powers,  Eome  has  secured  from 
among  Greeks,  Armenians,  Syrians,  and  Copts,  a  following  of  many 
millions,  perhaps  more  than  one  seventh  of  Oriental  Christianity. 
These,  being  in  constant  communication  with  Western  life,  are 
said  to  stand  much  higher  in  intelligence  and  character  than  the 
rest.  The  rapidly  advancing  power  and  pride  of  Eussia,  however, 
seem  likely  to  set  a  term  to  these  encroachments,  or  even  to  cause 
a  retrocession.  Leo  XIII,  following  Benedict  XIV,  has  shown  his 
good  sense  by  assuring  his  Oriental  brethren  that  he  does  not  mean 
to  interfere  with  their  patriarchal  rights,  or  with  their  ritual  or 
disciplinary  peculiarities.  Very  possibly  a  better  understanding 
may  some  day  ensue.  Yet  Latinism  ought  by  this  time  to  have 
learned  that  it  never  can  conquer  the  Eastern  Church. 

1  Such  movements  as  the  Stundist,  having  served  to  vitalize  the  Russian 
Church,  may  eventually  be  reabsorbed  into  it. 
9  See  above,  vol.  i,  pp.  543,  544. 


RELATION  OF  GREEK  CHURCH  TO  PROTESTANTISM.       799 


CHAPTER  XV. 

RELATION  OF  THE  GREEK  CHURCH  TO  PROTESTANTISM. 

When  Western  Christendom  found  itself  suddenly  cleft  into 
two  warring  halves,  it  was  natural  that  the  Reformers,  who  had 
bought  their  freedom  by  a  breach  with  the  immemorial  traditions 
of  doctrine,  ritual,  and  polity,  should  consider  the  possibility  of 
making  these  losses  good  by  alliance  with  the  Eastern  Church. 
The  orthodoxy  of  this  was  so  indisputable  that  Orthodox  had  be- 
come a  part  of  its  very  title  ;  its  succession  was  more  certainly  au- 
thentic than  that  of  Rome ;  and  every  one  of  the  undisputed 
councils  of  the  whole  Church  had  been  held  in  its  „,„„,  „WT,rtD„ 
territorv.     To  the  hierarchical  arrogance  of  Rome  it  ERS  medi- 

J  ~  TATE  ALLI- 

op posed    a    calm  assurance    of    doctrinal  and  ritual  ££ce  with 

■*■  ■*■  THE  EAST, 

superiority.  Could  the  Reforming  North  and  the 
Orthodox  East  join  their  forces,  Rome  would  sink  into  relative 
insignificance.  The  scheme,  however,  was  an  impossibility  from 
the  beginning.  However  much  the  Eastern  patriarchs  and  their 
dependent  bishops  might  resent  the  pretensions  of  Rome,  they 
recognized  themselves  as  belonging  to  the  same  great  system. 
The  continental  Reformers,  on  the  other  hand,  had  broken  alto- 
gether, not  with  Romanism  merely,  but  with  the  Catholic  Church. 
With  the  martyrs  and  the  early  fathers  they  had  the  fellowship 
of  a  common  Christianity,  but  not  of  a  common  Catholicism. 

The  two  variant  Christian  systems  agreed  as  to  God,  the  Trinity, 
creation,  providence,  the  fact  if  not  the  full  nature  of  the  fall, 
Christ,  redemption,  heaven,  and  hell.  They  agreed  that  without 
purity  and  righteousness  no  one  can  see  God.  They  allowed  that 
the  word  and  sacraments  are  the  principal  channels  of  justification 
and  sanctification,  and  that  faith  working  by  love  infallibly  justi- 
fies. But  in  almost  all  the  specifications  and  proportions  of  these 
common  principles  concerning  justification  they  differed  irrecon- 
cilably. And  at  almost  every  point  Greece  sided  with  Rome  and 
antagonized  the  Reformers.  To  the  Catholic  conception  of  the  Gos- 
pel as  a  new  law  the  Protestants  opposed  the  Gospel 
as  the  free  spiritual  principle  of  a  new  life.  Paul,  in  union  and 
Catholicism,  was  little  more  than  an  august  name  ;  the 
Reformation  first  restored  him  to  a  vigorous  and  effective  life. 


800  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

To  Catholicism  the  sacraments  were  the  chief  channels  of  sanctifi- 
cation;  to  Protestantism,  the  word.  In  the  old  system  Bible  read- 
ing had  become  a  carefully  guarded  luxury  ;  in  the  new  it  was  a 
daily  necessity.  Catholicism  made  the  sacraments  seven  ;  Protes- 
tantism retrenched  them  to  two.  The  former  made  them  the 
channels  of  grace  ex  opere  opjerato  ;  the  latter  only  ex  opere  oper- 
ands. The  former  made  the  Lord's  Supper  a  propitiatory  ;  the  lat- 
ter would  not  even  acknowledge  it  to  be  a  eucharistic  sacrifice.  Ex- 
cept for  baptism  and  matrimony,  Catholicism  made  the  validity  of 
the  sacraments  to  depend  absolutely  on  the  ministry  of  a  priest  of 
apostolic  succession  ;  Protestantism  declared  this  at  most  only  im- 
portant for  regularity.  Catholicism  made  the  episcopate  essential, 
and  alone  competent  to  confer  the  priesthood  ;  continental  Prot- 
estantism either  abandoned  the  succession,  or  declared  it  of  only 
historical  worth.  And  lastly,  while  Catholicism,  though  allowing 
justification  to  be  the  free  gift  of  God,  maintained  it  to  be  capable 
of  increase  by  works  done  in  a  state  of  grace,  Protestantism  denied 
this.  Protestantism  universally  rejected  masses  for  the  dead,  deny- 
ing the  propitiatory  character  of  the  eucharist,  but  only  Calvinism 
seems  to  have  formally  condemned  prayers  for  the  dead,  which, 
however,  Lutheranism  has  abandoned  almost  altogether. 

Not  in  one  of  these  points  did  Constantinople  agree  with  Wit- 
tenberg and  Geneva.     In  every  one  she  sided  with  Eome.     Heartily 
as  she  disliked  the  great  Western  patriarchate,  she  was 

CONSTANT  I- 

mople  on  sensible  that  here  it  was  fighting  her  own  battles.  Her 
sided  with  system  of  doctrine,  not  so  far  developed  as  the  Ro- 
man,  or  so  sharply  defined,  differed  in  nothing  vital. 
Perhaps  she  came  nearest  to  the  Protestants  as  to  the  value  of  the 
vernacular  Scriptures,  yet  she  too  has  always  had  great  misgivings 
about  making  the  Bible  too  free  to  the  laity.  Rome  tolerates  crit- 
icisms on  the  presentation  of  doctrine,  if  not  affecting  the  sub- 
stance. And  as  to  her  own  great  doctrinal  quarrel  with  Rome, 
over  the  procession  of  the  Spirit,  the  Eastern  Church  was  infi- 
nitely disgusted  to  find  that  the  Protestants,  at  the  very  time  that 
they  were  wooing  for  an  alliance  against  Rome,  distinctly  an- 
nounced that  here  they  sided  with  Rome. 

The  learned  Melanchthon  and  his  scholarly  fellows  could  not 
fail  to  see  that  their  hopes  were  very  slender  of  nego- 

FIRST  RELA-         ...  .  _,  .  , 

tions  of  con-  tiatmg  a  union  with  the  East.     Indeed,  the  attempt 

STANTINOPLE  °  . 

with  lu-         was  only  an  incidental  matter  and  the  first  occasion  was 

given  by  the  Greeks.     In  1559,  the  patriarch  Joasaph 

II  sent  the  deacon  Demetrius  Mysius   to  Wittenberg,  to  inform 


RELATION  OF  GREEK  CHURCH  TO  PROTESTANTISM.      801 

himself  as  to  the  new  doctrine.  Mysius  staid  at  Wittenberg  half 
a  year,  and  on  his  return  carried  with  him  a  Greek  copy  of  the 
Augsburg  Confession.  This  is  exceedingly  conciliatory  toward 
Catholicism.  Yet  the  patriarch  did  not  even  condescend  to  an- 
swer the  reassuring  letter  which  Melanchthon  had  committed  to 
Mysius. 

Fourteen  years  later  Martin  Crusius  and  Jacob  Andrese,  of  Tu- 
bingen, after  writing  three  times  to  the  patriarch  of  Constantinople, 
obtained  from  him  a  disdainful  answer,  in  which  he  simply  sum- 
moned them  to  profess  steadfastly  the  true  faith  of  the  Greeks, 
and  not  to  deviate  from  the  Bible,  the  seven  synods,  and  the  holy 
fathers,  maintaining  also  traditions,  written  and  unwritten.1  The 
two  divines  replied  that  they  accepted  the  true  faith  as 
propounded  by  the  seven  synods,  and  only  differed  from  ^|SFUL  IS_ 
the  Greeks  in  some  local  usages  of  no  great  account. 
After  about  two  years'  delay  Jeremiah  returned  a  formal  reply,  re- 
jecting everything  in  which  the  Protestants  differed  from  the  Greek 
orthodoxy,  and  accepting  only  those  points  in  which  the  Greeks  too 
differed  from  Eome.  He  closed  with  a  solemn  adjuration  to  the  Prot- 
estants, as  they  valued  their  eternal  salvation,  to  enter  into  the  bosom 
of  the  true  Oriental  Church.  The  Lutheran  divines  now  at  last 
set  forth  more  distinctly  their  points  of  divergence  from  the  East. 
After  long  delays  and  repeated  attempts  of  the  Lutherans  to  concili- 
ate the  patriarch,  Jeremiah  at  last  returned  a  decisive  and  angry  re- 
ply, showing  the  impossibility  of  reconciling  Protestantism  with  Ori- 
ental orthodoxy,  and  reproaching  the  Eeformers  with  SECOND  LU_ 
their  arrogance  in  thinking  themselves  wiser  than  the  tempt  also 
fathers,  whose  faith  had  been  attested  by  miracles,  wiser  FAILS- 
than  the  churches  of  Old  and  New  Eome  together,  while  yet  they 
were  divided  among  themselves  into  innumerable  parties.  He  en- 
treats, in  conclusion,  that  they  would  importune  him  no  longer 
with  their  theological  correspondence.  To  a  new  dissertation 
Jeremiah  returned  no  answer.  Thus  ended  the  second  attempt 
to  establish  a  good  understanding  between  Lutheranism  and 
the  East. 

Protestantism,  however,  was  destined  to  have  a  temporary  tri- 
umph in  the  East,  and  that  in  the  predominant  see,  at  Constanti- 
nople itself.  Moreover,  this  victory  was  reserved,  not  for  Luther- 
anism, whose  attitude  toward  Catholicism,  in  externals,  at  least, 
was  comparatively  conciliatory,  but  for  the  absolutely  irreconci- 
lable system  of  Calvin.     The  agent  of  this  temporary  triumph  was 

1  Pichler,  pp.  33  ff. 
53  a 


CYRIL  LUCAK. 


802  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

the  patriarch  Cyril  Lucar.     Lucar  was  born  in  1572,  at  Candia,  the 
capital  of  the  island  of  Crete.     He  sprang  of  a  Greek  family  of  old 

nobility,  akin  even  to  the  imperial  house  of  Palseolo- 

gus.  Yet  it  had  gradually  sunk  into  deep  poverty, 
and  Cyril's  father  was  a  day  laborer.  Eeligiously  the  family  was 
of  the  Orthodox  Church,  but,  as  being  then  the  subjects  of  Venice, 
familiar  with  the  Latin  Church.  When  about  eleven  the  boy 
Constantine  (Cyril  was  his  later  monastic  name)  made  his  way  to 
Alexandria,  where  his  countryman  and  kinsman,  Meletius,  was  pa- 
triarch. He  could  not  yet  read  or  write,  but  his  engaging  aspect 
and  promising  parts  induced  his  kinsman  to  receive  him  as  a  monk, 
and  to  see  to  his  education.  He  then  sent  him  to  Italy,  where  for 
eleven  years  he  studied  at  Venice  and  Padua. 

Cyril's  long  sojourn  in  Italy,  while  intensifying  his  hostility  to 
Rome,  had  broken  his  prejudices  against  the  West,  and  thereby 
predisposed  him  to  view  Protestantism  favorably.  And  since,  after 
his  return  East,  in  1595,  his  patron  Meletius,  who  was  just  then 
administrator  of  Constantinople,  sent  him  into  Poland,  to  have  a 
part  in  the  repeated  but  always  futile  negotiations  for  reunion  be- 
tween Eoman  Catholics,  Greeks,  and  Protestants,  he  became  more 
and  more  favorable  to  the  last  as  allies  against  the  first.  He  was 
yet  only  a  boy  of  twenty-three,  and  discovering  in  the  course  of 
the  complicated  disputations  that  his  knowledge  of  theology  was 
very  insufficient,  he  resolved  to  visit  Wittenberg  and  Geneva. 
He  seems  to  have  stayed  there,  principally  at  Geneva,  for  nearly 
three  years.  Geneva  was  then  much  more  eminent  than  Witten- 
berg, and  thus  Calvinism  made  the  deeper  impression  on  his  mind. 
In  1601  Meletius  died.  His  cousin  Cyril,  not  yet  thirty,  was 
chosen  his  successor. 

Cyril,  like  his  predecessor,  does  not  appear  to  have  been  partic- 
ularly devoted  to  the  little  flock  of  the  Orthodox  in  Egypt.  Con- 
stantinople drew  them  both  to  herself  with  irresistible  attraction. 
Once,  on  allegations  of  intriguing  against  the  chief  patriarch, 
Cyril  was  banished  to  Mount  Athos,  and  when  released  was  forbid- 
den even  to  say  mass  in  Constantinople.  He  then  retired  to  Wal- 
lachia,  but  finally  returned  to  Egypt,  where  he  issued  a  flaming 
admonition  against  the  Roman  emissaries.     He  now  entered  into  a 

most  intimate  correspondence  with  the  Puritan  arch- 
ence  with      bishop  of   Canterbury,  George  Abbot.      At  Abbot's 

suggestion  he  sent  to  him  as  a  student,  to  be  supported 
by  the  king,  a  young  Alexandrian  priest  of  eminent  descent, 
Metrophanes  Kritopulos. 


RELATION  OF  GREEK  CHURCH  TO   PROTESTANTISM.      803 

Cyril  Lucar  became  patriarch  of  Constantinople  in  1621,  and, 
with  several  mutations  of  banishment  and  recall,  he  maintained 
himself  in  this  second  bishopric  of  the  Christian  world  until  his 
violent  death  in  1638.     His  constant  correspondence    gradually 
with  the  Reformed,  while  still  at  Cairo  shows  a  rapidly    calvwistk 
developing  inclination  to  Calvinism,  until  at  last  he 
became  in  theory  a  Calvinistic  Protestant  out  and  out.     This  ap- 
pears fully  in  his  confession  of  faith,  first  published  in  Holland, 
in  1629.     In  1633  he  himself  published  it  at  home.     He  obtained 
for  it  the  sanction  of  a  small  synod  of  his  personal  adherents,  but 
never  ventured  to  publish  it,  by  an   encyclical,  throughout  his 
patriarchate,  or  even  in  his  immediate  diocese. 

The  confession  is  completely  Protestant  and  Calvinistic.     It  sub- 
ordinates tradition  and  the  Church  emphatically  to  the  Scripture, 
declaring  that  the  Church  can  always  err  in  doctrine,  and  must  be 
set  right  by  the  Scripture.     It  teaches  election  and  reprobation  in 
Dominican  and  Calvinistic  severity,  against  the   more  Arminian 
bent  which  has  always  distinguished  the  Greek  Church,   cyril's  cal- 
It  describes  Christ  not  only  as  the  supreme  but  as  Session  of 
the  sole  mediator.     It  explicitly  teaches  justification  FAITH- 
by  faith  alone.     It  virtually  denies  the  hierarchical,  though  not 
the  administrative  power  of  the  bishops.     It  maintains  that  all 
the  works   of  the  unregenerate  are  sinful.      It  teaches  two,   not 
seven    sacraments,    and    implies    that   their  efficacy   is  ex   opere 
operantis.     It  explicitly  denies  transubstantiation,  and  allows  only 
the  spiritual  presence  of  Christ  in  the  eucharist.     It  denies  purga- 
tory explicitly. 

This  creed,  so  utterly  contradictory  at  so  many  points  to  Cathol- 
icism, Eastern  and  Western  alike,  passed  for  five  years  without 
action  by  the  bishops  of  the  great  Constantinopolitan  patriarchate, 
or  by  the  other  Eastern  patriarchs.  An  ultimate  explosion,  how- 
ever, was  inevitable.  The  Jesuits  were  indefatigable  in  calling 
attention  to  the  new  danger.  The  pope  himself  wrote,  adjuring 
his  Eastern  brethren,  if  they  must  be  schismatics,  at  least  not  to 
disgrace  themselves  by  turning  heretics.  For  a  while  the  influence 
of  England  and  Holland  kept  Cyril  in  his  place,  but  at  last  the 
much  stronger  influence  of  France,  the  special  ally  of  the  Turk, 
overcame  theirs.  The  metropolitan  clergy,  in  the  end,  however 
unwillingly,  came  to  perceive  that  their  patriarch  was  a  thorough 
Calvinist,  and  was  bent  on  giving  over  the  whole  East  to  Calvin- 
istic Protestantism.  Finally,  by  secret  order  of  the  Sublime  Porte, 
Cyril,  in   the  evening   of  June  26,  1638,  having   been   already 


804  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

imprisoned,  was  put  on  board  a  boat,  which  was  rowed  out  into 
the  Bosporus,  where  the  executioners,  allowing  him  a  little  time 
murder  of  f°r  prayer,  strangled  him  and  threw  his  body  over- 
cyril.  board.    The  corpse  was  cast  on  shore,  and  reverently 

buried  by  friends.  Thus  perished  the  first  and  only  Protestant 
patriarch  of  Constantinople. 

In  the  year  following  the  murder  of  Cyril  Lucar,  his  successor, 
Contari,  convened  the  patriarchs  Metrophanes  of  Alexandria,  whose 
earlier  patron  Cyril  had  been,  Theophanes  IV  of  Jerusalem, 
twenty-one  metropolitans  and  other  bishops,  and  twenty-three 
other  clergymen,  including  the  learned  Cretan,  Meletius  Syrigus, 
in  synod  at  Constantinople,  to  examine  Cyril's  confession  of  faith. 
The  synod  condemned  this  almost  from  beginning  to  end,  anathe- 
matizing, indeed,  in  the  precipitancy  of  its  zeal,  some  statements 
which,  however  they  may  be  meant,  are  in  themselves,  as  the 
Roman  Catholic  Pichler  remarks,1  perfectly  sound.  They  also 
anathematize  the  person  of  Cyril  Lucar,  as  not  merely  teaching 
heresy,  but  as  being  in  full  personal  intent  a  heretic.  The  well- 
known  synod  of  Bethlehem,  in  1672,  repeats  in  full  detail  all  the 
anathemas  against  the  confession,  and  to  the  best  of  its  power 
commits  the  Oriental  Church  against  every  aspect  of  Protestantism. 

Since  learned  studies,  however,  have  revived  among  the  Greeks 
and  Russians,  they  have  shown  an  increasing  hospitality  to  Prot- 
estant thought  and  scholarship.  They  say :  "  We  are  glad  of 
your  help  in  furnishing  our  house  more  richly,  but  pray  do 
not  burn  it  down  over  our  heads."  Nor  does  the  Graeco-Russian 
Church,  like  the  Latin,  claim  to  be  the  whole  Catholic  Church  of 
greater  Christ.     It  regards  itself  as  only  a  part,  incompetent, 

nessNat'1"  without  the  West,  as  she  esteems  the  West  incompetent 
tresent.  without  her,  to  hold  an  eighth  oecumenical  council. 
The  occidental  synods  since  1054,  Trent  included,  it  views  as  hav- 
ing been  merely  general  councils  of  the  West.  Since  Canterbury 
has  risen  to  be  a  world-wide  patriarchate,  having  some  two  hundred 
and  fifty  bishops  subordinate  or  at  least  loyal  to  it,  Constantinople 
regards  it  less  decidedly  than  once  as  a  mere  rebel  against  Rome. 
Anglicanism,  too,  now  that  it  advances  its  Catholic  elements  of 
doctrine  and  worship  more  to  the  front,  and  remands  its  Protestant 
polemics  more  to  the  rear,  is  less  offensive  to  the  East  than  when  it 
was  simply  a  Calvinistic  Episcopal  church.  Whether  the  Orientals 
and  the  Anglicans  will  ever  form  a  close  conjunction  as  against 
Rome  is  wholly  uncertain,  but  it  is  at  least  not  an  impossibility. 
1  Pichler,  pp.  216  ff. 


LITERATURE  :  RECENT  PERIOD  IN  GREAT  BRITAIN.        805 


LITERATURE:   RECENT  PERIOD  IN  GREAT  BRITAIN. 

I.    THE   EIGHTEENTH   CENTURY. 

J.  C.  Ryle,  Christian  Leaders  of  the  Last  Century,  Lond.,  1869  ;  John  Hunt, 
Religious  Thought  in  England  from  Reformation  to  1800,  3  vols.,  Lond., 
1870-73  :  able  and  impartial ;  Leslie  Stephen,  Hist,  of  English  Thought  in 
18th  Century,  Lond.,  1876,  newed.,  1880:  an  acute  discussion  from  agnostic 
point  of  view ;  C.  J.  Abbey  and  J.  H.  Overton,  The  English  Church  in  the 
Eighteenth  Century,  2  vols.,  Lond.,  1878,  ab'd  ed.,  1887:  one  of  the  great 
works  in  Church  History ;  J.  H.  Overton,  Life  in  the  English  Church, 
1660-1714,  Lond.,  1885;  C.  J.  Abbey,  The  English  Church  and  its  Bishops, 
2  vols.,  Lond.,  1887;  W.  E.  H.  Lecky,  Hist,  of  England  in  the  18th  Century, 
8  vols.,  Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1878-90:  "not  a  history  in  the  strict  form,  but 
rather  a  philosophical  study  of  events  and  their  causes  relieved  by  an  admir- 
able series  of  finished  historical  portraits  ;  "  his  treatment  of  religious  history 
is  strong  and  interesting ;  W.  N.  Molesworth,  Hist,  of  the  Church  of  England 
since  1660,  Lond.,  1883;  Scotland  and  Scotsmen  in  the  Eighteenth  Century: 
from  MSS.  of  John  Ramsay,  of  Ochtertyre,  ed.  by  Alex.  Allardyce,  2  vols., 
Lond.  and  Edinb.,  1888  (see  Quar.  Rev.,  Lond.,  July,  1888,  art.  ii) ;  W.  C. 
Sydney,  England  and  the  English  in  the  18th  Century,  Lond.,  1891  ;  H.  Grey 
Graham,  Social  Life  of  Scotland  in  the  18th  Century,  2  vols.,  Edinb.  and 
Lond.,  1899.  The  sources  are  the  sermons,  journals,  biographies,  histories, 
poems,  in  fact  all  the  literature  of  that  time. 

II.    JOHN   WESLEY. 

His  Works,  many  eds.,  best,  14  vols.,  Lond.,  1881,  with  index  (a  reprint  of 
the  3d  ed.,  by  Thomas  Jackson,  1831  ff.).  Contemporary  attacks:  for  a  men- 
tion of  these  with  quotations  and  estimate,  see  Tyerman,  Life  of  Wesley, 
passim.  Lives,  by  John  Hampson,  3  vols.,  Lond.,  1791  ;  Henry  Moore  (assisted 
by  T.  Coke),  1792,  rev.  and  enl.  ed.,  2  vols.,  1824-5  :  official,  indorsed  by  Con- 
ference ;  John  Whitehead,  M.D.,  2  vols.,  1791-3:  author  was  Wesley's  friend 
and  physician,  also  a  local  preacher,  and  his  book  is  one  of  the  most  valuable 
of  the  early  authorities  ;  an  Amer.  ed.  was  pub.  in  Phila.  in  1845,  2  vols,  in  1, 
with  valuable  introd.  by  Thomas  H.  Stockton  and  with  Whitehead's  sermon 
at  Wesley's  funeral;  R.  Southey,  2  vols.,  1820:  of  no  critical  value,  but,  as 
A.  Gordon  says,  "  the  first  to  bring  home  to  the  public  mind  a  distinct  sense 
of  Wesley's  place  in  the  history  of  English  religion  ; "  best  ed.  is  that  by  C.  G. 
Southey,  with  S.  T.  Coleridge's  Notes  and  Alex.  Knox's  Remarks,  Lond.,  1845, 
N.  Y.,  2  vols.,  1852,  with  acld'l  notes  by  D.  Curry  ;  Julia  Wedgwood,  Lond., 
1870;  L.  Tyerman,  3  vols.,  Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1870-1  :  exhaustive,  impartial, 
invaluable  ;  J.  H.  Bigg,  1875  ;  R.  Denny  Urlin,  Wesley's  Place^in  Church  His- 
tory, 1870,  and  Churchman's  Life  of  Wesley,  rev.  and  enl.  ed.,  1886:  Urlin's 
books  show  research  and  are  written  in  excellent  spirit — the  best  from  epis. 
standpoint ;  R.  Green,  1881  ;  J.  H.  Overton,  1891  ;  John  Telford,  1887.  new 
ed.,  rev.,  1899:  perhaps  the  best  1-vol.  life.     An  admirable  work   is  D.  D. 


806  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Thompson,  John  Wesley  as  a  Social  Reformer,  Cin.  and  N.  Y.,  1898.  On  his 
relation  to  the  Church  of  England  see  J.  H.  Rigg,  Churchmanship  of  John 
Wesley,  Lond.,  1868,  3d.  ed.  enl.,  1898  ;  Jno.  W.  Hockin,  John  Wesley  and 
Modern  Methodism,  4th  ed. ,  enl. ,  1887  ;  J.  A.  Faulkner,  in  Papers  of  Amer. 
Soc.  of  Church  Hist.,  viii,  163  ff.  A  list  of  books,  pamphlets,  and  review 
articles  on  Wesley  and  his  Movement  would  fill  a  volume.  A.  Gordon's  valu- 
able art.  in  Diet,  of  Natl.  Biog.,  vol.  60,  should  be  mentioned. 

in.    CHARLES   WESLEY. 

Journals  (1736-56),  ed.  by  T.  Jackson,  2  vols.,  Lond.,  1849,  with  selections 
from  his  correspondence  ;  Lives,  by  John  Whitehead,  1793,  T.  Jackson,  2  vols., 
1841,  1  vol.,  N.  Y.,  1842,  and  ab'd,  Lond.,  1848,  and  C.  Adams,  N.  Y.,  1859. 
See  art.  by  J.  A.  Faulkner  in  McClintock  and  Strong,  x,  907-911  ;  G.  Osborn 
ed.  his  Hymns  and  Poems  (with  John's)  in  13  vols.,  Lond.,  1868-72;  Henry 
Fish,  his  Poetical  Version  of  the  Psalms,  Lond.,  1854,  and  F.  M.  Bird,  his 
Finer  and  Less  Familiar  Poems,  N.  Y.,  1867:  an  admirable  work.  See  R. 
Green's  excellent  Bibliography  of  the  works  of  John  and  Charles  Wesley, 
Lond.,  1896. 

IV.    GEORGE   WHITEFTELD. 

Works,  7  vols.,  Lond.,  1771-2,  with  life  by  John  Gillies  ;  Sermons  (27),  with 
Life  by  Gillies,  enl.,  Middletown,  1836.  Lives,  by  J.  Gillies,  1772,  new  ed., 
rev.  and  enl.  by  J.  Jones,  1812  ;  Robt.  Phillip,  Lond.,  1838  ;  J.  R.  Andrews, 
1864;  D.  A.  Harsha,  Albany,  1866;  J.  P.  Gledstone,  Lond.,  1871;  Luke 
Tyerman,  2  vols.,  Lond.,  1876  :  standard;  J.  B.  Wakeley  (Anecdotes),  N.  Y. 
and  Lond.,  1879. 

V.    COUNTESS   OF   HUNTINGDON. 

[Anonymous],  Life  and  Times,  2  vols.,  Lond.,  1840  ;  Mrs.  H.  C.  Knight, 
Lady  Huntingdon  and  her  Friends,  N.  Y.,  1853  ;  A.  H.  New,  The  Coronet  and 
the  Cross,  or  Memorials  of,  Lond.,  1857. 

VI.    JOHN    FLETCHER. 

Works,  4  vols.,  N.  Y.,  1833.  Lives,  by  J.  Wesley,  Lond.,  1786  ;  Jos.  Benson, 
Lond.  andN.  Y.,  1830  ;  L.  Tyerman,  Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1822  (Wesley's  Desig- 
nated Successor) ;  and  F.  W.  Macdonald,  Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1885.  See  also 
H.  Moore,  Life  of  Mrs.  Fletcher,  Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1818. 

VII.    METHODISM. 

Histories,  by  Abel  Stevens,  N.  Y.  and  Lond.,  3  vols.,  1858-61  :  perhaps  the 
best  denominational  history  ever  written  ;  George  Smith,  3  vols. ,  1857-62  :  a 
strong  and  well-written  work,  but  partisan  for  Wesleyanism  in  its  treatment 
of  the  late  separations  ;  W.  W.  Bennett,  Cin.,  1878  ;  W.  H.  Daniels,  Lond.  and 
N.  Y.,  1882  ;  H.  N.  McTyeire,  Nashville,  1884  ;  A.  B.  Hyde,  N.  Y.,  1887, 
and  J.  F.  Hurst,  6  vols.,  N.  Y.,  1900  ff.  There  are  many  local  histories  of 
British  Methodism ;  as  for  biographies  their  name  is  legion,  and  each  of  the 
Methodist  denominations  has  its  own  literature. 

VIII.    THE   ESTABLISHED    CHURCH   AND   NONCONFORMIST  CHURCHES. 

See  literature,  above,  pp.  ^636-632>    Qo{-\,ff 

IX.    THE   ANGLO-CATHOLIC   MOVEMENT. 

The  Works  of  Newman,  Pusey,  R.  H.  Froude,  Keble,  and  other  actors. 
Nearly  every  biography  and  history  in  the  religious  literature  of  England  for 


LITERATURE  :  RECENT  PERIOD  IN  GREAT  BRITAIN.      807 

the  last  sixty  years  has  more  or  less  to  say  of  this  movement.  Numerous 
articles  in  reviews  and  magazines  treat  the  movement  in  its  various  phases,  and 
many  of  them  with  learning,  insight,  and  discrimination.  See,  for  instance,  C. 
J.  Ellicott  in  Princeton  Rev.,  Sept.,  1878,  612  ff.;  A.  P.  Stanley  in  Edinb.  Rev., 
April,  1881,  art.  i  ;  G.  T.  Stokes  in  Contemp.  Rev.,  Aug.,  1887  ;  J.  A.  Froude, 
Short  Studies,  4th  series,  151  ff.;  Henry  Rogers,  Essays  in  Theological  Contro- 
versies (see  Index) ;  and  Otto  Pfleiderer,  Development  of  Theology  in  Germany 
and  England,  Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1892.  Among  recent  books  we  mention  the 
following :  T.  Mozley,  Reminiscences  of  Oriel  College  and  the  Oxford  Move- 
ment, Lond.  and  Bost.,  1882  (see  Church  Quar.  Rev.,  Lond.,  xv,  139  ff.,  Quar. 
Rev.,  July,  1882).  Wilfred  "Ward,  William  George  Ward  and  the  Oxford 
Movement,  Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1889  (see  Church  Quar.  Rev.,  xxiv,  72 ff.,  Church 
Rev.,  N.  Y.,  Oct.,  1889,  255  ff.,  Expos.  Times,  Oct.,  1891).  The  same,  William 
George  Ward  and  the  Catholic  Revival,  Lond.  and  N.  Y. ,  1893  (see  Crit.  Rev. , 
iii,  343  ;  New  World,  ii,  764).  R.  W.  Church,  The  Oxford  Movement,  12  years, 
1833-45,  Lond.  andN.  Y.,  1891  ;  newed.,  1892  :  the  best  book  from  the  High 
Church  side  (see  Church  Quar.  Rev.,  32,  271 ;  Church  Rev.,  N.  Y.,  63,  242; 
Crit.  Rev.,  i,  235  ;  Presb.  and  Ref.  Rev.,  ii,  696).  Autobiography  of  Isaac 
Williams,  Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1892.  G.  Wakeling,  The  Oxford  Church  Move- 
ment, Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1895  (see  The  Nation,  N.  Y.,  Jan.  2,  1896,  p.  18).  J. 
H.  Rigg,  Oxford  High  Anglicanism,  Lond.,  1895  ;  new  ed.,  rev.  and  enl., 
1899  :  admirable  discussion  by  a  veteran  Methodist  student  of  the  times.  J. 
H.  Overton,  The  Anglican  Revival,  Lond.,  1897,  N.  Y.,  1898  :  excellent  general 
view  by  a  sympathetic  historian.  Walter  Walsh,  Secret  History  of  the  Oxford 
Movement,  Lond.,  1897  ;  7th  ed.,  1899  :  indispensable — the  first  to  uncover  a 
multitude  of  facts  of  prime  importance  in  estimating  the  movement.  A.  M. 
Fairbairn,  Catholicism,  Anglican  and  Roman,  Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1899  :  a  dis- 
cussion preeminently  able  and  satisfactory  (see  H.  Rashdall,  in  Crit.  Rev., 
April,  1899,  211  ff.).  See  also  E.  D.  Mead,  Arnold  and  the  Oxford  Movement, 
in  Andover  Rev.,  i,  495;  A.  V.  G.  Allen,  Stanley  and  the  Tractarian  Move- 
ment, in  New  World,  iii,  132  ;  and  J.  A.  Faulkner,  The  Anglo-Catholic  Move- 
ment, in  Reformed  Quar.  Rev.,  xxxix,  223  ff. 

X.    THE   ANGLICAN   CRISIS    OF   1898-99. 

We  mention  here  a  few  of  the  more  important  books,  all  published  in  Lon- 
don in  1899,  except  when  otherwise  stated :  F.  Temple,  Charge  Delivered  at 
his  First  Visitation  (1898).  Wm.  H.  Carnegie,  Church  Trouble  and  Common 
Sense  (1898).  Quar.  Rev.,  July,  1898,  266  ff.  C.  J.  Ridgeway,  What  Does  the 
Church  of  England  Say  ?  Arthur  Galton,  Message  and  Position  of  the  Church 
of  England.  J.  G.  Rogers  in  Cont.  Rev.,  Sept.  Sir  William  Vernon  Har- 
court,  Lawlessness  in  the  National  Church.  M.  Creighton,  The  Position  of 
the  Ch.  of  England.  Viscount  Halifax,  Rights  of  the  Church  of  England 
under  the  Reformation  Settlement.  The  Roman  Mass  in  the  English  Church  ; 
illegal  services  described  by  eyewitnesses,  with  introd.  and  notes.  Samuel 
Smith,  Lawlessness  in  the  Church  of  England.  John  Brown,  Present  Crisis  in 
the  Ch.  of  England. 

XI.    ROMAN   CATHOLICISM. 

J.  A.  Froude,  The  Revival  of  Romanism,  in  Short  Studies,  3,  93.  The  Rom. 
Catholics  in  England,  in  Quar.  Rev.,  Jan.,  1888,  31.     W.  J.  Amherst,  S.J., 


808  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Hist,  of  Catholic  Emancipation,  2  vols.,  Lond.,  1886.  Thos.  Murphy,  Oath- 
Church  in  England  and  Wales  during  the  Last  Two  Centuries,  N.  Y.,  1892. 
Lives  of  Manning,  by  A.  W.  Hutton,  Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1892  ;  E.  S.  Purcell,  2 
vols.,  Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1896  (many  eds.)  ;  and  Francis  de  Pressense,  Jr., 
Lond.  and  Phila.,  1897.  Life  of  Wiseman,  by  W.  Ward,  Lond.,  1899.  Lives 
of  Newman,  by  R.  H.  Hutton,  Lond.  and  Bost.,  1891  ;  W.  Mynell,  1890 ; 
E.  A.  Abbott  (Anglican  Career),  1S92  (see  J.  W.  Chadwick  in  New  World,  i, 
768) :  a  merciless  criticism  ;  and  especially  E.  S.  Purcell,  2  vols.,  1899. 

XH.    THE   SCOTTISH   CHURCH. 

R.  Buchanan,  The  Ten  Years'  Conflict,  2  vols.,  Edinb.,  1849  :  standard  from 
Free  Church  side.  J.  Bryce,  Ten  Years  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  2  vols. , 
Edinb.,  1850:  standard  from  Established  side.  T.  B.  Brown,  Annals  of  the 
Disruption,  2  pts.,  Edinb.,  1877 ;  new  ed.,  1  vol.,  1885.  James  Walker,  Theol- 
ogy and  Theologians  of  Scotland,  chiefly  of  17th  and  18th  centuries,  Edinb., 
1872  ;  2d  ed.,  1888  ;  T.  Brown,  Church  and  State  in  Scotland  :  a  Narrative  of 
the  Struggle  for  Independence  from  1560  to  1843,  Edinb.,  1891  (see  A.  T. 
Innes  in  Crit.  Rev.,  ii,  174,  and  B.  B.  Warfield,  in  Presb.  and  Ref.  Rev.,  iv, 
157).  A.  T.  Innes,  Studies  in  Scottish  History  chiefly  Ecclesiastical,  Lond., 
1892  :  valuable  essays  on  various  aspects  of  Scottish  religion  in  modern  times. 
M.  Hutchinson,  The  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  in  Scotland,  1680-1876, 
Paisley,  1893.  G.  B.  Ryley,  Scotland's  Free  Church,  Lond.,  1893.  Peter 
Bayne,  The  Free  Church  of  Scotland  :  Its  Origin,  Founders,  and  Testimony, 
Edinb.  and  N.  Y.,  1893  ;  new  ed.,  1895  :  the  best  short  account  of  the  Disrup- 
tion. N.  L.  Walker,  Chapters  from  the  History  of  the  Free  Church  of  Scot- 
land, Edinb.,  1895  (see  Crit.  Rev.,  v,  315).  M.  G.  I.  Kinloch,  Studies  in  Scotch 
Eccl.  Hist,  in  17th  and  18th  Centuries,  Lond.,  1898.  D.  Butler,  Wesley  and 
Whitefield  in  Scotland,  or  the  Influence  of  Methodism  on  Scottish  Religion, 
Edinb.,  1898:  an  admirable  study.  See  also  Lives  of  Chalmers,  Buchanan, 
Candlish,  Guthrie,  Cunningham,  Duff,  and  other  leaders. 

XIII.    REFORMS. 

Slavery :  Thos.  Clarkson,  Hist,  of  Abolition  of  African  Slave  Trade,  2  vols. , 
Phila.,  1808.  T.  F.  Buxton,  African  Slave  Trade,  2d  ed.,  Lond.,  1838,  and  The 
Remedy  :  a  Sequel,  1840.  Chas.  Buxton,  Slavery  and  Freedom  in  British 
West  Indies,  Lond.,  1860.  Sir  L.  Playfair,  The  Scourge  of  Christendom, 
Lond.,  1884.  See  also  lives  of  the  antislavery  reformers.  Temperance:  D. 
Dorchester,  The  Liquor  Problem  in  All  Ages,  N.  Y.,  1884.  H.  W.  Blair,  The 
Temperance  Movement,  Bost.,  1888.  Dawson  Burns,  Temperance  History, 
Lond.,  1890.  P.  T.  Winskill,  The  Temperance  Movement  and  its  Workers,  4 
vols,  in  2,  Lond.,  1892.  See  lives  of  temperance  reformers.  Prison:  See 
works  of  John  Howard  and  Lives  of  him,  books  mentioned  by  W.  S.  Sonnen- 
schein,  The  Best  Books,  p.  244  ;  the  authorities  referred  to  in  the  article 
Penology,  in  Bliss,  Encyc.  of  Social  Reform,  and  Lives  of  Romilly,  Elizabeth 
Fry,  and  Brace.  In  Edwin  Hodder,  Life  and  Work  of  the  Seventh  Earl  of 
Shaftesbury,  Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  3  vols.,  1887  ;  new  popular  ed.  (unabr'd),  1892, 
will  be  found  an  account  of  nearly  all  the  social  and  labor  reforms  in  England 
in  the  last  fifty  years.  See  the  same  author's  Life  of  Samuel  Morley,  Lond., 
1887  ;  L.  Wolf,  Sir  Moses  Montefiore,  Lond.,  1884 ;  and  F.  C.  Montague,  Life 
and  Work  of  Arnold  Toynbee,  Bait,  and  Lond.,  1889. 


THE   PRELUDE   TO   METHODISM.  809 


II.    GREAT    BRITAIN. 
CHAPTEE  I. 

THE  PRELUDE    TO  METHODISM. 

What  was  the  cause  of  that  religious  and  moral  decline  which 
marked  England  in  the  eighteenth  century,  and  which  threatened 
to  issue  in  a  total  destruction  of  Christianity  as  an  aggressive 
power  ?  Humanly  speaking,  this  would  have  been  the  issue  had 
the  check  not  come  by  the  evangelical  revival.  But  more  than 
one  factor  must  be  taken  into  the  account.  There  was  a  natural 
reaction  from  the  burning  controversies  and  intense  religious  move- 
ments and  politico-religious  upheavals  of  the  preced- 

r  -i  it  CAUSES  OF 

mg  centurv-  As  calm  succeeds  storm  so  the  calmness  religious 
of  death  settled  down  on  the  Church,  wearied  with 
the  strife  and  turmoil  of  that  fearful  and  yet  epoch-making  cen- 
tury. Further,  by  the  voluntary  withdrawal  of  the  nonjurors,  on 
the  accession  of  William  and  Mary  in  1688,  the  Church  lost  her 
most  earnest  and  pious  ministers. 

Besides,  the  influence  of  the  court  and  the  connection  of  the 
State  must  be  mentioned.  No  State-endowed  Church  can  for  any 
long  period  maintain  purity  and  zeal.  It  will  be  often  persecu- 
ting and  tyrannical,  but  its  energy  in  that  direction  will  be  not  so 
much  an  expression  of  its  concern  for  pure  religion  as  jealousy  for 
its  own  power.  The  silencing  of  convocation  in  1717  also  had  its 
effect.  Even  with  the  very  limited  power  possessed  by  that  body, 
the  opportunity  for  discussion  and  of  initiating  measures  for  in- 
ternal relief  was  helpful  toward  keeping  the  Church  alive,  if 
nothing  more.  In  fact,  it  might  be  contended  that  even  the  dis- 
graceful disputes  which  preceded  the  dissolution  of  convocation  were 
better  than  stagnation.  But,  whatever  the  causes,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  there  prevailed  in  England  a  very  low  moral  and  re- 
ligious tone  in  the  era  preceding  the  Titanic  Wesleys. 

Before  we  speak  of  the  actual  religious  condition  of  England,  a 
word  is  due  to  the  Deists  whose  work  might  be  considered  both  a 
cause  and  an  effect  of  the  decline  of  faith.  Herbert  of  Cherbury, 
Blount,  Toland,  Shaftesbury,  Collins,  Woolston,  Tin-  en<;lish 

dal,  Thomas    Morgan,  Wollaston,  Chubb,  and  Boling-  deism. 

broke  were  the  chief  Deists.     God  is  an  infinite   divine  person, 


810  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

who  is  to  be  worshiped  by  virtue  and  piety.  The  Deists  took  of 
Christ  either  a  Socinian  or  a  low  Unitarian  view.  Man  is  either 
perfect  in  himself  or  may  become  perfect,  and  to  that  end  needs 
no  divine  aid.  On  the  Bible  the  Deists  divided,  some,  as  Shaftes- 
bury, claiming  that  divine  revelation  is  not  necessary,  the  light  of 
nature  being  all  that  is  required,  while  others  held  that  it  was  use- 
ful for  religious  instruction,  though  not  inspired  in  any  special 
sense.  They  pointed  out  the  discrepancies  in  the  narratives,  and 
Morgan  anticipated  some  later  speculations  in  his  view  of  Paul  as  a 
daring  freethinker,  much  in  advance  of  other  biblical  writers. 

Hobbes  made  the  State  the  supreme  authority  in  religion,  but  he 
is  hardly  to  be  classed  among  the  Deists  proper.  God's  revela- 
tion in  nature  is  all-sufficient,  and  the  reason  or  intuition  of 
man  is  all  that  is  needed  to  discover  what  that  revelation  is.  The 
Deists  held  that  there  were  no  miracles,  and  that  what  pur- 
ported to  be  such  are  mere  allegories.  There  was  no  resurrection 
of  Jesus  Christ  from  the  dead.  The  Deists  generally  believed 
in  a  future  life,  in  which  men  would  be  rewarded  or  punished. 

The  writings  of  the  Deists  produced  one  good  effect  in  that  they 
broke  the  lethargy  of  the  Church,  and  provoked  replies  which  for 
intellectual  power  and  effectiveness  have  rarely  been  surpassed. 
Some  of  these  have  taken  a  permanent  place  in  the  literature  of 
apologetics,  like  Lardner's  Credibility  of  the  Gospel  History,  Sher- 
lock's On  the  Resurrection  of  Jesus,  Law's  Case  of  Reason,  Butler's 
Analogy,  and  Leland's  View  of  Deistical  Writers.  Besides  the 
tremendous  effectiveness  of  the  Analogy  for  its  immediate  purpose., 
it  has  exerted  an  immense  influence  in  the  quickening  of  mind  and 
the  broadening  of  religious  thought,  and  bids  fair  to  enter  its 
third  century  in  1936  in  undiminished  reputation.1 

When  we  come  to  England  in  the  eighteenth  century  we  find, 
first  of  all,  widespread  immorality.  Some  of  the  prominent 
statesmen  were  not  only  unbelievers  in  Christianity,  but  grcss  and 
immoral  in  their  lives.  The  frivolousness  and  selfishness,  the 
drunkenness  and  foul  talk  of  Horace  Walpole  were  thought  to 
general  be  no  discredit  to  him.  The  other  prime  minister, 
"  the  Duke  of  Grafton,  used  frequently  to  appear  with 
his  mistress  at  the  play.     The  marked  contrast  in  the  times  appears 

1  An  excellent  account  of  the  Deistical  controversy  is  found  in  Sheldon, 
Church  History,  iv,  9  ff.,  and  longer  accounts  in  Cairns,  Unbelief  in  the  Eight- 
eenth Century,  lect.  iii ;  J.  H.  Overton  in  Abbey  and  Overton,  The  English 
Church  in  the  18th  Century,  i,  177  ff.;  and  in  Hunt,  Religious  Thought  in 
England  to  the  End  of  the  Eighteenth  Century,  ii,  225  ff.,  iii,  377-378. 


THE   PRELUDE  TO   METHODISM.  811 

"when  we  compare  the  security  of  public  men  like  Grafton  with 
the  suddenness  with  which,  like  a  shooting  star,  the  light  of  Par- 
nell  went  out — one  of  the  most  powerful  personalities  in  the  poli- 
tics of  the  nineteenth  century.  Lord  Chesterfield  instructs  his 
son  in  the  immoral  arts  as  though  he  were  imparting  to  him  one  of 
the  essentials  in  the  education  of  a  gentleman.1 

On  the  lower  scale,  the  people  were  sunk  in  ignorance  and 
drunkenness.  The  brutal  and  criminal  classes  were  so  many  that 
they  frequently  rose  en  masse  and  terrified  a  town.  They  flung 
open  prisons,  burnt  houses,  and  sacked  and  pillaged  at  will.  The 
futile  dread  of  society  manifested  itself  in  the  most  absurdly  ex- 
travagant penalties,  which  were  as  much  an  expression  of  the 
callousness  and  cruelty  of  the  age  as  a  determination  to  awe  the 
criminal  classes.  It  was  a  capital  offense  to  cut  down  a  tree,  as 
well  as  to  steal,  twenty  young  thieves  being  strung  up  one  morn- 
ing in  front  of  Newgate  Prison.  Drunkenness  was  fearfully  prev- 
alent. Men  were  invited  into  the  ginshops  to  get  drunk  for  a 
penny  and  dead  drunk  for  sixpence.  The  philosopher  Hartley 
thought  such  a  state  of  things  if  continued  could  only  lead  to 
revolution.  He  did  not  live  long  enough  to  see  that  his  forecast 
was  justified  as  to  France,  though  the  evangelical  revival,  as  Lecky 
admits,  saved  England  from  that  fate.8 

In  regard  to  religion  and  the  Church  there  was  a  brighter  pros- 
pect, but  with  many  dark  lines.     The  great  evil  of  plurality  and 
nonresidence  continued  through  the  whole  of  the  century.    Bishop 
Burnet,  who  died  in  1715,  calls  this  practice  "  scan- 
dalous, "  and  adds  :  "  This  is  so  shameful  a  profana-    and  the 

n  FRrY 

tion  of  holy  things  that  it  ought  to  be  treated  with  de- 
testation and  horror.  Do  such  men  think  on  the  vows  they  made 
in  their  ordination,  on  the  rules  in  the  Scriptures,  or  on  the  nature 
of  their  function,  or  that  it  is  a  care  of  souls  ?  How  long,  how 
long  shall  this  be  the  peculiar  disgrace  of  our  Church,  which  for 
aught  I  know  is  the  only  Church  in  the  world  that  tolerates  it !  " 

1  Cf .  Green,  Hist,  of  the  English  People,  iv,  121. 

2  "  England  alone  escaped  the  contagion  [of  the  French  Revolution].  Many 
causes  conspired  to  save  her,  hut  among  them  a  prominent  place  must,  I  be- 
lieve, be  given  to  the  new  and  vehement  religious  enthusiasm  which  was  at 
that  very  time  passing  through  the  middle  and  lower  classes  of  the  people, 
which  had  enlisted  in  its  service  a  large  proportion  of  the  wilder  and  more 
impetuous  reformers,  and  which  recoiled  with  horror  from  the  antichristian 
tenets  that  were  associated  with  the  Revolution  in  France." — Hist,  of  England 
in  the  Eighteenth  Century,  ii,  691-692. 


812  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

The  best  of  the  clergy  complained  that  they  had  not  more  bene- 
fices by  -which  to  enrich  themselves.  For  all  this,  vast  numbers 
of  the  clergy  were  miserably  poor,  especially  the  curates.  Owing 
to  poverty,  the  low  moral  standard  of  the  age,  and  other  causes, 
many  of  the  clergy  lapsed  from  morality.  Even  Overton  allows 
that  disreputable  ministers  formed  an  exceptionally  large  class  at 
the  close  of  the  seventeenth  and  during  the  first  half  of  the 
eighteenth  century.1  The  drunken  fox-hunting  parson  has  long 
since  disappeared  from  the  English  Church,  but  for  a  long  period 
he  marked  and  marred  its  good  name  and  holy  work.  Burnet 
characterizes  the  clergy  of  his  day  as  the  worst  in  Europe,  "  the 
most  remiss  of  their  labors  in  private  and  the  least  severe  of 
their  lives."  Overton  speaks  of  the  position  of  the  "  parson 
who  was  simply  the  boon  companion  of  the  ignorant  and 
sensual  squire  of  the  Hanoverian  period."  For  this  reason  the 
clergy — or  many  of  them — were  held  in  contempt  in  the  Georgian 
era.  In  1738,  Seeker,  the  bishop  of  Oxford,  says  :  "  Christianity 
is  now  railed  at  and  ridiculed  with  very  little  reserve,  and  the 
teachers  of  it  without  any  at  all."  "Since  the  Lollards,"  says 
Pattison,  "  there  had  never  been  a  time  when  the  ministers  of 
religion  were  held  in  so  much  contempt  as  in  the  Hanoverian 
period,  or  when  satire  upon  Churchmen  was  so  congenial  to  the 
general  feeling.  There  was  no  feeling  against  the  Establishment, 
nor  was  Nonconformity  ever  less  in  favor.  The  contempt  was  for 
the  persons,  manners,  and  characters  of  ecclesiastics."2 

The  sermons  of  the  time  reveal  the  common  degeneracy.  At 
the  best  they  were  good  moral  essays  and  amiable  disquisitions,  not 
to  speak,  of  course,  of  the  great  and  noble  discourses  of  Butler, 
Sherlock,  and  men  of  that  stamp.  But  of  plain,  practical  ser- 
mons which  seize  the  conscience,  and  of  sermons  which  deal  faith- 
fully with  the  Gospel,  the  eighteenth  century  was  lamentably  de- 
degenerate  ficient.  The  great  lawyer  Blackstone  went  from 
preaching,  church  to  church  in  London  to  hear  every  clergyman 
of  note,  and  he  said  it  would  have  been  impossible  for  him  to  de- 
termine whether  the  preacher  was  a  follower  of  Confucius,  Ma- 

1  Abbey  and  Overton,  I.  c,  ii,  19. 

2  Tendencies  of  Religious  Thought  in  England,  1688-1750,  in  Essays  and 
Reviews,  5th  ed.,  1861,  p.  315.  Pattison  says  that  this  strain  of  contempt  for 
the  clergy  runs  through  the  whole  literature  of  the  period.  "  The  unedifying 
lives  of  the  clergy  are  a  standard  theme  of  sarcasm  and  continue  to  be  so  till 
a  late  period  in  the  century,  when  a  gradual  change  may  be  observed  in  the 
language  of  literature." 


THE   PRELUDE   TO   METHODISM.  813 

hornet,  or  of  Christ.  There  may  have  been  some  exaggeration  in 
this,  but  Overton  speaks  soberly  when  he  says  that  the  typical 
eighteenth  century  sermon  was  tame  and  colorless,  stiff  and  formal, 
cold  and  artificial.1  In  a  charge  delivered  in  1709  Bishop  Horsley 
says  that  sermons  have  been  reduced  to  mere  moral  essays.  "We 
make  no  other  use  of  the  high  commission  we  bear  than  to  come 
abroad  one  day  in  seven,  dressed  in  solemn  looks  and  in  the  ex- 
ternal garb  of  holiness,  to  be  the  apes  of  Epictetus."  Preaching 
is  the  spiritual  index  of  an  age. 

Over  the  whole  period  might  be  written,  Beware  of  enthusiasm. 
Bolingbroke,  though  a  Deist,  was  in  full  sympathy  with  the 
spirit  of  the  time  when  he  said  that  it  was  blasphemy  to  affirm 
that  man  partakes  of  the  divine  nature,  and  that  God  breathes 
upon  our  spirits.  The  cynical  Dean  Swift  claimed  coLD  A 
that  all  "  violent  zeal,  even  for  truth,  has  a  hundred  to      skeptical 

.  AGE. 

one  odds  to  be  either  petulancy,  ambition,  or  pride."' 
That  God  speaks  to  the  soul  to-day  to  give  it  assurance  of  salva- 
tion and  other  blessing  was  considered  by  the  whole  Church  as 
fanaticism.  "Sir,"  said  Bishop  Butler  to  Wesley,  "the  pretend- 
ing to  extraordinary  revelation  and  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost  is  a 
horrid  thing,  a  very  horrid  thing."  John  Byrom's  rhymes  have  a 
wider  reference  than  the  words  indicate.  He  is  speaking  of  War- 
burton  and  his  fellow  anti-enthusiasts  : 

"  They  think  that  now  religion's  sole  defense 

Is  learning  history,  and  critic  sense  ; 

That  with  apostles,  as  a  needful  guide, 

The  Holy  Spirit  did  indeed  abide  ; 

But  having  dictated  to  them  a  rule 

Of  faith  and  manners  for  the  Christian  school, 

Immediate  revelation  ceased,  and  men 

Must  now  be  taught  by  apostolic  pen. 

To  look  for  inspiration  is  absurd  ; 

The  Spirit's  aid  is  in  the  written  word  : 

They  who  pretend  to  his  immediate  call, 

From  Pope  to  Quaker  are  fanatics  all."3 

A  characteristic  judgment  of  the  period  is  that  of  Bishop  Lav- 
ing ton,  who  calls  St.  Francis  of  Assisi  "at  first  only  a  well- 
minded  but  weak  enthusiast,  afterward  a  mere  hypocrite  and 
impostor."  Ignatius  Loyola  he  characterizes  as  an  "errant, 
shatter-brained,  visionary  fanatic,"  and  Methodists  he  claimed 
had  a  "similar  texture  of  brain." 

1  L.  c,  ii,  39.  2  Thoughts  on  Religion,  in  Works,  viii,  53. 

3  John  Byrom,  On  Warburton's  Sermon  on  the  Operation  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 


814  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


CHAPTER   II. 

JOHN    WESLEY. 

The  man  whom  God  raised  up  to  stem  the  tide  of  worldliness 
and  wickedness  and  bring  in  a  regenerated  England  was  John 
Wesley.  His  ancestry  is  a  mystery  and  a  study.  William  de  Wel- 
wesley's  lesley,  first  baron  of  Wellesley,  1343,  married  Alice, 
ancestry.  daughter  of  Sir  John  Trevelyn.  From  him  descended 
Arthur  Wellesley,  who  became  Duke  of  Wellington,  and  at  Waterloo 
saved  Europe  from  the  grasp  of  Napoleon.  From  this  same  William 
de  Wellesley  descended  Sir  Herbert  Wesley  or  Wellesley,  of  West- 
leigh  county,  Devon.     Thence  the  line  of  descent  is  as  follows  : 

Sir  Herbert  Wesley 


Bartholomew ..  (about  1595  to  about  1680),  educated  at  Oxford, 
married  daughter  of  Sir  Henry  Colley,  of  Carberry 
Castle ;  became  rector  of  Charmouth,  in  1650 ; 
ejected  by  the  Act  of  Uniformity  in  1662  ;  practiced 
medicine;  and  preached  in  Nonconformist  churches. 

John (about  1636  to  about  1670),  educated  at  New  Inn 

Hall,  Oxford ;  married  daughter  of  Rev.  John 
White,  of  the  Westminster  Assembly  ;  while  a  lay- 
man preached  at  Weymouth ;  minister  of  Win- 
terbourne  Whitchurch,  Dorset,  1658 :  ejected  by 
the  Anglicans  under  Charles  II,  and  four  times 
imprisoned. 

Samuel (1662-1735),  educated  among  Dissenters ;  changed 

views  and  joined  Church  of  England  ;  entered  Ex- 
eter College,  Oxford  ;  curate  in  London ;  married 
(about  1689)  Susannah,  daughter  of  Dr.  Samuel 
Annesley,  an  eminent  Nonconformist  divine  ;  rector 
of  South  Ormsby,  in  Lincolnshire,  also  chaplain  to 
the  Marquis  of  Normanby ;  and  finally  rector  of 
Epworth,  1696-1735  ;  a  voluminous  author,  pious, 
learned,  loyal,  a  Tory  and  High  Churchman,  but 
no  bigot. 

John the  founder  of  Methodism. 


JOHN  WESLEY.  815 

The  unbroken  Wesley  ancestry  stood  for  piety,  independence, 
and  the  love  of  learning,  and  it  is  not  strange  that  these  traits 
flowered  out  in  John  Wesley.  His  parents  had  nineteen  children, 
of  whom  John  was  the  fifteenth  child  and  second  surviving  son. 
He  was  born  at  Epworth,  June  17,  1703.  His  early  training  was 
under  the  care  of  his  mother,  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able women  who  ever  lived,  who  for  piety,  character,    boyhood  and 

,  ...  t  ..  ,  •         •     i  i  i  EDUCATION. 

and  conscientious  devotion  to  principle  stands  pre- 
eminent among  the  women  of  all  history.  Her  methods  were  ex- 
acting yet  kindly.  However  far  they  seem  from  the  easy-going 
ways  of  American  households,  it  can  be  said  that  they  proved 
effective.  The  results  amply  justified  her  strictness.  But  there 
was  so  much  of  kindness  and  considerateness  mingled  with  her 
sterner  requirements  that  she  had  her  children's  profound  love  and 
respect  to  the  end.1  A  dramatic  incident  in  his  boyhood  was  his 
escape  from  the  burning  of  the  parsonage,  February  9, 1709,  which 
left  an  indelible  impression  of  God's  care.  In  1714-20  he  was  a 
student  of  the  Charterhouse  School,  London,  and  in  1720-4  scholar 
of  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  graduating  B.  A.  in  1724. 

His  parents  desired  him  to  study  for  the  ministry,  and  though 
he  had  not  thought  of  this  at  first  he  consented  to  do  it.  His 
mother  joined  in  this  advice  though,  as  she  said,  "  Your  father  and 
I  seldom  think  alike,"  and  urged  him  to  study  practical  divinity. 
He  immediately  took  up  The  Imitation  of  Christ  and  Jeremy 
Taylor's  Holy  Living  and  Dying,  though  his  first  im-  , 

•  -t  it  -i»  ill!  •  WESLEY  S 

pression  of   those  books  was  less  favorable   than  it        early 

»  t  tt  i  t    •  i  .•  MINISTRY. 

afterward  became.  He  also  objected  to  the  predesti- 
nation doctrine  of  the  17th  Article  of  Religion  and  the  damnatory 
clause  of  the  Athanasian  Creed.  Thus  early  were  his  convictions 
maturing.  His  mother's  correspondence  on  these  points  is  inter- 
esting, and  its  anti-Calvinism  reveals  one  of  the  forces  which  was 
working  toward  making  the  new  age  Arminian  and  not  Calvinistic. 
He  was  ordained  deacon  by  Bishop  Potter,  of  Oxford,  in  1725,  and 
preached  his  first  sermon  the  16th  of  October  following  at  South 
Leigh,  near  Witney,  Oxfordshire.  In  1726  he  was  elected  fellow 
of  Lincoln  College,  and  the  same  year  was  made  lecturer  in  Greek, 
and  moderator  of  the  classes.  Long  afterward  he  showed  proof  of 
his  attainments  in  correcting  the  classical  quotations  of  Bishop 

1  See  a  full  description  of  Mrs.  Wesley's  methods  of  child  training  in  Mary 
Clarke,  Susannah  Wesley,  Bost.,  1886  (Famous  Women  Series),  pp.  48  flf.,  and 
a  series  of  articles  by  Faulkner  on  Wesley's  Early  Life,  in  Zion's  Herald,  Bost., 
Jan.  26,  Feb.  23,  April  27,  1898. 


816  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

Warburton's  work  against  him  (1762),  a  work  which  the  bishop 
generously  submitted  to  him  in  manuscript,  and  which  he  as 
generously  corrected  and  returned.1  This  fellowship  he  held 
in  residence,  broken  by  visits  to  Wroote,  where  he  acted  for 
a  year  or  two  as  his  father's  curate,  until  he  left  for  Georgia  in 
1735. 

Wesley's  religious  experience  while  a  teacher  in  Oxford  was  a 
determining  factor  in  his  life.  It  gave  the  bent  to  his  whole  career 
and  a  name  to  the  great  movement  which  he  inaugurated.  The 
the  name  latest  authority  on  the  Wesleys  shows  that  the  name 
methodist.  Methodist  was  first  given  to  Charles  Wesley  at  Oxford 
because  he  strictly  followed  the  method  for  study  laid  down  by 
the  University.8  It  had  no  religious  significance.  But  soon  the 
Wesleys  and  their  companions  were  as  well  known  for  their  dili- 
gence in  religious  observance  as  for  devotion  to  methodical  study, 
and  the  nickname  was  soon  used  to  cover  this  latter  trait  also. 
When  Wesley  returned  to  residence  in  November,  1729,  he  found 
the  Methodists  already  existing.  He  soon  became  their  leader. 
They  met  every  night  for  the  study  of  the  Greek  Testament,  for 
religious  examination,  exhortation,  and  reading.  They  sought  to 
reclaim  students  who  were  in  moral  danger,  to  relieve  the  poor,  and 
to  minister  in  both  temporal  and  spiritual  things  to  the  prisoners. 
They  were  as  earnest  in  philanthropy  as  in  piety,  Wesley  often  giving 
away  his  last  penny.  Wesley  started  day  schools  for  poor  children, 
and  these  Oxford  Methodists  took  turns  in  teaching  them,  or  hired 
teachers  out  of  their  own  scanty  purse.  They  thus  became  the 
prophets  of  the  Eagged  School  Movement  started  in  Portsmouth 
about  1819,  when  a  poor  shoemaker,  John  Pounds,  gathered  the 
children  about  his  bench  and  taught  them  while  at  work.  A  young 
girl  from  one  of  his  schools  came  to  Wesley  on  a  cold  winter  day. 
"  You  seem  half  starved  ;  have  you  nothing  to  wear  but  that  linen 
gown  ?"  "  That  is  all  I  have,"  said  the  girl.  Wesley  felt  in  his 
pockets,  but  they  were  empty.  Then  he  looked  upon  the  pictures 
which  hung  upon  the  walls  of  his  chamber,  and  these  now  seemed 
to  look  upon  him  with  accusing  eye.  "It  struck  me,"  he  says, 
"will  thy  Master  say,  'Well  done,  good  and  faithful  steward, 
thou  hast  adorned  thy  wall  with  the  money  which  might  have 
screened  this  poor  creature  from  the  cold  ! '  0  Justice  !  0  Mercy  ! 
Are  not  these  pictures  the  blood  of  this  poor  maid  ?  " s 

1  Everett,  Adam  Clarke,  i,  244;  Diet,  of  Nat'l  Biog.,  lx,  304. 

2  Alex.  Gordon,  art.  Charles  Wesley,  in  Diet,  of  Nat'l  Biog.,  lx,  298  (Lond., 
1899).  3  Wesley,  Works,  vii,  20. 


JOHN   WESLEY.  817 

The  piety  of  the  Oxford  Methodists  was  on  the  Prayer  Book 
model,  and  next  to  the  Bible  for  doctrine  they  valued  the  Book  of 
Homilies.  Their  religion  was  streaked  with  the  asceticism  of  St. 
Paul  (comp.  1  Cor.  ix,  27);  it  was  the  "strenuous  life"  indeed — a 
warfare  against  the  world,  the  flesh  and  the  devil,  pursued  with  a 
heroism  which  was  not  the  momentary  impulse  of  courage  in  a 
dramatic  situation  on  which  the  world  was  looking,  STRICTNESg 
but  the  persistent  self  -  dedication  of  consecrated  oxford 
spirits.  To  keep  himself  from  lying  awake  at  night,  methodists. 
he  arose  earlier  and  earlier  until  four  o'clock  became  his  hour. 
From  five  to  six  every  morning  and  evening  he  spent  in  private 
devotion.  He  studied  the  Bible  thoroughly,  and  read  carefully  the 
practical  writings  of  Law  and  other  masters  of  the  inner  life  as 
well  as  the  divines  of  the  Church  of  England.  The  Oxford  Metho- 
dists "  were  tenacious  not  only  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  of 
England,  but  of  all  her  discipline,to  the  minutest  points,  and  were 
scrupulously  strict  in  observing  her  rubrics  and  canons.  In  short, 
'they  were/  says  Wesley,  'in  the  strictest  sense  High  Church- 
men/ " '  But  the  High  Churchmanship  of  the  Oxford  students 
must  not  be  understood  in  the  present  conventional  sense,  but  in 
the  sense  of  those  who  took  their  Christianity  and  Churchmanship 
seriously,  receiving  the  communion  weekly,  and  being  attached  to 
all  the  rules  for  the  life  of  man  laid  down  by  the  Prayer  Book  and 
Church  divines. 

"Wesley's  American  experience,  1736-38,  though  apparently  an 
episode  without  vital  bearing  on  his  history,  was  in  fact  most  in- 
fluential.    It  brought  him  face  to  face  with  a  religious 

&  °  WESLEY 

faith  of  which  in  its  serenity  and  power  he  had  never     meets  the 

ti  -n  •  l  -tit  MORAVIANS. 

seen  the  like.  For  the  first  service  he  was  indebted 
to  the  Moravians,  whom  he  met  on  shipboard  and  whose  calmness 
in  storm  impressed  him  deeply.  To  converse  with  them,  he  plunged 
into  the  study  of  German,  an  act  characteristic  of  his  lifelong  dil- 
igence and  scholarly  enthusiasm.  Wesley  asked  Spangenberg  how 
to  act  in  his  new  sphere  of  labor.  "  My  brother,"  said  the  Mora- 
vian, "I  must  first  ask  you  one  or  two  questions.  Have  you  the 
witness  within  yourself  ?  Does  the  Spirit  of  God  bear  witness 
with  your  spirit  that  you  are  a  child  of  God  ?  "  Wesley's  Angli- 
can training  had  left  him  unprepared  to  answer.  He  was  silent. 
"Do  you  know  Jesus  Christ  ?"  continued  Spangenberg.  "I 
know,"  said   Wesley,  "  that  he  is    the    Saviour  of   the   world.'"' 

1  Tyerman,  Life  and  Times  of  John  "Wesley,  i,  74.     Wesley,  Works,  viii, 
333,  487. 
54 


818  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

"  True/'  said  Spangenberg,  "  but  do  you  know  that  he  has  saved 
you  ?"  "Wesley  was  perplexed  again.  "I  hope  he  has  died  to  save 
me."  Spangenberg  still  persisted,  "  Do  you  know  yourself  ? " 
"Wesley  replied,  "I  do."  It  opened  a  glimpse  of  a  new  world  to 
the  ardent  missionary,  on  which,  however,  he  was  not  prepared 
to  enter. 

"Wesley  preached  faithfully  in  Georgia,  bearing  down  on  the  sins 
of  the  people  without  flinching,  and  was  equally  conscientious  in 
his  pastoral  dealings.  He  magnified  both  his  work  and  office  in  the 
spirit  of  a  devoted  High  Churchman.  He  baptized  infants  by  im- 
mersion, used  the  mixed  chalice,  had  morning  service  at  five,  com- 
munion service  at  eleven,  was  very  strict  as  to  who  should  receive  the 
Lord's  Supper,  and  excluded  dissenters  as  unbaptized.  But  nothing 
wesley  in  came  of  this  ritualistic  earnestness  but  trouble  and 
America.  vexation  of  spirit — trouble  increased  by  a  lack  of  tact, 
and  perhaps  of  propriety,  in  dealing  with  one  of  his  communi- 
cants, a  married  woman  to  whom  when  single  he  had  paid  atten- 
tions. For  his  harsh  overzeal  as  pastor  he  found  himself  a 
defendant  at  a  lawsuit.  Before  the  case  was  settled  "Wesley  left 
Georgia  for  England,  dispirited  at  the  hatred  of  men,  disappointed 
over  the  results  of  his  mission,  and  disillusioned  in  regard  to  the 
power  of  his  ritualistic  Gospel,  to  which,  however,  he  still  clung. 

Wesley  now  associated  more  and  more  with  the  Moravians  and 
under  one  of  their  bishops,  Peter  Bohler,  who  did  excellent  mis- 
sionary work  in  both  England  and  America,  was  led  into  the  full 
freedom  and  assurance  of  faith.  Bohler  convinced  him  that  true 
wesley's  faith  ought  to  bring  dominion  over  sin  and  a  sense  of 
conversion.  peace^  an(j  tbat  this  could  be  obtained  instantaneously. 
After  long  debating  he  was  convinced  of  this  from  two  sources, 
Scripture  and  experience.  "  Here  ended  my  disputing  "  said  "Wes- 
ley; "  I  could  only  cry  out,  Lord,  help  thou  my  unbelief.  I  was 
now  thoroughly  convinced  ;  and  by  the  grace  of  God  I  resolved  to 
seek  the  faith  unto  the  end,  by  absolutely  renouncing  all  depend- 
ency, in  whole  or  in  part,  upon  my  own  works  of  righteousness, 
on  which  I  had  really  grounded  my  hopes  of  salvation,  though  I 
knew  it  not,  from  my  youth  up  ;  and  by  adding  to  the  constant  use 
of  all  other  means  of  grace  a  continual  prayer  for  this  very  thing — 
justifying,  saving  faith,  a  full  reliance  on  the  blood  of  Christ  shed 
for  me,  a  trust  in  him  as  my  Christ,  as  my  sole  justification,  sanc- 
tification,  and  redemption."  l  The  great  blessing  came  to  him 
May  24,  1738,  at  the  Moravian  meeting  at  Aldersgate  Street, 
1  Works,  i,  102  (last  Lond.  ed.). 


JOHN   WESLEY.  819 

London,  "  where  one  was  reading  Luther's  preface  to  the  Epistle 
to  the  Eomans.  About  a  quarter  before  nine,  while  he  was  describ- 
ing the  change  which  God  works  in  the  heart  through  faith  in 
Christ,  I  felt  my  heart  strangely  warmed.  I  felt  I  did  trust  in 
Christ,  Christ  alone  for  salvation,  and  an  assurance  was  given  me 
that  he  had  taken  away  my  sins,  even  mine,  and  saved  me  from  the 
law  of  sin  and  death."1  Here  Methodism,  as  history  knows  it, 
was  born.  In  the  emergence  of  Wesley  into  the  fullness  of  faith 
which  gave  him  freedom  from  sin  and  the  assurance  of  the  Spirit, 
Methodism  began.  It  is  that  experience  which  has  given  it  its 
power — a  free,  full,  and  present  salvation  from  sin  by  the  power  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  and  the  witness  of  that  Spirit  to  the  believer's  son- 
ship  in  Christ. 

And  now  began  that  itinerant  evangelism  through  England, 
Scotland,  and  Ireland,  which  lasted  with  hardly  an  interruption 
for  nearly  fifty-three  years.  In  the  world's  annals  that  wesley's 
has  never  been  paralleled  in  its  work  and  in  its  results.  EVANGELISM- 
The  story  of  that  life  as  told  in  Wesley's  own  Journal  is  the  most 
interesting  and  vital  of  contemporary  or  later  records.  Boswell's 
Johnson  is  tame  beside  it.  An  impartial  critic  calls  it  the  "most 
amazing  record  of  human  exertion  ever  penned  or  endured.  If  you 
want  to  get  into  the  last  century,  feel  its  pulses  throb  beneath  your 
fingers,  be  content  sometimes  to  leave  the  letters  of  Horace  Walpole 
unturned,  resist  the  drowsy  temptation  to  waste  your  time  over  the 
learned  triflers  which  sleep  in  the  seventeen  volumes  of  Nichols,2 
nay,  even  deny  yourself  your  annual  reading  of  Boswell  or  your  bi- 
ennial retreat  with  Sterne,  and  ride  up  and  down  the  country  with 
the  greatest  force  of  the  eighteenth  century  in  England.  No  man 
lived  nearer  to  the  center  than  John  Wesley,  neither  Clive  nor  Pitt, 
neither  Mansfield  nor  Johnson.  You  cannot  cut  him  out  of  your 
national  life.  No  single  figure  influenced  so  many  minds,  no  single 
voice  touched  so  many  hearts.  No  other  man  did  such  a  life's  work 
for  England."3 

Wesley's  prodigious  energy  is  one  of  the  marvels  of  all  his- 
tory.      He  traveled  about  five  thousand  miles  a  year   for  fifty 

1  Works,  i,  103. 

2  He  refers  to  the  Literary  Anecdotes  of  the  Eighteenth  Century,  9  vols.,  and 
Illustrations  of  the  Literature  of  the  Eighteenth  Century,  8  vols. ,  begun  by 
John  Nichols  in  1812  and  completed  by  his  son  in  1859.  Nichols  conducted 
the  Gentleman's  Magazine  for  nearly  half  a  century  (died  1826). 

3  Augustine  Birrell,  John  Wesley,  in  Scribner's  Mag.,  Dec,  1899,  pp.  755, 
761. 


620  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

years,  and  preached  about  forty-two  thousand  sermons.  He 
crossed  the  Irish  Channel  forty-two  times.  He  penetrated  into 
wesley's  the  wildest  and  most  dangerous  parts  of  the  country, 
labors.  where  rough,  godless  communities  lived  almost  out- 

side of  the  reach  of  law.  His  calm,  fearless  eye  and  his  serene 
face,  full  of  the  peace  of  God,  became  well  known  in  all  parts 
of  the  country.  After  the  first  trying  period  of  persecution, 
when  mobs  were  sometimes  incited  and  even  led  against  him  by 
Anglican  clergymen,  no  man  in  England  was  more  respected  and 
beloved  of  all  classes.  He  was  the  embodiment  of  Goethe's  motto  : 
Without  haste,  without  rest.  He  said  himself,  "  Though  I  am  al- 
ways in  haste,  I  am  never  in  a  hurry."1  He  preached  plain,  inci- 
sive sermons,  usually  on  doctrinal  and  ethical  subjects,  in  clear 
vigorous  English,  full  of  the  marrow  of  the  Gospel,  and  brought 
home  to  the  conscience  without  flinching.  Under  his  calm  manner 
there  burned  a  soul  on  fire  with  the  love  of  God  and  man,  and  it  is 
no  wonder  that  marvelous  physical,  not  to  speak  of  spiritual 
effects,  followed  his  preaching. 

Always  cheerful,  "  it  was  impossible  to  be  long  in  his  company 
without  partaking  his  hilarity."2  Wesley  was  not  without  wit,  a 
weslet's  lover  of  exercise,  a  good  swimmer,  a  great  walker,  and 
l^terai^y  D  a  lifelong  horseback  rider.  He  was  abstemious  in  his 
industry.  habits,  rose  at  four,  preached  at  five — though  he  sel- 
dom preached  longer  than  twenty  minutes — and  retired  early  and 
slept  like  a  child.  Even  a  fault-finding,  jealous  wife  (for  he  had 
a  brief  experience  in  married  life,  1751-76,  fortunately  broken  by 
long  intervals  of  absence)  could  not  disturb  the  evenness  of  his 
temper  or  the  unconquerable  cheerfulness  of  his  spirit.  At  sev- 
enty-seven he  had  ' '  not  felt  lowness  of  spirits  for  one  quarter  of  an 
hour  since  he  was  born,"  and  at  eighty-five  he  had  "never  lost  a 
night's  sleep."  He  was  an  interesting  conversationalist,  but  Sam- 
uel Johnson  complained  that  he  "was  never  at  leisure."  He  read 
on  horseback,  kept  himself  abreast  of  current  literature,  studied  the 
masters,  and  wrote,  edited,  and  translated  two  hundred  books. 
He  recognized  the  defects  of  King  James's  Bible  and  prepared  a  new 
translation  of  the  New  Testament,  1754,  with  notes,  for  his  socie- 
ties. 

1  Journal,  December  10,  1777. 

2  Hampson,  Life  of  John  Wesley,  iii,  178,  (Lond.,  1791). 


OTHER  LEADERS  OF  THE  EVANGELICAL  MOVEMENT.    821 


CHAPTER  III. 

OTHER  LEADERS  OF  THE  EVANGELICAL  MOVEMENT. 

As  Luther's  hymns  helped  the  Reformation  almost  as  much  as 
Luther's  doctrines,  so  Charles  Wesley's  hymns  were  of  incalculable 
service  in  the  great  work  that  his  brother  inaugurated.  Born  in  1707, 
the  eighteenth  child  and  third  surviving  son  of  Samuel  Wesley,  he 
was  educated  by  his  mother,  and  then  sent  to  Westminster  School. 
He  entered  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  in  1726,  and  graduated  B.  A. 
in  1730.     Here  he  became  the  center  of  some  earnest-  charles 

minded  young  men  who  united  zeal  for  religion  with  wesley. 
zeal  for  study,  the  first  "  Methodists."  After  graduating  he  be- 
came a  tutor.  He  was  ordained  deacon  by  Potter,  of  Oxford,  and 
priest  by  Gibson,  of  London,  in  1735.  He  joined  his  brother  in 
Savannah  in  1736,  but  his  High  Churchly  zeal  and  moral  strictness 
made  him  enemies,  and  he  soon  left  in  impaired  health.  His  ves- 
sel put  in  at  Boston,  where  the  rest  restored  his  health,  and  where 
he  preached  several  times  in  King's  Chapel.  He  landed  at  Deal  on 
December  3,  1736. 

Charles  Wesley  also  owed  his  conversion  to  the  Moravians. 
Technically,  the  experience  of  the  brothers  was  not  conversion,  for 
they  were  sincere  and  even  ardent  Christians  before.  But  the 
experience  of  1738  might  really  be  called  a  conversion 
because  they  were  turned  from  a  legal  and  ritualistic  cooperation 
piety — though  perfectly  genuine  and  sincere — to  a 
free,  happy,  conquering  experience  of  divine  peace  and  power 
through  simple  faith  in  Christ.  As  Luther's  preface  to  the  Epistle 
to  the  Romans  was  the  instrument  of  John  Wesley's  conversion,  so 
his  Commentary  on  Galatians  helped  Charles  Wesley  into  the  light 
— the  same  commentary  against  which  John  subsequently  turned 
in  a  moment  of  violent  reaction  as  not  sufficiently  guarding  good 
works.1  Charles  threw  himself  with  fervor  into  the  evangelistic 
work  of  his  brother,  and  until  1756  itinerated  throughout  England 
and  Wales,  in  delicate  health  and  amid  bodily  infirmities,  but 
with  a  zeal  which  hardships  never  abated,  and  with  a  courage 
which  opposition  never  quelled.  He  was  no  muscular  Iron-heart ; 
his  spirit  was  gentle,  his  sensibilities  tender ;  yet,  near  to  martyr  - 
1  See  Journal,  June  15,  1741. 


822  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

dom,  he  many  times  faced  mobs  and  held  his  ground  "  until  his 
clothes  were  torn  to  tatters,  and  the  blood  ran  down  his  face  in 
streams."1  His  marriage,  in  1749,  to  a  pious  and  wealthy  Welsh 
lady,  Sarah  Gwynne,  made  no  difference  with  his  itinerating.  His 
wife  accompanied  him,  riding  behind  him  on  a  pillion,  and  her 
fine  voice  led  the  singing  at  his  meetings.  His  marriage  was  sin- 
gularly happy,  unlike  John's  foolish  match  with  widow  Vazeille, 
of  whom  it  is  related  that  once,  when  giving  her  husband  in 
Charles's  presence  one  of  her  periodical  scoldings,  she  was  abruptly 
silenced  by  Charles  repeating  from  memory,  in  his  loud,  clear  voice, 
page  after  page  of  Virgil's  ^Eneid.  For  the  younger  Wesley  was  a 
proficient  classical  scholar,  and  was  acquainted  with  Hebrew  and 
French,  though  he  did  not  know  also,  as  John  did,  German  and 
Spanish. 

In  1756  Charles  Wesley  retired  from  the  itinerancy  and  settled  as 
Methodist  pastor  first  in  Bristol  and  afterward  in  London,  where 
he  died  March  2,  1788.  He  remained  earnestly  attached  to  the 
evangelical  movement  to  the  last,  though  he  was  bitterly  opposed 
to  those  measures  of  his  brother  John  which,  however  intended, 
meant  complete  separation  of  the  Methodists  from  the  Anglican 
charles  Church.     His  own  course,  however,  in  relation  to  the 

practice3*  Church  was  even  more  inconsistent  than  his  brother's. 
.from  john.  Thomas  Jackson  states  the  matter  admirably.  "  For 
thirty  years  he  made  more  noise  on  the  subject  of  the  continued 
union  of  the  Methodists  with  the  Church  than  any  other  man  of 
the  age  ;  and  all  this  time  he  was  beyond  comparison  the  greatest 
practical  separatist  in  the  whole  connection.  John  Wesley  spent 
most  of  his  time  traveling  throughout  Great  Britain  and  Ireland, 
often  preaching  twice  every  day,  and  two  or  three  times  on  the 
Sabbath.  Barely,  however,  did  he  preach  in  church  hours  except 
when  he  officiated  for  a  brother  clergyman.  He  attended  the 
church  where  he  happened  to  be,  and  pressed  the  people  to  accom- 
pany him  thither.  Many  of  his  itinerant  preachers  pursued  the 
same  course.  This  was  the  recognized  plan  of  Methodist  practice. 
But  this  was  not  the  state  of  things  in  London  under  the  adminis- 
tration of  Charles  Wesley.  He  preached  twice  during  church 
hours  every  Sabbath,  and  indulged  the  society  with  weekly  sacra- 
ment at  their  own  places  of  worship."  2     It  was  a  wise  providence 

1  Daniel,  Hist,  of  Methodism,  p.  326  ;  Faulkner,  art.  Charles  "Wesley,  in 
McClintock  and  Strong,  Cyclopaedia,  x,  909,  where  a  statement  of  all  the  as- 
pects of  his  lifework  may  be  found. 

-  Life  of  Charles  Wesley,  ii,  404,  405. 


OTHER  LEADERS  OF  THE  EVANGELICAL  MOVEMENT.     823 

that  placed  the  control  of  the  evangelical  movement  in  the  hands 
of  John,  who,  with  all  his  sincere  attachment  to  the  Church  of 
his  father,  had  a  statesmanlike  grasp  of  the  situation  and  a  dis- 
cernment of  the  signs  of  the  times,  and  therefore  allowed  the  move- 
ment to  go  forward  as  God  was  leading  it.1  But  no  difference  of 
opinion  as  to  administration  ever  ruffled  the  strong,  cordial  friend- 
ship and  love  which  the  two  brothers  had  for  each  other. 

Charles  Wesley's  great  service  was  his  hymns.  "His  least 
praise,"  says  his  brother,  "was  his  talent  for  poetry,  although  Dr. 
Watts  did  not  scruple  to  say  that  that  single  poem,  '  Wrestling 
Jacob/  was  worth  all  the  verses  he  had  written."2  Considering 
the  fact  that  Charles  Wesley  was  the  most  voluminous  of  all 
poets — having  written  no  less  than  six  thousand  five  hundred 
hymns3 — it  is  almost  a  miracle  that  he  did  so  much  fine  work. 
The  fact  that  there  are  more,  of  his  hymns  used 
than  those  of  any  other  writer  shows  that  his  weslet's 
hymns,  as  a  rule,  reach  a  higher  level  than  those 
of  any  other  poet.4  The  ease,  grace,  rhythmical  flow,  and  es- 
pecially the  religious  power  of  his  hymns,  which  all  rest  on  a 
sound  and  positive  substratum  of  thought,  have  not  been  ex- 
celled. Frederic  M.  Bird,  who  has  made  a  profound  study  of 
Wesley's  hymns,  compares  him  with  other  hymnists  in  these  words  : 
"  Doddridge  and  Steele  are  diluted  reproductions  of  Dr.  Watts. 
Montgomery,  a  professed  and  lifelong  poet,  is  inferior  to  Wesley  in 
all  the  qualities  mentioned  above,  and  in  no  respect  above  him  in 
propriety,  harmony,  and  grace  of  style.  Heber,  the  most  elegant 
and  mellifluous  of  sacred  poets,  is  not  more  polished  and  fluent 
than  his  Methodist  predecessor,  nor  has  he  anything  of  his  solidity, 
strength,  and  fire.  Cowper  is  the  greatest  name  in  the  hymn 
books,  but  Cowper's  best  poems,  which  are  very  few,  are  but  equal, 
not  superior,  to  Wesley's  best,  which  are  many.  Toplady  ap- 
proaches most  nearly  the  Methodist  poet,  but  Toplady  borrowed  his 
inspiration  from  Wesley,  and  reproduced  his  style  ;  and  this  is  the 
Calvinist's  highest  praise  that  his  finest  pieces  are  undistinguish- 
able  from  those  of  his  Arminian  neighbor.  No  other  name  in 
British  sacred  lyric  poetry  can  be  mentioned  with  that  of  Charles 
Wesley.     And  when  it  is  remembered  that  all  these  counted  their 

1  See  Stevens,  Hist,  of  Methodism,  ii,  275. 

2  Ministers  of  Conference,  1788. 

3  Overton,  in  Julian,  Diet,  of  Hymnology,  p.  1258. 

4  Alex.  Gordon  says  that  five  hundred   are  in  constant  use. — Art.   Charles 
"Wesley,  in  Diet,  of  Nat'l  Biog.,  lx,  301.     The  number  is  doubtless  much  less. 


824  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

poems  by  the  dozens  and  hundreds,  while  he  by  thousands;  and 
that  his  thousands  were  in  power,  in  elegance,  in  devotional  and 
literary  value  above  their  few,  we  call  him,  yet  more  confidently, 
great  among  poets  and  prince  of  English  hymnists."1 

Of  Charles  Wesley's  eight  children  five  died  in  infancy.  Charles 
(died  1834,  aged  seventy-seven)  and  Samuel  (died  1837,  aged 
seventy-one)  were  eminent  musicians,2  and  Sarah,  a  woman  of 
great  culture,  died,  unmarried,  in  Bristol  in  1828,  aged  sixty-eight. 

The  greatest  preacher  of  the  evangelical  revival  was  George 
Whitefield.  His  father  was  a  tavern  keeper,  and  his  grandfather 
and  great-grandfather  were  Anglican  clergymen.  His  early  sur- 
roundings were  not  conducive  to  either  piety  or  morality,  and  he 
gives  in  his  journals  an  account  of  his  youthful  indiscretions, 
george  which,  like   Bunyan,  he  unconsciously  exaggerated 

whitefield.  fofo  crimes#  But  }ie  early  felt  the  power  of  religious 
impression,  which  his  brief  experience  as  bartender  did  not  de- 
stroy. When  he  went  to  Oxford  in  1732  he  resolved  to  live  a 
pious  life  and  joined  the  "  Holy  Club  "  of  the  Wesleys.  He  was 
the  first  among  the  Methodists  to  experience  the  joys  of  salvation 
(1735).  He  was  ordained  in  the  Church  of  England  in  1736,  and 
at  once  leaped  into  notoriety  for  his  preaching.  He  joined  the 
Wesleys  in  Georgia,  and  preached  there  with  great  acceptance. 
He  soon  returned  to  England,  and  then  followed  that  marvelous 
life  of  itinerant  preaching  from  1739  until  his  death  at  Newbury- 
port,  Mass.,  September  30, 1770.  He  crossed  the  Atlantic  thirteen 
times  (seven  visits),  and  his  preaching  poured  new  life  into  the 
Baptist,  Congregational,  and  Presbyterian  Churches  from  Georgia 
to  Massachusetts.  Similar  results  appeared  in  England.  In  one 
week  he  received  a  thousand  letters  from  persons  awakened  by  his 
sermons.  He  had  a  musical  voice  of  great  compass  and  power, 
over  which  he  had  perfect  control.  His  spiritual  intensity  was 
overwhelming,  and  his  dramatic  gift  was  unexcelled.  He  once 
described  a  sinner  as  a  poor  blind  beggar  led  by  a  dog.  The  dog 
escapes  and  the  blind  man  is  left  only  with  his  staff.  He  wanders 
to  the  edge  of  a  precipice.  His  staff  drops  from  his  hand  and  falls 
down  the  abyss  too  far  to  send  back  an  echo.  He  reaches  forward 
to  recover  it,  poises  on  the  edge  of  a  precipice,  and —     "  Good 

1  Bibliotheca  Sacra,  Jan.  and  April,  1864,  p.  318  (April).  Bird  was  a  Lu- 
theran, but  is  now  an  Episcopalian,  and  professor  in  Lehigh  University,  South 
Bethlehem,  Pa. 

2  See  arts,  by  H.  Davey  and  F.  G.  Edwards  in  Lee,  Diet,  of  Nat'l  Biog.,  vol. 
lx,  and  Stevenson,  Memorials  of  the  Wesley  Family,  Lond.,  1879. 


OTHER  LEADERS  OF  THE  EVANGELICAL  MOVEMENT.  825 

God,"  shouted  Lord  Chesterfield,  as  he  sprang  up  in  his  place  in 
Lady  Huntingdon's  pew,  "he  is  gone  !  "  Benjamin  Franklin  went 
to  hear  Whitefield  in  Philadelphia.  He  said  that  Whitefield  in- 
tended to  finish  with  a  collection  for  his  favorite  charity,  the  or- 
phanage in  Georgia.  But  the  frugal  Franklin  resolved  to  give  noth- 
ing, though  having  gold,  silver,  and  copper  in  his  pocket.  But  as  he 
came  more  and  more  under  the  power  of  the  preacher,  "  I  began," 
he  says,  "  to  soften,  and  concluded  to  give  the  copper.  Another 
stroke  of  his  oratory  determined  me  to  give  the  silver,  and  he 
finished  so  admirably  that  I  emptied  my  pocket  wholly  in  the  col- 
lector's dish — gold  and  all."  Whitefield  was  a  strong  Calvinist, 
and  the  Calvinistic  controversy  which  broke  out  between  him  and 
Wesley  estranged  them,  but  only  temporarily.  They  soon  came 
together  again  in  love  and  fellowship,  and  when  Whitefield  died 
no  one  paid  him  a  more  hearty  tribute  than  Wesley. ! 

The  name  of  Whitefield  recalls  that  of  Selina  Shirley,  daughter 
of  Washington  Shirley,  Earl  of  Ferrers,  and,  by  marriage,  the 
Countess  of  Huntingdon.  Under  the  influence  of  ill-  LADY 
ness  and  bereavement  she  received  the  Gospel,  while  Huntingdon. 
attending  the  meetings  of  the  Methodists  at  Fetter  Lane,  London. 
She  became  the  special  patroness  of  Whitefield,  whose  theology 
she  adopted.  At  her  house  he  was  wont  to  preach  to  dukes  and 
duchesses  and  other  titled  dignitaries,  and  some  of  them  received 
the  faith.  It  was  through  her  that  the  results  of  Whitefield's 
labors  were  garnered.  She  built  churches  for  his  converts,  the 
first  one  by  selling  her  jewels,  appointed  and  partially  supported 
pastors  for  them,  and  thus  the  Whitefield  Methodists  came  to  be 
called  the  Lady  Huntingdon's  Connection.  In  1768  she  founded 
Trevecca  College  in  South  Wales  for  the  education  of  minis- 
ters, which  later  became  a  Congregational  institution,  and  soon 
after  her  death  in  1791  was  removed  to  Cheshunt,  Herts.  At 
the  time  of  her  death  there  were  sixty-four  churches  in  communion 
with  her,  Congregational  in  polity,  Calvinistic  in  doctrine,  evangel- 
istic in  spirit.  When  she  had  read  Wesley's  dying  ascription  of  his 
salvation  to  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,  and  learned  from  his  fellow- 

1  See  sermon  53,  On  the  Death  of  the  Rev.  George  Whitefield,  Lond.  ed. 
Works,  vi,  167  ff.  In  this  sermon  Wesley  speaks  of  his  "  indefatigable  activity, 
zeal,  frankness,  and  openness,  courage,  intrepidity,  great  plainness  of  speech, 
steadiness,  and  integrity.  Have  we  read  or  heard  of  any  person  since  the 
apostles  who  testified  the  Gospel  of  the  grace  of  God  through  so  widely  ex- 
tended a  space,  through  so  large  a  part  of  the  habitable  world  ?  Have  we 
heard  or  read  of  any  person  who  called  so  many  thousands,  so  many  myriads 
of  sinners  to  repentance  ?  " 


820  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

laborer  Bradford  that  such  had  ever  been  the  tenor  of  his  preach- 
ing, she  lamented  that  a  separation  between  the  Calvinistic  and 
Arminian  Methodists  had  ever  taken  place. 

The  champion  of  the  Wesleyan  Methodists  in  the  Calvinistic 
controversy  was  John  William  Fletcher  (original  name  De  la  Fle- 
chere),  as  saintly  a  man  as  ever  lived,  and  one  of  the  acutest  of 
controversialists.  It  must  be  confessed  that  this  controversy  was 
carried  on,  especially  on  the  Calvinistic  side,  with  a  virulence  and 
ferocity  of  language  unbecoming  Christian  gentlemen.  The  pens 
john  °f  Rowland  Hill  and  Augustus  Toplady  were  dipped 

fletcher.  jn  ^l.  But  no  provocation  could  make  the  seraphic 
Fletcher  descend  to  the  arena  of  personal  strife,  where  opprobrious 
epithets  and  harsh  words  were  bandied  about  like  clubs.  He  lifted 
the  controversy  into  a  purer  air,  and  some  parts  of  his  work  throb 
with  religious  fervor,  over  which  plays  the  light  of  mystical  devo- 
tion. Sections  of  his  anti-Calvinistic  polemic  could  be  read  as  a 
means  of  grace.  Fletcher  was  born  at  Nyon,  Yaud,  Switzerland, 
in  1729.  He  was  educated  at  Geneva,  taking  all  the  prizes  in  his 
school,  and  becoming  a  fine  scholar.  "When  a  young  man  he 
longed,  like  Frederick  W.  Robertson,  for  the  army,  but  striking 
providential  interferences  prevented  the  consummation  of  his 
desires.  He  went  over  to  England,  was  converted  under  the 
Methodists,  joined  them,  was  ordained  priest  in  1757  by  the  bishop 
of  Bangor,  declined  the  offer  of  a  living  at  Durham  with  easy 
work  and  a  good  salary,  and  in  1760  accepted  the  church  at 
Madeley.  The  parish  was  run  down,  the  people  ignorant,  rude, 
and  wicked,  and  Fletcher  by  his  zealous  ministry  of  preaching  and 
pastoral  work  transformed  the  place.  At  first  the  people  would 
not  go  to  church.  Fletcher  arose  early  on  Sunday,  took  a  bell, 
and  went  through  the  streets  calling  the  people  to  the  sanctuary. 
He  sometimes  appeared  at  entertainments  and  among  revelers,  and 
like  an  angel  of  the  Lord  denounced  their  sins  and  unhallowed 
pleasures.  No  sinner  could  escape  him.  But  to  the  needy  he 
was  most  generous.  He  denied  himself  food,  raiment,  and  fur- 
niture, that  he  might  minister  to  the  poor.  He  spent  whole 
nights  in  prayer,  though  he  afterward  acknowledged  that  he 
carried  his  self-denial  and  religious  exercises  to  an  ascetic  ex- 
cess. Southey  well  says  that  "no  age  or  country  has  ever 
produced  a  man  of  more  fervent  piety  or  more  perfect  charity ; 
no  Church  has  possessed  a  more  apostolic  ministry."  '  The  name 
of  Fletcher  and  that  of  his  equally  devoted  wife,  whom  he  mar- 

1  Life  of  Wesley,  ch.  25. 


OTHER  LEADERS  OF  THE  EVANGELICAL  MOVEMENT.  827 

ried  four  years  before  his  death,  devout  hearts  will  keep  green 
forever. 

Many  others  must  be  passed  over  with  a  mere  mention — both 
Calvinists  and  Arminians — who  helped  forward  the  evangelical 
revival :  men  like  John  Nelson,  the  brave,  great-hearted  mason 
and  evangelist,  a  man  of  heroic  stature  in  Christ ;  Vincent  Perro- 
net,  vicar  of  Shoreham,  who  used  to  welcome  the  Wesleys  into  his 
pulpit,  though  when  they  first  appeared  the  people  "roared, 
stamped,  blasphemed,  rang  the  bells,  and  turned  the 
church  into  a  bear  garden/'  and  who  appreciated  the  gelical 

HFI PFRS 

Methodist  movement  so  highly  that  he  said,  "I  make 
no  doubt  that  Methodism  is  designed  by  Providence  to  introduce 
the  approaching  millennium  ; "  his  two  sons,  Charles  and  Edward 
— Charles,  of  whom  Wesley  said  when  he  died  in  1776,  ' '  He  was  a 
living  and  dying  witness  of  the  blessed  doctrine  he  always  de- 
fended, entire  sanctification ; "  and  Edward,  who  at  first  traveled 
with  the  Wesleys,  but  afterward  settled  down  as  a  stanch  dissent- 
ing pastor,  and  who  was  the  author  of  "All  hail  the  power  of 
Jesus'  name  ! " — glory  enough  for  one  man  ;  William  Grimshaw, 
curate  of  Haworth,  Yorkshire,  a  natural  orator,  of  whom  Wesley 
said,  "  He  carries  fire  wherever  he  goes ; "  Eowland  Hill,  a  Cam- 
bridge graduate  and  Whitefield  Methodist,  an  eccentric  but  power- 
ful preacher,  whose  wit  sometimes  verged  upon  buffoonery,  who 
loved  open-air  preaching  and  itinerated  even  after  his  pastorates  at 
Kingston  and  at  Surrey  Chapel  (which  he  built)  in  London,  and 
who  had  as  large  audiences  as  Whitefield ; '  Henry  Venn,  the 
great  pastor-evangelist  of  Huddersfield  and  Yelling;  John  Ber- 
ridge,  vicar  of  Everton,  who  made  that  town  the  center  of  a  wide- 
spread reformation,  the  friend  of  both  Wesley  and  Whitefield,  rich 
but  liberal,  who  rented  churches,  supported  lay  preachers,  and 
aided  poor  societies  with  an  unsparing  hand ;  Howell  Harris,  the 
Wesley  of  Wales,  driven  out  of  Oxford  in  disgust  by  its  infidelity 
and  immorality,  who  went  through  Wales,  preaching  from  house 
to  house  and  wherever  he  could  get  hearers,  formed  societies,  suf- 
fered repeated  persecution  from  mobs  and  the  clergymen  of  his 
own  Church,  was  repeatedly  refused  ordination,  and  therefore  be- 
came the  unintentional  founder  of  the  Welsh  Calvinistic  Church 
and  the  inspirer,  if  not  creator,  of  Welsh  dissent. 

1  Rowland  Hill  was  the  uncle  of  Lord  Hill,  one  of  the  greatest  soldiers  of 
his  time,  who  was  called  the  "right  arm  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington,"  but  his 
namesake,  Rowland  Hill,  the  founder  of  penny  postage,  belonged  to  another 
family. 


828  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

METHODISM   OF   THE    NINETEENTH   CENTURY. 

These  are  perhaps  the  pivotal  dates  in  the  history  of  English 
Methodism  until  the  death  of  John  Wesley  :  1738,  John  Wesley's 
conversion ;  1739,  the  first  class  meeting,  or  the  origin  of  the 
Methodists  as  a  special  body,  and  the  beginning  of  open-air  preach- 
ing and  of  lay  preaching ;  1740,  Methodism  becomes  differentiated 
from  Calvinism  and  Moravianism;  1744,  the  first  Conference  (six 
clergymen  and  five  lay  preachers),  which  fixes  doctrine 
century  of  and  polity  on  substantially  the  same  basis  as  at  pres- 
ent ;  1747,  a  tract  society  formed  ;  1748,  the  first 
academy  opened;  1763,  a  fund  for  superannuated  ministers  estab- 
lished ;  1778,  the  Arminian  Magazine  started,  which  has  continued 
to  this  day,  the  name  changed  to  Methodist  Magazine  soon  after 
Wesley's  death,  and  to  Wesleyan  Methodist  Magazine  in  1822 ; 
1784,  all  hope  of  amalgamation  with  the  Church  of  England  or 
any  other  denomination  set  to  rest  by  Wesley  entering  in  the  Court 
of  Chancery  a  deed  for  the  permanent  constitution  of  the  Confer- 
ence ;  1784,  Wesley  ordains  Coke  superintendent  and  Whatcoat 
and  Vasey  elders — the  climax  to  a  long  series  of  acts  inconsistent 
with  his  identity  with  the  Church  of  England ;  1785,  Wesley 
ordains  Pawson,  Hanby,  and  Taylor  as  presbyters  to  officiate  in 
Scotland ;  1786,  ordains  Keighley  and  Atmore  for  England  and 
Warrener  and  Hammett  for  missions  abroad,  and  consents  to  hold- 
ing services  in  church  hours;  1787-1789,  ordains  several  presby- 
ters and  Mather  as  superintendent ;  1788,  death  of  Charles  Wesley 
(his  widow  survived  until  1822)  ;  1790,  further  plans  for  the  con- 
solidation of  Methodism — Wesley  still  presiding  in  the  Conference 
session;  1791,  death  of  John  Wesley.1  The  ensuing  Conference 
provided  by  districts  and  district  chairmen  for  the  oversight  simi- 
lar to  that  which  was  exercised  by  their  late  founder. 

The  Methodism  of  the  nineteenth  century  has  moved  forward 
in  many  special  directions.  We  have  first  its  independent  move- 
ments. 

1  The  late  George  J.  Stevenson,  of  London,  gives  an  admirable  chronolog- 
ical history  of  British  and  Continental  Methodism  in  his  articles  in  McClintock 
and  Strong,  Cyc,  x,  921-953. 


METHODISM   OF   THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY.  829 

Wesleyan  Methodism  has  been  peculiarly  unfortunate  in  dealing 
with  her  children.  The  lack  of  statesmanlike  concession  and 
large-minded  consideration  in  critical  junctures  has  repeatedly 
driven  out  many  of  her  most  earnest,  pious,  and  progressive 
people.  These  have  gone  into  the  Established  or  Nonconformist 
Churches,  or  have  built  up  independent  Churches  which  have  done 
a  great  work  for  England.     Doubtless  vastly  deeper 

NEW  CONXKC- 

effect  would  have  been  produced  on  the  life  of  the  tion  metho- 

DISTS 

nation  if  the  conciliatory  and  practical  wisdom  of 
Wesley  had  been  given  to  his  successors.  The  first  trouble  was  in 
dealing  with  the  natural  and  just  demand  for  the  sacraments  and 
for  the  rights  of  the  societies  and  of  the  laymen,  which  resulted  in 
the  expulsion  of  Alexander  Kilham  in  1796  and  the  formation  of 
the  Methodist  New  Connection  in  1797.  The  new  Church  started 
out  with  four  ministers  and  five  thousand  members  from  the  old 
body,  and  has  had  an  honorable,  though  not  a  markedly  successful, 
history.  It  introduced  the  principle  of  lay  representation,  thus 
setting  early  a  noble  example  which  other  Methodist  bodies  in 
England  and  America  have — though  late — followed.  The  Wes- 
leyan Methodists  have  gradually  adopted  most  of  the  features  of 
the  New  Connection,  and  the  union  of  these  two  Churches  would 
be  a  happy  consummation. 

Another  act  of  the  same  kind  was  the  excision  of  William  Clowes 
and  Hugh  Bourne  on  account  of  their  zeal  in  holding  open-air 
meetings  and  camp  meetings,  which  latter  they  had  borrowed  from 
America.    The  parent  Conference  condemned  all  such 
meetings  in  1807,  and  in  1810  Clowes,  Bourne,  and    tive  metho- 

DISTS 

others  formed  a  Church  fittingly  called  the  Primitive 
Methodist  Church.  Its  aim  was  to  be  true  to  the  evangelistic  and 
revival  traditions  which  had  been  the  glory  of  the  old  Methodism, 
and  heroically  has  it  carried  out  that  program.  The  spirit  of 
Wesley  and  his  brave  companions  has  passed  into  the  Church  of 
Bourne,  which  with  apostolic  zeal  has  preached  the  Gospel  to  the 
poor  and  evangelized  the  forsaken  and  the  godless.  Nor  has  this 
Church  forgotten  learning — another  ideal  of  Wesley.  When  great 
Protestant  Churches  in  England  and  Scotland  cannot  support  a 
theological  review,  this  noble  band  of  Methodists  still  publish  one 
of  the  best — the  Primitive  Methodist  Quarterly.  The  Primitive 
Methodists  have  also  been  true  to  total  abstinence.  Wesley's  ex- 
coriating words  on  the  traffic  in  drink  were  the  first  notes  of  the 
modern  temperance  reformation.1 

1  See  his  sermon  (50),  The  Use  of  Money.     Works,  Lond.  ed.,  vi,  128, 129. 


830  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Another  independent  movement  followed — that  led  by  William 

O'Bryan,  1815,  a  zealous  local  preacher,  who  used  to  travel  from 

„DTC    place  to  place  seeking  the  lost  and  outcast.     He  was 

BII5LE   CHRIS"     ■*■  •*■ 

tians.  expelled  by  his  pastor,  and  formed  the  Bible  Christian 

Society,  which  has  done  excellent  work  in  the  west  of  England. 

The  Leeds  organ  dispute — forcing  an  organ  on  the  congregation 

against  the  wishes  of  a  majority  of  the  leaders  and  stewards — led 

to  the  formation  in  1828  of  the  Wesleyan  Protestant  Methodists. 

The  Wesleyan  Methodist  Association,  1835,  was  the  result  of  the 

dominating  influence  of  Jabez  Bunting,  who  led  an 

PROTESTANT 

methodists  educational  scheme  for  young  ministers.  Samuel 
leyan  asso-  Warren,  pastor  in  Manchester,  fearful  of  the  trans- 
formation of  the  Conference  from  a  spiritual  brother- 
hood into  a  coterie  of  personal  followers  of  Bunting,  and  for  other 
reasons,  led  an  opposition  to  the  scheme.  He  was  supported  by 
some  of  the  oldest  and  most  pious  of  the  ministers.  Dr.  Warren 
was  tried  and  expelled  in  1835.  This  left  Bunting  and  those  who 
stood  for  him  in  greater  power  than  ever.  The  free  expression  of 
opinion  and  the  unhindered  play  of  intellectual  forces,  the  action 
and  interaction  of  independent  men,  became  impossible.  While 
freedom  was  not  specifically  forbidden,  in  the  atmosphere  of  an 
united  undefined  absolutism  it  could  not  live.     This  led  to 

free°dist  the  great  disruption  of  1849,  when  a  system  of  in- 
church.  quisitorial  questioning  led  to  the  expulsion  of  three 

of  the  best  and  ablest  ministers,  James  Everett,  Samuel  Dunn,  and 
William  Griffith,  Jr.,  followed  by  others.  One  hundred  and 
twenty  thousand  members  left  the  Wesleyan  Methodist  Church. 
In  1857  these  amalgamated  with  the  Protestant  and  Association 
Methodists  in  forming  the  United  Methodist  Free  Church,  one  of 
the  noblest  Churches  of  England.  All  these  offshoots  from  Wes- 
leyan Methodism  were  organized  on  democratic  principles. 

The  first  emphasis  of  Methodism  was  on  the  salvation  of  men. 
But  education  was  not  forgotten.  In  the  first  Conference,  1744, 
we  read  : 

"  Question.  Can  we  have  a  seminary  for  laborers  ? 

"  Answer.  If  God  spare  us  till  another  Conference." 

At  the  next  Conference  the  question  was  put : 

"  Question.  Can  we  have  a  seminary  for  laborers  yet  ? 

"  Answer.  Not  till  God  gives  us  a  proper  tutor/' 

As  early  as  1739  Whitefield  began  a  school  at  Kingswood,  Bristol, 
which  he  immediately  turned  over  to  Wesley,  who  collected  money 
for  it  and  started  it  in  1740.     Its  object  was  to  teach  both  the 


METHODISM   OF   THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY.  831 

colliers  and  their  children  religion,  and  then  to  read,  write,  and 
cast  accounts.  It  was  to  be  a  night  school  as  well  as  a  day  school, 
and  Wesley  said  that  he  expected  scholars  of  all  ages,  educational 
some  of  them  gray-headed,  to  come  there  early  in  the  movement. 
morning  or  late  at  night,  and  that  the  old  would  he  taught  sepa- 
rately from  the  children.1  This  school  has  continued  to  the  present 
day,  though  not  long  after  its  foundation  it  was  limited  to  the 
education  of  ministers'  hoys,  and  in  1851  removed  to  new  and 
larger  buildings  at  Landsdowne,  near  Bath.  One  school  being 
found  insufficient  for  the  education  of  ministers'  boys,  another 
was  opened  in  1812  at  Woodhouse  Grove,  at  Appleby,  near  Leeds. 
Wesley's  earnestness  for  ministerial  education  was  illustrated  in 
his  collecting  the  preachers  together  at  Kingswood  in  1749,  divid- 
ing them  into  classes  and  giving  them  instruction  in  theology, 
using  Pearson,  On  the  Creed  ;  in  logic,  using  Aldrich's  text-book ; 
and  in  elocution.2  Whether  this  was  done  later  than  1749  we  do  not 
know,  but  Wesley  always  insisted  on  his  helpers  reading  the  Chris- 
tian Library  and  other  books.  This  diligence  in  study  made  some 
of  his  preachers  learned  men ;  as,  for  example,  Thomas  Walsh,  the 
ascetic  young  Irishman  who  became  remarkably  proficient  in 
Hebrew  and  Greek  ; 3  Adam  Clarke,  the  commentator  ;  and  Joseph 
Benson,  also  commentator  and  theologian.  In  1835  a  theological 
institution  was  opened  at  Hoxton,  London ;  in  1839  another  at 
Abney  House,  Stoke  Newington,  which  places  were  used  until 
buildings  were  erected  at  Eichmond,  London,  and  Didsbury,  Man- 
chester, when  (about  1841)  the  students  were  removed  to  them. 
Various  other  institutions,  theological  or  classical,  have  been 
opened  since  then. 

English  Methodism  has  reared  many  men  of  ability  and  influence 
in  various  fields.  Henry  Moore,  the  biographer  of  Wesley  ;  Adam 
Clarke,  one  of  the  most  learned,  as  well  as  pious,  men  of  his  time  ; 
Joseph  Benson,  the  literary  champion  of  the  Methodists  after 
Wesley's  death ;  Alexander  Kilham,  an  ecclesiastical   statesman 

1  Tyerman,  Life  of  Wesley,  i,  269,  270.  Charles  Wesley  in  a  letter  dated 
March  3,  1749,  says:  "I  spent  half  an  hour  with  my  brother  at  Kingswood, 
which  is  now  very  ranch  like  a  college.  Twenty-one  boarders  are  there,  and 
a  dozen  students,  his  sons  and  pupils  in  the  Gospel.  I  believe  he  is  now  lay- 
ing the  foundation  of  many  generations." — Tyerman,  ii,  35,  note. 

s  Tyerman,  ii,  34.  For  an  admirable  historical  account  of  the  efforts  for 
ministerial  education  in  Methodism  in  England,  and  especially  in  America, 
see  the  late  Daniel  P.  Kidder,  in  the  Bibliotheca  Sacra,  July,  1876,  pp.  558  ff. 

3  See  a  biography  of  this  most  remarkable  man  by  Faulkner,  in  McClintock 
and  Strong,  Cyc,  x,  870,  871. 


832  HISTORY   OF   THE    CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

who  first  united  Methodism  to  a  representative  system  of  Church 
polity ;  Eichard  Watson,  the  theologian ;  Jabez  Bunting,  perhaps 
methodist  the  most  influential  minister  of  his  time  in  England  ; 
leaders.  Samuel  Warren,  pious  and  able,  whose  wife  was  an- 
other Mrs.  Fletcher,  and  who  led  a  revolt  against  the  rule  of 
Bunting ; '  Eobert  Newton,  the  eloquent  preacher  ;  Thomas  Jack- 
son, author  and  editor ;  William  Dawson,  the  great  lay  preacher 
and  spiritual  genius  ;  William  Carvosso,  saint  and  hero  of  faith  ; 
James  Dixon,  preacher,  orator,  and  antislavery  advocate,  who 
spent  the  last  half  of  his  life  in  blindness ;  Eichard  D.  Waddy,  of 
brilliant  intellect,  flashing  wit,  and  great  soul ;  *  Luke  H.  Wise- 
man, the  missionary  secretary ;  Luke  Tyerman,  the  author  of 
three  great  biographies,  which  will  remain  permanent  authorities 
for  centuries  ;  William  B.  Pope,  who  was  the  first  to  write  a  Sys- 
tematic Theology  for  English-speaking  Methodists  from  the  stand- 
point of  modern  scholarship  ;  these,  and  other  men  who  have  passed 
away,  not  to  mention  those  living,  have  rendered  notable  service  to 
the  Church  of  Christ. 

Methodism  had  so  much  home  missionary  work  on  hand  that  it 
could  not  at  once  address  itself  to  the  foreign  field.  Its  first  mis- 
sion was  to  Africa.  Some  Methodists  had  gone  to  Sierra  Leone, 
in  1792,  where  Mingo  Jordan,  a  colored  man,  had  gathered  a 
society.  They  sent  to  England  for  a  missionary,  and  in  1811 
George  Warren  was  sent  as  the  first  Methodist  foreign 
missionary.  Since  then  English  Methodism  has  not 
only  had  a  flourishing  mission  in  Sierra  Leone,  with  thousands  of 
members,  but  has  established  missions  on  the  Gambia,  on  the  Gold 
Coast,  Ashantee,  and  in  other  countries  of  the  West,  Cape  Colony 
and  Natal,  among  the  Kaffirs,  Hottentots,  Fingoes,  Bechuanas, 
Zulus,  and  other  tribes,  and  in  the  South  African  republics.  In 
1812  Samuel  Leigh  was  sent  to  Australia,  where  a  class  of  Metho- 
dist emigrants  had  already  been  formed,  and  where  he  laid  broad 
and  deep  the  foundations  of  the  Church. 

Thomas  Coke,  who  took  an  intense  interest  in  missions,  and 
begged  from  door  to  door  for  the  Methodist  missionaries  in  Amer- 
thomas  i°a>  France,  and  the  Jersey  Islands,  in  his  old  age  was 

coke.  consumed  with  longing  to  found  evangelical   Chris- 

tianity in  India.      On  June  18,   1813,  he  writes  (he  was  then 

1  He  was  the  father  of  Samuel  Warren,  the  great  novelist,  who  was  the  father 
of  the  Rev.  E.  Walpole  Warren,  rector  of  Holy  Trinity  Church,  New  York. 

5  See  an  article  on  him  by  Faulkner  in  McClintock  and  Strong,  Cyc,  sup. 
vol.  ii,  843. 


METHODISM  OF   THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY.  833 

sixty-sis) :  "  I  am  now  dead  to  Europe  and  alive  for  India.  God 
himself  has  said  to  me,  Go  to  Ceylon.  I  am  so  fully  convinced 
of  the  will  of  God  that  methinks  I  had  rather  be  set  naked  on  the 
coast  of  Ceylon,  without  clothes  and  without  a  friend,  than  not  to 
go  there.  .  .  .  The  fleets  sail  in  October  and  January.  If  the 
Conference  employs  me  to  raise  the  money  for  the  outset  I  shall 
not  be  able  to  sail  till  January.  I  shall  bear  my  own  expenses,  of 
course.  I  shall  probably  be  here  till  this  day  fortnight ;  then  I 
set  off  for  Liverpool." 1  In  the  next  Conference  Coke  pleaded  as 
a  man  for  his  life  to  be  sent  to  India.  The  night  before  the  day 
fixed  for  the  official  debate  he  spent  in  prayer  for  India.  In  the 
debate  Coke  told  of  the  providential  circumstances  which  had  led 
him  to  this  mission,  the  favor  shown  to  it  by  some  men  of  power, 
and  the  duty  of  preaching  the  Gospel  to  the  millions  of  the  East, 
and  then  offered  himself  and  other  ministers  who  had  consented 
"  to  dare  with  himself  the  dangers  of  the  enterprise,"  and  added 
finally,  "that  if  the  Conference  could  not  bear  the  expense  he 
would  himself  defray  the  initial  expenditure  to  the  extent  of  six 
thousand  pounds."  The  Conference  passed  a  resolution  in  which 
it  "  authorizes  and  appoints  Dr.  Coke  to  undertake  a  mission  to 
Ceylon  and  Java,  and  allows  him  to  take  with  him  six  mission- 
aries, exclusive  of  one  for  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope."2  Thus  began 
Methodist  missions  to  Asia,  in  which  some  of  the  greatest  triumphs 
of  the  Gospel,  as  well  as  of  consecrated  scholarship,  have  been  real- 
ized. Methodist  missions  have  also  reclaimed  from  cannibalism 
and  given  to  commerce  and  civilization  many  islands  in  the  South 
Seas,  and  the  story  of  the  enterprise  there  is  a  romance  of  daring 
and  heroism  not  surpassed  in  the  annals  of  adventure  or  discovery. 
Methodism  has  stimulated  enterprises  in  other  fields  outside 
its  own  borders.  Scotland  received  a  fresh  religious  life ;  the 
Church  of  England  received  a  new  illumination ;  the  New  Con- 
nection of  General  Baptists,  which  has  had  a  great  METHodist 
and  noble  history,  was  formed  by  Methodists  in  1770  ;  the^oeneral 
Sunday  schools  were  formed  by  the  Methodists  before  LUMP- 
Eobert  Eaikes  received  his  beautiful  inspiration,  and  "  Sophia 
Cooke,  another  Methodist,  who  afterward  became  the  wife  of 
Samuel  Bradburn,  was  the  first  to  suggest  to  Eaikes  the  Sunday 
school  idea,  and  actually  marched  with  him  at  the  head  of  his 
troop  of  ragged  urchins  the  first  Sunday  they  were  taken  to  the 
parish  church."  The  Methodists  organized  the  first  Bible  Society. 
The  London  Missionary  Society,  a  Congregational  organization 

1  Ethridge,  Life  of  Thomas  Coke,  pp.  478,  479.  >  Ibid.,  p.  481. 

55  2 


834  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

which  has  had  a  glorious  history,  was  started,  it  is  said,  in  an 
appeal  from  Melville  Horue,  who  for  some  years  was  one  of  Wes- 
ley's preachers,  and  became  the  successor  of  Fletcher  at  Madeley  ; 
the  Church  Missionary  Society  issued  from  a  devout  circle  of 
evangelical  clergymen  in  the  Established  Church ;  Wesley  estab- 
lished the  first  tract  society,  at  least  seventeen  years  before  the 
founding  of  the  Eeligious  Tract  Society,  itself  the  outcome  of  the 
evangelical  revival ;  and  Wesley  established  the  first  dispensary 
twenty-four  years  before  the  Eoyal  General  Dispensary  opened  at 
Bartholomew  Close,  London,  in  1770. ] 

English  Methodism  has  taken  on  new  vigor  within  the  last  few 
years.  The  introduction  of  lay  representation  in  the  Wesleyan 
Conference  in  1878 ;  the  work  of  public  common  school  educa- 
tion by  Methodist  day  schools  led  chiefly  by  James  H.  Bigg ;  the 
beautiful  charity  for  orphaned  and  homeless  children  led  by 
Thomas  Bowman  Stephenson  ;  the  Forward  Movement  in  East  and 
kecent  de-  West  London  led  by  Hugh  Price  Hughes  and  Peter 
velopments.  Thompson,  and  similar  movements  in  other  large 
cities  ;  the  great  church  building  movement  inaugurated  by  the  mu- 
nificence of  Sir  Francis  Lycett ;  the  proposition  for  the  union  of  the 
New  Connection  and  Wesleyan  Methodists  ;  the  Ecumenical  Con- 
ferences in  London  in  1881,  and  Washington  in  1891 ;  the  Million 
Guinea  Twentieth  Century  Fund  movement,  started  in  1899,  which 
has  been  taken  up  and  carried  forward  with  immense  enthusiasm, 
and  which  has  been  characterized  by  many  pathetic  instances  of 
sacrifice,  the  splendid  service  rendered  by  the  London  Quarterly 
Eeview  for  scholarship  and  literature,  and  the  able  books  by  Eng- 
lish Methodist  authors — these  all  show  that  if  they  are  true  to  the 
spirit  of  their  founder  in  evangelism  and  learning  and  doctrine  a 
brilliant  future  awaits  the  Methodist  Churches  in  the  motherland. 

1  "  I  mentioned  to  the  society  my  design  of  giving  physic  to  the  poor. 
About  thirty  came  the  next  day,  and  in  three  weeks  about  three  hundred. 
This  we  continued  for  several  years  till,  the  number  of  patients  still  increas- 
ing, the  expense  was  greater  than  we  could  bear.  Meantime,  through  the 
blessing  of  God,  many  who  had  been  ill  for  months  or  years,  were  restored  to 
perfect  health."— Journal,  Dec.  4,  1746. 


MOVEMENTS  IN   THE   CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND.  835 


CHAPTEE  V. 

MOVEMENTS  IN  THE  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND. 

The  evangelical  movement,  which  sent  its  currents  of  warm 
life  throughout  Anglicanism,  had  not  spent  its  force  when  the 
nineteenth  century  was  horn.  It  turned  the  religious  and  political 
life  of  the  nation  into  new  channels,  and  made  a  new  type  of 
clergyman.  It  is  true  that  as  to  this  last  the  kindly  and  sensitive 
pagan  John  Keats  (d.  1821)  gives  a  different  impression.  He 
says  in  one  of  his  letters,  "A  parson  is  a  lamb  in  the  drawing-room, 
and  a  lion  in  a  vestry.  The  notions  of  society  will  not  permit  a 
parson  to  give  way  to  his  temper  in  any  shape ;  so  he  festers  in 
himself  till  his  features  get  a  peculiar  diabolical,  self- 

.  r       .  .  A  NEW  TYPE 

sufficient,  ironical,  stupid  expression.  He  is  continu-  OF  clergy. 
ally  acting.  He  is  a  hypocrite  to  the  believer  and  a  coward  to  the 
unbeliever/' '  But  this  caustic  description,  though  doubtless  true 
of  some,  was  by  no  means  true  of  many  Anglican  ministers.  John 
Newton  (d.  1807)  was  one  of  the  most  devoted  and  exemplary  of 
ministers,  who,  after  a  depraved  and  profligate  life,  became  a  shining 
light  and  gave  comfort  and  hope  to  thousands.  He  was  the  pastor 
of  William  Cowper,  with  whom  he  wrote  the  Olney  Hymns  (1779), 
and  whose  poems  powerfully  helped  the  cause  of  morality  and  re- 
ligion. Cowper's  description  of  the  false  and  true  preacher  has 
ever  remained  a  beacon  light  of  warning  and  of  guidance. 

"  I  venerate  the  man  whose  heart  is  warm, 

Whose  hands  are  pure,  whose  doctrine  and  whose  life, 

Coincident,  exhibit  lucid  proof 

That  he  is  honest  in  the  sacred  cause. 

To  such  I  render  more  than  mere  respect, 

Whose  actions  say  that  they  respect  themselves. 

But  loose  in  morals  and  in  manners  vain, 

In  conversation  frivolous,  in  dress 

Extreme,  at  once  rapacious  and  profuse, 

Frequent  in  park,  with  lady  at  his  side, 

Ambling  and  prattling  scandal  as  he  goes, 

But  rare  at  home,  and  never  at  his  books, 

Or  with  his  pen,  save  when  he  scrawls  a  card ; 

Constant  at  routs,  familiar  with  a  sound 

Of  ladyships,  a  stranger  to  the  poor  ; 

1  Letters  of  John  Keats,  ed.  by  H.  Buxton  Forman,  Lond. ,  1895. 


836  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Ambitious  of  preferment  for  its  gold, 
And  well  prepared  by  ignorance  and  sloth, 
By  infidelity  and  love  of  the  world, 
To  make  God's  work  a  sinecure  ;  a  slave 
To  his  own  pleasures  and  his  patron's  pride : 
From  such  apostles,  0  ye  mitred  heads, 
Preserve  the  Church  !  and  lay  not  careless  hands 
On  skulls  that  cannot  teach,  and  will  not  learn." * 

The  successor  of  Newton  at  Olney  was  his  spiritual  son  and 
friend,  Thomas  Scott,  who  worked  himself  out  of  Socinianism  and 
thomas  tells  the  story  of   his  struggle  in  his  famous  book, 

th°eT two"  The  Voice  of  Truth  :  A  Marvellous  Narrative  of 
milners.  Human  Life  (1779).  It  is  hard  to  estimate  the  influ- 
ence of  Scott  in  the  popular  religious  thinking  of  England.  His 
Holy  Bible,  with  Notes,  1788-92,  has  had  a  wider  reading  among  the 
masses  than  any  other  English  commentary.  In  estimating  the  forces 
which  have  kept  the  English  populace  measurably  within  the  pale 
of  evangelical  Christianity,  Scott's  Bible  must  not  be  forgotten. 

A  devotional  classic,  which  we  also  owe  to  Evangelicalism,  is 
Cecil's  Remains  which  had  a  beneficent  influence  over  Protestants 
during  the  first  half  of  the  century.  The  great  revival  even  made 
its  influence  felt  in  Church  history.  Joseph  Milner  (d.  1797),  the 
head  master  of  the  Hull  Grammar  School,  and  his  brother  Isaac 
(d.  1820),  a  great  mathematical  scholar  and  Cambridge  professor, 
wrote  a  History  of  the  Church  from  the  standpoint  of  piety,  to 
show  what  men  and  what  movements  were  faithful  to  the  spirit  and 
truth  of  Christ. 

A  group  of  high-minded  and  devoted  laymen  worshiped  in  the 
Clapham  parish  church,  London,  when  John  Venn  was  its  pastor 
(1792-1813)  and  later,  and  to  their  religious  earnestness  and  phil- 
anthropic spirit  we  owe  far-reaching  reforms.  Never  perhaps  in 
the  clapham  *ne  history  of  the  world  has  a  company  of  men  of  one 
group.  faith,  living  in  one  locality  at  one  time,  done  so  much 

for  mankind.  Their  prominence  and  their  fidelity  in  represent- 
ing the  evangelical  ideal  caused  Sydney  Smith  to  nickname  the 
whole  evangelical  party  "  The  Clapham  Sect."  "  On  Sunday," 
says  J.  C.  Colquhoun,  "  they  [the  Thorntons]  sit  in  the  old  church 
with  the  Wilberforces',  and  Macaulays',  and  Stephens'  pews  close 
to  their  own,  and  in  the  first  gallery  the  Teignmouths',  and  listen 
to  the  wise  discourses  of  Venn,  or  sit  enchanted  under  the  preach- 
ing of  Grisborne."2     TVilberforce's  book,  A  Practical  View  of  the 

1  The  Task,  bk.  ii. 

2  "William  Wilberf  orce,  his  Friends  and  his  Times,  p.  309. 


MOVEMENTS  IN   THE   CHURCH   OF   ENGLAND.  837 

Prevailing  Religious  System  of  Professed  Christians  in  the  Higher 
and  Middle  Classes  in  this  Country,  contrasted  with  Real  Chris- 
tianity, 1797,  exercised  an  influence  over  thousands  of  thoughtful 
readers  similar  to  Law's  Serious  Call  two  generations  before.  The 
Thorntons,  father  and  son,  bankers  who  held  their  gold  in  trust 
for  God,  were  a  bulwark  for  aggressive  Christianity  for  many  years. 
Zachary  Macaulay,  father  of  the  great  essayist,  and  James  Stephen, 
the  first  of  a  name  high  in  the  roll  of  men  of  letters  and  of  law, 
were  the  active  supporters  of  every  interest  for  the  benefit  of  man. ' 

As  Oxford  University  has  generally  represented  High  Anglican- 
ism, so  in  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century  did  Cambridge 
University  become  the  center  of  Evangelicalism.  CA.MBRIDGE 
Here  the  great  dean  Isaac  Milner  stood  as  a  tower  of  ^jSJ^f" 
strength,  doing  in  Cambridge  for  vital  Christianity  center. 
what  Benjamin  Jowett  did  in  the  last  half  of  the  century  in  Ox- 
ford for  rationalistic  Christianity.  Here  Charles  Simeon  (d.  1836) 
was  pastor  of  Trinity  Church,  and  helped  on  the  cause  in  a 
thousand  ways.  Here  William  Farish,  Jacksonian  professor  of 
chemistry,  exercised  a  similar  influence,  and  Scholefield,  regius 
professor  of  Greek,  from  whose  pulpit  at  St.  Michael's  earnest 
evangelical  preaching  was  wedded  to  intellectual  power,  and  the 
two  Jowetts,  Joseph  and  William,  did  also  a  great  work. 

Nor  should  the  influence  of  Hannah  More  (d.  1833)  be  for- 
gotten. Her  work  was  twofold :  in  writing  stories,  sketches, 
essays,  and   treatises  which  had  a  vast  circulation,  hannah 

were  extravagantly  praised  as  the  product  of  a  literary  more. 

genius,  and  which  really  raised  the  moral  tone  of  the  age  ;  and  in 
her  philanthropic  work  among  the  Cheddar  Hills  near  Bristol, 
where,  by  her  own  self-sacrificing  life  and  the  help  of  her  sisters 
and  the  money  of  Wilberforce  and  Thornton,  she  "turned  a  moral 
wilderness  into  a  fruitful  garden."2 

Of  the  general  influence  of  the  great  revival  and  the  evangelical 
movement  Lecky  speaks  fairly  when  he  says  :  "  The  Evangelicals 
gradually  changed  the  whole  spirit  of  the  English  Church.  They 
infused  into  it  a  new  fire  and  passion  of  devotion,  raised  the  stand- 
ard of  clerical  duty,  and  completely  altered  the  whole  tone  and 
preaching  of  its  ministers."  3     Now  the  question  is,  Why  did  not 

1  For  further  information  on  the  Clapham  episode  in  Church  history  see 
Pennington,  Recollections  of  Persons  and  Events,  and  Sir  James  Stephen, 
Essays  in  Eccl.  Biography,  523  ff . ,  and  the  biographies  of  the  Clapham  men. 

2  Overton,  The  Church  in  England,  ii,  281. 

3  Hist,  of  England  in  the  18th  Century,  ii,  ch.  ix. 


838  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

this  leaven  leaven  the  whole  lump  ?  Why  did  the  Church,  or 
at  least  large  parts  of  it,  sink  back  into  formalism  and  inactivity 
until  it  was  stirred  again  by  the  Catholic  Reformers 
ofbrSoad°and  of  Oxford  ?  In  other  words,  why  did  not  Evangelieal- 
high  church.  .gm  conquer  the  church  of  England  for  Christ  and  make 

it  truly  Protestant  ?  In  answer  to  this  it  may  be  said  :  (1)  Some 
sections  of  the  Church  were  not  only  not  transformed  into  higher 
life  by  the  evangelical  movement,  but  were  profoundly  opposed  to 
it.  This  was  true  of  the  Broad  Church  represented  by  the  bril- 
liant Sydney  Smith  (d.  1845),  who  for  twenty  years  (1809-1829) 
at  Foston,  Yorkshire,  was  the  "village  parson,  village  doctor,  vil- 
lage comforter,  village  magistrate,  Edinburgh  reviewer,"  and  in 
that  Review  poured  out  the  phials  of  his  wit,  sarcasm,  and  denun- 
ciation on  the  heads  of  the  poor  Methodists  and  other  Evangelic- 
als. The  other  section  that  was  opposed  to  Evangelicalism  was 
the  High  Church,  which  had  never  ceased  to  exist  even  in  the 
eighteenth  century,  and  which  only  waited  its  opportunity  once 
more  to  assert  itself  with  vigor.     (2)  The  Church  of 

f'ATHOT  TO 

elements  of  England  was  not  simply  a  Protestant  Church.  It  was 
a  Catholic  Church  with  Protestant  characteristics,  and 
these  great  Catholic  elements — the  threefold  ministry,  the  necessity 
of  Episcopal  ordination,  the  liturgy,  baptismal  regeneration,  the 
"  consent  of  the  Fathers  "  as  a  subordinate  rule  of  faith — could  not 
fail  to  bring  about  an  evolution  toward  a  deepening  Catholicism. 
(3)  The  Evangelical  school  itself  became  narrow  and  intolerant, 
dwindled  into  a  party,  lost  the  fervor  and  Christian  breadth  of 
its  better  days,  and  what  was  worse,  perhaps,  failed 
evangel-  to  add  to  its  piety  knowledge,  and  thus  was  gradually 
detached  more  or  less  from  the  intelligence  and  scholar- 
ship of  the  country.  Besides,  the  Evangelicals  allowed  their  old- 
time  ethical  and  social  enthusiasms — those  splendid  reforming  ener- 
gies which  had  made  a  new  England — to  pass  into  the  Broad  Church 
camp,  and  Charles  Kingsley  and  Frederick  Denison  Maurice  became 
the  leaders  in  the  new  Christian  socialism. 

As  the  nineteenth  century  wore  on  it  brought  new  interests  to 
the  front.  One  was  liberalism.  Continental  and  American  move- 
ments, as  well  as  the  lifting  up  of  the  masses  by  the  great  revival 
into  thrift,  independence,  and  a  larger  vision,  had  brought  a  wave 
political  °f  political  liberalism  of  which  politicians  had  to  take 
liberalism.  account.  it  showed  itself  in  the  various  Catholic 
Emancipation  Bills,  in  the  Reform  Bill,  and  in  the  Repeal  of  the 
Corporation  and  Tests  Acts  in  1828.      An  attitude  of  criticism 


MOVEMENTS  IN  THE   CHURCH   OP  ENGLAND.  839 

to  the  Established  Church  became  pronounced,  which  did  not 
always  stop  there,  but  took  in  also  historic  Christianity.  In  1824 
the  Westminster  Keview  was  founded  to  voice  this  wider  liberalism, 
and  James  Mill,  the  father  of  John  Stuart  Mill,  became  one  of  its 
leading  lights.  The  relation  of  the  Anglican  priests  as  the  official 
representatives  of  the  libertine  head  of  the  Church,  George  IV,  to 
the  Queen  Caroline  case  turned  many  against  them,  and  brought 
out  the  powerful  pen  of  Henry  Brougham  in  the  Edinburgh  Keview.1 
Jeremy  Bentham  was  another  opponent  whom  the  Church  had 
reason  to  fear,  and  William  Cobbett  in  the  Weekly  Register  and 
in  his  books  and  pamphlets  was  an  advocate  of  radicalism  who 
wielded  the  most  biting  pen  in  the  raciest  style. 

Oriel  College  at  Oxford  gathered  within  its  walls  some  bright 
spirits — the  forerunners  of  the  Broad  Church  school.  Whately, 
who  taught  Newman  how  to  reason,  was  rational  in  KELIGI017g 
temper  and  had  left  the  evangelical  position  as  to  pre-  libekalism. 
destination,  future  punishment,  and  the  Sabbath.  Hampden  greatly 
outraged  the  High  Churchmen  by  the  supposed  Arian  tendencies 
of  his  Bampton  Lectures  for  1832  on  the  scholastic  philosophy,  and 
was  condemned  by  the  university  and  by  convocation.  Those  in 
authority  were  not  daunted  by  this,  however,  and  made  him  regius 
professor  of  divinity  in  Oxford  in  1836  and  bishop  of  Hereford  in 
1847,  though  in  the  face  of  determined  and  even  factious  opposi- 
tion. This  preferment  and  that  of  Whately  to  the  archbishopric 
of  Dublin  in  1831  could  not  but  advance  the  prospects 

TTAIVIT*T)F'N' 

of  rational  Christianity  in  the  English  Church.  More  whately', 
influential,  perhaps,  was  Thomas  Arnold,  who  was 
suddenly  cut  off  in  the  prime  of  his  fruitful  and  promising  career 
in  1842.  His  work  at  Rugby  School,  his  correspondence  and  reli- 
gious writings,  and  his  History  of  Rome  (1838  ff.),  in  which  he  was 
the  first  in  England  to  bring  the  modern  critical  methods  to  bear 
on  ancient  history,  all  combined  to  make  him  a  wonderfully 
quickening  power.  In  1829  Milman's  History  of  the  Jews  was 
published;  a  book  which  now  would  not  cause  a  ripple,  but  which 
then  made  a  sensation  because  it  was  a  new  thing  to  apply  German 
criticism  to  the  Bible.  So  great  was  the  scare  created  by  Milman's 
book  that  its  sale  was  stopped,  and  the  Family  Library  in  which 
it  was  issued  by  Murray  was  discontinued.  In  the  same  direction, 
some  useful  work  was  performed  by  two  Cambridge  students,  Con- 
nop  Thirlwall  and  Julius  Hare,  men  of  no  small  name  in  the  history 

1  Art.  by  Brougham,  The  Durham  Case,  in  the  Edinb.  Eev.,  Nov.,  1822  (vol. 
xxvii,  350  ff.). 


840  HISTORY   OF   THE  CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

of  English  religion  and  learning.  Their  publication  in  1825  of  a 
translation  of  Schleiermacher's  Essay  on  St.  Luke,  with  a  remarkable 
introduction,  and  their  translation  (1828-32)  of  Niebuhr's  History 
of  Rome  had  no  small  part  in  ushering  in  the  new  critical  scholarship. 

A  reaction  was  inevitable  not  only  to  the  effort  of  the  Evangel- 
icals to  Protestantize  England,  but  to  the  vigorous  liberalism  in 
the  oxford  ^oth  Church  and  State.  That  reaction  is  known  in 
.movement.  history  as  the  Oxford  movement,  or  later  as  the 
Catholic  revival  or  the  Anglo-Catholic  movement.  Its  starting 
point  was :  (1)  A  sermon  preached  by  John  Keble  from  the 
University  pulpit,  Oxford,  July  14,  1833,  entitled  National  Apos- 
tasy. "  I  have  ever  considered/'  says  Newman,  "  and  kept  the 
day  as  the  start  of  the  religious  movement  of  1833." '  It  was  a 
mild,  calm,  but  outspoken  and  effective  protest  against  what 
the  preacher  considered  the  internal  and  external  dangers  of  the 
Church.  (2)  A  meeting  of  three  comparatively  humble  clergy- 
men with  Hugh  James  Rose,  at  the  Hadleigh  rectory,  July  25,  1833, 
for  the  purpose  of  discussing  the  affairs  of  the  Church  and  hitting 
upon  some  plan  of  remedying  them.  The  three  were  William 
Palmer,  author  of  Origines  Liturgicas  (1832,  4th  ed.  '45),  which 
was  itself  a  manifesto  of  the  movement ;  A.  P.  Perceval,  of  the 
"Tory  Aristocracy"  (to  use  Newman's  description),  who  soon 
dropped  out ;  and  Richard  Hurrell  Eroude,  brother  of  the  histo- 
rian. But  the  most  important  man  there  was  the  host,  Rose, 
a  man  of  learning  and  enterprise  and  a  stanch  High  Churchman. 
Keble  and  John  Henry  Newman,  though  in  close  correspondence 
with  Rose  and  others,  were  not  present.  The  outcome  was  the 
formation  of  the  Association  of  the  Friends  of  the  Church,  the  ob- 
jects of  which  were :  "  1.  To  maintain  pure  and  inviolate  the  doc- 
trines, services,  and  discipline  of  the  Church,  that  is,  to  withstand 
all  change  which  involves  a  departure  from  primitive  practice  in 
religious  offices,  or  innovation  upon  the  apostolic  prerogative,  or- 
ders, and  commission  of  bishops,  priests,  and  deacons.  2.  To 
afford  Churchmen  an  opportunity  of  exchanging  their  sentiments 
and  cooperating  together  on  a  large  scale." 

The  life  and  soul  of  the  movement  in  its  earliest  stages  was  New- 
man. His  enthusiasm  and  fresh  sympathetic  nature  drew  to  him 
john  henry  y°lmg  men,  and  so  ardent  was  the  devotion  which  he 
newman.  inspired  that  the  historian  Froude,  who  was  there  at 
the  time,  says  that  it  was  like  a  Newman  cultus.  But  no  man 
could  be  more  unconscious  of  such  worship  or  care  less  for  it.  By 
1  Apologia  pro  Vita  Sua,  ch.  i,  near  end. 


MOVEMENTS  IN  THE  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND.     841 

his  sermons  at  St.  Mary's,  with  their  bewitching  style  and  their 
penetrating  unhackneyed  thought,  and  his  lectures  in  the  chapel 
of  the  same  Church,  where  he  formally  expounded  the  High  Church 
principles,  he  exercised  an  immense  influence.  Newman  stood  with 
Hurrell  Froude  in  believing  that  the  times  needed  bold,  frank  action, 
individual  initiative,  an  uncompromising  exposition  of  Catholicism, 
and  a  bold  endeavor  to  realize  it  in  Church  and  State.  "  Living 
movements,"  he  said,  "  do  not  come  of  committees.  1  want  to  bring 
out  a  living  Church  of  England,  made  of  flesh  and  blood,  with 
voice,  complexion,  and  motion,  and  action  and  will  of  its  own.  .  .  . 
There  is  something  greater  than  the  Established  Church — the 
Church  Catholic  and  Apostolic."  On  the  other  hand,  Rose,  Palmer, 
and  Perceval  were  old-fashioned  High  Churchmen — "safe,  sound 
men  " — who  would  not  do  anything  daring  or  rash. 

Newman  and  his  bolder  fellows  made  their  appeal  through 
the  Tracts  for  the  Times,  1833-41,  the  aim  of  which  was  by  a 
direct  appeal,  after  the  fashion  of  Wesley,  to  the  tracts  fok 
conscience  and  intelligence  of  the  nation,  to  show  that  THE  TIMES- 
the  Catholic  principles  of  the  Church  of  England,  such  as  the  real 
presence,  apostolic  succession,  value  of  tradition  as  a  rule  of  faith, 
and  grace  objectively  bestowed  in  the  sacraments,  are  the  doctrines 
of  the  fathers;  that  these  principles  are  also  the  doctrines  of  the  old 
divines  of  the  English  Church  ;  that  the  Disciplina  Arcani  of  the 
ancient  Church  ought  to  be  revived  ;  and  that  the  Thirty-nine  Ar- 
ticles did  not  intend  to  deny  the  Catholic  teaching  of  the  pre-Re- 
formation  Church,  but  only  the  abuses  and  extravagances  with 
which  that  teaching  was  popularly  confounded.  It  was  in  Tract 
90,  written  by  Newman,  that  the  last  proposition  was  defended,  and 
it  stirred  up  such  a  furor  that,  at  the  request  of  the  bishop  of  Ox- 
ford, Newman  suspended  the  series.  There  was  much  plausibility 
and  even  truth  in  the  contention  of  Tract  90,  but,  looking  beneath 
the  surface,  it  was  a  monstrous  thesis.  On  Newman's  principles 
any  creed  or  legal  paper  in  the  world  could  be  interpreted  as  mean- 
ing the  opposite  of  what  it  manifestly  teaches.  Newman's  mind 
was  revealing  its  kinship  to  Catholicism  by  verging  on  that  region 
where  the  specious  insinuosities  of  evasion,  explanation,  and  sup- 
position obscure  the  straight  and  narrow  road  to  truth. 

Newman  joined  the  Roman  Church  in  1845,  and  many  in  the 
movement  followed  him — Oakley,  Ward,  Faber,  Dalgairns,  and 
others.  But  the  larger  number  of  Anglican  Catholics  remained  in 
their  own  Church,  in  which  they  were  encouraged  by  the  example 
of  their  most  illustrious  guide  (after  Newman),  Edward  Bouveri© 


842  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Pusey,  a  man  of  great  learning,  especially  in  patristics,  a  diligent 
and  voluminous  author,  a  brave  teacher,  and  of  saintly  life. 

The  results  of  the  Oxford  movement  were  :  (1)  A  vastly  increased 

love  of  the  Church   and  zeal  in  her  service.     New  churches  were 

built,  old  ones  were  restored,  services  were  held  more 

RESULTS  OF  „  ,  .  ,        .      .  ,  ,   , 

the  oxford  frequently,  communion  was  administered  weekly, 
singing  and  music  were  cultivated,  and  both  the  ex- 
ternal and  internal  life  of  the  Church  was  revived  and  strengthened. 
(2)  Development  of  personal  piety,  publication  of  manuals  of  de- 
votion, fervor  in  religious  observances  and  in  keeping  of  fasts  and 
holy  days.  (3)  Ritualistic  enthusiasm.  The  Catholic  thought  of 
the  communication  of  grace  through  objective  media  involved  em- 
phasis on  the  instruments  of  devotion  and  of  worship.  This  has 
led  to  a  variety  of  appliances  and  parts  to  the  Church  worship 
upon  which  the  old-time  High  Churchmen  would  have  looked 
in  dumb  wonder.  (4)  Approach  to  Eoman  Catholicism  both  in 
doctrine  and  worship,  in  morals  and  method.  This  approach  in 
some  Anglicans  is  so  extreme  that  the  thin  line  of  papal  infallibil- 
ity is  perhaps  the  only  barrier.1  (5)  Desire  for  reunion  with  Rome 
as  a  venerable  and  larger  part  of  the  Catholic  Church.  The  Angli- 
can Society  for  Corporate  Eeunion  is  ostensibly  working  for  this, 
and  many  secret  and  quasi-secret  societies,  with  which  Anglicanism  is 
now  honeycombed,  are  seeking  in  various  ways  for  either  a  spiritual 
or  actual  communion  with  the  Papal  Church.3  (6)  Disturbance  of 
the  order  of  the  Church  by  Catholic  practices  has  gone  so  far  that 
guardians  of  the  Church's  orthodoxy  have  been  compelled  to 
institute  legal  proceedings  against  the  ritualists.  Sometimes  the 
decisions  were  in  favor  of  the  ritualists,  sometimes  in  favor  of 
the  Protestants,  although  the  court  of  last  resort,  the  Judicial  Com- 
mittee of  the  Privy  Council,  has  invariably  held  that  the  extreme 
methods  of  the  Catholics  in  worship  were  illegal.  But  no  decision 
has  permanently  affected  the  Catholic  party.  Secure  in  their  har- 
mony with  the  Catholic  Church  and  with  some  basal  principles  of 

1  For  evidence  of  the  approach  to  Rome  in  worship  see  The  Roman  Mass  in 
the  English  Church,  Lond.,  1899. 

s  Walter  Walsh,  in  the  most  valuable  book  which  has  been  published  on  the 
Catholic  movement  since  Dean  Church's  posthumous  Oxford  Movement  (1891), 
has  furnished  abundant  evidence,  not  only  of  the  existence  of  numerous  secret 
ritualistic  societies  in  the  Church  of  England,  but  also  of  the  work  of  these 
societies  to  bring  Anglicanism  into  conformity  with  Rome  in  doctrine  and  serv- 
ice, if  not  into  actual  communion  with  her.  Secret  Hist,  of  the  Oxford  Move- 
ment, Lond.,  1897,  6th  ed.,  1899,  p.  38.  High  Church  reviewers  have  not  seri- 
ously touched  the  strength  of  Walsh's  remarkable  showing  of  damaging  facts. 


MOVEMENTS  IN  THE  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND.     843 

their  own  Church,  they  have  gone  on  with  their  auricular  confes- 
sion, their  mass,  their  quasi-monastic  orders,  and  their  Catholic 
doctrinal  teaching.  The  last  trial,  or  rather  hearing,  was  that 
of  1899,  before  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  as  to  the  legality  of 
incense  and  processional  lights.  The  decision  of  Dr.  Temple  was 
adverse  to  the  Catholics,  but  as  his  opinion  was  purely  advisory 
and  had  no  legal  sanction,  it  is  the  less  likely  the  ritualists  will  re- 
spect it.  Unfortunately  law  has  not  been  the  only  weapon  used, 
as  riots  and  mobs  have  been  a  too-frequent  feature  of  the  ritualis- 
tic history.  Witness  especially  the  repeated  and  fearful  tumults 
in  the  church  and  parish  of  St.  George's-in-the-East,  London, 
1859-60.'  (7)  Numerous  converts  to  Eome.  A  book  published  in 
London  (4th  edition)  in  1881  is  entitled  Eome's  Recruits  :  List  of 
Protestants  who  have  become  Roman  Catholics  since  the  Tracta- 
ian  Movement.  It  contains  the  names  of  about  twenty-two  hun- 
dred people,  all  of  whom  belong  to  Great  Britain  except  a  hundred 
more  or  less. 

The  Catholic  movement  has  caused  a  reaction  which  has  accentu- 
ated the  progress  of  rationalism.  What  Newman  and  Hurrell 
Froude  did  for  Catholicism  their  brothers,  Francis  W.  Newman 
and  James  Anthony  Froude,  did  for  infidelity.  The  Broad  Church 
has  done  magnificent  work  under  the  very  shadow  of 
ritualism,  as  witness  the  names  of  i  rederick  W.  Robert-  and  mad- 
sod,  the  most  quickening  preacher  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  Charles  Kingsley,  Christian  socialist  in  a  noble  sense,  and 
Frederick  D.  Maurice,  the  Christian  philosopher  and  mediator 
between  Jesus  and  the  intellectual  and  social  conscience,  who  de- 
nounced the  party  system  as  tending  to  divide  Christ's  body  both 
in  the  Church  and  State,  and  who  lifted  up  the  Cross  as  the  ruling 
power  iu  the  universe  and  the  touchstone  of  political  economy  and 
sociology.  The  influence  of  these  men  was  never  more  regnant 
than  now.  That  is  in  part  the  secret  of  the  Toynbee  movement  and 
the  numerous  university  and  other  settlements,  as  well  as  the  In- 
stitutional Church  movement,  which  in  the  case  of  thousands  of 
souls  have  made  the  desert  blossom  as  the  rose. 

1  Frill  accounts  of  these  riots  in  St.  George's-in-the-East  will  be  found  in 
Harper's  Magazine,  Nov.,  1881,  914  ff. 


844  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE    FREE    CHURCHES. 

The  history  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  England  during  a 
large  part  of  the  last  two  centuries  and  that  of  Unitarianism  are 
almost  identical,  because  the  Calvinistic  Church  suffered  the  same 
Socinian  evolution  in  the  old  country  as  in  the  new,  and  as  in  its 
cradle  city,  Geneva.  What  were  the  causes  of  the  Unitarianizing 
of  English  Presbyterianism  ?  These,  among  others  :  Eirst,  a  nat- 
„™=~,™™,„T     ural  reaction  from  the  severity  of  Calvinism.     Second, 

PRESB\TERI-  «  ' 

iinitaru™1  a  Cas^  °^  worship,  religious  life,  and  preaching  ex- 
doctrine.  clusively  intellectual.  The  intuitions,  the  feelings, 
and  all  the  rich  experiences  of  the  heart  were  overshadowed  by  in- 
tellectualism.  Third,  the  quiet,  perhaps  unconscious,  appropria- 
tion by  the  minister  of  the  functions  of  the  Church,  the  laymen 
taking  more  and  more  a  position  of  irresponsiveness  and  irresponsi- 
bility. The  minister  elaborated  his  theories  in  his  study,  and  the 
people  allowed  themselves  to  be  led  into  the  pleasant  pastures  of 
his  easy-going  theology.1  Fovirth,  the  dearth  of  revivals  in  Pres- 
byterianism. The  breath  of  the  Holy  Spirit  alone  can  counteract 
the  tendency  of  men  to  naturalism  and  keep  the  Church  close  to 
truth.  A  Church  spiritually  dead  will  be  a  Church  heretically 
alive.  Fifth,  a  dry,  cold  method  of  preaching.  "  No  greater  con- 
trast/' says  the  Congregational  historian  Stoughton,  "  can  be  im- 
agined than  that  between  the  Methodist  and  the  Presbyterian 
preacher,  the  Methodist  and  the  Presbyterian  people.  The  unc- 
tion, the  fire,  the  moral  force,  so  visible  in  the  one  case  is  absent 
in  the  other.  Methodism  laid  hold  of  the  conscience  of  England  ; 
Presbyterianism  did  not.  The  sympathy  elicited  there  is  found 
wanting  here  ;  and  no  culture,  no  intellectual  power,  no  respecta- 
bility of  position  could  make  up  for  the  lack  of  earnest  Gospel 

1  "  A  Presbyterian  congregation  claimed  and  exercised  no  such  republican 
rights  [as  the  Congregational].  The  people  cbose  their  pastor,  and  when  they 
had  done  so.  they  left  the  management  of  Church  business  very  much  in  his 
hands.  They  did  not  hold  meetings  for  discussion,  or  to  admit  and  suspend 
communicants.  .  .  .  Guidance  being  implicitly  left  to  the  man  of  their  choice, 
he  had  free  scope  for  his  theological  inquiries  and  plenty  of  room  for  the  sway 
of  his  opinions.  .  .  .  Tbe  shepherd  went  before,  the  flock  followed."— Stough- 
ton,  History  of  Religion  in  England  under  Queen  Anne  and  the  Georges,  ii,  265. 


THE   FREE   CHURCHES.  845 

preaching  and  warm-hearted  spiritual  life."  '  Sixth,  the  fierce  con- 
flicts of  the  seventeenth  century  made  many  thoughtful  and 
peace-loving  men  dread  the  conflict  and  battle  to  which  God  calls 
those  who  are  set  for  the  defense  of  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the 
saints.  If  the  orthodox  Christology  is  true,  it  is  to  be  fought  for 
as  for  the  citadel  of  Christianity ;  but  the  heats  and  excesses  of 
that  elder  age  had  made  many  indisposed  to  strenuous  action.  The 
Socinian  leaven  worked  unhindered.  But  whatever  the  causes, 
the  slow  transformation  or  petrifying  of  English  Presbyterianism 
into  Unitarianism  is  one  of  the  most  instructive  things  in  Church 
history. 

The  old  evangelical  Puritanism,  however,  had  never  died  ut- 
terly, but  had  always  retained  pure  and  able  defenders.  These, 
reinforced  by  Scotch  immigrants,  reclaimed  the  herit-  PURITANISM 
age.  They  reorganized  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  alive. 
England  in  1876,  which  has  done  noble  work.  In  1889  it  read- 
justed its  doctrinal  basis,  adopting  a  new  creed,  which  has  the 
merit  of  stating  Christian  truth  in  terms  so  catholic  that  it  might 
almost  be  taken  as  a  symbol  of  a  reunited  Christendom.  No  Ar- 
minian  could  object  to  its  doctrine  of  decrees. 

Unitarianism  itself  always  had  notable  adherents  in  modern 
England,  even  although  it  was  a  criminal  offense  to  deny  the 
divinity  of  Christ  until  1813.  Milton  was  an  Arian  in  his  last 
days.  Sir  Isaac  Newton  was  inclined  the  same  way,  and  Locke's 
Keasonableness  of  Christianity  was  written  in  the  same  spirit. 
Lardner,  author  of  that  impregnable  apology,  The  English 
Credibility  of  the  Gospel  History  (1727-55),  as  invalu-  UNITAKIANS- 
able  for  certain  large  results  as  when  first  published,  might  be  con- 
sidered a  kind  of  Unitarian  of  the  extreme  orthodox  wing,  who 
held  to  a  real  doctrine  of  Christ's  divinity,  though  not  in  the  full 
Nicene  sense.  Many  of  the  old  Unitarians,  indeed,  would  have 
looked  with  horror  on  the  amiable  and  shallow  neo-paganism  which 
goes  under  the  name  of  Unitarianism  to-day.  Theophilus  Lindsey 
may  be  said  to  have  inaugurated  modern  Unitarianism.  In  1774 
he  resigned  his  place  in  the  Establishment,  and  became  pastor  of  a 
Unitarian  Church  in  Essex  Street,  London. 

The    greatest    English  Unitarian    was    Joseph   Priestley,   the 
founder  of  pneumatic  chemistry,  who  discovered  oxy- 
gen  in  1774  and  the  composition  of  water  in  1781. 
When  in  Paris  some  scoffing  men   of  science  told  him  that  he 
was  the  only  man  of  understanding  they  had  ever  known  who  be- 
1  Stoughton's  History  of  Religion  in  England,  vi,  314. 


846  HISTORY  OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

lieved  in  Christianity,  which  was  either  a  reflection  on  their  can- 
dor or  on  the  intelligence  of  Catholic  France.  "  But  while 
laughed  at  in  Paris  as  a  believer,  at  home  he  was  branded  as  an 
atheist."  Priestley  believed  in  God,  in  his  revelation  in  Scripture, 
and  in  a  future  life.  He  was  a  minister  in  three  different  charges, 
but  on  account  of  his  unpopularity  he  removed  to  America  in 
1794,  and  died  at  Northumberland,  Pa.,  on  February  6,  1804. 
He  replied  to  Burke's  Reflections  on  the  French  Eevolution,  and 
was  made  a  citizen  of  the  French  Republic.  This  so  enraged  the 
people  that  a  mob  broke  into  his  house  at  Birmingham,  sacked  it, 
and  destroyed  his  books,  manuscripts,  and  instruments.  He  was  a 
man  of  beautiful  spirit  and  noble  character.  English  Unitarianism 
has  reared  many  men  of  fine  intellectual  gifts,  notably  James  Marti- 
neau  (d.  1900),  the  greatest  exponent  of  a  spiritual  philosophy. 

Of  all  Free  Churches  the  Congregationalists  have  perhaps  taken 

the  palm  in  England  as  a  religious  power.     Their  comparative 

freedom  from  Unitarianism — not  entire,  of  course,  for  Socinianism 

has  been  the  weakness  of  all  branches  of  Dissent  ex- 

THE  CONGRE-  .  . 

gational-  cept  Methodism — their  farm,  distinct  attitude  toward 
the  Established  Church,  their  noble  stand  for  freedom 
and  equality  before  the  law,  the  glorious  memories  of  their  heroic 
age  when  their  martyrs  ascended  to  heaven  from  Anglican  scaffolds, 
their  great  work  for  education  and  literature,  their  missionary  zeal 
in  foreign  lands,  have  all  served  to  give  them  distinction  and  influ- 
ence out  of  proportion  to  their  numbers.  Long-continued  Angli- 
can intolerance,  lasting  far  on  into  the  nineteenth  century,  has 
made  it  impossible  for  the  Free  Churches  to  do  their  full  work. 
Much  energy  has  been  consumed  in  fighting  for  their  political  and 
religious  rights,  and  they  have  had  neither  the  opportunity  nor  the 
strength  for  the  work  to  which  God  had  called  them.  Step  by 
step  one  disability  after  another  has  been  removed,  though  so  long 
as  there  is  an  Established  Church  in  England,  with  its  vast  re- 
sources and  its  political  and  social  prestige,  the  Free  Churches  can 
never  enter  into  the  fullness  of  religious  liberty. 

To  Christian  literature  the  Congregationalists  have  made  notable 
contributions.  They  were  the  first  to  publish  the  works  of  Wy- 
literary  clif,  and,  by  the  researches  of  their  historian,  Robert 
congrega-  Vaughan,  to  place  him  in  his  true  light  as  the  precursor 
tionalism.  0f  puritanism.  By  their  Congregational  Lectures  (the 
Free  Church  Bampton  established  in  1833)  they  have  made  per- 
manent additions  to  theological  literature,  the  last  being  the 
learned  and  convincing  book  on  Apostolic  Succession,  by  Dr.  John 


THE   FREE   CHURCHES.  847 

Brown,  published  in  1898.  They  have  given  us  the  best  biography 
of  Bunyan,  and  their  numerous  Church  Histories  of  England,  by 
Calamy,  Neal,  Bogue  and  Bennett,  Wilson,  Brook,  Waddington, 
Halley,  Vaughan,  Davids,  Stoughton,  and  others,  have  greatly  en- 
riched our  knowledge.  Through  their  brilliant  Bobert  Alfred 
Vaughan,  they  first  opened  up  the  treasures  of  medieval  and  later 
Mysticism  in  a  book,  Hours  with  the  Mystics,  which,  though  pub- 
lished in  1856,  entered  its  sixth  edition  in  1893. 

One  of  their  greatest  intellectual  gifts  to  England,  the  British 
Quarterly  Review,  which  they  published  from  1845  to  1886, 
was  fully  equal  to  the  Quarterly  and  the  Edinburgh  in  the  learn- 
ing and  the  permanent  value  of  its  articles,  and  gave  a  needed 
voice  to  the  highest  intellects  of  Nonconformity.  They  re- 
moved one  of  their  great  schools,  Spring  Hill,  Birmingham,  to 
Oxford  in  1886,  and  formally  opened  it  in  its  new  buildings  in 
1889 — to  be  henceforth  called  Mansfield  College,  from  a  family  in 
Birmingham  whose  beneficence  rendered  the  college  possible.1 
There  one  of  the  greatest  religious  thinkers  and  leaders  of  the 
times,  Dr.  A.  M.  Fairbairn,  teaches  apologetics  and  fairbairn 
the  philosophy  of  religion,  and  stands  as  a  strong  AND  DALE- 
fortress  for  a  positive  and  orthodox,  yet  large  and  liberal,  Chris- 
tianity. In  1898  he  visited  India  as  lecturer  on  Christianity,  and 
in  1899  he  published  one  of  the  most  valuable  discussions  of  the 
age,  Catholicism,  Roman  and  Anglican.  The  influence  of  Robert 
W.  Dale,  scholar,  statesman,  and  theologian,  on  the  life  of  his  time 
exceeded,  perhaps,  that  of  any  other  minister  in  England  in  the 

1  In  commenting  on  this  removal  the  Andover  Review  said  :  ' '  The  occasion 
is  one  of  no  ordinary  significance  and  interest.  It  emphasizes  and  illuminates 
the  legislation  which  has  opened  the  universities  to  dissenters.  [The  Univer- 
sities of  Oxford  and  Cambridge  were  not  opened  to  non-Anglicans  until  1871, 
when  amid  violent  opposition  from  many  Churchmen  Parliament  passed  the 
Act  for  the  Abolition  of  University  Tests.  The  House  of  Lords,  filled  with 
Anglican  bishops  and  laymen,  had  twice  defeated  a  similar  measure  in  1869 
and  1870,  but  finally  were  compelled  to  allow  this  one  to  pass.]  It  marks  espe- 
cially the  Puritan  return  to  Oxford.  Nothing  was  so  dear  to  the  Puritan  as 
his  religion,  and  no  science  in  his  esteem  so  sacred  and  ennobling  as  divinity. 
In  no  true  and  worthy  sense,  therefore,  could  it  be  said  that  he  had  gone  back 
to  Oxford  if  he  were  not  there  authorized  and  free  to  teach  theology.  In  its 
eminent  principal  Mansfield  College  has  a  head  and  Congregationalism  a 
representative  worthy  to  follow  Owen,  Goodwin,  and  John  Howe,  and  his  re- 
ception at  Oxford,  as  we  read  the  signs,  has  been  most  encouraging." — Edi- 
torial, the  Opening  of  Mansfield  College  and  the  Puritan  Return  to  Oxford, 
Oct.,  1889,  pp.  419,  420.  Mansfield  College  is  not  recognized  in  any  way  by 
Oxford  University.     It  has  no  official  connection  with  it. 


848  HISTORY   OF   THE    CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

last  half  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  no  one  can  understand  the 
currents  that  affected  Nonconformity  without  reading  his  invalua- 
ble Life  published  by  his  son  in  1898.  In  all  the  beneficent  re- 
forms accomplished  by  Gladstone  the  Nonconformists  stood  by  him 
shoulder  to  shoulder,  and  in  their  center  were  the  Congregation- 
alists.  The  only  danger  for  this  noble  body  of  Christians  is  that 
in  their  responsiveness  to  all  that  is  best  in  modern  thought  they 
may  also  take  in  much  that  is  destructive.  The  inroads  of  Uni- 
versalism  and  aspects  of  Unitarianism  give  us  fear,  and  ought  to 
give  them  pause.1 

The  English  Baptists  have  also  had  an  honorable  history.  Per- 
haps their  greatest  name  is  William  Carey,  who  eked  out  a  scanty 
living  as  pastor  by  making  shoes,  and  at  the  bench  learned  Latin, 
Greek,  natural  history,  and  botany,  all  of  which  he 
-William  turned  to  good  use  later  in  life.  He  became  thor- 
oughly interested  in  missions — an  interest  that  was 
not  cooled  by  Dr.  Ryland's  famous  remark,  "  Young  man,  when 
the  Almighty  is  ready  to  convert  the  heathen  he  can  do  it  with- 
out your  instrumentality  or  mine."  He  read  Edwards's  Life  of 
David  Brainerd  and  was  still  more  stimulated.  Finally,  through 
his  exertions  and  those  of  Andrew  Fuller,  the  Baptist  Missionary 
Society  was  formed  in  the  back  parlor  of  a  little  house  at  Kettering, 
on  October  2,  1792,  and  John  Thomas,  who  even  anticipated 
Carey,  and  himself  were  sent  to  India."  "We  saw  plainly,"  said 
Fuller,  ' '  that  there  was  a  gold  mine  in  India,  but  it  was  as  deep 
as  the  center  of  the  earth.  Who  will  venture  to  explore  it?"  "I 
will  go  down,"  said  Carey,  "  but  remember  that  you  must  hold  the 
ropes."     "  We  solemnly  engaged  him  to  do  so,  nor  while  we  live 

1  Moral  Evolution  (1897)  by  Professor  Harris,  of  Andover,  now  President  of 
Amherst  College,  was  hailed  by  Unitarian  reviewers  as  a  book  after  their  own 
heart  and  as  giving  up  the  divinity  of  Christ,  an  interpretation,  however,  which 
Professor  Harris  disowned.  In  Dec,  1899,  Professor  Gilbert,  of  Chicago  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  was  brought  before  the  directors  to  be  examined  concerning 
his  alleged  denying  of  the  preexistence  and  divinity  of  Christ  in  his  book,  The 
Revelation  of  Jesus,  1899.  One  of  the  organs  of  the  English  Congregational- 
ists,  and  perhaps  the  most  interesting  and  quickening  religious  weekly  in 
England,  The  Christian  World,  seems  to  hover  between  Unitarianism  and 
orthodoxy,  hardly  daring  the  ventures  of  the  one  nor  willing  to  bear  the  re- 
proach of  the  other. 

2  The  Baptist  Missionary  Society  was  the  first  of  the  societies  that  were  the 
outcome  of  the  evangelical  movement  of  the  eighteenth  century.  John  Thomas, 
who  was  really  the  precursor  of  Carey,  was  a  consecrated  and  able  man,  and 
has  been  described  in  a  brief  but  excellent  biography  by  Arthur  C.  Chute, 
Halifax,  N.  S.  (Halifax,  1893). 


THE   FREE   CHURCHES.  849 

shall  we  desert  him/'  But  Carey,  with  a  faith  and  a  heroism  like 
Paul  and  William  Taylor,  only  stipulated  for  payment  of  his  ex- 
penses out.  The  receipts  of  the  society  were  to  be  used  for  send- 
ing and  supporting  more  missionaries.  He  sailed  on  June  13, 1793. 
Getting  employment  in  an  indigo  factory,  in  five  years  he  "  per- 
fected his  knowledge  of  the  Bengalee  language,  wrote  a  grammar 
of  it,  translated  the  New  Testament  into  it,  learned  Sanskrit,  mas- 
tered the  botany  of  the  region,  corresponded  with  the  German 
missionaries,  Schwartz  and  Guericke,  in  the  far  south,  set  up  a< 
printing  press  (which  the  natives  took  to  be  an  idol),  and  planned 
new  missions — all  at  his  own  cost."  In  December,  1800,  Carey 
baptized  the  first  Hindu  convert,  Krishnu  Pal,  a  Brahman,  who 
became  a  preacher,  and  from  his  own  funds  built  the  first  church 
in  Bengal.  It  is  the  glory  of  Carey  that  he  and  his  friends  trans- 
lated the  Bible  or  parts  of  it  into  twenty -four  Indian  tongues,  and 
rendered  that  book  accessible  to  three  hundred  million  people. 
Besides,  his  contributions  to  science  in  his  papers  on  the  flora  and 
the  fauna  of  India  for  the  Asiatic  Society  were  a  piophecy  of  the 
vast  debt  which  learning  was  to  acknoAvledge  to  the  work  of  Prot- 
estant missionaries. 

Andrew  Fuller  (d.  1815),  the  Kettering  pastor  and  helper  of 
Carey,  modified  the  severe  Calvinism  of  the  Particular  Baptists 
and  brought  in  a  new  era  for  them.  At  the  same  rime  he  helped 
to  break  the  spell  of  Socinianism  over  the  Baptist  and  other  Dis- 
senting Churches.1  One  of  the  greatest  extemporaneous  preachers 
of  all  history  was  Robert  Hall,  whose  ministry  extended  from  about 
1785  to  1831,  at  Bristol,  Cambridge,  Leicester,  and  again  at  Bris- 
tol. Perhaps  it  is  unfair  to  call  one  an  extemporaneous  preacher 
who  elaborated  in  thought  the  very  words  of  his  ser-  andr^  ful. 
mons,  and  whose  perorations  were  the  most  closely  hallRandET 
studied  parts  of  his  discourse.  He  had  very  little  J0HN  foster. 
action.  His  eloquence  was  the  eloquence  of  thought — clear,  co- 
gent, and  convincing,  expressed  in  affluent  language  by  one  who 
was  so  absorbed  in  his  message  that  he  never  thought  of  how  he 
was  saying  it.  In  theology  he  was  the  disciple  of  Fuller,  though 
he  parted  from  him  in  advocating  open  communion,  his  influence 
over  Baptist  practice  in  this  respect  being  wide.  He  was  always  in 
weak  health.     He  would  go  from  the  pulpit  to  his  room  and  roll 

1  His  anti-ultra-Calvinistic  book  was  his  The  Gospel  Worthy  of  all  Accepta- 
tion, 1784,  and  his  anti-Unitarian  book  was  his  Calvinistic  and  Socinian  Sys- 
tems Examined  and  Compared  as  to  their  Moral  Tendency,  1793.  He  replied 
to  assailants  of  this  in  his  vigorous  Socinianism  Indefensible,  1797. 

56  8 


850  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

on  the  floor  in  agony.  The  spirit  with  which  he  bore  his  suffer- 
ings, and  the  work  that  he  did  in  spite  of  them,  make  him,  as  the 
late  William  M.  Taylor  well  says,  one  of  the  heroes  of  his  age. 
His  friend,  John  Foster,  had  to  give  up  preaching  on  account  of 
his  throat,  but  his  essays  to  the  Eclectic  Eeview,  a  noble  quar- 
terly which  the  Baptists  with  other  dissenters  sustained  from  1805 
to  1868,  marked  him  as  one  of  the  most  interesting,  original,  and 
convincing  writers  of  the  age.  His  essay  on  Decision  of  Character, 
1805,  and  on  The  Evils  of  Popular  Ignorance,  1819,  in  which  he 
advocated  a  national  system  of  education,  helped  to  engrave  those 
lines  of  strength,  intelligence,  and  morality  which  we  associate 
with  the  English  mind. 

The  preacher  in  modern  times  who  has  had,  upon  the  whole, 
perhaps  the  largest  and  most  beneficent  influence  is  Charles  H. 
Spurgeon.  The  son  and  grandson  of  Congregational  ministers,  he 
was  converted  under  a  sermon  by  a  Primitive  Methodist,  joined 
the  Baptist  Church  while  teaching  at  a  Baptist  school,  began  to 
preach  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  became  pastor  in  London  at  the  age 
of  twenty  (1854)  and  remained  there  until  his  death,  in  1892, 
preaching  to  more  people  for  a  longer  time  than  any 
other  man  in  history.  The  influence  of  Spurgeon  in 
keeping  alive  a  stanch  and  even  stern  evangelical  theology,  and 
bringing  masses  of  men  to  a  decision  for  Christ,  was  unique.  His 
secret  as  a  preacher  was  his  musical  voice,  clear  and  resonant, 
which  filled  easily  the  great  Tabernacle,  his  fluency,  the  simplicity, 
directness,  and  even  homeliness  of  his  style,  his  passionate  devotion 
to  the  Gospel,  and  his  tremendous  spiritual  power.  He  was  a  very 
hard  worker  both  in  his  study  and  in  his  parish,  and  set  on  foot 
a  multitude  of  beneficent  activities.  He  became  leader  of  an  In- 
stitutional Church  of  the  best  kind.  He  had  no  patience  with 
progressive  men  in  theology,  of  which  the  Baptist  Church  has  its 
full  quota,  and  to  emphasize  his  attachment  to  what  he  considered 
fundamental  truth  he  withdrew  from  the  Baptist  Union  in  October, 
1887.  Of  the  more  liberal  Baptist  leaders  John  Clifford  is  the 
foremost — a  man  of  immense  intellectual  force,  like  Kobert  W. 
Dale,  though  broader  in  theology  than  the  latter. ' 

1  It  should  be  mentioned  as  an  interesting  fact  that  during  our  Revolutionary 
War  the  English  Baptists,  unlike  "Wesley,  who  wrote  against  us,  sympathized 
with  the  colonies  for  the  reason  in  part  that  they  felt  that  their  own  struggle 
for  civil  and  religious  freedom  was  involved.  See  Newman,  Hist,  of  the  Baptists 
in  the  United  States,  p.  56  ;  Bapt.  Memorial,  iv,  133.  The  Baptists  have  always 
maintained  a  noble  and  consistent  attitude  toward  common  civil  and  religious 


THE   FREE   CHURCHES.  851 

The  Friends  have  gone  on  in  their  quiet  way  rilling  the  world 
with  their  beautiful  philanthropies.  At  the  end  of  the  seven- 
teenth century  it  is  estimated  that  there  were  between  eighty 
thousand  and  one  hundred  thousand  Friends  in  England,  and 
this  in  spite  of  large  emigration  stimulated  in  part  by  the  atrocious 
penal  code  which  in  16G0  had  put  four  thousand  five  hundred 
Friends  in  prison.  About  five  hundred  Friends  per  year  emi- 
grated between  1676  and  1700.  About  1725  a  decline  took  place 
in  the  sect,  which  lasted  until  1860,  due  perhaps  to 

'      ,  „        ,  THE  FRIENDS. 

the  following  causes  :  (1)  The  absorption  of  the  re- 
ligious energies  of  the  nation  by  the  Methodist  revival.  (2)  The 
proclamation — even  if  in  modified  form — of  some  of  the  best  of 
the  Quaker  doctrines  by  Wesley.  The  possible  salvation  of  all 
men,  the  Light  which  lighteth  every  man,  the  witness  of  the 
Spirit,  the  present  teaching  and  guiding  Christ  given  to  all  who 
ask,  the  throwing  into  the  background  sacrament  and  rite,  and 
the  emphasis  on  life  and  truth  and  goodness,  on  substance  in- 
stead of  form,  on  spirit  instead  of  letter — these  and  other  Quaker 
teachings  were  reaffirmed  by  Wesley  in  proper  perspective  and 
with  guards  to  save  them  from  fanaticism.  Of  course  this  adop- 
tion by  Wesley  of  the  best  things  in  Quakerism  was  not  con- 
scious imitation,  but  unconscious  reproduction  by  obedience  to  the 
Scriptures  and  experience.1  Even  some  of  the  practical  results  of 
Methodism  were  reminders  of  Quakerism.  The  plainness  of  dress 
on  which  Wesley  insisted  after  St.  Paul  (1  Tim.  ii,  9)  was  a  Quaker 
requirement,  and  although  Methodism  has  certainly  not  emphasized 
the  need  of  quietness  and  meditation  in  religious  service,  and 
therefore  has  missed  a  certain  richness  and  depth  of  soul  develop- 
ment of  which  some  Friends  have  given  illustrious  examples,  yet 
by  its  freeing  social  worship  from  mechanical  formalities  and  re- 
strictions, and  throwing  it  open  to  all  who  are  moved  by  the  Spirit 
to  take  part — women  as  well  as  men — it  has  proven  its  kinship  to 

rights.  In  regard  to  the  date  of  their  first  immersion  Dr.  Norman  Fox,  one  of 
their  most  eminent  scholars,  anticipated  Whitsitt  in  calling  attention  to  its 
comparative  lateness  (in  articles  in  The  Religious  Herald,  Richmond,  Va.,  in 
1875),  though  he  says  that  it  is  not  absolutely  certain  that  1641  is  the  date  of  the 
first  immersion  in  England,  which  may  anticipate  that  date  by  a  year  or  two. 

1  In  his  sermon  on  the  Wisdom  of  God's  Counsels  (serm.  68,  in  Works,  vi, 
328)  Wesley  gives  a  harsh  judgment  of  George  Fox,  and  most  unjust.  "  A 
wonderful  saint,"  he  says  of  Augustine,  "  as  full  of  pride,  passion,  bitterness, 
censoriousness,  and  as  foul-mouthed  to  all  that  contradicted  him,  as  George  Fox 
himself."  Fox  was  one  of  the  humblest  of  men,  though  with  the  dignity  and 
loftiness  of  spirit  which  conscious  sonship  with  God  imparts  to  the  soul. 


852  HISTORY   OF  THE  CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

the  Friends  in  their  noble  dictum,  Let  us  worship  God  in  the 
Spirit.  (3)  All  modern  religious  thought  has  emphasized  the  in- 
tuitional and  spiritual,  as  all  modern  social  progress  has  reinforced 
the  altruistic  enthusiasm  of  the  Friends,  so  that  many  have  found 
in  their  own  folds  what  the  higher  spirits  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury could  only  find  in  the  Society  of  Fox.  The  narrowness  and 
rigid  discipline  of  the  Society  worked  to  its  detriment.  When 
the  great  statesman,  as  he  afterwards  became,  William  Edward 
Forster,  married  the  oldest  daughter  of  Dr.  Arnold,  of  Eugby,  in 
1850,  he  was  forthwith  expelled  from  the  Society,  in  which  his 
father  had  been  an  honored  minister.  So  every  man  and  woman 
who  married  out  of  the  connection  met  a  like  fate.  What  has 
been  called  the  "peevish  stepmotherly  severity  of  the  Quaker 
discipline  "  has  had  much  to  do  with  the  Society's  decline.  "  The 
effect  of  this  minute  scrupulosity — this  excessive  tithing  of  mint, 
anise,  and  cummin  of  social  life — on  men  of  broad  sympathies 
and  masculine  culture  was  irksome  in  the  extreme."  "Instead 
of  marveling  at  the  decadence  of  Quakerism,  one  might  be  justified 
in  wondering  that  it  had  any  germs  of  vitality  left." ' 

Since  1860  there  has  been  a  slow  but  steady  growth  of  the 
Friends  in  England.  As  they  have  never  been  propagandists  or 
proselyters,  and  have  never  even  been  revivalists,  as  Fox  and  his 
later  qua-  associates  were  in  a  real  sense,  this  growth  is  all  the 
kekism.  more  significant.     To  what  is  it  due  ?    And  here  we 

are  brought  face  to  face  with  an  issue  which  has  caused  great 
searching  of  heart  among  the  more  serious  and  devoted  of  the 
Friends,  that  is,  those  attached  to  the  old  ideals.  Quakerism  has 
to  a  greater  or  less  degree  left  its  old  foundations  both  as  to  doc- 
trine and  usage,  has  adopted  the  methods  of  other  churches,  and 
this  secularization  of  the  Society,  if  we  might  so  call  it,  has  un- 
doubtedly contributed  to  its  popularity,  though  there  is  a  grave 
question  whether  a  growth  at  this  cost  will  not  in  the  long  run  be 
a  loss  to  the  world. 

1  The  Revival  of  Quakerisnij  in  Edinburgh  Rev.,  July,  1891,  p.  207. 


LATER  DEVELOPMENTS  OF  ROMAN  CATHOLICISM.        853 


CHAPTER  VII. 

LATER    DEVELOPMENTS    OF    ROMAN    CATHOLICISM. 

As  late  as  1778  it  was  felony  in  a  foreigner  and  treason  in  a 
native  to  administer  the  rites  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in 
England.  Not  allowed  schools  at  home,  if  Catholics  sent  their 
sons  abroad  to  be  educated  they  were  declared  incapable  to  suc- 
ceed to  property,  and  their  estates  were  forfeited  to  the  next  Prot- 
estant heir.  No  Catholic  could  hold  his  property  against  any 
near  Protestant  kinsman,  and  no  Catholic  could  be  a  lawyer  or 
guardian.  These  were  the  laws  for  both  England  and  Ireland, 
and  with  all  the  liberalism  of  the  eighteenth  century  they  were 
not  touched.  Lecky  believes — and  there  is  truth  in  DISABILITIES 
his  idea^ — that  the  evangelical  revival  postponed  the  2™° ^fcs. 
granting  of  justice  to  the  Catholics.  The  intense  reli- 
gious feeling  which  characterized  that  movement  naturally  made 
its  promoters  jealous  of  the  advance  of  those  who  were  regarded  as 
the  enemies  of  religion.  In  1778,  Sir  George  Savile  introduced  a 
bill  which  later  became  a  law  and  exempted  Catholics  from  the 
harshest  disabilities  on  their  taking  the  oath  of  allegiance,  abju- 
ration of  the  Pretender,  a  disavowal  of  such  doctrines  as  the 
lawfulness  of  putting  heretics  to  death,  no  faith  to  be  kept  with 
heretics,  and  that  princes  excommunicated  may  be  deposed  or  killed, 
and  a  denial  of  the  temporal  jurisdiction  of  the  pope  in  England. 

The  Act  of  Savile  aroused  the  Protestant  fanatics,  who  formed 
the  Protestant  Association  and  elected  Lord  George  Gordon  as  its 
president.  He  headed  a  vast  crowd,  swelled  by  roughs  and  rabble 
until  it  amounted  to  fifty  thousand  persons,  who  gLOW  MEAS_ 
marched  to  the  House  of  Commons  to  present  a  peti-  £^s  of  ke- 
tion  for  the  repeal  of  the  Act  of  1780.  The  House,  of 
course,  would  not  receive  the  petition  presented  under  an  aspect  of 
force.  The  mob  then  turned,  and  for  five  days  London  was  in  its 
power.  They  burnt  Catholic  chapels  and  dwelling  houses,  Lord 
Chief  Justice  Mansfield's  house  and  Newgate  prison,  and  opened 
other  prisons.  At  length  the  king  called  out  the  troops,  who 
quelled  the  riot,  after  killing  210,  wounding  248,  and  arresting  135, 
of  whom  21  were  afterward  executed. 

In  1791,  further  relief  was  granted  to  the  Catholics,  and  then  the 


854  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

matter  rested  until  early  in  the  nineteenth  century  when  one  bill 
after  another  was  introduced  and  defeated.  Finally  Catholic  re- 
monstrances became  so  effective,  especially  as  helped  by  the  elo- 
quence of  O'Connell,  that  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  though  at  first 
opposed  to  granting  the  Catholic  claims,  came  to  feel  that  the  wel- 
fare, if  not  the  safety,  of  the  empire  required  the  concession,  and 
introduced  and  passed  in  1829  the  famous  Catholic  Emancipation 
Bill,  which  first  admitted  Catholics  to  Parliament  and  gave  other 
privileges. 

The  Oxford  movement  carried  many  into  the  Eoman  Catholic 
Church — among  them  John  Henry  Newman,  whose  writings  have 
john  henry  done  more  to  attract  Protestants  toward  Eome  than 
newman.  aj|  other  literature.  He  was  made  president  of  the 
new  short-lived  Catholic  University  in  Dublin,  where  he  deliv- 
ered his  masterly  lectures  on  the  Idea  of  a  University  (1853),  per- 
haps his  finest  book.  In  1864  Kingsley  accused  Catholics,  includ- 
ing Newman,  of  indifference  to  the  virtue  of  truthfulness,  and  this 
caused  the  latter  to  write  the  greatest  and  most  important  revela- 
tion of  religious  self -history  in  the  language — the  Apologia  pro  Sua 
Vita.  Newman  belonged  to  the  liberal  wing  of  strict  Catholics,  and 
once  characterized  the  Jesuits  as  that  "  insolent  faction,"  and  was 
therefore  bitterly  opposed  by  Manning  and  Ward.  After  Leo  XIII 
came  to  the  papal  throne  he  gave  Newman  the  cardinal's  hat,  1879, 
in  keeping  with  his  policy  to  conciliate  the  moderates  in  all  coun- 
tries and  recommend  the  Church  to  the  best  thought  of  the  age. 

The  Anglo-Catholic  movement  stimulated  the  Roman  authori- 
ties to  do  their  best  for  what  they  called  the  reconversion  of  Eng- 
land. "  Money  was  lavishly  devoted  to  the  work ;  handsome 
churches  were  built,  with  beautiful  choral  services;  priests  and  Sis- 
ters of  Mercy  were  established  in  London  and  many  other  towns  ; 
institutions,  educational  and  charitable,  were  founded  to  present 
religion  in  its  beneficent  aspect ;  social  influences  were  brought  to 
bear  upon  individuals  ;  in  short,  all  that  statesmanship,  skill,  tact, 
zeal,  and  devotion  could  do  was  brought  into  play." '  This  cul- 
the  papal  minated  in  the  "  Papal  Aggression,"  as  the  Protes- 
aggression.  tantg  cal]ed  the  reestablishment  of  the  Catholic  hier- 
archy. In  1850  the  pope  parceled  England  out  into  dioceses, 
made  Nicholas  Wiseman  cardinal  and  archbishop  of  Westminster, 
and  Ullathorne  bishop  of  Birmingham.  All  England  was  in  a  state 
of  excitement ;  a  veritable  panic  seized  the  public.  Addresses 
poured  in  from  every  quarter  of  the  country  praying  the  queen 
1 E.  L.  Cutis,  Book  of  the  Church  of  England,  Lond.,  1897,  p.  98. 


LATER  DEVELOPMENTS   OF   ROMAN   CATHOLICISM.       855 

and  government  to  stop  the  papal  aggression.  But  nothing  came 
of  it  except  the  Ecclesiastical  Titles  Act  of  1851  forbidding  the  as- 
sumption of  territorial  titles  by  Roman  prelates,  an  act  that  was  a 
dead  letter  as  soon  as  passed,  though  it  remained  on  the  statute 
books  until  1871. 

The  adoption  of  the  dogma  of  papal  infallibility  in  1870  made  a 
profound  impression  in  England.  Manning,  who  succeeded  Wise- 
man  as  archbishop  in  1865,  advocated  the  measure 

r  '  THE  DOGMA 

with  intense  zeal,  and  his  able  persevering  support  had  of  papal  in- 

'  .  .  r  ii  -i        FALLIBILITY. 

no  small  part  m  carrying  it  through  the  council. 
English  and  Irish  Catholic  theologians  had  repeatedly  declared  that 
it  was  no  Catholic  doctrine  and  had  used  that  fact  to  the  author- 
ities to  gain  toleration.  And  now  its  solemn  definition  as  an  ancient 
and  permanent  part  of  the  Church's  faith  seemed  to  give  the  lie 
to  the  old  disclaimers.  Others  thought  of  its  bearing  on  civil  alle- 
giance, and  wondered  what  would  be  the  attitude  of  a  good  Cath- 
olic in  the  event  of  the  pope  announcing  a  decision  which  would 
precipitate  a  conflict  between  the  duty  to  his  country  and  his  duty 
to  the  pope.  Gladstone  powerfully  presented  this  dilemma  in  his 
pamphlet,  The  Vatican  Decrees  in  their  bearing  on  Civil  Allegiance, 
November,  1874,  and  followed  it  by  two  others,  Vaticanism,  an  An- 
swer, February,  1875,  and  Speeches  of  Pope  Pius  IX.1  The  new 
dogma  has  not  had  as  much  practical  influence,  however,  as  the 
Vatican  principle  that  the  pope  has  direct  ordinary  and  extraordi- 
nary power  in  every  diocese  and  parish  in  Christendom,  thus  destroy- 
ing the  ancient  Catholic  idea  of  Church  government  through  the 
episcopate. 

The  latest  sensation  in  the  development  of  this  Church  fruitful 
in  surprises  was  the  publication  of  the  life  of  Cardinal  Manning 
by  Edmund  S.  Purcell  in  1896.  Its  revelation  of  the  wire-pull- 
ing and  counter  ambitions  at  work  at  Rome  came  as  a  shock,  and 
Manning's  fierce  opposition  to  any  advancement  for  LIFE  OF  m^. 
Newman  was  not  a  pleasant  commentary  on  the  NING- 
apostolic  injunction,  "in  honor  preferring  one  another."  But 
through  it  all,  Manning  was  undoubtedly  conscientious  and  sin- 
cere, believing  with  all  his  heart  that  Newman's  promotion  would 
be  fraught  with  danger  to  Catholicism  in  England.  In  his  later 
days  Manning  threw  himself  into  social  reform  movements,  and 
his  great  work  for  the  poor,  for  temperance  and  for  labor  in  the 
Dock  Strike  of  1889,  reveals  the  greatest  ecclesiastic  in  English. 
Catholicism  since  the  suppression  of  the  hierarchy  by  Elizabeth. 
1  The  last  was  published  in  the  Quarterly  Eeview,  Jan.,  1875. 


856  HISTORY  OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

A   CENTURY    OF   REFORM   AND    MISSIONS. 

The  evangelical  revival  gave  a  tremendous  impetus  to  move- 
ments for  the  help  and  salvation  of  man.  More  was  done  in  the 
love  at  the  nineteenth  century  for  human  succor  than  in  all  the 
fkont.  previous   centuries  combined.     For  the  first  time  in 

history  the  crowning  grace  of  Christianity,  love,  comes  to  the  front. 
The  watchword  of  the  early  Church  was  hope,  that  of  the  Refor- 
mation Church  was  faith,  but  the  modern  Church  has  restored 
love  to  the  world.  It  is  only  in  this  century  that  any  large,  serious 
and  determined  effort  has  been  made  to  rid  the  world  of  the  fear- 
ful evils  which  have  rested  like  a  mountain  incubus  on  the  race. 

The  first  effort  of  this  kind  was  the  abolition  of  slavery.  Pagan 
(white)  slavery  was  not  abolished  by  the  Church  or  Christian 
abolition  of  princes,  nor  even  definitely  opposed  by  them,  but  was 
slavery.  gradually  ameliorated  and  transformed  into  serfdom  or 
villanage  in  the  feudal  system,  and  that  into  more  or  less  en- 
forced pauperism  by  land  and  other  laws,  competition,  and  other 
features  of  modern  civilization.  Negro  slavery  followed  the  dis- 
covery of  America,  when  it  was  found  that  the  Indians  were  not 
strong  enough  to  labor  for  the  European's  lust  for  gold.  The 
blacks  were  then  imported  from  Africa.  Christian  men  came  to 
defend  this  on  the  ground  that  the  natives  were  saved  from  a  worse 
fate,  as  their  being  left  in  Africa  subjected  them  to  capture,  slav- 
ery, or  death,  from  the  constant  internecine  wars  of  the  country. 
The  best  people  of  the  eighteenth  century  seemed  to  argue  in  this 
way, for  the  Quakers  were  the  only  body  which  petitioned  Parliament 
on  the  subject.  Wesley,  indeed,  with  his  customary  sensitiveness  in 
feeling  the  grip  of  an  ethical  principle,  and  frankness  in  stating 
that  principle,  says  boldly,  "  I  absolutely  deny  all  slaveholding  to 
be  consistent  with  any  degree  of  natural  justice."  '  But  he  and  his 
followers  made  no  concerted  effort  as  a  society  to  influence  legisla- 
tion. In  1787  a  society  for  the  suppression  of  the  slave  trade  was 
formed  in  London,  of  which  Thomas  Clarkson,  Granville  Sharp,  and 
Zachary  Macaulay  were  the  chief  movers,  and  William  Wilberforce 
the  chief  spokesman  in  Parliament.  Christian  feeling  was  slowly 
1  Thoughts  upon  Slavery,  1774,  in  Works,  xi,  70. 


A  CENTURY   OF   REFORM  AND   MISSIONS.  857 

moving  against  the  evil,  perhaps  stimulated  or  shamed  by  the  infi- 
del French  Convention  of  February  4,  1794,  which  at  a  stroke 
abolished  all  slavery  in  the  French  colonies,  and  admitted  all 
slaves  to  the  rights  of  French  citizens.  Before  that,  however,  in 
1791,  Wilberforce  had  introduced  a  bill  prohibiting  the  further  im- 
portation of  slaves,  which  was  lost,  though  in  1792,  through  the  help 
of  Pitt,  he  carried  a  motion  to  abolish  the  slave  trade  gradually. 
Various  other  legislative  acts  were  directed  against  the  traffic, 
which  was  declared  piracy  in  1824  ;  but  it  was  not  until  1833  that 
a  law  prohibiting  slavery  itself  in  all  the  British  possessions  was 
passed,  the  slave  owners  receiving  an  indemnification  of  £20,000,- 
000.  "Thank  God/'  cried  Wilberforce,  "  that  I  should  have  lived 
to  witness  the  day  in  which  England  is  willing  to  give  twenty  mil- 
lions sterling  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  1"  When  the  dawn  came 
to  the  negroes  it  was  celebrated  not  by  dissipation,  but  by  religious 
worship.  It  was  suggested  that  a  Scripture  gift  be  made  to  com- 
memorate the  day  of  deliverance.  Over  sixteen  thousand  pounds 
sterling  were  raised  for  this  purpose,  and  the  British  and  Foreign 
Bible  Society  attended  to  the  work.1 

It  is  an  humiliating  fact  that  the  Reformation  not  only  did  not 
ameliorate  the  condition  of  the  Jews,  but,  at  least  for  some  time, 
made  their  lot  harder.  It  was  the  rationalistic  uprising  of  the 
middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  that  brought  men's  minds  to  a 
more  tolerant  attitude  toward  the  ancient  people.  Cromwell  was 
favorable  to  their  admission  to  legal  recognition,  but  TREATMENT 
he  was  far  in  advance  of  his  time.  It  was  not  until  OF  THE  JEWS- 
1723  that  they  could  become  British  subjects,  and  a  naturalization 
law  passed  in  1753  had  to  be  revoked  on  account  of  public  clamor. 
In  the  nineteenth  century,  though  slowly,  one  privilege  after 
another  has  been  extended  to  them.  Not  until  1832  could  they 
exercise  any  retail  trade.  In  1833  they  could  act  as  lawyers,  and 
in  1845  they  could  hold  office  in  municipalities.  In  1847  Baron 
Lionel  Rothschild  was  elected  a  member  of  Parliament  for  London. 
And  now  ensued  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  dramatic  contests 
in  the  history  of  English  government — a  contest  which  lasted 
eleven  years,  and  which  was  ended  in  1858  by  the  opening  of  Par- 
liament to  the  most  persistent  and  moral  race  in  history.  From 
that  stock  sprang  the  great  prime  minister  Disraeli,  the  favorite 
of  the  queen,  who  glorified  his  race  in  his  speeches  and  in  his  books. 
Two  of  his  sentences  are  worth  the  quoting  :  "  Forty  years  ago  " — 

1  Stoughton,  Hist,  of  Religion  in  England  :  the  Church  in  the  Nineteenth 
Century,  viii,  7. 


858  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

he  was  writing  in  1851 — "  not  a  longer  period  than  the  children 
of  Israel  were  wandering  in  the  desert,  the  two  most  dishonored 
races  in  Europe  were  the  Attic  and  the  Hebrew,  and  they  were  the 
two  races  that  had  done  the  most  for  mankind." '  "  A  Jew  is  never 
seen  upon  the  scaffold,  unless  it  be  at  an  auto-da-fe." 

One  of  the  noblest  reforms  of  the  century  was  that  advocated 
with  indomitable  perseverance,  self-sacrifice,  and  even  heroism,  by 
Samuel  Plimsoll.  His  greatest  work  was  done  between  1855  and 
1876,  but  he  devoted  his  life  to  the  cause  of  the  sail- 
shipping  ors,  being  engaged  m  some  form  of  this  activity  until 
his  death  in  1898.  The  laws  governing  shipowners 
and  seamen  were  abominable.  Hundreds,  if  not  thousands,  of 
sailors  were  sent  to  sea  in  rotten  vessels,  heavily  insured,  which 
would  inevitably  sink  in  the  first  severe  storm.  Plimsoll  accumu- 
lated overwhelming  proof  of  this  fearful  and  aged  iniquity,  and 
pressed  for  reform  out  of  parliament  and  in,  until  in  1876  he  had 
the  satisfaction  of  seeing  a  law  passed  which  abolished  all  the  more 
glaring  abuses  of  the  merchant  shipping  service.2 

Both  Ireland  (1829)  and  Scotland  (1829)  anticipated  England 
(1830)  in  the  formation  of  temperance  societies,  though  America 
preceded  all  three.  The  eighteenth  century  was  not,  however, 
without  witnesses  to  total  abstinence,  including  the  illustrious 
names  of  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson,  John  Howard,  and  John  Wesley, 
while  eminent  physicians  like  Dr.  Beddoes,  of  Bristol,  Dr.  Trotter, 
and  Dr.  Erasmus  Darwin,  were  of  the  same  side.  Wesley  espe- 
cially used  his  powerful   influence   for   temperance, 

TEMPERANCE.      ,.,.,,  •  n.       ,  t 

denouncing  liquor  sellers  as  in  effect  murderers,  using 
language  such  as  we  now  hear  only  from  the  most  advanced 
reformers,  and  organized  his  societies  under  a  total-abstinence  rule 
— a  rule  that  the  Wesleyan  Methodist  Church  of  Great  Britain 
has  long  since  disowned  as  binding  on  either  her  ministers  or 
members.  In  fact,  it  must  be  confessed,  that  the  temperance 
cause  in  the  British  Islands  has  encountered  great  barriers  to  its 
progress.  The  love  of  drink  seems  ingrained  in  the  race,  and  that 
and  economical  and  political  reasons  render  abortive  efforts  to  pass 
prohibitory  laws.  Many  consecrated  reformers  have  done  benefi- 
cent work  in  the  old  country  in  inducing  thousands  to  take  the 
pledge,  establishing  temperance  societies,  circulating    literature, 

1  Life  of  Lord  George  Bentinck,  Lond.,  1851.  See  a  full  account  of  the  con- 
test occasioned  by  the  election  of  Jews  to  Parliament  in  McCarthy,  Hist,  of 
our  Own  Times,  ch.  38. 

2  McCarthy,  Ibid.,  ii,  495  ff. ;  art.  Plimsoll,  in  Chambers's  Encyc,  new  ed. 


A   CENTURY   OF   REFORM   AND   MISSIONS.  859 

holding  conventions,  and  thus  educating  public  sentiment.  The 
Churches  have  temperance  societies  of  their  own  which  do  good 
work.  Bands  of  Hope  were  organized  in  1847  for  work  among 
the  young,  and  the  United  Kingdom  Alliance  was  founded  in 
1853  for  legislative  work.  Since  1880  local  option  resolutions 
have  been  passed  in  Parliament. 

In  1756  a  man  of  fortune  bent  on  sight-seeing  went  to  visit  Lis- 
bon, which  had  just  been  destroyed  by  an  earthquake.  He  was 
captured  by  a  French  privateer  and  thrown  into  prison  at  Brest. 
This  experience  of  prison  life  left  an  ineffaceable  impression  on  his 
mind,  and  when  this  man,  John  Howard,  was  made  sheriff  of 
Bedford  in  1773  he  was  resolved  to  make  efforts  to 
abate  the  horrors  of  prisons.  The  prisons  were  dilapi-  prison 
dated,  filthy,  unhealthy;  jail  fever  was  often  the 
price  of  confinement  in  them;  respectable  men  who  could  not  pay 
their  debts  were  thrown  in  to  herd  with  scoundrels  and  felons ; 
young  and  old  were  placed  together ;  no  separate  apartments  were 
provided  for  women  ;  and  liquors  were  sold  to  the  prisoners.  To 
alleviate  these  and  other  evils,  Howard  visited  the  prisons  of  his 
own  country  and  those  of  Europe,  and,  after  publishing  the  result 
of  his  researches  and  securing  some  of  the  reforms  he  desired,  he 
turned  his  attention  to  the  plague,  which  he  studied  in  the  lazaret- 
tos of  Europe  with  the  zeal  both  of  a  scientist  and  philanthropist. 
It  was  while  pursuing  this  "circumnavigation  of  charity,"  as  Burke 
called  it,  that  he  caught  the  typhus  fever  and  died  in  Kherson,  in 
Southern  Russia,  January  20,  1790.  The  next  important  stage  in 
prison  reform  was  the  abolition  of  the  hulks  and  of  the  transporta- 
tion system,  the  account  of  which  would  form  in  itself  a  most  inter- 
esting chapter  in  the  history  of  practical  Christianity.  This 
reform  has  gone  on  steadily,  it  being  the  aim  by  work,  by  super- 
vision, and  by  religious  and  educational  ministries,  to  transform 
criminals  into  law-abiding  men. 

What  Howard  did  for  prisons  Elizabeth  Fry  (d.  1845)  did  for 
women  in  prisons.  This  refined  and  cultured  daughter  of  the 
Quaker  banker,  Gurney  of  Earlham  Hall,  near  Nor-  Elizabeth 
wich,  spent  her  life  in  bettering  the  condition  of  FRY- 
women  prisoners,  and  by  her  sympathy,  tact,  intelligence,  and 
Christian  enthusiasm  did  a  wonderful  work  for  England,  the  fruits 
of  which  will  remain  for  all  time.  She  also  visited  the  Continent 
on  her  mission  of  reform,  and  many  of  her  recommendations  were 
adopted  there. 

No  more  Christian  reform  has  the  nineteenth  century  witnessed 


860  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

than  that  begun  by  Sir  Samuel  Eomilly  (d.  1818)  to  cancel  the 
barbarities  of  the  penal  code.  In  1800  there  were  two  hundred 
and  twenty-three  offenses  that  were  punished  with  death.  Eomilly 
reform  of  set  himself  to  work  to  bring  some  sense  of  discrimi- 
I'EXAL  laws.  nation  and  justice  in  the  criminal  code.  Unfortu- 
nately he  found  that  the  House  of  Lords  was  a  wall  against  alle- 
viating and  reforming  measures.  That  House  has  yielded  to  such 
measures  only  when  it  has  been  morally  compelled.  The  Angli- 
can bishops  have  always  been,  perhaps,  the  most  conservative 
force  there.  Against  them  is  the  dark  record  of  having  opposed 
the  establishment  of  public  elementary  schools,  the  abolition  of 
capital  punishment  for  petty  offenses,  the  admission  of  Noncon- 
formists to  the  universities,  the  removal  of  disabilities  of  Catho- 
lics, Jews,  and  Nonconformists,  the  Burials  Bill,  the  Keform  Bill, 
the  Disestablishment  of  the  Irish  Episcopal  Church  and  of  the 
Welsh  Episcopal  Church.1  Although  Eomilly  did  not  see  the 
fruits  of  his  noble  activities,  Sir  James  Mackintosh  carried  on  his 
work  until  in  1837  the  number  of  capital  offenses  had  been  re- 
duced to  seven.  Since  18C1  only  four  crimes  in  England  are 
punishable  with  death :  setting  fire  to  dockyards  and  arsenals, 
piracy,  treason,  and  murder. 

The  beneficent  work  of  the  nineteenth  century  has  been  a  sur- 
passing manifestation  of  the  power  of  the  Christian  spirit.  It  is 
impossible  to  record  all  its  results.  It  has  transformed  education, 
its  methods  and  its  discipline,  hospitals,  both  military  and  civil, 
treatment  of  prisoners  of  war  and  noncombatants,  and  treatment 
peace  °f  the  wounded  in  battle.     With  the  Eed  Cross  sisters 

measures.  walks  the  Prince  of  Peace  over  fields  of  carnage,  wait- 
ing long  until  reason  and  love  shall  take  the  place  of  force  and 
slaughter.  An  earnest  of  that  time  has  come  in  the  adoption  of 
the  principle  of  arbitration,  which  since  1816  has  already  settled 
about  ninety  disputes  which  formerly  would  have  issued  in  the 
usual  killing  of  men.2     The  latest  triumph  was  the  Great  Britain- 

1  See  The  Christian  World,  Lond.,  Nov.  23,  1899,  p.  4. 

2  "  Since  the  opening  of  the  century  there  has  heen  an  average  of  more  than 
one  important  difficulty  every  year — actually  more  than  a  hundred  important 
cases  decided  by  this  method  rather  than  by  an  appeal  to  arms.  Most  of  the 
important  nations  of  the  world  have  been  parties  in  one  or  more  of  these  cases, 
even  those  which  we  are  accustomed  to  consider  civilized.  The  United  States 
has  led  in  this  movement,  having  been  a  party  to  about  fifty  of  these  cases. 
In  about  thirty  Great  Britain  has  been  a  party.  The  United  States  has  had 
arbitration  with  seventeen  different  nations,  and  Great  Britain  with  twelve. 
One  of  the  interesting  things  is  that  both  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain 


A   CENTURY   OF   REFORM   AND   MISSIONS.  861 

Venezuela  question,  settled  in  1899.  The  Peace  Conference  at  The 
Hague  in  the  same  year  marked  a  distinct  advance  in  civilization, 
even  if  its  results  were  too  meager  to  be  satisfactory  to  the  friends 
of  progress. 

The  social  and  industrial  world  yet  awaits  the  reconciling  hand 
of  the  Lord.  But  vast  progress  has  been  made  even  there.  For 
that  progress  in  England  we  have  to  thank  Lord  Shaftesbury  more 
than  anv  other  man,  who  from  the  time  that  he  en- 

J  LORD 

tered  Parliament  in  1830  until  his  death  m  1885  shaftes- 
1  a  bored  with  single  eye  and  quenchless  heart  to  better 
the  condition  of  lunatics,  of  the  poor,  and  of  the  laboring  classes. 
His  one  life  covers  a  period  in  the  beginning  of  which  the  condi- 
tions of  the  laboring  classes  were  almost  too  horrible  for  belief  and 
in  the  end  of  which  those  conditions  were  measurably  decent  and 
safe  and  just.  Shaftesbury  was  a  profoundly  religious  man.  As 
his  excellent  biographer,  Edwin  Hodder,  says,  "  He  was  a  man 
with  a  single  aim  ;  his  labors  in  the  field  of  politics  sprang  from 
his  philanthropy ;  his  philanthropy  sprang  from  his  deep  and 
earnest  religious  convictions ;  and  every  labor,  political,  benevo- 
lent, and  religious,  was  begun,  continued,  and  ended  in  one  and 
the  same  spirit."  '  To  unite  capital  and  labor  in  brotherhood,  and 
to  Christianize  commerce,  business,  and  politics,  is  the  task  of  the 
twentieth  century. 

Reference  has  already  been  made  to  the  various  missionary  en- 
terprises of  the  British  Churches.     All  the  Churches       christian 
have  entered  heartily  into  the  work  until  at  this  time 
there  are  about  eighteen  missionary  societies  working  in  foreign 

have  arbitrated  not  only  with  great  powers,  but  also  with  weak  powers. 
Nine  of  the  cases  which  we  have  settled  by  arbitration  and  six  of  those  in 
wnich  Great  Britain  has  been  a  party  have  been  with  weak  powers."  Arbitra- 
tion clauses  have  also  been  introduced  into  treaties.  ' '  Within  the  last  few 
years  the  number  of  cases  of  arbitration  has  accumulated,  until  now  not  a 
year  passes  in  which  there  are  not  from  six  to  fifteen  cases  actually  in  process 
of  settlement.  Yet  all  this  goes  on  so  quietly  that  most  people  know  nothing 
about  the  greater  part  of  them.  One  little  war  makes  more  fuss  than  five 
hundred  cases  of  arbitration,  and  costs  more  than  all  of  them.  But  the  arbi- 
tration cases  go  steadily  and  quietly  on,  doing  their  work  and  building  up 
a  greater  respect  for  law,  a  greater  considerateness  and  patience  between 
nations." — Greatness  and  Permanence  of  the  Arbitration  Cause,  by  Ben].  F. 
Trueblood,  LL.D.,  of  Boston,  Sec.  of  American  Peace  Soc,  in  Proceedings  of 
4th  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Lake  Mohonk  Conf .  on  International  Arbitration, 
1898,  pp.  9,  10. 

1  Life  and  Work  of  the  Seventh  Earl  of  Shaftesbury,  K.G.,  Lond.,  new  ed., 
1893,  pref.,  p.  vi. 


862  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

lands,  with  about  1,839  ordained  foreign  missionaries,  29,227 
native  helpers,  and  375,475  communicants.  The  contributions  of 
the  British  Churches  to  Foreign  Missions  in  1898  were  about 
$6,957,690.'  A  German  writer,  quoted  by  Professor  George  P. 
Fisher,  gives  a  graphic  picture  of  the  geographical  extension  of 
Christianity  in  the  nineteenth  century  :  "At  the  beginning  of  this, 
century,  the  island  world  of  the  Pacific  was  shut  against  the  Gos- 
pel ;  but  England  and  America  have  attacked  those  lands  so  vig- 
orously in  all  directions,  especially  through  native  workers,  that 
whole  groups  of  islands,  even  the  whole  Malayan  Polynesia,  are  to- 
day almost  entirely  Christianized,  and  in  Melanesia  and  Micronesia 
the  mission  field  is  extended  every  year.  The  gates  of  British 
East  India  have  been  thrown  open  wider  and  wider 

GEOGRAPHY  .  f_ 

of  missions  during  this  century,  at  first  for  English,  then  for  all 
missionaries.  This  great  kingdom,  from  Cape  Comorin 
to  the  Punjab  and  up  to  the  Himalayas,  where  the  Gospel  is 
knocking  on  the  door  of  Thibet,  has  been  covered  with  hundreds 
of  mission  stations,  closer  than  the  mission  net  which  at  the  close 
of  the  first  century  surrounded  the  Roman  empire  ;  the  largest  and 
some  of  the  smaller  islands  of  the  Indian  Archipelago,  Sumatra, 
Java,  Borneo,  Celebes,  and  now  New  Guinea  also,  are  occupied, 
partly  on  the  coast  and  partly  in  the  interior.  Burma  and,  in 
part,  Siam  are  open  to  the  Gospel ;  and  China,  the  most  powerful 
and  most  populous  of  heathen  lands,  forced  continually  to  open 
her  doors  wider,  has  been  traversed  by  individual  pioneers  of  the 
Gospel,  to  Thibet  and  Burma,  and  half  of  her  provinces  occupied 
from  Hongkong  and  Canton  to  Peking ;  and  in  Manchuria,  if  by 
only  a  thin  chain,  yet  at  many  of  the  principal  points  stations  have 
been  founded,  while  the  population  overflowing  into  Australia  and 
America  is  being  labored  with  by  Protestant  missionaries.  Japan 
also,  hungry  for  reform,  by  granting  entrance  to  the  Gospel  has 
been  quickly  occupied  by  American  and  English  missionary  socie- 
ties, and  already,  after  so  little  labor,  has  scores  of  evangelical  con- 
gregations. Indeed,  the  aboriginal  Australians  have,  in  some 
places,  been  reached.  In  the  lands  of  Islam,  from  the  Balkans  to 
Bagdad,  from  Egypt  to  Persia,  there  have  been  common  central 
evangelization  stations  established  in  the  chief  places  for  Christians 
and  Mohammedans,  by  means  of  theological  and  Christian  medi- 
cal missions,  conducted  especially  by  Americans.  Also  in  the 
primitive  seat  of  Christianity — Palestine — from  Bethlehem  to 
Tripoli,  and  to  the  northern  boundaries  of  Lebanon,  the  land  is 
1  See  Missionary  Review,  N.  Y.,  Feb.,  1899,  p.  150. 


&■ 


IUTH33HT'/  1  3MT  Ml 

01  3HT  3TA3IQMI  E3TXO  3MT 


■ 


3IH3MA  TTTTJOe 


A  CENTURY   OF   REFORM  AND   MISSIONS.  863 

covered  by  a  network  of  Protestant  schools,  with  here  and  there 
an  evangelical  church. 

"Africa,  west,  south,  and  east,  has  been  vigorously  attacked;  in 
the  west,  from  Senegal  to  Gaboon,  yes,  lately  even  to  the  Congo, 
bv  Great  Britain,  Basel,  Bremen,  and  America,  which 

AFRICA 

have  stations  all  along  the  coast.  South  Africa,  at 
the  extremity,  was  evangelized  by  German,  Dutch,  English, Scotch, 
French,  and  Scandinavian  societies.  Upon  both  sides,  as  in  the 
center,  Protestant  missions,  although  at  times  checked  by  war,  are 
continually  pressing  to  the  north  ;  to  the  left,  beyond  the  Walfisch 
Bay  ;  to  the  right,  into  Zululand,  up  to  Delagoa  Bay  ;  in  the  cen- 
ter to  the  Bechuana  and  Basuto  lands.  In  the  east,  the  sun  of  the 
Gospel,  after  a  long  storm,  has  burst  forth  over  Madagascar  in 
such  brightness  that  it  can  never  again  disappear.  Along  the 
coast  from  Zanzibar  and  the  Nile,  even  to  Abyssinia,  outstations 
have  been  established,  and  powerful  assaults  made  by  the  Scotch, 
English,  and  recently  also  by  the  American  mission  and  civiliza- 
tion, into  the  very  heart  of  the  Dark  Continent,  even  to  the  great 
central  and  east  African  lakes. 

"  In  America,  the  immense  plains  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Territory, 
from  Canada  over  the  Rocky  Mountains  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  have 
not  only  been  visited  by  missionaries,  but  have  been  opened  far  and 
wide  to  the  Gospel  through  rapidly  growing  Indian 
missions.  In  the  United  States  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  freedmen  have  been  gathered  into  evangelical  congrega- 
tions ;  and  of  the  remnants  of  the  numerous  Indian  tribes,  some 
at  least  have  been  converted  through  the  work  of  evangelization 
by  various  churches,  and  have  awakened  new  hope  for  the  future. 
In  Central  America  and  the  West  Indies,  as  far  as  the  country  is 
under  Protestant  home  nations,  the  net  of  evangelical  missions  has 
been  thrown  from  island  to  island,  even  to  the  mainland  in  Hon- 
duras, upon  the  Mosquito  Coast ;  and  in  British  and  Dutch  Guiana 
it  has  taken  even  firmer  hold.  Finally,  the  lands  on  and  before 
the  southern  extremity  of  the  continent,  the  Falkland  Islands, 
Terra  del  Fuego,  and  Patagonia,  received  the  first  light  through 
the  South  American  Missionary  Society  (in  London);  and  recently 
its  messengers  have  pushed  into  the  heart  of  the  land,  and  are 
rapidly  pressing  on  to  the  banks  of  the  great  Amazon,  to  the 
Indians  of  Brazil."' 

Universal  Hist.,  1  vol.  ed.,  pp.  635,  636. 


864  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE    SCOTTISH    AND    IRISH    CHURCHES. 

The  curse  of  the  modern  Scottish  Church  has  been  its  State  con- 
nection. This  has  been  the  direct  or  indirect  cause  of  nearly  all  its 
schisms  and  troubles.  The  Reformation  fathers  in  Scotland  be- 
lieved strongly  in  the  State  supporting  the  Church  and  putting 
down  heresies,  but  they  believed  that  the  Church  should  have  the 
right  of  self-government.  When  a  Church,  however,  is  estab- 
lished by  law  it  necessarily  foregoes  that  right  to  a  degree,  and  be- 
comes the  organ  by  which  the  State  teaches  religion  and  worships 
God.  Any  powers  of  discipline  which  it  may  still  possess  it  re- 
ceives by  consent  of  the  State,  which  consent  may  be  withdrawn 
at  any  time.  In  its  palmy  days  the  Church  of  Scot- 
church  land  had  the  happy  fortune  to  be  largely  free  in  its 

internal  government  and  yet  under  State  protection 
at  the  same  time.  The  parishes  could  call  their  own  ministers,  as 
a  rule,  and  the  presbyters  could  exercise  their  functions  as  a  spir- 
itual court.  When  the  Church  was  reestablished  under  William 
III  these  spiritual  privileges  were  confirmed.  But  a  change  came. 
The  Scottish  Parliament  was  abolished  in  1707,  and  the  State  was 
represented  by  a  Parliament  largely  composed  of  Anglicans.  It 
would  almost  appear  that  these  now  attempted  to  do  by  indirection 
what  they  could  not  do  by  their  long  persecutions.  In  1712  they 
passed  a  law  granting  full  liberty  to  the  Anglican  liturgy  and  dis- 
senting churches  in  Scotland — a  law  that  was  in  itself,  of  course, 
altogether  commendable — and  vesting  the  right  of  presentation  of 
ministers  or  of  candidates  (probationers)  to  vacant  churches  in 
the  crown  or  in  patrons.  This  law  wrought  untold  mischief  in 
Scotland.  And  yet  an  established  Church  could  not  fairly  find 
fault  with  it,  for  if  a  Church  seeks  the  power  and  prestige  of 
State  support,  it  cannot  object  to  the  paramount  authority  defin- 
ing the  conditions  on  which  the  privileges  granted  rest. 

It  was  inevitable  that  a  conflict  would  ensue  whenever  men  who 
desired  to  keep  the  Church  independent  of  the  State  in  its  in- 
ternal arrangements  as  the  Church  of  Christ  were  brought  face  to 
face  with  the  new  conditions.  No  doubt  they  were  inconsistent  in 
remaining  at  all  in  a  State  Church,  but  they  cannot  be  blamed  for 


THE   SCOTTISH   AND   IRISH   CHURCHES.  865 

insisting  on  spiritual  independence.  Such  men  would  also  likely 
be  loyal  to  Christ  and  the  old  Gospel,  whereas  those  who  entered 
heartily  into  their  privileges  as  servants  of  the  State  would  natu- 
rally be  liberalists  in  religion.  This  we  actually  find.  The  Church 
of  Scotland  of  the  eighteenth  century  became  impregnated  with 
the  spirit  of  moderation,  as  it  was  called,  a  disposi-  THEMODER. 
tion  to  relax  the  bonds  of  creed,  and  interpret  Chris-  ATES- 
tianity  rather  as  an  ethical  system,  though  even  then  an  ethical 
system  not  so  strict  as  Evangelicalism  would  demand.  Many  of 
the  ministerial  lights  of  Scotland  were  of  this  school :  Robertson, 
the  historian ;  Campbell,  the  author  of  the  Philosophy  of  Rhetoric 
and  a  man  of  fine  culture,  beautiful  spirit  and  life ;  and  Hugh 
Blair,  the  great  preacher  of  the  High  Church,  Edinburgh  (1758  fL), 
whose  church  was  attended  by  all  the  elite  of  the  town  and  wb.ose 
sermons  were  praised  by  George  III  and  circulated  by  the  thou- 
sands, but  which  have  about  as  much  doctrinal  value  and  spiritual 
power  as  his  lectures  on  rhetoric,  which  were  used  as  a  text-book 
in  some  colleges  twenty-five  years  ago.  In  fact,  the  Moderates 
emphasized  literature  rather  than  religion.  Robert  Henry  was  the 
historian  of  Great  Britain  (6  vols.,  1771-93),  and  was  the  first  to 
consider  the  social  aspects  of  the  subject.  Adam  Ferguson  was 
both  a  philosopher  and  an  historian,  and  his  history  of  the  Roman 
republic  (1783)  was  translated  into  French  and  German,  and  was 
commended  by  Carlyle  as  well  worth  reading.  Robert  Watson 
wrote  a  history  of  Philip  II,  and  Thomas  Reid  is  one  of  the  found- 
ers of  the  Scotch  school  of  philosophy.  These  were  all  Presby- 
terian ministers,  and  two  other  philosophers  and  scholars,  Dugald 
Stewart  and  Thomas  Brown,  were  the  sons  of  ministers.  John 
Home  was  pastor  of  Athelstaneford,  near  Haddington,  when  he 
wrote  the  most  popular  English  drama  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
Douglas  (1754),  which  was  played  on  the  boards  in  Edinburgh  and 
London  with  immense  applause.  An  enthusiastic  Scotsman  who 
heard  the  play  in  London  exclaimed  to  an  envious  Englishman  : 

"  Whaur's  your  Wullie  Shakespeare  noo  ?" 

David  Hume,  the  utilitarian,  skeptic,  and  Tory  historian,  was 
not  a  Presbyterian  clergyman,  but,  so  far  as  the  cordial  friendship 
extended  to  him  by  clergymen  was  concerned,  he  might  as  well 
have  been.  Still  it  is  fair  to  say  that  Hume  always  retained  an  at- 
titude of  friendliness  to  the  Church,  and  that  one  of  the  Moder- 
ates, Campbell,  wrote  an  able  reply  to  his  Essay  on  Miracles.  The 
breadth  of  Moderatism  became  so  accentuated  that  it  was  called 
New  Light,  as  opnosed  to  the  old  light  of  the  Gospel,  and  it  was 
57  "  2 


866  HISTORY  OF  THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

that  section  which  had  the  sympathies  of  Burns.  However  he 
does  not  hesitate  plainly  to  characterize  the  preaching  of  its  min- 
isters as  little  more  than  pagan  morality. 

"  Smith  opens  out  his  cauld  harangues,1 

In  practice  and  in  morals  ; 
An'  aff  the  godly  pour  in  thrangs 
To  gie  the  jars  and  barrels 
A  lift  that  day. 

"  What  signifies  his  Darren  shine 

Of  moral  powers  and  reason  ? 
His  English  style,  and  gesture  fine, 

Are  a'  clean  out  o'  season. 
Like  Socrates  and  Antonine, 

Or  some  auld  pagan  heathen, 
The  moral  man  he  does  define, 

But  ne'er  a  word  o'  faith  in 
That's  right  that  day."  " 

The  sermons  of   the  Presbyterian  pastor  at  Traquair,  Nicoll, 

were  after  his  death  published  for  the  promotion  of  Socinianism. 
Another  pastor,  Scott  of  Carluke,  left  behind  him  the  nucleus  of  a 
Unitarian  congregation,  though  it  must  be  confessed  that  McGill 
of  Ayr  was  hauled  over  the  coals  for  his  Arianism,  and  only  es- 
caped punishment  by  suitable  explanations. 

The  decline  of  insistence  on  the  essential  doctrines  of  the  Gospel 
will  likely  be  attended  by  decline  in  the  practice  of  the  Gospel.  It 
was  so  in  the  Scotland  of  the  eighteenth  century.  The  poems  of 
doctrine  Burns  are  a  photograph  of  certain  aspects  of  the  re- 
and  morals,  ligious  life  of  the  time  which  Presbyterianism  can- 
not but  look  back  upon  with  shame.  They  are  as  realistic  as  they 
are  terrific  in  their  arraignment  of  some  of  his  Presbyterian  con- 
temporaries, but  their  biting  satire  cleared  the  religious  atmos- 
phere like  an  electric  storm.  As  one  of  his  editors  says,  "  Severe 
diseases  require  severe  remedies."  3 

The  schisms  in  the  Scotch  Church  were  protests  against  subserv- 
ience to  the  State  in  the  matter  of  patronage  and  to  the  world  in 
theology  and  ethics.  The  first  was  that  under  Eb- 
the  scotch  enezer  Erskine,  who  was  rebuked  in  1722  by  the  Gen- 
eral  Assembly  for  defending  the  Marrow  of  Modern 
Divinity,  by  Edward  Fisher  (1646).     This  was  republished  by  the 

1  Smith  was  minister  at  Galston.  Burns  is  describing  the  special  services 
held  preliminary  to  the  sacraments,  a  kind  of  one-day  camp  meeting.  One 
preacher  followed  another,  as  the  Welsh  do  in  their  religious  festivals. 

* The  Holy  Fair,  st.  14,  15. 

*  See  The  Holy  Fair,  Holy  Willie's  Prayer,  The  Twa  Herds,  and  others. 


THE   SCOTTISH  AND   IRISH   CHURCHES.  867 

stanchly  evangelical  James  Hog  in  1718,  who  was  deposed  in  1734 
for  protesting  against  some  applications  of  the  law  of  patronage. 
On  December  6,  1733,  Erskine  and  those  who  went  with  him 
formed  themselves  into  the  Associated  Presbytery,  the  first  Inde- 
pendent Presbyterian  Church  in  Scotland.1  By  the  end  of  the 
eighteenth  century  this  Church,  which  began  with  four  congrega- 
tions, had  multiplied  itself  fourfold.  It,  too,  had  a  split  in  1749 
over  the  question  whether  it  was  lawful  for  burgesses  to  take  the 
oath  which  required  them  to  adhere  to  the  "true  religion  pres- 
ently professed  within  the  realm  and  authorized  by  the  laws  there." 
Those  who  claimed  that  it  was  lawful  were  called  Burghers,  prop- 
erly the  Associate  Synod  ;  the  others  were  called  Anti-burghers, 
properly  the  General  Associate  Synod,  and  so  intense  were  the  con- 
victions of  the  perfervid  Scot  that,  four  years  before  he  died,  in 
1754,  the  holy  Ebenezer  Erskine  himself  had  been  formally  excom- 
municated by  the  Anti-burgher  Church — "  delivered  unto  Satan/' 
so  the  words  of  the  curse  ran,  "  for  the  destruction  of  the  flesh,  that 
the  spirit  may  be  saved  in  the  day  of  the  Lord  Jesus."  Not  until 
1820  did  the  two  sections  of  the  Erskine  Church  come  together, 
and  then  under  the  title  of  the  United  Secession  Church.  It  should 
be  said  that  the  great  historian  McCrie  was  a  member  of  the  Anti- 
burgher  presbytery,  but  he,  with  three  others,  was  deposed  in  1806 
for  protesting  against  a  document  issued  by  their  Church  which 
they  understood  as  advocating  Voluntaryism,  or  the  principle  of 
opposition  to  all  State  connection.  McCrie  held  that  Presbyteri- 
anism  ought  to  be  established  by  law.  He  and  his  friends  formed 
the  Constitutional  Associate  Presbytery,  which  developed  into  tho 
Synod  of  Original  Seceders,  and  was  led  by  his  son — almost  as 
famous  an  historian  as  himself — into  the  Free  Church  in  1852. 

A  patron  forced  a  pastor  on  Inverkeithing  against  the  will  of  tho 
people,  and  six  members  of  the  presbytery  refused  to  ordain  him. 
For  this,  one  of  the  presbyters,  Thomas  Gillespie,  was 
deposed  by  the  general  assembly  of  1752.     As  Gilles-  and  the 

.,  .,  T     »      »  ii  M        J  l  1  UNITED  PRES- 

pie  s  wisn  was  relief  from  the  evil  of  patronage  he  byterian 
formed  what  he  called  the  Relief  Synod,  hoping  in  CHURCH* 
time  it  might  be  received  again  into  the  mother  Church.     But  it 
became  a  permanent  separation.    Besides  these  independent  bodies 

1  That  is,  the  first  formed  by  separation  from  the  parent  Church.  The  Cam- 
eronians  or  Covenanters  (Reformed  Presbyterians),  the  radicals  of  the  martyr 
age,  would  not  accept  the  King  William  and  Carstares  reorganization,  and  con- 
tin  aed  all  along  as  a  distinct  body,  though  having  hardly  any  organization  un- 
til 1706,  and  no  Presbytery  until  1743. 


868  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

and  offshoots  from  them,  the  Covenanters  or  Cameronians,  or  Re- 
formed Presbyterians — that  is,  those  who  maintained  the  perpetual 
validity  of  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant,  and  rallied  around  it 
as  against  the  Revolution  settlement — were  in  existence,  and  the 
abuses  of  the  patronage  contributed  to  their  growth  as  well  as  to 
that  of  their  sister  churches.  In  1847  the  United  Secession  Church 
and  the  Relief  Church  united  to  form  the  United  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Scotland,  which  remains  to  this  day  one  of  the  largest, 
most  aggressive,  and  most  evangelical  denominations  in  Scotland. 

The  opening  years  of  the  nineteenth  century  saw  a  revival  of  evan- 
gelical religion  in  Scotland.  The  widespread  and  profound  influ- 
the  evan-  ence  °f  the  brothers  Haldane,  the  preaching  of  Andrew 
vn^L-cHA^-  Thomson  in  Edinburgh  (1810  ff.),  Thomas  McCrie, 
mers.  -^Ijq  turned  the  eyes  of  Scotland  on  the  heroic  faith 

of  her  Reformation  age,  the  influence  of  the  English  Evangelicals, 
and  of  Simeon  who  traveled  for  a  while  with  Robert  Haldane,  and 
the  conversion  of  Thomas  Chalmers — these  were  some  of  the  sources 
of  the  deepening  spiritual  life  of  Scotland  and  formed  the  necessary 
providential  preparation  for  the  new  age  which  came  in  with  the 
birth  of  the  Eree  Church  of  Scotland  in  1843.  Chalmers  was  pro- 
fessor of  mathematics  in  St.  Andrew's  and  the  pastor  of  a  country 
church  many  miles  away,  but  was  a  Moderate.  In  1810  a  change 
came  over  him  like  that  which  the  common  story  attributes  to 
Tauler,  or  like  that  which  transformed  Wesley.  A  long  illness, 
family  bereavement,  lines  of  study,  and  the  reading  of  Wilber- 
force's  Practical  View  of  Christianity  were  some  of  the  means 
which  brought  him  into  the  higher  life.  His  labors  at  the  Tron 
and  St.  John  Churches  in  Glasgow  (1810  ff.)  were  a  remarkable 
illustration  of  what  a  consecrated  minister  can  do  in  the  way  of 
social  amelioration.  The  history  of  his  life  here  is  one  of  the  most 
instructive  to  ministers  in  all  Church  history.  "When  he  was  sent  to 
St.  Andrew's  to  teach  moral  philosophy  in  1823,  and  to  Edinburgh 
to  teach  theology  in  1828,  he  did  not  cease  to  be  a  preacher  and 
evangelist,  but  only  changed  his  field.  His  work  meant  the  death 
of  Moderatism  as  a  controlling  power  in  the  Scottish  Church. 

The  new  life  of  the  Church  manifested  itself  in  various  ways. 
One  was  an  increase  of  interest  in  missions,  home  and  foreign. 
When  a  foreign  mission  was  first  broached,  in  1796,  the  suggestion 
was  repudiated  with  emphasis.  But  in  1824  the  general  assembly 
committed  itself  to  foreign  evangelization  by  sending  out  the  great 
missionary  Duff  to  India,  though  private  societies  in  Scotland  had 
already  workers  in  foreign  parts.     Another  token  of  the  new  vigor 


THE   SCOTTISH   AND   IRISH  CHURCHES.  869 

was  a  sensitiveness  to  doctrinal  error.  Chalmers  was  a  Calvinist,  and 
he  and  many  fellow-laborers  restored  an  orthodox  tone.  John  Mac- 
Leod Campbell,  of  whom  Norman  MacLeod  said,  "  His  NEW  STRESS 
character  was  the  most  perfect  embodiment  I  have  on  doctrine. 
ever  seen  of  the  character  of  Jesus  Christ/'  was  deposed  from  his 
pastorate  at  Row  in  1831  for  teaching  an  unlimited  atonement  and 
Christ's  love  to  all  men.  His  special  theory  of  the  atonement  had 
nothing  to  do  with  his  almost  unanimous  deposition  by  the  general 
assembly,  as  this  was  not  elaborated  until  many  years  after.  Ed- 
ward Irving,  an  assistant  of  Chalmers  at  Glasgow,  went  to  London 
in  1822  as  minister  of  the  Caledonian  Church,  where  his  wonderful 
eloquence  attracted  wide  attention.  He  adopted  the  theory  of  the 
sinfulness  of  Christ's  human  nature  as  a  nature — not  that  Christ 
ever  sinned — and  for  this  he  was  expelled  by  the  general  assembly 
in  1833.  Before  this  certain  members  of  his  congregation  had 
prophesied  and  spoken  with  unknown  tongues,  and  Irving  became 
convinced  that  such  phenomena  were  apostolic  and  genuine.  But 
these  had  nothing  to  do  with  his  expulsion.  Out  of  his  ministry 
grew  the  Catholic  Apostolic  Church,  which  has  sought  to  revive 
the  miraculous  gifts  and  other  features,  or  supposed  features,  of 
the  early  Church. 

There  was  a  party,  especially  among  the  Anti-burghers  or  Seces- 
sion Church,  which  did  not  believe  in  the  principle  of  an  established 
Church,  in  other  words,  who  professed  Voluntaryism. 
But  they  were  not  in  the  Church  of  Scotland.  Chal-  of  the  state 
mers,  Candlish,  Buchanan,  and  all  the  lights  of  the 
Church  that  was  soon  to  come  into  being,  were  stanch  believers  in 
an  established  Church,  and  Chalmers  had  even  gone  so  far  as  to 
plead  in  London  for  the  Church  of  England,  when  he  was  there 
trying  in  vain  to  get  Parliament  to  grant  money  for  Church  exten- 
sion in  Scotland.  Writers  of  the  Church  of  Scotland  bring  home 
this  fact  with  telling  effect  in  their  criticisms  of  the  actions  of  the 
men  of  1843.  Of  course  it  might  be  said  that  the  Free  Church- 
man did  not  understand  that  the  State  connection  meant  what  it 
was  proved  to  mean.  But  they  were  living  in  an  enchanted  castle. 
As  soon  as  the  civil  courts,  with  their  clear-headed  sense  of  reality, 
declared  the  status  of  the  Church  of  Scotland  as  by  law  established, 
these  godly  men  awoke  as  out  of  a  dream.  "  That  our  Saviour," 
said  the  Lord  President  truly,  and  his  words  are  true  of  all  State 
Churches,  "is  the  head  of  the  Kirk  of  Scotland  in  any  temporal, 
or  legislative,  or  judicial  sense,  is  a  position  which  I  can  dignify 
by  no  other  name  than  absurdity.    The  Parliament  is  the  temporal 


870  HISTORY  OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

head  of  the  Church,  from  whose  acts,  and  from  whose  acts  alone, 
it  exists  as  the  National  Church,  and  from  which  alone  it  derives 
all  its  powers." 

Of  course,  to  any  man  who  understands  Christianity  and  is  will- 
ing to  take  the  consequences,  such  a  position  is  intolerable  ;  and  it 
was  becoming  intolerable  in  Scotland.  It  led  to  that 
church  of  famous  procession — perhaps  the  most  famous  in  his- 
tory— which  went  from  St.  Andrew's  Church,  Edin- 
burgh, to  Canonmills  Hall  in  the  same  city,  on  May  18,  1843, 
where  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland  was  organized.1  One  hundred 
and  ninety-three  members  left  the  old  Assembly,  of  whom  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-three  were  ministers  and  seventy  elders.  Many  of 
the  strong  and  learned,  and  most  of  the  evangelical  men  went  out  to 
build  up  a  new  Church,  where  they  could  worship  Go  1  without  "  in- 
terference with  conscience,  the  dishonor  done  to  Christ's  crown,  and 
the  rejection  of  his  sole  supreme  authority  as  King  in  his  Church." 

All  the  foreign  missionaries  cast  in  their  lot  with   the  Free 

Church,  as  did  in  sympathy  the  Presbyterians  in  England  and 

Ireland,  the  Irish  brethren  voting  £10,000  for  the  relief  of  the 

Scottish  sufferers  for  conscience'  sake.     The  schism 

T  ATFR  AC— 

tivity  in  was  after  all  a  blessing  in  disguise.  The  Church  of 
Scotland  recovered  with  marvelous  rapidity  from  her 
great  loss,  and  has  gone  forward  with  noble  enthusiasm  in  all  kinds 
of  Christian  work  at  home  and  abroad.  In  1874  Parliament  relieved 
her  of  the  curse  of  lay  patronage.  The  Free  Church  has  founded 
schools,  colleges,  missions,  and  other  beneficent  activities,  and  has 
prospered  greatly.  Both  Churches  have  enriched  literature  with 
works  of  fine  scholarship,  theological  acumen,  and  spiritual  power. 
The  death  of  Blaikie  and  of  Bruce,  in  1899,  was  an  irreparable  loss 
to  the  world.  Both  Churches,  and  especially  the  Church  of  Scot- 
land, in  the  case  of  many  of  their  bright  and  scholarly  men,  "lean 
too  much,"  not  toward  Calvinism,  but  toward  Ritschlianism.  A 
rationalistic  temper,  if  not  rationalistic  principles,  menaces  the 
future  of  the  Scottish  Church.  Not  often  does  a  man  of  such 
breadth  and  beauty  of  soul,  freshness  of  outlook,  suggestiveness 
as  a  teacher,  and  earnestness  as  an  evangelist,  meet  us  as  the  late 
Henry  Drummond.  Few  Churches  deserve  a  larger  place  in  the 
twentieth  century  than  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Scotland. 

Brighter  days  dawned  upon  the  Irish  Church  in  the  eighteenth 
century,  and  have  continued  to  the  present  day.     The  work  of 

1  A  contemporary  description  by  Lord  Cockburn  is  quoted  by  N.  L.  Walker, 
Scottish  Church  History,  pp.  149-151. 


. 


THE   SCOTTISH  AND   IRISH   CHURCHES.  871 

Wesley  and  his  helpers — and  none  were  more  valuable  than  some 
of  his  Irish  assistants  like  Thomas  Walsh  and  Adam  Clarke — 
brought  in  new  life  and  hope.  The  Episcopal  Church  has  meas- 
urably retained  that  life,  never  developing  the  High  Church  ritual- 
ism of  her  sister  in  England,  but  remaining  evangelical,  at  least  to 
a  degree.  In  1869  Gladstone  carried  through  one  of  his  most 
daring  reforms — a  reform  which  reflects  great  credit  on  his  sense 
of  justice — the  Disestablishment  of  the  Irish  (Epis-  LATER  IRISH 
copal)  Church.  The  dreary  forebodings  of  the  Tories  CHURCH- 
as  to  the  awful  consequences  of  that  act,  like  those  of  the  Scottish 
patriots  over  the  loss  of  their  Parliament  in  1707,  have  proved  ill- 
founded.  Never  has  the  Irish  Episcopal  Church  done  better  work 
than  since  1869,  and  the  splendid  results  of  her  Trinity  College  in 
Dublin  have  enriched  the  literature  and  scholarship  of  the  world. 
Presbyterianism  in  Ireland  was  threatened  to  be  overwhelmed  with 
Arianism  and  Unitarianism,  as  it  was  overwhelmed  in  England. 
To  stem  that  flood,  and  save  the  Irish  Presbyterian  Church  to 
Christ,  God  raised  up  Henry  Cooke,  one  of  the  greatest  men  of 
the  modern  Church.  The  fight  he  waged  reads  like  a  romance. 
He  drove  Arianism  out  of  the  congregations,  presbyteries,  and 
colleges,  and  compelled  the  Unitarians  to  form  an  independent 
synod,  which  they  did  in  1829.  Mention  should  be  made  of  the 
great  revival  of  1859  which  visited  the  Presbyterian  churches  in 
Ulster,  changed  the  moral  tone  of  large  sections  of  the  country, 
closed  for  a  time  the  criminal  courts,  and  gave  permanent  enlarge- 
ment to  all  the  evangelical  Churches  in  the  North.1  In  1877  the 
Irish  Wesleyan  Methodist  Church  received  laymen  into  her  An- 
nual Conference,  and  in  1878  the  Primitive  Wesleyan  Connection — 
a  body  with  an  entirely  different  origin  from  that  of  the  Primitive 
Methodist  Church  of  England — united  with  the  Wesleyan  Metho- 
dist body.  The  Irish  Methodists  are  in  numbers  a  feeble  folk,  but 
the  Church  that  produced  Clarke,  Boardman,  Waugh,  Henry  Moore, 
Walter  Griffith,  William  Arthur,  and  John  McClintock  has  thereby 
greatly  blessed  and  enriched  the  world. 

1  The  same  physical  effects  were  witnessed  in  this  revival  as  in  other 

great  religions  movements.     These  effects  are  referred  to  natural  causes  by 

Archdeacon  Edward  A.  Stopford  in  his  instructive  but  one-sided  book,  The 

Work  and  the  Counterwork,  Belf.,  6th  ed.,  1859.     The  best  book  is  William 

Gibson,  The  Year  of  Grace  :  a  History  of  the  Revival  in  Ireland,  A.  D.  1859, 

Bost. ,  1860,  one  of  the  most  valuable  contributions  to  the  literature  of  revivals. 

s 


872  HISTORY    OF   THE    CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


LITERATURE:   THE  AMERICAN  CHURCH. 

The  sources  of  American  Church  History  are  so  extensive  that  a  list  would 
fill  a  volume.  They  include  in  fact  every  book  bearing  on  religion  published 
in  this  country  from  the  beginning  until  now,  and  all  the  books  published  in 
foreign  lands  which  have  to  do  with  Christianity  in  America.  Even  of  modem 
histories  only  a  brief  selection  can  be  given  here.  See  Bibliotheca  Americana, 
4  vols.,  N.  Y.,  1820-61  ;  American  Catalogue,  2  vols.,  1861-71 ;  American  Cat- 
alogue, 1876  ff.  ;  Catalogue  of  Printed  Books  in  the  British  Museum  ;  the  bib- 
liographical information  in  the  Narrative  and  Critical  Hist,  of  America,  in 
Appleton,  Cyc.  of  Amer.  Biog.  and  in  other  Cyclopaedias  ;  S.  M.  Jackson's  ad- 
mirable Bibliography  of  American  Church  History,  1820-93,  N.  Y.,  1894 
(printed  in  vol.  xii  of  American  Church  History  Series) ;  the  bibliographies 
for  each  denomination  prefixed  to  the  several  histories  in  that  series,  and  the 
excellent  Bibliography  of  Religious  Denominations  of  the  United  States,  by 
Geo.  F.  Bowerman,  N.  Y.,  1896.  For  general  histories  of  American  Chris- 
tianity we  are  deficient,  having  only  Robert  Baird,  Religion  in  America,  N.  Y., 
1856  ;  J.  F.  Hurst,  Religious  Development  in  Harper's  First  Century  of  the 
Republic,  N.  Y.,  1876;  D.  Dorchester,  Christianity  in  America,  N.  Y.,  1888, 
rev.  ed.  1895 — an  indispensable  thesaurus  of  information ;  and  Leonard 
Woolsey  Bacon,  History  of  American  Christianity,  N.  Y.,  1897 — an  interest- 
ing and  vitalizing  narrative  by  a  competent  writer  of  original  views,  whose 
opinions,  freely  expressed  in  this  able  work,  provoke  thought,  even  if  they  do 
not  command  assent. 

I.    PLANTING   OF   THE    CHURCH. 

For  Catholic  Missions  see  J.  G.  Shea,  Hist,  of  Catholic  Missions  among  the 
Indian  Tribes  of  the  United  States,  N.  Y.,  1854 ;  his  Catholic  Church  in  Colo- 
nial Days,  N.  Y.,  1887;  and  his  Hist,  of  Cath.  Church  in  the  United  States,  4 
vols.,  N.  Y.,  1886-92.  See  also  the  historical  works  of  Francis  Parkman,  and, 
to  offset  some  of  his  representations,  Edouard  Richard,  Acadia,  2  vols.,  N.  Y., 
1895.  For  Virginia  see  E.  D.  Neill,  Hist,  of  the  Virginia  Company,  Albany, 
1870;  his  Virginia  Vetusta,  Albany,  1885  (see  C.  A.  Briggs,  Presb.  Rev.,  1885, 
369,  370) ;  and  his  other  works  (for  list  see  L.  W.  Bacon,  p.  44,  note) ;  Alex. 
Brown,  The  First  Republic  in  America,  Bost.,  1898— a  work  of  great  impor- 
tance. For  Pilgrim  and  Puritan  see  Sketch  of  the  Origin  and  Recent  Hist, 
of  the  New  England  Company,  Lond.,  1884  (see  C.  A.  Briggs  in  Presb.  Rev., 
1884,  748-750) ;  A.  Young,  Chronicles  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  and  of  the  Colony 
of  Plymouth,  1602-25,  Bost.,  1841,  new  ed.  1844— a  collection  of  documents; 
W.  Bradford,  Hist,  of  Plymouth  Plantation,  printed  in  Young,  as  above,  sep- 
arately for  the  Mass.  Hist.  Soc,  Bost.,  1856,  and  by  the  Massachusetts  Govern- 
ment, 1899.  (This  celebrated  manuscript  was  returned  in  1897  to  the  custody 
of  the  commonwealth  of  Massachusetts  by  the  courtesy  of  Bishop  Creighton, 
of  London — the  MS.  had  been  in  the  library  of  Fulham  Palace— and  other  au- 
thorities, and  through  the  agency  of  Senator  Hoar  and  of  Ambassador  Bayard. 


LITERATURE:   THE  AMERICAN  CHURCH.  873 

See  full  account  in  the  pref.  to  the  Commonwealth  edition  of  the  history  and 
in  Boston  Herald,  May  27,  1897.)  See  also  L.  Bacon,  Genesis  of  the  New  Eng- 
land Churches,  N.  Y.,  1874;  J.  A.  Faulkner,  On  the  Early  Religious  Hist,  of 
New  England,  in  Reformed  Quar.  Rev.,  Oct.,  1893,  510  ff . ;  John  Brown,  Pil- 
grim Fathers  and  their  Puritan  Successors,  N.  Y.,  1895,  new  ed.  1897;  J. 
Gregory,  Puritanism  in  the  Old  World  and  in  the  New,  N.  Y.,  1896  (see  The 
Nation,  N.  Y,  Aug.  6,  1896, 109);  Edward  Arber,  Story  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  as 
told  by  Themselves,  their  Friends,  and  their  Enemies,  Lond.  and  Bost.,  1897  (see 
The  Nation,  May  13,  1897,  364,  365) ;  E.  H.  Byington,  The  Puritan  in  England 
and  New  England,  Bost.,  1896,  rev.  ed.  1897.  On  Rhode  Island  see  Lives  of 
Roger  Williams,  S.  G.  Arnold,  Hist,  of  Rhode  Island,  2  vols.,  1859-60,  and  F. 
Greene  Bates.  Rhode  Island  and  the  Formation  of  the  Union,  N.  Y.  and  Lond., 
1899.  On  Pennsylvania  see  Lives  of  William  Penn,  Histories  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  especially  Isaac  Sharpless,  A  Quaker  Experiment  in  Government, 
2  vols.,  Phila.,  1898-9.     See  also  below  p.  882,  note. 

n.    COLONIAL   DEVELOPMENT. 

For  New  England  see,  among  others,  R.  P.  Hallowell,  The  Quaker  Inva- 
sion of  Massachusetts,  Bost.,  1883  :  a  defense  of  the  Quakers  ;  Brooks  Adams, 
The  Emancipation  of  Massachusetts,  Bost. ,  1887 :  too  violent  in  its  polemic 
against  Puritans,  and  yet  an  important  book  (see  C.  A.  Briggs  in  Presb.  Rev., 
viii,  551) ;  John  Fiske,  Beginnings  of  New  England :  the  Puritan  Theocracy 
in  its  Relation  to  Civil  and  Religious  Liberty,  Bost.,  1889,  new  ed.  1898  :  con- 
ceived in  an  impartial  and  philosophical  spirit ;  Paul  E.  Lauer,  Church  and 
State  in  New  England,  Baltimore,  Johns  Hopkins  Press,  1892  ;  G.  L.  Walker, 
Some  Aspects  of  the  Religious  Life  of  New  England,  Bost.,  1897  (See  Am. 
Hist.  Rev.,  iii,  374).  For  Maryland,  besides  the  works  of  Neill,  see  W.  H. 
Browne,  Maryland  (American  Commonwealths  Series),  Bost.,  1878,  and  G. 
Petrie,  Church  and  State  in  Early  Maryland,  Baltimore,  Johns  Hopkins  Press, 
1892.  For  Virginia  see  J.  E.  Cooke,  Virginia,  Bost.,  1883  ;  J.  H.  Patton,  Sepa- 
ration of  Church  and  State  in  Virginia,  in  Presb.  Rev.,  Jan.,  1883,  art.  ii ; 
and  H.  R.  McHwaine,  Struggle  of  Protestant  Dissenters  for  Liberty  in  Virginia, 
Baltimore  (Johns  Hopkins),  1894.  For  New  York  see  E.  B.  O'Callagan,  Hist, 
of  the  New  Netherlands,  2  vols.,  N.  Y.,  1846,  new  ed.  1855  (O'Callagan  also 
published  all  the  documents  relating  to  colonial  New  York  he  could  procure 
in  Holland,  England,  and  France,  10  vols.,  Albany,  1854)  ;  J.  R.  Brodhead, 
Hist,  of  State  of  N.  Y,  2  vols.,  1609-64,  N.  Y,  1853,  1664-91,  1871  (see  D. 
Curry  in  Meth.  Quar.  Rev.,  Oct.,  1854,  578  ff.) ;  M.  Dix  (editor),  Hist,  of  the  Par- 
ish of  Trinity  Church,  vol.  i,  to  1783,  N.  Y,  1898.  Great  Awakening:  Jos. 
Tracy,  The  Great  Awakening,  a  hist,  of  the  Great  Revival  in  the  Time  of 
Edwards  and  Whitefield,  Bost.,  1842  (standard)  ;  E.  H.  Byington,  Jonathan 
Edwards  and  the  Great  Awakening,  in  Bibliotheca  Sacra,  Jan.,  1898,  114  ff. 

hi.  denominational  development. 

Among  the  many  works  dealing  with  the  history  of  the  American  Churches 
during  the  national  period  we  can  refer  only  to  the  latest  series,  namely,  those 
published  in  New  York  under  the  auspices  of  the  American  Soc.  of  Church 
History,  and  to  the  admirable  bibliographical  lists  which  precede  each  history. 
We  arrange  in  chronological  order,  with  occasional  mention  of  books  published 


874  HISTORY  OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

since— General :  H.  K.  Carroll,  Religious  Forces  of  the  United  States,  1893 
rev.  ed.    1898  ;  L.  W.  Bacon,  see  above,  under  I ;  Lutherans  :   H.  E.  Jacobs 
1893  (see  also  Lutheran  Enc,  N.  Y.,  1899) ;  Baptists :  A.  H.  Newman,  1894  (see 
H.  M.  King,  Baptism  of  Roger  Williams,   Providence,  1897) ;  Congregational 
ists  :  Williston  Walker,  1894 ;  Unitarians :  J.  H.  Allen  ;  and  Universalists  :  R 
Eddy,  1894: — in  1vol.;  Methodists,  South:  Gross  Alexander  ;   United  Presby 
terians :  J.  B.  Scouller ;  Cumberland  Presbyterians:  R.  V.  Foster  ;  the  Presbyte 
rians,  South:  F.  C.  Johnson — all  in  lvol.,  1894  ;  Disciples:  B.  B.  Tyler;  Friends 
A.  C.  Thomas ;  United  Brethren  s  D.  Berger  ;   Evangelical  Association  :  S.  P 
Spreng— all  in  1  vol.,  1894  ;  Presbyterian:  R.  E.  Thompson,  1895  ;  Roman  Cath 
olics  :  T.  O'Gorman,  1895 ;  Reformed  Church  in  the  United  States  :  E.  T.  Cor 
win  ;  Reformed  Church  in  America  :  J.  H.  Dubbs  ;   Moravian  Church  :   J.  F 
Hamilton— all  in  1  vol.,  1895  ;  Episcopal :  C.  C.  Tiffany,  1895  ;  Methodists  :  J 
M.  Buckley,  1896.     See  also  last  (7th)  ed.  of  S.  D.  McConnell,  Hist,  of  American 
Episcopal  Church,  with  new  chap.,  N.  Y.,  1899  ;   John  Atkinson,  Beginnings 
of  the  Wesleyan  Movement  in  America,  N.  Y.,  1896  :   a  work  of  great  impor- 
tance; D.  Berger,  Hist,  of  the  Church  of  United  Brethren  in  Christ,  Dayton,  0., 
1897  (682  pp.)-  Recent  historical  controversies  among  the  Baptists  have  brought 
out  a  number  of  important  monographs  on  their  early  history  in  this  country 
and  in  the  old. 

rv.   MISSIONS. 

Besides  denominational  histories  of  Missions,  see  James  Johnston,  Century 
of  Christian  Progress  and  its  Lessons,  Lond. ,  1888  ;  Handbook  of  Foreign 
Missions,  Lond.,  1888;  W.  F.  Stevenson,  Dawn  of  Modern  Missions,  Edinb. 
and  N.  Y.,  1888  ;  Edwin  Hodder,  Conquests  of  the  Cross  ;  Records  of  Mission- 
ary Work,  2  vols.,  Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  1890-91 ;  E.  M.  Bliss,  Encyclop.  of  Missions, 

2  vols.,  N  Y.,  1891 ;  D.  L.  Leonard,  A  Hundred  Years  of  Missions,  N.  Y., 
1895 ;  James  S.  Dennis,  Foreign  Missions  after  a  Century,  N.  Y.,  1893,  and 
Christian  Missions  and  Social  Progress,  3  vols.,  N.  Y,  1898-1900:  the  most 
important  monograph  in  the  language. 

v.   REFORMS. 

Antislavery  :  Henry  Wilson,  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Slave  Power  in  America, 

3  vols.,  Bost.,  1872;  Oliver  Johnson,  Garrison  and  His  Times,  Bost.,  1879, 
rev.  ed.  1881  ;  G.  W.  Williams,  Hist,  of  the  Negro  Race  in  America,  N.  Y., 
1882;  Parker  Pillsbury,  Acts  of  the  Antislavery  Apostles,  Concord,  1883.  See 
also  the  three  books  on  the  relation  of  the  Church  to  slavery,  repub.  by  Pills- 
bury  at  Concord,  in  1885-88 ;  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  Story  of  His  Life,  4 
vols.,  Bost.,  1885  ;  Austin  Willey,  Hist,  of  the  Antislavery  Cause  in  State  and 
Nation,  Portland,  Me.,  1886  (see  Edw.  Hawes  in  Andover  Rev.,  vi,  106-108). 
Temperance  :  See  above,  p.  808.  Other  reforms  :  See  W.  D.  P.  Bliss,  Encyc. 
of  Social  Reform,  N.  Y.  and  Lond.,  1897,  with  the  literature  there  referred  to, 
and  the  reports  and  other  literature  of  the  various  philanthropic  societies. 
For  lists  of  many  of  these  societies  see  New  York  Charities  Directory,  1899. 


THE   PLANTING   OF  THE  CHURCH.  875 


III.  THE  AMERICAN  CHURCH. 
CHAPTER   I. 

THE    PLANTING-    OF    THE    CHURCH. 

The  genuineness  of  the  religious  motive  as  one  of  the  causes 
leading  to  the  Spanish  discoveries  and  colonization  in  America 
cannot  be  doubted.  Columbus  was  not  a  religious  THE  Spanish 
enthusiast,  but  that  he  was  upheld  by  a  firm  faith  in  C0NQUEST- 
God  and  actuated  with  a  desire  to  glorify  him  and  his  Church 
rests  on  indisputable  evidence.  The  same  is  true  of  the  Spanish 
conquests.  Of  course  the  lust  of  gold  and  other  ignoble  motives 
bore  on  Leon,  De  Soto,  Balboa,  Pizarro,  and  other  conquerors  and 
explorers,  and  they  carried  through  their  work  with  infinite  wick- 
edness, but  that  rather  accompanied  than  destroyed  the  other 
motive — to  win  new  trophies  for  the  Church.  "The  conversion 
of  the  Indians/'  wrote  the  Spanish  king  to  his  representatives 
in  America,  "  is  the  principal  foundation  of  the  conquest — that 
which  ought  principally  to  be  attended  to."  Although  individ- 
ual conquerors  might  at  times  be  remiss  in  this  duty,  on  the 
whole  it  was  performed,  generally  by  Franciscan  friars,  with  zeal 
and  heroism.  Over  large  regions  now  within  the  United  States, 
including  Florida  (1512  ff.),  New  Mexico  (1598  ff.),  and  California 
(1769  ff.),  the  Spanish  flag  and  Church  were  firmly  planted. 
Thousands  of  Indians  were  baptized,  though  in  some  cases  not 
until  after  wars,  defeats,  massacres,  and  martyrdoms. 

Spain's  method  was  to  offer  life  to  the  natives  if  they  received  her 
king  and  religion,  and,  if  they  refused,  to  make  war  against  them 
and  bring  them  into  slavery.1  Spain  established  many  mission  sta- 
tions and  conversion  was  accomplished  by  baptism  and  slight re- 
instruction.  With  the  collapse  of  Spanish  rule  the  spanisiT 
missionary  structure  fell.  It  passed  away  like  a  tale  missions. 
that  is  told.  A  Catholic  scholar  says  that  to-day  we  can  "  find  noth- 
ing of  it  that  remains.     Names  of  saints  in  melodious  Spanish 

1  See  Helps,  Spanish  Conquest  of  America,  i,  235,  355,  and  Bacon,  Hist,  of 
American  Christianity,  p.  8.  There  were  protests  against  the  Spanish  cruel- 
ties from  among  themselves.  Especially  does  Las  Casas  stand  out  in  this  his- 
tory for  his  splendid  efforts  for  the  Indians.  See  an  able  article  on  him  by 
Starbuck  in  the  New  World,  v,  305  ff . 


876  HISTORY  OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

stand  out  from  maps  in  all  that  section  where  the  Spanish  monk 
trod,  toiled,  and  died.  A  few  thousand  Christian  Indians,  de- 
scendants of  those  they  converted  and  civilized,  still  survive  in 
New  Mexico  and  Arizona,  and  that  is  all."  '  What  accounts  for  this 
disappearance  ?  It  is  God's  judgment  on  the  fearful  cruelty  with 
which  Spain  carried  on  her  work.  The  passing  away  of  a  Church 
and  civilization  founded  on  slaughter,  slavery,  and  massacre, 
would  be  a  just  retribution.  Again,  the  natives  who  were  not 
killed  in  battle  melted  away  in  slavery.  In  some  cases  the  popu- 
lation absolutely  perished.  The  Church,  moreover,  was  associated 
in  the  minds  of  the  natives  with  the  cruelties  of  the  conquest 
and  when  a  reaction  came  or  when  the  strong  arm  of  the  sword 
was  removed,  the  natives  would  sometimes  arise,  massacre  the  mis- 
sionaries, and  revert  to  their  old  religion.  The  missions  were 
supported  by  foreign  subsidies,  which  prevented  a  strong  native 
growth.  The  wholesale  and  external  methods  of  conversion 
adopted  by  Catholic  missionaries  do  not  result  in  a  permanent 
Church.  It  was  evidently  not  in  God's  plan  that  Catholicism,  and 
least  of  all  the  Spanish  type  of  it,  should  be  the  religion  of  the 
United  States. 

Far  different  was  the  spirit  of  the  French  advance  in  America. 
In  1604  they  made  the  first  European  settlement  north  of  Florida, 
and  in  the  oldest  town  but  one  in  the  United  States  and  Canada — 
Annapolis,  Nova  Scotia, — one  can  still  see  their  forts  and  prisons 
the  french  built  apparently  for  eternity.1  In  1608  they  founded 
occupation.  Quebec,  and  from  that  time  on  for  fifty  years  or 
more  they  pushed  their  posts,  military,  commercial,  and  religious, 
through  Canada,  including  the  upper  parts  of  the  States  of  New 
York,  Vermont,  and  Maine,  then  westward  to  the  Mississippi,  and 
down  that  river,  meeting  their  brethren  coming  from  the  south. 
What  a  domain  was  theirs — the  two  great  waterways  of  North 
America,  and  the  very  heart  of  the  continent  !  The  French 
largely  justified  this  apparent  gift  of  America  to  themselves.  Bacon 
says  :  "  Instead  of  a  greedy  scramble  after  other  men's  property  in 
gold  and  silver,  the  business  basis  of  the  French  enterprises  was  to 
consist  in  a  widely  organized  and  laboriously  prosecuted  traffic  in 
furs.  Instead  of  a  series  of  desultory  and  savage  campaigns  of 
conquests,  the  ferocity  of  which  was  aggravated  by  a  show  of  zeal 
for  the  kingdom  of  righteousness  and  peace,  was  a  large-minded 

1  O'Gorman,  Hist,  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States,  p.  112. 

2  Like  St.  Augustine,  Florida,  founded  1565,  this  town  has  had  a  continuous 
existence  ever  since.     It  was  the  capital  of  Nova  Scotia  from  1604  to  1750. 


THE   PLANTING   OF   THE  CHURCH.  877 

and  far-sighted  scheme  of  empire,  under  which  remote  and  hostile 
tribes  were  to  be  combined  by  ties  of  mutual  interest  and  common 
advantage." '  The  men  who  were  intrusted  with  this  great  work 
were  many  of  them  worthy  of  the  honor.  Their  military  leaders 
were  men  of  stainless  name,  and  their  priests  devoted  themselves 
to  the  work  of  Christianizing  the  Indians  with  heroic  self-sacrifice 
and  courage.  The  annals  of  martyrdom  contain  no  more  glorious 
record  than  those  of  the  Jesuit  missionaries  to  the  northern  Indi- 
ans tortured  to  death  by  their  savage  beneficiaries. 

At  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  French  Catholicism 
bid  fair  to  be  the  religion  of  America.  France  owned  the  north- 
ern and  central  portions  of  the  continent,  and  everything  looked 
favorable  for  a  greater  France  across  the  Atlantic.  „,„„  raa„„B 
But  man  proposes,  God  disposes.  The  Seven  Years'  seVTenyears* 
War  breaks  out,  and  at  its  close  in  1763  Great  Britain  WAK- 
owns  not  only  Spanish  Florida,  but  all  the  French  possessions  in 
America.  Nor  is  there  anything  left  of  the  colonial  and  mission- 
ary work  except  one  province  in  Canada,  a  few  thousand  Catholic 
Indians,  and  a  French  province  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  to 
be  incorporated  into  the  Union  in  1812.  What  would  have  been 
the  effect  if  the  whole  country  had  passed  under  French  rule,  with 
its  dominating  Catholicism,  it  is  futile  to  conjecture.  And  yet  the 
history  and  condition  of  the  province  of  Quebec  are  solemnly  sug- 
gestive.2 However,  the  United  States  has  had  in  recent  years  a 
forceful  reminder  of  the  French  regime  by  the  incoming  of  thou- 
sands of  French  Canadians  into  the  industrial  centers  of  New 
England. 

Nowhere  is  the  saying  "  the  last  shall  be  first "  better  illustrated 
than  in  the  history  of  the  Protestant  Church  in  America.  A  few 
weak,  straggling  settlements,  planted  without  concert  with  one  an- 
other and  without  endowment  or  help  from  Europe,        T,^TT„T,T,„a 

r  ir    >  FOUNDERS 

in  most  cases  the  despised  cast-out  refugees  of  eccle-        OF  THE 

r  b  AMERICAN 

siastical  and  political  tyranny,  were  the  unpromising        church. 
beginners  of  the  American  Church.    In  nearly  every  case  the  found- 
ers of  American    Christianity  were  the   persecuted  who   resisted 

1  History  of  American  Christianity,  p.  19. 

2  "  The  aspects  of  the  French  Catholic  districts  in  Quebec,"  says  L.  W. 
Bacon,  ' '  in  which  the  pledge  of  full  liberty  to  the  dominant  Church  has  been 
scrupulously  fulfilled  by  the  British  government,  may  reasonably  be  regarded 
as  an  indication  of  what  France  would  have  done  for  the  continent  in  general." 
— Ibid.,  p.  23.  This  author  also  gives  an  able  and  philosophical  discussion  of 
the  causes  of  the  failure  of  the  French  missions,  pp.  24-29. 


878  HISTORY    OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

not  evil,  but  forlorn  and  disappointed  took  their  sorrowful  way 
across  the  inhospitable  waters.  The  Anglican  persecution  of  Puritan 
and  Congregationalist  gave  us  the  Plymouth  and  Massachusetts  Bay 
Colonies  ;  persecutions  of  Catholics  from  the  same  source  made 
Maryland ;  aud  Episcopal  harrying  of  the  Friends  created  the 
noble  colony  of  Pennsylvania.  The  enrichment  of  America  by 
Anglican  tyranny  does  not  stop  here,  for  it  drove  thousands  of 
Scotch  Presbyterians  from  Scotland  to  Ireland,  and  then  from 
Ireland  to  America.  No  strain  in  American  blood  is  more  precious 
than  the  Scotch-Irish.  Eoman  persecution  sent  multitudes  of 
Huguenots  from  France,  and  these  have  founded  great  American 
families  whose  services  in  industry,  in  literature,  in  politics,  and 
religion  have  blessed  the  world.  Then  the  ravaging  of  the  Ger- 
man Palatinate  by  the  Eoman  Catholic  Louis  XIV  forced  an  emi- 
gration which,  while  it  impoverished  Germany,  enriched  America. 
Finally,  the  persecutions  of  the  archbishop  of  Salzburg  added  a 
welcome  element  to  the  population,  especially  in  the  south.  But 
this  large  recruiting  of  the  American  Church  from  the  ranks  of 
the  persecuted  must  not  make  us  too  sanguine  as  to  toleration 
here.     That  is  a  topic  on  which  history  has  surprises. 

The  first  English  settlement  and  church  were  at  Jamestown, 
Va.,  in  1607.  No  beginning  could  be  more  unpromising.  With 
the  Virginia  a  ^  °^  spendthrifts,  sluggards,  infidels,  and  scoun- 
colony.  drels,  it  is  no  wonder  that  the  colony  nearly  perished. 

The  redeeming  feature  of  it  was  the  devotion  and  example  of  Rob- 
ert Hunt,  the  Episcopal  chaplain.  Under  a  tree,  with  a  roof 
made  of  an  old  sail  and  the  congregation  seated  on  logs,  the  first 
Protestant  worship  in  America  was  held.  They  had  their  common 
prayer  morning  and  evening,  every  Sunday  two  sermons,  and  every 
three  months  the  holy  communion.  "  The  sturdy  resolution  of 
Captain  Smith,  who  in  his  marches  through  the  wilderness  was 
wont  to  begin  the  day  with  prayer  and  psalm,  and  was  not  un- 
equal to  the  duty  when  it  was  laid  upon  him,  of  giving  Christian 
exhortation,  as  well  as  righteous  punishment,  and  the  gentle 
Christian  influence  of  the  Rev.  Robert  Hunt,  were  the  salt  that 
saved  the  colony  from  utterly  perishing  of  its  vices."  '  In  1611, 
the  apostle  of  Virginia,  Alexander  Whitaker,  arrived  at  Jamestown. 
With  the  aid  of  Dale,  one  of  the  most  enlightened  and  pious  gov- 
ernors of  the  colonies,  the  Church  of  Virginia,  which  under  its  best 
days  after  1609  was  really  the  Puritan  Church  of  England,  saw  a 
noble  work  performed  in  spiritually  ministering  to  its  rapidly  in- 
'L.  W.  Bacon.,  I.  c,  pp.  41,42. 


THE  PLANTING   OF   THE   CHURCH.  879 

creasing  inhabitants.  But  after  1624  the  charter  was  revoked, 
and  under  the  uncompromising  Anglicanism  of  Charles  I  and 
Charles  II  the  Church  sank  into  lethargy.  It  was  still  wide-awake 
enough,  however,  to  persecute  Baptists  and  Quakers. 

The  next  settlement  in  order  of  time  was  the  Pilgrim  Colony  of 
Plymouth  in  1620.  These  were  a  few  Congregationalists — one 
hundred  and  two  souls  embarked,  of  whom  one  half  PLYMODTH 
were  dead  before  the  end  of  four  months— "  faithful  colony. 
and  freeborn  Englishmen,"  as  Milton  calls  them,  "good  Chris- 
tians, constrained  to  forsake  their  dearest  home,  their  friends  and 
kindred,  whom  nothing  but  the  wide  ocean  and  the  savage  deserts 
of  America  could  hide  and  shelter  from  the  fury  of  the  bishops." 
They  fled  from  Scrooby  to  Holland,  and  thence  came  to  America, 
landing  December  21,  1620.  That  shivering,  decimated  handful 
of  women  and  men  who  stepped  out  on  Plymouth  Eock  in  that 
awful  winter  were  the  founders- of  American  civilization.  Our 
free  institutions,  and  all  the  glory  of  the  coming  time  which  those 
brave-hearted  pioneers  could  not  see,  date  from  that  landing.  The 
American  ideas  of  the  supremacy  of  law,  representative  govern- 
ment, righteousness,  the  necessity  of  religion  to  the  well-being  of 
the  individual  and  the  State,  and  religious  liberty,  all  came  to  us 
in  the  Mayflower.  The  compact  that  they  drew  up  in  the  cabin  of 
that  vessel  has  been  called  the  fountain  of  constitutional  govern- 
ment,1 and  the  Church  system  which  they  established  has  been  the 
model  of  democracy.  "  We  are  knite  together  as  a  body  in  a  most 
stricte  and  sacred  bonde  and  covenante  of  the  Lord,  of  the  viola- 
tion Whereof  We  hold  ourselves  straitly  tied  to  all  care  of  each 
other's  Good,  and  of  the  Whole  by  everyone  and  so  mutually."3 
This  'covenant  was  signed  by  all,  even  sailors  and  servants.  The 
professor  of  law  at  Geneva,  Charles  Borgeaud,  well  says  that  the 
covenants  of  the  Pilgrim  Congregationalists  "were  the  first  of  a 
series  of  similar  acts  which  have  exercised  a  decisive  and  incon- 
testable influence  on  the  constitutional  law  of  America."3  The 
Pilgrim  Fathers  organized  their  settlement  as  a  democracy.  The 
governor  was  elected  by  popular  vote,  and  his  assistants,  the  Coun- 

1  "  In  the  cabin  of  the  Mayflower  humanity  recovered  its  rights,  and  in- 
stituted government  on  the  basis  of  '  equal  laws '  for  the  '  general  good.' " — 
Bancroft,  Hist,  of  the  United  States,  rev.  ed.,  i,  234. 

'2  Statement  drawn  up  at  request  of  Virginia  Company  in  1617  by  John 
Robinson  and  Brewster,  in  Bradford,  Hist,  of  Plymouth  Plantation,  ed.  Deane, 
Bost.,  1856,  p.  32. 

3  Rise  of  Modern  Democracy  in  Old  and  New  England,  tr. ,  Lond.,  1894,  p.  114. 


880  HISTORY   OP  THE  CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

cil  of  Five,  were  elected  in  the  same  way.  Above  them  sat  the 
chief  body,  a  popular  assembly  composed  of  all  the  male  colonists 
of  full  age.  The  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony  imitated  the  ecclesias- 
tical organization  of  Plymouth,  and  that  became  the  norm  of 
all  the  colonial  governments. 

The  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony,  formed  in  1628,  and  fully  es- 
tablished in  1629,  was  led  by  John  Endicott  at  Naumkeag,  where, 
having  composed  some  differences  in  his  little  band, 
setts  bay  he  called  the  place  Salem.  It  was  composed  of  Puri- 
tan Church  of  England  men,  and  its  ministers — Hig- 
ginson,  Skelton,  and  Bright — were  ordained  members  of  that 
Church.  Cotton  Mather  tells  us  that  when  this  company  was 
leaving  England  Higginson  reminded  them  of  their  church  rela- 
tion. "When  they  came  to  Land's  End,  Mr.  Higginson,  calling 
up  his  children  and  other  passengers  into  the  stern  of  the  ship  to 
take  their  last  sight  of  England,  said,  'We  will  not  say  as  the 
Separatists  were  wont  to  say  at  their  leaving  of  England,  Farewell, 
Babylon  !  farewell,  Eome  !  but  we  will  say,  Farewell,  dear  Eng- 
land !  and  all  the  Christian  friends  there !  We  do  not  go  to  New 
England  as  Separatists  from  the  Church  of  England,  though  we 
cannot  but  separate  from  the  corruptions  in  it ;  but  we  go  to  prac- 
tice the  positive  part  of  Church  reformation  and  propagate  the 
Gospel  in  America."  J  Little  did  the  good  minister  think  at  that 
time  that  the  separation  from  the  corruptions  of  the  Church  of 
England  and  a  positive  reformation  on  the  basis  of  the  Gospel 
would  bring  him  and  his  colonists  into  conformity  with  the  older 
plantation  at  Plymouth.  But  so  it  proved.  Free  from  the  Act  of 
Uniformity  they  could  organize  a  Church  of  Christ  as  they  found 
in  the  Scripture.  This  soon  led  the  Church  of  England  men  to  a 
Church  organization  far  different  from  that  which  they  left  on  the 
white  shores  of  Albion.  The  colony  met,  heard  Higginson  and 
Skelton  declare  their  views  on  the  divine  call  to  the  ministry,  then 
elected  them  as  ministers  by  ballot,  and  after  that  formally  or- 
dained and  appointed  these  clergymen  of  the  Church  of  England 
as  their  own  ministers  with  prayer  and  the  laying  on  of  hands. 
But  who  were  the  Church?  Study  of  the  Bible  convinced  them  that 
it  was  "necessary  for  those  who  intended  to  be  of  the  Church 
solemnly  to  enter  into  a  covenant  engagement,  one  with  another 
in  the  presence  of  God,  to  walk  together  before  him  according  to 
his  word."     Thirty  persons  of  the  Salem  colony  were  then  chosen 

1  L.  "W.  Bacon,  I.  c,  p.  90,  says  that  these  words  of  Higginson  rest  on  the 
sole  authority  of  Cotton  Mather. 


THE  PLANTING   OF   THE   CHURCH.  881 

members  of  the  Church,  who  made  public  vows  of  faithfulness  to 
one  another  and  to  Christ.  "  By  the  Church  thus  constituted  the 
pastor  and  teacher  already  installed  in  office  in  the  parish  were 
instituted  as  ministers  of  the  Church.  Before  the  solemnities 
of  that  notable  day  were  concluded,  a  belated  vessel  that  had  been 
eagerly  awaited  landed  on  the  beach  at  Salem  the  '  messengers  of 
the  Church  at  Plymouth.'  They  came  into  the  assembly,  Gov- 
ernor Bradford  at  the  head,  and  in  the  name  of  the  Pilgrim  Church 
declared  their  '  approbation  and  concurrence '  and  greeted  the  new 
Church,  the  firstborn  in  America,  with  the  '  right  hand  of  fellow- 
ship/ A  thoughtful  and  devoted  student  declares  this  day's  pro- 
ceedings to  be  the  '  beginning  of  a  distinctively  American  Church 
history/"1 

The  Dutch  began  a  settlement  in  what  is  now  New  York  city 
in  1623.  In  1626  two  official  sick-visitors  arrived  to  minister  to 
some  of  the  spiritual  needs  of  the  little  hamlet  of  THE  DUTCH 
Manhattan,  and  in  1628,  when  that  village  numbered  AND  SWEDES- 
two  hundred  and  seventy  souls,  Jonas  Michaelius,  Dutch  Eeformed 
minister,  arrived.  In  1633  he  was  reinforced  by  the  faithful 
Everard  Bogardus,  but  for  some  time  the  Dutch  Church  had  a 
fitful  and  precarious  existence.  After  1637  the  Swedish  Lutherans 
came  to  Delaware,  and  their  diligent  and  self-sacrificing  minister, 
John  Campanius,  made  a  glorious  record  by  his  labors  for  his  fel- 
low-countrymen and  the  Delaware  Indians. 

Maryland  has  the  enviable  honor  of  being  the  first  colony  which 
started  out  with  a  formal  declaration  of  religious  toleration  to  all 
Christians,  and,  as  its  founder  was  a  Roman  Catholic,  writers  of 
that  faith  have  naturally  made  the  most  of  this  singu- 

J  .  -i    •     -i  MARYLAND 

lar  exhibition  of  liberality  in  an  intolerant  and  mhos-     and  lord 

,     t,  ,    .  .  •     •         J     •  BALTIMORE. 

pitable  age,  and  Protestant  historians  have  joined  id 
their  felicitatioDS.  But  recent  research  has  placed  the  matter  in  a 
new  light,  although  no  research  has  affected  the  two  facts  :  (1)  that 
Maryland  was  founded  by  a  liberal  and  even  Gallio-like  Catholic, 
who  both  from  principle  and  from  interest  incorporated  the  prin- 
ciple of  religious  equality  in  his  colony,  proved  faithful  to  that 
principle  so  long  as  he  had  power,  and  even  invited  the  persecuted 
from  other  colonies  to  come  under  the  protecting  shadow  of  his 
constitution ;  and  (2)  that  the  refugees  came  with  a  vengeance, 
and  finally  paid  back  the  toleration  of  Lord  Baltimore  by  the  legal 
establishment  of  Protestantism  in  1688,  though  in  the  form  of  the 

1  L.  W.  Bacon,  I.  c,  pp.  96,  97.  He  refers  to  his  honored  father's  valuable 
Genesis  of  the  New  England  Churches,  p.  477. 

58  2 


882  HISTORY  OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

small  and,  according  to  the  testimony  of  historians,  the  morally 
disreputable  Church  of  England.  The  original  toleration  of  Balti- 
more's charter  had  been  confirmed  by  the  substantially  Puritan 
House  of  Assembly.  The  Catholics  were  always  a  very  small  sec- 
tion of  the  population. 

Southern  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania  received  their  religious 
consecration  under  Quaker  auspices.  The  company  who  controlled 
West  Jersey  made  this  noble  statement :  "  We  lay  a  foundation  for 
after  ages  to  understand  their  liberty  as  men  and  Christians,  that 
the  quaker  they  may  not  be  brought  into  bondage  but  by  their 
settlers.  own  congent ;  for  we  put  the  power  in  the  people."  In 
1681  William  Penn,  in  lieu  of  a  monetary  claim  upon  the  crown, 
received  vast  territory  in  America,  which  he  called  Sylvania  on 
account  of  its  forests,  but  which  the  king  insisted  should  be  called 
Pennsylvania  for  Penn's  father,  Admiral  William  Penn.  Penn's 
scheme  of  government  was  worthy  of  his  Quaker  heart.  "I  pur- 
pose for  the  matters  of  liberty,  I  purpose  that  which  is  extraordi- 
nary— to  leave  myself  and  successors  no  power  of  doing  mischief 
that  the  will  of  one  man  may  not  hinder  the  good  of  a  whole 
country.  It  is  the  great  end  of  government  to  support  power 
in  reverence  with  the  people,  and  to  secure  the  people  from  the 
abuse  of  power  ;  for  liberty  without  obedience  is  confusion,  and 
obedience  without  liberty  is  slavery."  Nobly  did  Penn  carry  out 
these  principles  in  his  model  commonwealth.  He  was  joined  by 
various  religionists  from  the  Old  World,  mostly  fleeing  from  perse- 
cution— the  Mennonites,  led  by  the  "Pennsylvania  Pilgrim"  Pas- 
torius,  the  Tunkers,  the  Schwenkfelders,  and  the  Eeformed  Ger- 
mans from  the  Palatinate,  and  later  Lutherans  and  Eeformed  from 
the  established  Churches.1 

'See  Bacon,  I.  c,  p.  117.  For  a  general  view  of  the  course  of  American 
Christianity  at  once  able  and  interesting,  written  with  a  just  historical  6ense 
and  with  original  and  penetrating  opinions  and  criticisms,  this  work  by  Leon- 
ard Woolsey  Bacon  is  the  best.  The  German  sects  in  Pennsylvania  have  been 
industriously  investigated  by  Samuel  W.  Pennypacker  in  Historical  and  Bio- 
graphical Sketches,  Phila.,  1883,  and  especially  by  Julius  Friedrich  Sachse, 
of  Philadelphia,  in  three  portly  volumes,  The  German  Pietists  of  Pennsylvania, 
1694-1708,  Phila.,  1895,  and  The  German  Sectarians  of  Pennsylvania,  1708-1742, 
a  Critical  and  Legendary  History  of  the  Ephrata  Cloister  and  the  Dunkers, 
Phila.,  1899,  to  be  followed  by  another  volume  in  1900  or  1901. 


THE   RELIGIOUS   DEVELOPMENT   OF  THE   COLONIES.     883 


CHAPTEE  II. 

THE    RELIGIOUS    DEVELOPMENT    OF    THE    COLONIES. 

Episcopalianism  in  Virginia  and  Maryland  reminds  us  of  what 
we  have  seen  of  its  condition  in  the  eighteenth  century,  or  even  after 
the  Eestoration.  As  a  rule  its  clergy  were  careless  of  all  the  obli- 
gations of  their  office  when  they  were  not  positively  VIKGINIA 
immoral.  A  contemporary  describes  them  as  "so  £Af£DMABT" 
basely  educated,  so  little  acquainted  with  the  excel- 
lency of  their  charge  and  duty,  that  their  lives  and  conversations 
are  more  fitted  to  make  heathens  than  Christians."1  The  com- 
missioners of  the  bishop  of  London,  Bray  and  Blair,  came  over  and 
tried  to  correct  abuses  and  silence  the  most  scandalous  of  the 
clergy,  but  neither  succeeded.  It  was  not  until  the  War  of  Inde- 
pendence had  swept  away  all  State  support  and  weeded  out  the 
worthless  clergy  that  Episcopaliauism  lifted  up  its  head  in  the 
South.  The  labors  of  Whitefield  and  the  great  awakening  had 
also  a  marked  influence  toward  this  purification.  They  helped 
also  in  giving  an  evangelical  tone  to  the  Episcopal  Church  in 
Virginia  which  it  never  lost.  Its  theological  seminary  there  is  the 
only  evangelical  school  in  the  whole  Church.  Blair  threw  himself 
with  indomitable  perseverance  into  the  discouraging  task  of  inter- 
esting the  people  of  Virginia  in  a  college,  solicited  funds  for  it, 
and  by  the  aid  of  English  contributions  was  at  last  able  to  see  its 
walls  arise  at  "Williamsburg  in  1693. 2     William  and 

,      .       ,      ,      .  „  ,  WILLIAM  AND 

Mary  College  did  a  great  work  m  helping  forward  the  mary  col- 
redemption  of  the  Virginian  Church.     And  when  we 
ask  the  reason  of  the  prominence  of  Virginia  in  the  Revolutionary 
times  we  must  not  forget  the  services  of  that  little  college  on  the 
James  River  in  the  oldest  incorporated  town  in  the  State. 

The  colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay  was  in  effect  a  private  cor- 
poration having  its  own  regulations,  and  those  who  sought  its 
privileges  were  supposed  to  abide  by  these.  Roger  Williams,  an 
earnest,  sincere,  self-opinionated  minister  at  Salem,  was  a  Sep- 

1  Perry,  Historical  Collections,  Virginia,  p.  30. 

2  Much  interesting  information  concerning  the  early  history  of  religion  and 
education  in  Virginia  will  be  found  in  H.  B.  Adams,  Hist,  of  William  and 
Mary  College,  pub.  by  the  Bureau  of  Education,  Washington,  D.  C,  1887. 


884  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

aratist   of  the   Separatists,  and  greatly  annoyed  the   colony   by 

denying  its  right  to  punish  Sabbath  breaking  and  other  offenses 

of  the  first  table,  and  its  right  to  swear  worldly  per- 

MASSACHU-  '  .  .  .  * 

setts  bay        sons.     For  these  and  other  opinions  he  was  banished 

AND  ROGER  .  A 

Williams.  in  1G35.  In  midwinter  he  proceeded  to  Narragan- 
sett  Bay,  where  he  bought  lands  from  the  Indians,  and  in  1636 
founded  Providence  and  established  a  pure  democracy.  Others 
in  sympathy  with  his  advanced  view  on  toleration  followed  him, 
and  in  1639  they  founded  the  first  Baptist  church  in  the  new 
world,  Williams  receiving  baptism  by  immersion  from  Holliman, 
a  layman,  and  then  baptizing  Holliman  and  several  others.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  from  the  standpoint  of  the  colonists  the  ban- 
ishment of  Williams  was  justifiable,  as  they  sincerely  believed  that 
his  opinions  would  subvert  their  foundations.  On  the  other  hand 
it  is  easy  to  see  that  they  were  mistaken  as  to  this,  inasmuch  as 
the  peace  and  order  of  his  own  colony,  founded  on  those  opinions, 
were  never  disturbed.  Milton  calls  Williams  "that  noble  con- 
fessor of  religious  liberty/'  and  he  deserves  eternal  honor  as  being 
the  first  man  in  America  to  grasp  the  principle  of  toleration.  But 
he  deserves  a  greater  honor  because  he  had  the  daring  faith  to 
venture  to  apply  that  principle  in  the  government  of  a  common- 
wealth when  he  had  no  precedents  to  guide  him.  Catholics  have 
objected  that  he  excluded  them  from  toleration.1  This  is  not  so. 
Later  a  clause  to  that  effect  was  added  to  the  statutes,  probably 
interpolated  by  the  committee  collating  the  laws  about  1699,  though 
later  still  the  interpolated  clause  received  recognition  by  the  legisla- 
ture, and  so  stood  until  it  was  rescinded  in  1783. 2  But  no  Catholic 
suffered  in  Ehode  Island  on  account  of  religion,  and  even  Quakers 
were  exempted  from  service  in  the  local  militia. 

The  banishment  of  Mrs.  Ann  Hutchinson  and  her  friends  in 
1638  was  less  justifiable,  as  it  arose  from  a  purely  theological  con- 
ann  hutch-  troversy,  and  a  controversy  in  which  it  is  quite  likely 
inson.  ^at  strong-minded  and  noble-hearted  woman  was  in 

the  right.8     It  appears  that  the  Puritan  preachers  had  been  un- 

1  "  Rhode  Island  boasts  of  having  established  religious  toleration  ;  but  her 
founder  was  an  Anti-Catholic  fanatic,  and  one  of  the  earliest  laws  pointedly  ex- 
cluded Catholics  from  civil  rights."— De  Courcy  and  Shea,  Hist,  of  the  Cath. 
Church  in  the  United  States,  p.  524. 

2  Arnold,  Hist,  of  Rhode  Island,  ii,  490-497 ;  Sheldon,  Church  History,  iv,  188. 

3  "Walker,  Hist,  of  the  Congregational  Churches  in  the  United  States,  p.  138, 
and  Bacon,  Hist,  of  American  Christianity,  p.  101,  give  quite  different  por- 
traitures of  Mrs.  Hutchinson.  Unfortunately,  we  have  no  contemporary  ac- 
count except  from  her  enemies. 


THE   RELIGIOUS   DEVELOPMENT   OF   THE   COLONIES.     885 

duly  cold  and  ethical  in  their  preaching,  and  Mrs.  Hutchinson  called 
them  back  to  the  biblical  doctrines  of  grace  and  the  witness  of 
the  Spirit.  She  held  meetings  of  women  which  were  seasons  of 
spiritual  refreshing.  At  these  meetings  the  sermons  of  the  preced- 
ing Sunday  would  sometimes  be  criticised.  Unfortunately,  instead 
of  the  ministers  taking  all  this  in  a  large-minded  way  as  an  indica- 
tion that  there  might  be  a  lack  in  their  preaching,  and  by  tact  and 
love  conciliating  the  dissentient  element,  they  proceeded  by  disci- 
pline, censure,  council,  and  excommunication.  Whether  Mrs. 
Hutchinson  really  anticipated  Methodist  testimony  as  to  the  wit- 
ness of  the  Spirit  and  holiness  we  cannot  positively  affirm,  as  we 
have  no  authoritative  record  of  her  words.  But  it  is  evident  that 
she  was  a  believer  in  a  more  inward  and  mystical  piety  than  that 
allowed  by  the  logical  externalism  of  Calvinism.  Her  large  fol- 
lowing by  many  of  the  best  and  most  mature  minds  of  the  town 
makes  it  probable  that  there  was  really  nothing  heretical  or  dan- 
gerous in  her  teachings,  though  the  honesty  of  her  opponents  in 
believing  the  contrary  need  not  be  questioned.  Her  real  offense  wa& 
in  challenging  the  standing  of  the  clerical  rulers  of  the  colony.1 

The  pastor  of  the  church  at  Cambridge  (1633),  then  called 
Newtown,  was  one  of  the  most  broad-minded  and  statesmanlike 
of  all  the  Puritans.  This  man,  Thomas  Hooker,  was  Connecticut 
out  of  sympathy  in  some  measure  with  the  theocratic  7nd  daven- 
and  somewhat  high-handed  government  of  the  Bay  PORT- 
colony,  and  for  that  and  other  reasons  led  his  flock  in  1636  to  the 
valley  of  the  Connecticut  and  founded  Hartford.  Others  preceded 
and  followed  him,  especially  pastor  Warham,  of  Dorchester,  with 
his  flock.  Hooker  made  his  colony  more  democratic,  and  imitated 
Plymouth  in  not  requiring  church  membership  as  a  qualification 
for  voting.  Thomas  Hooker  is  a  statesman  and  founder  worthy  to 
be  compared  with  the  heroes  of  mankind.  Not  long  after  (1638)  a 
Puritan  vicar  in  London,  John  Davenport,  brought  a  band  of  pious, 
intelligent  people — some  of  them  men  of  wealth — from  London  to 

1 "  The  ministers  were  the  privileged  classes  in  that  commnnity — '  God's 
•unworthy  prophets,'  as  they  phrased  it.  Living  in  the  full  odor  of  sanctity 
among  God's  people — his  chosen  people  whom  he  '  preserved  and  prospered 
heyond  ordinary  ways  of  Providence  ' — they  constituted  a  powerful  governing 
order.  And  now,  suddenly,  a  woman  came  and  calmly  and  persistently  inti- 
mated that,  as  a  class,  God's  prophets  in  New  England  were  not  what  they 
seemed." — Charles  Francis  Adams,  Three  Episodes  of  Massachusetts  History, 
Bost.,  1892,  i,  392.  Adams  writes  as  a  Unitarian,  with  no  belief  in  the  religious 
principles  of  either  party,  but  with  full  knowledge  of  the  history  and  with  fas- 
cinating interest. 


886  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

what  is  now  known  as  New  Haven,  and  founded  a  new  colony, 
though  on  stanchly  theocratic  principles. 

Only  second  in  importance  to  the  founding  of  a  State  is  the 

founding  of  a  school.     Lord  Macaulay  in  Parliament  held  up  to  the 

admiration  of  England  the  noble  document  in  which 

EDUCATIONAL  ° 

founda-  the  poor,    struggling  colony   01    Massachusetts   Bay 

outlined  in  1647  a  system  of  common  and  grammar 
schools.  This  document  said  :  "That  learning  may  not  be  buried 
in  the  grave  of  our  fathers  in  the  Church  and  commonwealth,  the 
Lord  assisting  our  endeavors,  It  is  therefore  ordered  that  every 
township  in  this  jurisdiction,  after  the  Lord  hath  increased  them 
to  the  number  of  fifty  householders,  shall  then  forthwith  appoint 
one  within  their  town  to  teach  all  such  children  as  shall  resort 
to  him  to  write  and  read ;  .  .  .  and  it  is  further  ordered  that 
where  any  town  shall  increase  to  the  number  of  one  hundred  fami- 
lies or  householders  they  shall  set  up  a  grammar  school,  the  master 
thereof  being  able  to  instruct  youth  so  far  as  they  may  be  fitted  for 
the  university."  Even  earlier  than  this,  Salem  had  a  free  school 
in  1640,  Boston  in  1642,  and  Cambridge  about  the  same  time.1 

Contrast  with  this  the  narrow  obscurantism  of  Virginia's  Angli- 
can governor,  Sir  William  Berkeley,  who  said,  in  1671  :  "I  thank 
God  there  are  no  free  schools  nor  printing,  and  I  hope  we  shall  not 
have  these  hundred  years."  The  freer  colonies,  with  their  more 
heterogeneous  and  irresponsible  population,  had  to  take  the  price  of 
their  freedom  in  the  want  of  settled  institutions  imposed  by  author- 
ity. Maryland  had  no  public-school  system  until  1728,  and  Rhode 
Island  until  1800.  The  young  Charlestown  pastor,  John  Harvard, 
bequeathed  to  the  grammar  school  at  Cambridge  his  library  and 
harvard  £779,  which,  supplemented  by  the  gift  of  the  colony 
and  tale.  0f  £4qq  ou£  0£  -tg  poygrty^  proved  the  foundation  of  the 
greatest  university  on  the  continent,  and  founded  for  the  avowed 
purpose  of  "  educating  English  and  Indian  youth  in  knowledge 
and  godliness."  In  1641  the  New  Haven  colony  ordered  that  a 
"  free  school  shall  be  set  up  in  this  town,  and  our  pastor,  together 
with  the  magistrates,  shall  consider  what  yearly  allowance  shall  be 
given  to  it  out  of  the  common  stock  of  the  town,  and  also  what 
rules  or  laws  are  meet  to  be  observed  in  and  about  the  same."  The 
New  Haven  people  wanted  to  found  a  college  also,  but  Cambridge 
protested  with  the  solid  reason  that  New  England  was  too  poor  to 
support  more  than  one  college.  But  in  1698  the  Churches  of  the 
New  Haven  colony  decided  to  proceed,  and  in  1701  opened  their 
1  Higginson,  Larger  Hist,  of  tbe  United  States,  p.  201. 


THE   RELIGIOUS   DEVELOPMENT   OF    THE   COLONIES.     887 

college  at  Saybrook,  removed  to  New  Haven  in  1716,  and  named 
Yale  College  after  one  of  its  benefactors.  The  Puritan  clergy  of 
New  England  made  the  corner  stone  of  the  nation  knowledge, 
righteousness,  and  religion.1 

The  establishment  of  a  Christian  State  in  Massachusetts  ac- 
cording to  the  Puritan  doctrine  bore  hard  upon  the  dissenters. 
The  Baptists  came  into  the  colony,  and  suffered  hard- 

T  „.      .  .  -      THE  BAPTISTS 

ships  as  good  soldiers  of  Jesus  Christ,  unto  stripes  and   in  massachu- 

x  o  ±  SETTS. 

imprisonment,  though  not  unto  death.  The  theocracy 
had  Miinster  before  its  eyes,  and  was  always  fearful  of  some  terri- 
ble consequence  hidden  beneath  an  apparently  innocent  heresy. 
Then  all  the  Puritan  literature  against  the  Baptists  with  which 
they  were  familiar  breathed  the  spirit  of  uncompromising  hostility 
as  against  a  revolutionary  and  antichristian  religion.2  The  fact 
that  some  of  the  continental  Baptists  disowned  magistracy,  oaths, 
and  the  State  establishment  of  religion,  gave  color  to  Puritan  fears. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  Massachusetts  Baptists  were  not  of  this 
stripe,  but  were  as  law-abiding  in  all  matters  outside  of  their  wor- 
ship as  the  Puritans  themselves  were,  and  the  latter  knew  this,  or 
ought  to  have  known  it.  The  Congregational  harrying,  therefore, 
of  their  Baptist  brethren  in  1651  and  thereabouts  can  hardly  be 
taken  out  of  the  category  of  simple  persecution  for  religious  opin- 
ion. However,  in  1718  the  State  Church  made  generous  amends  in 
three  of  their  foremost  pastors  assisting  in  the  ordination  of  a  min- 
ister to  the  Baptist  Church  at  which  Cotton  Mather  preached  a 
sermon,  "  Good  Men  United." 

For  the  persecution  of  the  Quakers,  1656-60,  by  Massachusetts 
something  more  can  be  said  ;  but  even  here  the  repressive  measures 
went  to  unwarranted  lengths.  There  was  nothing  PERSECtrT10N 
whatever  in  the  persistency  in  testimony,  or  in  the  of  Quakers. 
very  rare  exhibitions  of  fanatical  indecency  "  for  a  sign  "  made  by 
some  Quaker  woman  partially  or  wholly  demented  from  brooding 
over  the  shameful  and  cruel  treatment  of  her  sisters  by  the  officers, 
which  gave  valid  reason  for  the  colony  to  enact  severer  laws  than 
England,  and  to  carry  them  out  to  the  extent  of  hanging  three 
men  and  one  woman — true  martyrs  for  the  cross  of  Christ.  Then 
the  whipping  of  inoffensive  women,  stripped  to  the  waist  and  tied 
to  a  cart,  from  town  to  town,  for  no  other  crime  than  being  Quak- 
ers, is  a  stain  on  the  laws  of  the  Congregational  theocracy  which 
no  apology  touches.      In  1728  the  anti-Quaker  laws  were   swept 

1  Higginson's  Larger  Hist,  of  the  United  States,  p.  194. 

2  Cf .  A.  H.  Newman,  Hist,  of  the  Baptist  Churches  in  the  United  States,  p.  123. 


888  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

away.     The  Friends  suffered  the  same  persecution  to  a  greater  or 
less  degree  in  Connecticut,  New  York,  Virginia,  and  Maryland. 

We  cannot  blame  the  Puritans  for  living  in  the  seventeenth 

century  and   not  in  the  nineteenth,  nor  can  we  blame  them  for 

sharing  the  beliefs  of  their  time.     One  of  these  was 

THE  WITCH-  ° 

craft  delu-  witchcraft — occult  and  supernatural  powers  attributed 
to  those  under  the  influence  of  the  devil  or  demons. 
The  reality  of  this  was  the  universal  belief  of  Christendom  up  to 
the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  last  execution  in  Great 
Britain  taking  place  in  Scotland,  as  late  as  1722.  There  was  an  exe- 
cution in  New  England  in  1G48,  and  in  1655  a  law  was  printed  : 
"  Witchcraft  which  is  fellowship  by  covenant  with  a  familiar  spirit 
to  be  punishable  with  death.  .  .  .  Consulters  with  witches  not  to  be 
tolerated,  but  either  to  be  cut  off  by  death  or  banishment  or  other 
suitable  punishment."  The  chief  interest  centers  in  the  famous 
Salem  excitement  in  1691-2,  when  nineteen  persons  were  executed, 
among  the  six  men  one  clergyman  and  Giles  Corey,  a  man  over  eighty, 
who,  refusing  to  plead,  were  pressed  to  death.  "  A  reaction  speedily 
set  in,  and  though  in  January,  1693,  three  more  were  condemned, 
no  more  executions  took  place,  and  a  few  months  after  the  governor 
discharged  all  the  suspects  from  gaol,  as  many  as  one  hundred  and 
fifty  in  number.  One  Samuel  Parris,  a  clergyman,  who  had  been 
one  of  the  main  instigators  of  the  prosecutions,  confessed  his  error, 
but  was  dismissed  by  his  flock  in  1696,  while  even  Cotton  Mather 
acknowledged  that  there  had  been  a  '  going  too  far  in  the  affair.' "  ' 
The  quickness  with  which  the  New  England  mind  recovered  from 
the  delusion  speaks  well  for  its  sanity,  as  contrasted  with  the  con- 
tinuance and  gravity  of  the  witchcraft  horrors  elsewhere.  It  is 
said  by  one  writer  that  between  1660  and  1700  eight  thousand  per- 
sons suffered  from  witchcraft  in  Scotland,  mostly  by  burning,2 
while  in  Catholic  countries  isolated  from  the  currents  of  Protestant 
civilization  the  superstition  continues  to  this  day.3 

One  of  the  most  interesting  events  in  the  religious  history  of  the 
colonies    is    the   Half- Way  Covenant.      The   Congregationalists, 

1  Thomas  Davidson,  art.  Witchcraft,  in  Chambers's  Encyc,  rev.  ed.,  x,  701. 
This  able  article  is  disfigured  by  unscientific  reproaches  against  the  Church. 
Cotton  Mather  helped  on  the  prosecutions  and  published  two  books  as  contri- 
butions to  the  prevailing  belief  :  Memorable  Providences  relating  to  "Witch- 
craft and  Possessions,  1685,  and  Wonders  of  the  Invisible  World,  1692. 

3  The  London  Quarterly  Review,  April,  1899,  p.  372. 

3  On  the  20th  of  August,  1877,  five  witches  were  burned  alive  by  the  Alcalde 
Ignacio  Castello  of  San  Jacobo,  in  Mexico,  ' '  with  consent  of  the  whole  popula- 
tion."— Davidson,  I.  c,  x,  698. 


THE   RELIGIOUS   DEVELOPMENT   OF    THE   COLONIES.     889 

with  the  Baptists,  had  maintained  the  necessity  of  a  regenerate 
church  membership  and  a  profession  of  saving  faith  in  Christ. 
The  children  of  parents  one  of  whom  was  a  Christian 

THF  HAI  F— 

were  entitled  to  baptism  and  to  a  kind  of  church  mem-  waycovb- 
bership,  though  not  to  full  communion  until  they  had 
made  a  personal  profession  of  faith.  But  as  the  new  generation 
came  on  the  old  fervor  declined,  and  large  numbers  of  men  were 
outside  church  fellowship  and  therefore  outside  political  privi- 
leges, although  they  were  men  of  outwardly  worthy  life.  How  to 
bring  these  men  and  their  children  into  closer  touch  with  religion 
was  the  question.  The  political  matter  played  no  part  in  the 
discussions,  nor  were  laymen  prominent  in  them. l  The  wide-awake, 
consecrated  pastor,  by  personal  work,  by  special  services,  by  strong, 
bright  preaching,  by  all  the  ways  open  to  him,  might  have  brought 
his  moral  parishioners  and  their  children  to  a  personal  decision  for 
Christ.  But  the  way  out  of  the  difficulty  adopted  by  New  England, 
in  1646,  was  to  allow  baptized  adults  of  good  life  and  orthodox 
belief  to  be  received  into  covenant  with  the  Church  without  con- 
version or  profession  of  personal  faith,  and  to  receive  baptism  for 
their  children.  By  and  by,  especially  through  the  influence  of 
Solomon  Stoddard,  pastor  of  Northampton,  Massachusetts,  until 
his  death  in  1729,  these  Half -Way  Covenant  members,  as  the  oppo- 
nents of  the  system  called  them,  were  admitted  to  the  Lord's 
Supper,  on  the  principle  advocated  by  Stoddard  (thence  called 
Stoddardism),  that  the  Lord's  Supper  is  itself  a  means  of  regenera- 
tion, and  that  therefore  well-disposed  persons  might  come  to  it  even 
if  in  a  "natural  condition."  The  effect  of  the  Half- Way  Covenant^ 
which  was  in  vogue  in  many  churches  until  the  beginning  of  the 
nineteeth  century,  was  to  fill  the  country  with  unconverted  quasi- 
church  members,  and,  by  practically  ignoring  the  obligation  of  ar 
immediate  acceptance  of  Jesus  Christ  as  a  personal  Saviour,  pre-* 
pare  the  way  for  Unitarianism.2 

The  natural  results  of  the  Half -Way  Covenant  and  of  Stoddard's 
opening  of  the  sacraments  to  the  unconverted  were  checked  and 
partially  overcome  by  the  Great  Awakening  and  Whitefield's 
evangelism.     In  1726,   at   the   age  of  twenty-three,  one   of   the 

1  So  say  experts  in  Congregational  history  like  Prof.  Egbert  C.  Smyth  in 
Schaff-Herzog,  i,  538,  and  Prof.  Williston  Walker,  Hist,  of  Congregational 
Churches  in  the  United  States,  pp.  172,  173. 

2  "  The  worst 'effect,  doubtless,  was  the  diminution  in  the  public  mind  and  con- 
science of  the  sense  of  the  obligation  of  personal  religion ;  and  this  disas- 
trous result  was  widespread." — E.  C.  Smyth,  in  Schaff-Herzog,  i,  538. 


890  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

greatest  saints  in  the  history  of  the  Church  was  called  to  the  pas- 
torate at  Northampton,  Mass.  His  intensely  serious  and  con- 
jonathan  science-probing  sermons,  the  influence  of  his  holy  life 
edwards.  an(j  jjjs  prayers,  had  their  due  effect.  A  change  came 
over  the  spirit  of  the  town.  Jonathan  Edwards  himself  describes 
this  in  his  own  modest  beautiful  way :  "  The  work  of  God, 
as  it  was  carried  on  and  the  number  of  true  saints  multiplied, 
soon  made  a  glorious  alteration  in  the  town  so  that  in  the  spring 
and  summer  anno  1735  the  town  seemed  to  be  full  of  the  presence 
of  God.  It  was  never  so  full  of  love,  nor  so  full  of  joy,  and  yet  so 
full  of  distress,  as  it  was  then.  There  were  remarkable  tokens  of 
God's  presence  in  almost  every  house.  It  was  a  time  of  joy  in 
families  on  account  of  salvation  being  brought  unto  them  ;  par- 
ents rejoicing  over  the  children  as  being  newborn,  and  husbands 
over  their  wives,  and  wives  over  their  husbands.  The  goings  of 
God  were  then  seen  in  his  sanctuary.  God's  day  was  a  delight,  and 
his  tabernacles  were  amiable." ' 

Another  revival  under  Edwards  occurred  in  1740-41.  These 
profound  awakenings  were  attended  with  the  same  physical  mani- 
festations as  have  characterized  similar  works  before  and  since. 
But  the  comprehensive  mind  of  Edwards  did  not  disown  the  work 
on  account  of  these.  He  tried  to  moderate  these  extravagances, 
if  they  might  be  so  called,  and  directed  the  movement  toward 
spiritual  and  ethical  ends.  As  Professor  Park  well  says,  he  did 
more  than  any  other  American  divine  in  promoting  both  the  doc- 
trinal purity  and  religious  zeal  of  the  Churches,  in  restraining 
them  from  fanaticism  and  yet  stimulating  healthy  enthusiasm. 
From  Northampton  the  revival  spread  north  and  south,  east  and 
west,  and  appeared  independently  at  different  places.  A  great 
work  occurred  in  Newark,  N.  J.,  in  1739,  under  Jonathan  Dick- 
inson, who  became  the  first  president  of  Princeton  College,  then 
(1747)  at  Elizabeth.  In  1726  William  Tennent  became  pastor  of 
a  Presbyterian  church  at  Neshaminy,  Bucks  County,  Pa.,  and, 
seeing  the  need  of  a  school  for  the  education  of  boys  for  the  min- 

1  A  Faithful  Narrative  of  the  Surprising  Work  of  God  in  the  Conversion  of 
Many  Hundred  Souls  in  Northampton,  Lond.,  1736.  "A  letter  of  Edwards 
in  reply  to  inquiries  from  his  friend,  Dr.  Colman,  of  Boston,  was  forwarded  to 
Dr.  Watts  and  Dr.  Guise,  of  London,  and  by  them  published  under  the  title  of 
Narrative  of  Surprising  Conversions.  A  copy  of  the  little  book  was  carried  in 
his  pocket  for  wayside  reading  on  a  walk  from  London  to  Oxford,  by  John 
Wesley,  in  1738.  Not  yet  in  the  course  of  his  work  had  he  seen  it '  on  this  fash- 
ion,' and  he  writes  in  his  journal,  '  Surely  this  is  the  Lord's  doing,  and  it  is 
marvelous  in  our  eyes.' " — Bacon,  Hist,  of  American  Christianity,  p.  159. 


>  *  c 


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A.  3  I  H  a  M  A 


"'SrOBr  OF  THE  CHIMTMK  CHURCh' 


THE   RELIGIOUS   DEVELOPMENT   OF   THE   COLONIES.     891 

istry,  he  erected  a  log  house,  and  opened  immediately  Log  College, 
as  it  came  to  be  called.  Here  this  devout  apostolic  Irishman  trained 
three  or  four  of  his  own  sons  and  others  who  became 

DICKINSON 

leaders  in  American  Presbyterianism,  and  started  the       AN*> THE 

J  .  TENNENTS. 

movement  which  issued  in  the  founding  of  Prince- 
ton College,  1746-8.  His  eldest  son  Gilbert  was  a  man  of  great 
intellectual  force  and  spiritual  power.  At  the  request  of  White- 
field  he  made  (about  1740)  a  preaching  tour  over  a  wide  section  of 
country  and  produced  everywhere  a  profound  impression.  The 
immense  influence  of  Log  College  and  of  one  of  its  first  graduates, 
Gilbert  Tennent,  as  well  as  of  his  brother,  the  pious  mystic, 
William,  must  be  taken  into  account  when  we  reckon  the  forces 
which  made  the  Great  Awakening,  and  saved  Christianity  in 
America.  Then  the  evangelistic  journeys  of  that  flaming  itiner- 
ant, George  Whitefield,  helped  mightily  a  work  which  even  with- 
out him  would  have  attained  to  large  proportions. 

The  results  of  the  Great  Awakening  remind  us  of  the  words  of 
Simeon  concerning  Christ :  "Behold,  this  is  set  for  the  fall  and  ris- 
ing again  of  many  in  Israel."     The  marvelous  effects, 

,  .  .  RESULTS  OF 

physical  and  others,  of  the  movement  repelled  many     the  great 

,  i  \  t     •         t  i  ,i.  •  i  AWAKENING. 

who  perhaps  were  also  disinclined  to  believe  m  the 
very  principle  of  revivals,  and  made  them  take  deep  offense  at 
evangelical  Christianity.  This  was  helped  by  the  harsh  judgments 
passed  by  Gilbert  Tennent  and  others  on  these  dissidents.  The 
result  was  a  division  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  1741,  a 
strengthening  of  the  Episcopalian  Church  in  some  quarters,  a 
deepening  of  the  rationalizing  spirit  in  some  sections  of  the  Con- 
gregational Church,  and  finally  a  large  preparation  for  Unitarian- 
ism.  On  the  other  hand  the  awakening  swept  twenty-five  or  thirty 
thousand  people  into  the  Congregational  churches,  saved  multi- 
tudes of  churches  of  all  denominations  from  spiritual  death  if  not 
actual  extinction,  restored  the  Episcopalian  Church  in  Virginia, 
placed  the  Presbyterian  Church  on  a  solid  foundation,  started 
Baptist  churches  in  various  parts  of  New  England,  set  on  foot  a 
multitude  of  charitable,  educational,  and  missionary  agencies,  gave 
the  saintly  David  Brainerd  to  the  Indians,  and  stamped  upon 
American  Christianity  its  present  evangelistic  character. 


892  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER   III. 

DENOMINATIONAL  DEVELOPMENT. 

The  Revolutionary  War  (1775-81)  swept  away  substantially  the 

remnants  of  State  Churchism  in  the  colonies.     With  all  the  evils, 

therefore,  which  it,  like  all  wars,  did  for  religion  in 

THE  REVO-  '  b 

lutionary  its  desolating  course,  suspending  Church  operations, 
breaking  up  organizations,  and  accentuating  faction 
and  passion,  it  nevertheless  accomplished  an  inestimable  work  for 
America.  It  not  only  set  free  the  colonies,  but  it  set  free  religion 
so  that  it  could  work  out  its  own  problems  and,  without  being 
dominated  by  Old  World  ideals,  fashion  itself  according  to  a  na- 
tional type.  The  American  principle  is  a  free  Church  in  a  free 
State,  and  that  principle  has  proved  itself  so  valuable  by  its  prac- 
tical working  that  the  European  nations  will  be  compelled  one 
after  another  to  adopt  it.1 

In  the  treatment  of  colonial  Christianity  nothing  was  said  of  that 
wonderful  force  introduced  so  quietly  and  so  humbly  as  to  be  un- 
methodism  observed,  but  which  was  destined  to  play  an  influential 
in  America,  part  in  the  nation's  religious  life— Methodism.  This 
resurgence  of  Protestantism  in  the  spirit,  power,  and  truth  of  apos- 
tolic Christianity,  however,  came  so  late  to  America  (1766),  and 
during  the  whole  Revolutionary  period  lived  so  apologetic  a  life, 
despised,  persecuted,  and  misunderstood,  that  it  was  purposely  left 
out  of  the  account.  Born  in  a  humble  private  house  in  New  York, 
its  first  church  a  sail-loft,  in  spite  of  suspicion  and  opposition  it 
grew  even  during  the  Revolution,  until  at  its  close  it  had  about 
twelve  thousand  members  and  seventy  itinerant  preachers. 

During  the  national  period  its  growth  has  been  phenomenal. 
Its  polity  is  vigorous  yet  elastic,  and  provides  for  close  supervision 

1  Schaff ,  in  speaking  of  the  influence  of  the  American  system  upon  foreign 
countries  and  Churches,  says  :  "  Within  the  present  generation  the  principle 
of  religious  liberty  and  equality,  with  a  corresponding  relaxation  of  the  bond  of 
union  of  Church  and  State,  has  made  steady  and  irresistible  progress  among 
the  leading  nations  of  Europe,  and  has  been  embodied  more  or  less  clearly  in 
written  constitutions.  .  .  .  All  advocates  of  the  voluntary  principle  and  of  a 
separation  of  Church  and  State  in  Europe  point  to  the  example  of  this  coun- 
try as  their  strongest  practical  argument." — Church  and  State  in  the  United 
States,  N.  Y.,  1888,  p.  83. 


DENOMINATIONAL   DEVELOPMENT.  893 

of  all  parts  of  the  field.  This  it  does  by  its  revival  of  the  aposto- 
late  or  apostolic  episcopate,  and  adapting  it  to  present-day  needs. 
The  itinerancy  has  given  it  an  opportunity  to  meet  the 

J  °  rL  ■!•»•!         THE    GROWTH 

immigrant  face  to  face  while  establishing  his  family  of  metho- 
in  their  new  home.  It  has  thus  been  able  to  check- 
mate with  the  Gospel  every  movement  of  evil  on  America's  ever- 
changing  chessboard.  But  this  would  have  been  impossible  with- 
out a  band  of  preachers,  alert,  brave,  consecrated,  self-sacrificing, 
ready  to  go  anywhere  with  the  message  of  salvation.  Perhaps  his- 
tory has  never  seen  a  truer  type  of  home  missionaries  than  the 
itinerant  preachers  of  Methodism.  Eeady  to  obey  orders  like  the 
Jesuits,  strong  to  preach  like  the  Dominicans,  they  have  gone 
everywhere,  threading  forests,  fording  and  swimming  rivers,  mak- 
ing friends  with  Indians  or  with  chance  settlers,  traveling  vast 
parishes  hundreds  of  miles  or  more  in  extent,  meeting  their  ap- 
pointments with  the  regularity  of  a  machine,  running  the  gauntlet 
of  all  kinds  of  dangers — these  men  of  the  first  generations  of 
Methodists  have  revived  the  best  traditions  of  Christianity  in  its 
heroic  days.  The  emphasis  put  on  preaching  by  Methodism  has 
been  another  cause  of  its  success.  Necessarily  deficient  in  tech- 
nical learning,  many  of  its  preachers  made  up  for  that  by  study, 
reading,  and  first-hand  contact  with  men.  But  they  learned  above 
all  to  be  preachers — ready,  powerful,  interesting  extemporaneous 
preachers.  Emphasis  on  religious  experience,  personal  knowledge 
of  Jesus  Christ,  and  victory  over  all  sin,  gave  both  its  preachers 
and  members  a  buoyant,  triumphant  life,  and  this  sense  of  reality 
and  power  invested  its  pulpit  with  authority  and  fascination,  and 
its  people  with  vitalizing,  even  if  unconscious,  influence  over 
others.  At  a  time  when  the  prevailing  type  of  Christianity  was 
Calvinistic,  the  Methodists  came  with  the  Gospel  of  a  free,  full, 
and  present  salvation  for  all,  which  they  preached  with  tremendous 
earnestness,  and  without  philosophical  refinements.  Such  a  Gospel 
means  a  revival  at  any  or  all  times.  Methodism  has  been  a  revival 
Church.  While  this  has  been  on  the  one  hand  its  reproach  and 
danger,  it  has  been  on  the  other  the  secret  of  its  marvelous  growth. 
At  the  same  time  it  has  been  also  in  no  small  measure  the  secret 
of  the  growth  of  all  other  denominations  of  evangelical  Christians ; 
first,  by  making  revivals  one  of  the  conditions  of  religious  evolution 
for  all ;  and  second,  by  thousands  of  those  saved  at  Methodist  altars 
going,  either  by  preference  or  by  proselyting,  into  other  Churches. 
Unfortunately  the  history  of  American  Methodism  has  been  a 
copy  of  that  of  the  British  Wesleyans  in  the  matter  of  separation 


894  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

from  the  mother  Church.     The  first  schism  was  that  led  in  1792 

by  James  O'Kelly,  an  impulsive  Irishman  of  warm  piety,  intense 

convictions,   and   strong  personality,   and  was  occa- 

DIVI8IOKS   OF  -,  »     -, 

American        sioned  by  the  supposed  autocracy  of  the  episcopate.    It 

METHODISM.  .     «  X  -1  *  *■  _J_ 

ran  a  brief  course  and  then  disappeared.  The  next 
separation  was  of  greater  significance.  It  was  occasioned  by  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  refusing  at  the  General  Conferences 
of  both  1824  and  1828  the  widespread  desire  for  lay  representation 
and  other  mitigations  of  excessive  clericalism.  The  answer  to 
these  refusals  was  the  formation  of  a  new  Church  in  1828,  called 
the  Methodist  Protestant  Church  in  1830,  which  has  had  a  fruit- 
ful and  honorable  history.  The  Wesleyan  Methodist  Connection 
of  America  was  formed  in  1839,  and  completed  its  organization  in 
1843,  as  a  protest  against  departure  from  the  strenuous  self-denial 
of  original  Methodism  in  regard  to  intemperance,  secret  societies, 
and  especially  slavery.  Like  most  of  the  separating  Churches  this 
also  assumed  a  more  representative  form  of  government.  The 
greatest  cleavage  of  all  was  the  celebrated  case  of  Bishop  James 
0.  Andrew  who  came  into  the  possession  of  slaves  through  mar- 
riage, which  led  to  the  formation  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,  in  1845.  The  latest  born  of  the  larger  separated 
(white)  Churches  is  the  Free  Methodist  Church,  organized  in 
1860  as  the  result  of  a  profound  agitation  in  western  New  York. 
There  have  been  some  other  smaller  divisions,  and  the  formation 
of  several  African  Churches,  which  latter  have  accomplished  great 
results  for  their  people  in  evangelism  and  education.  Universal 
Methodism  owes  an  immense  debt  to  the  zeal,  wisdom,  piety,  and 
conscientious  devotion  of  the  first  American  bishop,  Francis  As- 
bury,  one  of  the  greatest  and  purest  names  on  the  roll  of  founders 
and  pioneers.  The  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church  adopted  lay  representation  in  1872,  and  equal  lay  and 
ministerial  representation  in  1900. 

The  Church  of  England  in  the  colonies  had  to  endure  much 
odium  on  account  of  the  Tory  sympathies  of  many  of  its  clergy. 
The  most  of  them  left  for  England  or  the  northern  provinces,  not- 
theprotes-  abl?  the  rector  of  Triuity  Church,  New  York,  Dr. 
p!l  church0"  Criarles  Inglis,  who  wrote  to  the  Society  for  the  Prop- 
agation of  the  Gospel  in  1776,  "  The  present  rebellion 
is  certainly  one  of  the  most  causeless,  unprovoked,  and  unnatural 
that  ever  disgraced  any  country."  He  also  said  that  "not  one 
of  the  clergy  of  these  provinces,  and  very  few  of  the  laity  who 
were  respectable  or  men  of  property,  have  joined  in  the  rebel- 


DENOMINATIONAL   DEVELOPMENT.  895 

lion."  '  The  year  the  British  evacuated  New  York  Inglis  left  also, 
went  to  Nova  Scotia,  and  in  1787  was  consecrated  bishop  of  Nova 
Scotia,  with  jurisdiction  over  all  of  what  is  now  the  Dominion  of 
Canada,  besides  Bermuda  and  Newfoundland,  a  territory  in  which 
the  Church  of  England  has  now  nineteen  bishops.  Inglis  was  the 
first  Anglican  colonial  bishop.  If  the  Church  of  England  had  been 
as  willing  to  ordain  bishops  for  the  new  nation  as  she  was  for  Nova 
Scotia,  the  Episcopal  Church  would  have  fared  much  better.  In 
that  respect  Wesley's  ordinations,  reestablishing  the  subapostolic 
presby tero-episcopate  for  his  churches,  showed  a  broader  mind  and  a 
quicker  apprehension  of  the  signs  of  the  times.  However,  the  Amer- 
ican Episcopalians  at  length  secured  the  ordination  of  Seabury  by  the 
nonjuring  bishops  of  Scotland  at  Aberdeen,  1784,  the  regular  author- 
ities refusing  until  1787,  when  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury  conse- 
crated William  White  and  Samuel  Provost.  At  first,  especially 
under  the  bent  given  by  White,' the  Protestant  element  had  a  large 
place,  and  the  Church  fraternized  more  or  less  with  sister  Churches. 
The  Anglo-Catholic  Movement,  however,  profoundly  affected  the 
Church,  and  made  such  fraternization  in  any  real  sense  impossi- 
ble. In  fact  for  an  act  of  such  fraternal  recognition  the  Eev. 
Stephen  H.  Tyng,  Jr.,  was  in  February,  1868,  tried,  condemned, 
and  reprimanded.3  Various  efforts  were  made  to  bring  the  Church 
to  a  Protestant  position. 

In  October,  1873,  the  assistant  bishop  of  Kentucky,  George  D. 
Cummins,  officiated  in  a  union  communion  service  in  the  Fifth 
Avenue  Presbyterian  Church,  New  York,  during  the  meeting  of  the 
Evangelical  Alliance.  This  caused  such  an  uproar  in  the  Church 
that  he  quietly  withdrew,  and  on  December  2, 1873,  there  was  organ- 
ized the  Eeformed  Episcopal  Church,  in  which  many  the  re- 
evangelical  people  of  the  older  Church  have  found  episcopal 
refuge.  A  part  of  the  platform  of  the  Eeformed  CHURCH- 
Episcopal  Church  is  the  following  protest  against  some  elements 
of  the  High  Church  tradition  which  has  long  dominated  Angli- 
canism. "  This  Church  condemns  and  rejects  the  following  erro- 
neous and  strange  doctrines  as  contrary  to  God's  Word  :  First, 
That  the  Church  of    Christ  exists  only  in  one  order  or  form  of 

1  See  the  valuable  book  by  Arthur  Wentworth  Eaton,  The  Church  of  England 
in  Nova  Scotia  and  the  Tory  Clergy  of  the  Eevolution,  N.  Y.,  1891,  p.  134. 

-  His  offense  was  in  preaching  in  the  St.  James  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
New  Brunswick,  N.  J.,  July  14,  1867,  and  the  law  by  which  he  was  condemned 
was  that  passed  in  1859  forbidding  a  minister  officiating  in  any  way  in  the 
parish  of  another  without  the  latter's  permission. 


896  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

ecclesiastical  polity.  Second,  That  Christian  ministers  are  priests 
in  another  sense  than  that  in  which  all  believers  are  a  '  royal  priest- 
hood/ Third,  That  the  Lord's  table  is  an  altar  on  which  the  ob- 
lation of  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ  is  offered  anew  to  the 
Father.  Fourth,  That  presence  of  Christ  in  the  Lord's  Supper  is 
a  presence  in  the  elements  of  bread  and  wine.  Fifth,  That  regen- 
eration is  inseparably  connected  with  baptism."  The  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  has  retrieved  its  loss  through  the  Eeformed  se- 
cession by  recent  aggressiveness  in  parish,  settlement,  and  home 
missionary  work,  for  which  its  financial  resources  are  an  admir- 
able equipment.  As  in  the  Episcopal  Church  across  the  water, 
the  Roman  Catholic  current  has  carried  many  of  its  clergy  to 
Rome,  the  latest  convert  being  Benjamin  F.  De  Costa  in  1899,  while 
the  extreme  liberality  with  which  it  holds  its  doctrinal  inherit- 
ance attracts  minds  who  are  at  a  hardly  perceptible  remove  from 
Unitarianism. 

During  the  colonial  period  the  growth  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  was  almost  impossible  on  account  of  Protestant  intoler- 
ance. Pennsylvania  was  a  notable  exception,  and  a  few  societies 
roman  were  established  there.     The  Revolutionary  War  broke 

Catholicism,  ftie  bonds.  George  Washington,  with  his  usual  large- 
mindedness,  was  one  of  the  first  to  urge  the  laying  aside  religious 
animosities.  Their  freedom,  however,  was  not  absolute.  New  York 
excluded  them  from  the  legislature  until  1807,  and  in  1800  the 
Massachusetts  supreme  court  decided  that  Roman  Catholics  were 
still  amenable  to  taxation  for  the  support  of  Protestant  worship. 
In  fact  the  legal  establishment  of  Congregationalism  there  did  not 
cease  until  1833.  But  even  while  the  Roman  Catholics  were  en- 
joying toleration  the  fierce  prejudices  of  their  Protestant  neigh- 
bors made  their  normal  development  impossible.  In  the  third  and 
fourth  decades  of  the  nineteenth  century  these  prejudices  were 
fanned  by  controversial  works  of  exceeding  virulence,  which  with  in- 
flammatory preaching  from  many  pulpits  so  excited  the  populace 
that  in  one  place  (Charlestown,  Mass.)  they  burned  an  Ursuline 
convent.  Political  fears  were  added  to  religious  hatred,  and, 
under  the  stimulus  of  both,  a  Protestant  mob  took  possession  of 
Philadelphia  in  1844,  and  destroyed  two  Catholic  churches  and 
many  residences.  Anti-Catholic  political  parties  have  also  been 
formed.  Wild  excesses  like  these  have  this  unfortunate  result, 
that  in  the  reaction  they  prevent  due  watchfulness  of  real  dangers 
from  Roman  Catholic  ascendency.  The  undue  intrenchment  of 
Catholicism,  especially  in  the  government  of  our  large  cities,  led  to 


DENOMINATIONAL  DEVELOPMENT.  897 

the  formation  of  the  American  Protective  Association  in  1888,  an 
organization  which,  with  some  praiseworthy  aims,  goes  to  the 
length  of  opposing  Koman  Catholics  for  public  office.  If  this  de- 
termination were  carried  out,  it  would  amount  to  the  establishment 
of  Protestantism  as  a  State  religion.  The  Eoman  Catholic  Church 
has  steadily  increased  mostly  by  immigration  and  a  large  birth 
rate,  but  also  by  a  constant,  though  silent  and  mostly  unobserved, 
reception  of  converts  from  Protestant  churches.  It  has  success- 
ful missions  among  the  negroes  and  Indians. 

The  relaxing  of  the  ecclesiasti co-political  bonds  in  New  England 
led  to  the  infusion  of  new  blood  into  the  staid  Christianity  of  that 
region.  Baptists,  Methodists,  Adventists,  and  other  earnest  reli- 
gionists took  possession  of  whatever  might  come  to  them  as  the 
result  of  their  aggressive  work.     Then  a  native  deflec-  „„„„„„ 

*-?<-J  THE    CO^i  GRE" 

tion  into  Episcopalianism  in  Connecticut,  led  in  1722  gational- 

r  r  •  ISTS. 

by  Timothy  Cutler  and  Daniel  Brown,  who  composed 
the  whole  teaching  staff  of  Yale  College,  was  another  serious  in- 
road on  the  dominant  Church.  Quincy  says  that  "this  event 
shook  Congregationalism  throughout  New  England  like  an  earth- 
quake, and  filled  all  its  friends  with  terror  and  apprehension."1 
But  these  additions  to  the  religious  forces  of  New  England  did 
not  affect  the  supremacy  of  Congregationalism,  which  has  domi- 
nated there  to  this  day.  Excepting  a  tendency  to  Unitarianism, 
no  Church  has  ever  proved  itself  more  worthy  of  such  domina- 
tion. Congregationalism  has  always  stood  for  high  ethical  and 
religious  ideals,  and  by  its  missionary  zeal  and  noble  altruism  has 
set  a  high  example  to  other  Churches.  In  enthusiasm  for  educa- 
tion and  in  permanent  contributions  to  the  higher  interests  of 
mankind  no  Church  has  excelled  it.  From  one  of  its  schools 
alone  on  the  uplands  of  northeastern  Massachusetts,  Andover  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  have  gone  out  influences  which  have  regenerated 
whole  sections  of  American  life  and  large  territories  in  heathen- 
dom. On  Andover  Hill  were  born  The  American  Education  So- 
ciety, The  American  Tract  Society,  The  American  Temperance 
Society,  and  the  first  religious  newspaper  in  America  ;  and  from 
that  Hill  went  out  men  equipped  by  learning  and  piety  to  lay  on 
enduring  foundations  a  Christian  civilization  for  Burma,  India, 
Hawaii,  and  other  lands. 

In  the  department  of  education  alone  what  magnificent  results 
have  flowed  from  the  self-sacrifice  or  munificence  of  this  handful 
of  earnest,  high-minded  folk  on  the  rugged  hills   of  New  Eng- 

1  Hist,  of  Harvard  College,  Bost.,  1840. 
59  s 


898  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

land  !     Before  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  they  founded  the 

following  colleges  :  Harvard  (1638),  Williams  (1755,  opened  1791), 

Dartmouth  (1770),  Bowdoin  (1794),  University  of  Ver- 

EDUCATION 

inneweno  mont  (1791,  opened  1800),  and  Middlebury  (1800), 
while  Amherst  followed  a  few  years  after  (academy, 
1814  ;  college,  1821).  All  the  early  colleges  were  founded  mainly 
by  ministers  and  for  the  education  of  ministers,  hut  special  provi- 
sion for  this  latter  has  been  made  by  New  Englanders  with  a  sim- 
ilar lavishness.  Andover  Theological  Seminary  was  opened  in  1808, 
Bangor  in  1816,  New  Haven  in  1822,  and  Hartford  in  1834,  while 
the  professorship  of  divinity  at  Harvard,  founded  by  an  English 
Baptist  layman  in  1721,  was  filled  by  Congregationalists  until  it 
permanently  passed  into  the  hands  of  Unitarians  in  1805.  The 
strenuous  intellectual  life  of  the  Puritans  has  always  characterized 
their  successors,  and  has  given  to  theological  discussions  a  keenness 
and  zest  paralleled  perhaps  in  no  other  section  of  the  world.  The 
successive  transformations  of  Calvinism  in  the  course  of  these  de- 
bates, and  the  contributions  of  representative  Congregationalists 
and  of  the  different  theological  seminaries  to  the  science  of  the- 
ology, would  be  a  fascinating  theme,  but  would  lead  us  too  far 
afield.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  Congregational  orthodoxy  has  touched 
the  gamut  from  High  Calvinism  to  a  pale  and  thin  Evangelicalism 
which  almost  vanishes  away  into  Universalism  and  Unitarianism. 

Unitarianism  as  a  sentiment,  a  body  of  belief,  or  an  organi- 
ttnitakian-  zation,  has  exerted  an  influence  on  American  life  and 
ism.  thought  far  out  of  proportion  to  the  number  of  those 

externally  attached  to  it.  The  rationalistic  and  minimizing 
tendencies  of  the  eighteenth  century,  with  other  causes,  some 
of  them  latent  in  Calvinism,  produced  a  gradual  and  almost  imper- 
ceptible devitalizing  of  orthodoxy  in  New  England.  Ebenezer 
Gay,  pastor  at  Hingham  from  1718  to  1787,  Jonathan  Mayhew, 
pastor  of  West  Church,  Boston,  from  1747  to  1766,  and  James 
Freeman,  who  removed  all  references  to  the  Trinity  in  the  books 
of  King's  Chapel,  Boston,  in  1783,  were  pioneers.  This  descent 
reached  a  point  in  1805,  when  the  elder  Ware  was  appointed 
Hollis  professor  of  divinity  in  Harvard,  which  could  no  longer  be 
ignored  unless  Congregationalism  meant  to  give  over  its  historic 
faith.  A  profound  and  widespread  agitation  followed,  which  re- 
sulted in  twenty-eight  of  the  oldest  churches  in  New  England  be- 
coming Unitarian.  The  chief  man  in  that  age  of  Unitarianism 
was  William  Ellery  Channing,  pastor  of  Federal  Street  Church, 
Boston,  from  1803  until  his  death  in  1842,  whose  beautiful  spirit, 


DENOMINATIONAL   DEVELOPMENT.  899 

interest  in  reform,  and  literary  taste,  gave  him  a  large  influence, 
which  continues  to  this  day.  The  Unitarianism  of  the  first  half 
of  the  nineteenth  century  was  Arianism,  holding  to  Jesus  as  the 
Son  of  God,  the  inspiration  and  divine  authority  of  Scripture,  and 
the  necessity  of  conversion.  The  Unitarianism  of  the  present  day 
is  Iiumanitarianism  or  Christian  Stoicism,  which  proclaims  Jesus  as 
the  natural  son  of  Joseph,  but  a  great  prophet  and  spiritual  teacher, 
and  the  Bible  as,  on  the  whole,  the  best  of  the  sacred  books  of  the 
world.  The  man  who  marks  the  transition  is  Theodore  Parker,  of 
Boston  (died  1860),  a  man  of  tremendous  energy,  moral  enthusi- 
asm, and  intellectual  aggressiveness,  who  rejected  the  miraculous 
in  Christianity  and  the  whole  scheme  of  belief  held  in  common 
by  Unitarians  and  orthodox.  His  radicalism  caused  many  of  his 
brethren  to  disown  him.  The  Unitarians  have  been  leaders  in  all 
philanthropic  movements,  and  their  contributions  to  literature, 
art,  science,  and  social  advancement  have  been  invaluable.  By  the 
persistent  circulation  of  their  books,  sermons,  and  tracts  they  have 
carried  on  an  effective  propagandism. 

James  Relly  was  the  founder  of  the  Universalist  Church.  Both 
he  and  John  Murray  were  followers  of  Whitefield,  and  so  might  be 
called  Calvinistic  Methodists.  About  1750  Relly  em-  THE  UNIVER. 
braced  Universalist  views,  and  formed  a  society  in  SALISTS- 
London ^of  those  who  sympathized  with  him,  of  which  he  remained 
pastor  until  his  death,  about  1780.  He  had  something  of  Mau- 
rice's views  of  the  solidarity  of  Christ  with  mankind,  and  from 
that  worked  out  a  theory  of  universal  salvation.  Christ,  in  his  life, 
death,  obedience,  and  atonement,  was  so  completely  identified  with 
man  that  he  has  secured  not  only  potential  but  actual  salvation 
for  the  whole  race.  Relly's  manifesto  of  Universalism  was  his 
Union,  a  Treatise  of  the  Consanguinity  and  Affinity  between  Christ 
and  His  Church,  London,  1759,  reprinted,  Philadelphia,  1843 — an 
epoch-making  book.  It  was  this  treatise  which  John  Murray  was 
appointed  to  refute ;  he  went  to  hear  its  author  preach,  and  was 
converted  to  Universalism.  Murray,  who  emigrated  to  America  in 
1770,  preached  throughout  New  Jersey  and  New  York,  later  in  New 
England,  and  organized  the  first  Universalist  Church  at  Glouces- 
ter, Massachusetts,  in  1779.  Murray  became  pastor  in  Boston  in 
1793,  and  continued  until  he  was  laid  aside  by  ill  health  in  1809. 
He  was  a  man  of  faith  and  courage,  and  endured  opposition  and 
persecution  for  his  views.  Other  churches  were  established  of  the 
same  general  doctrine,  though  differing  in  various  details.  There 
was  a  desire  for  greater  harmony,  which  was  satisfied  by  a  conven- 


900  HISTORY   OP   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

tion  held  in  Winchester,  New  Hampshire,  in  1803.  A  Congrega- 
tional polity  was  adopted,  though  with  a  strong  infusion  of  Presby- 
terianism,  and  the  following  creed  : 

"We  believe  that  the  Holy  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments  contain  a  revelation  of  the  character  of  God,  and  of 
the  duty,  interest,  and  final  destination  of  mankind ;  that  there  is 
one  God,  whose  nature  is  love,  revealed  in  one  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
by  one  Holy  Spirit  of  Grace,  who  will  finally  restore  the  whole 
family  of  mankind  to  holiness  and  happiness  ;  that  holiness  and 
happiness  are  inseparably  connected,  and  that  believers  ought  to  be 
careful  to  maintain  order  and  practice  good  works,  for  these 
things  are  profitable  unto  man." 

This  has  remained  the  official  Universalist  creed  until  now.  In 
spite  of  its  Trinitarianism  many  Universalist  ministers  at  the 
present  day  are  practically  Unitarians,  the  old  evangelical  (almost 
Calvinistic)  elements  having  been  completely  eliminated.  The 
Universalists  support  four  colleges,  three  theological  seminaries, 
and  five  academies,  and  have  sent  missionaries  to  Japan. 

Presbyterianism  in  America  has  never  undergone  the  Unitarian 
transformation  which  it  suffered  in  England,  though,  with  the  other 
the  presby-  Protestant  Churches,  it  has  been  affected  much  by 
modern  thought  and  criticism.  In  recent  years 
this  working  of  the  German  leaven  has  created  wide  disturbance. 
It  resulted  in  1894  in  the  virtual  expulsion  from  the  ministry,  after 
a  series  of  trials,  of  Professor  Henry  Preserved  Smith,  of  Lane 
Theological  Seminary,  a  man  of  peaceful  and  evangelical  spirit,  and 
Professor  Charles  Augustus  Briggs,  a  man  of  dogmatic  temper  and 
aggressive  disposition,  but  personally  of  noble,  beautiful,  and  de- 
vout life,  who,  unlike  Smith,  complicated  his  case  by  a  determined 
attack  on  the  ultra-conservative  school  of  theologians  represented 
by  Princeton  as  themselves  having  departed  from  the  standards, 
and  as  seeking  to  foist  on  the  Church  extra-confessional  rules  of 
faith,  and  by  opinions  on  progressive  sanctification  in  the  future 
life,  and  some  other  points  of  doctrine.  In  1899  Professor  Briggs 
submitted  to  ordination  in  the  Episcopal  Church  though  still 
holding  his  place  in  the  Presbyterian  theological  school  in  New 
York.  His  reception  by  that  Church  created  a  sensation  which 
almost  threatened  a  schism.  The  High  Church  party  formed  an 
association  having  for  its  object  the  saving  of  the  Church  from  the 
inroads  of  rationalism,  and  the  creation  of  a  sentiment  adverse  to 
the  admission  of  men  representing  advanced  views.  A  far  more 
serious  question  than  that  involved  in  the  Briggs  case  confronted 


DENOMINATIONAL   DEVELOPMENT.  901 

the  Presbyterian  Church  in  1898,  in  the  publication  of  a  work  on 
Apostolic  Christianity  by  Professor  Arthur  C.  McGiffert,  of  the 
same  theological  seminary.  In  this  book  many  of  the  historical 
foundations  of  Christianity  were  thought  to  be  swept  away,  and 
the  work  exhibited  such  a  boldness  of  criticism,  especially  in  deny- 
ing accuracy  of  important  parts  of  the  New  Testament,  that  it 
created  profound  and  widespread  alarm.  In  1899  the  General 
Assembly  referred  the  matter  to  the  New  York  Presbytery  for 
action.  The  latter  took  a  mediatory  and  irenic  position,  content- 
ing itself  with  disowning,  as  contrary  to  truth  and  to  Presbyterian 
standards,  certain  specified  positions  of  Professor  McGiffert,  and,  on 
the  ground  of  his  earnest  assertion  of  substantial  agreement  with 
the  Church  on  all  essential  points,  waived  a  trial  for  heresy,  espe- 
cially on  account  of  the  injurious  effect  of  such  litigation  on  the 
peace  of  the  Church.1     In  1900  the  accused  professor  withdrew. 

The  Presbyterian  Church  has  illustrated  the  Protestant  tendency 
to  individualism.  The  first  disruption  occurred  in  1741  over  the 
question  of  revivals  and  the  education  of  ministers,  the 
New  Side  or  New  Lights  holding  with  Gilbert  Ten-  pkesbyteri- 
nent  that  the  Church  must  avail  itself  of  earnest  men 
of  evangelical  spirit  even  if  deficient  in  scholastic  training.  This 
breach  was  healed  in  1758.  Quite  similar  in  cause  was  the  Cum- 
berland (Kentucky)  separation  of  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  which  issued  in  a  new  organization  February  4,  1810,  re- 
sulting in  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church.  As  the  other 
was  really  the  outcome  of  the  Great  Awakening,  so  this  new 
Church  was  the  result  of  the  revival  of  1796-1810,  which  visited 
especially  the  new  settlements  of  the  Southwest.  Large  numbers 
of  men  of  limited  education  were  thrust  out  into  the  harvest  fields, 
and  these,  in  their  enthusiastic  desire  to  bring  men  to  Christ,  swept 
away  the  Calvinistic  barriers  to  God's  grace.  The  Presbyterian 
Church  called  a  halt.  This  accounts  for  the  fact  that  the  new 
Church,  while  Presbyterian  in  polity  and  generally  in  doctrine,  de- 
nies the  doctrine  of  reprobation,  and  holds,  in  the  Arminian  sense, 
the  universality  of  the  atonement  and  of  God's  offers  of  grace. 

The  forces  that  made  the  Cumberland  Church  were  working  in 
the  North.  Revivals  of  religion  were  making  it  impossible  to 
preach  the  stark  Calvinism  of  the  standards.  The  rapid  spread 
of  Methodism  during  the  first  third  of  the  century  was  working 
in  the  same  direction.     The  coming  in  of  a  multitude  of  Congre- 

1  See  the  full  text  of  the  pertinent  documents  in  The  Evangelist,  N.  Y. ,  Dec. 
21,  1899,  p.  78. 


902  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

gational  ministers  with  their  tendencies  to    rationalize  Calvinism 

had  a  wide  and  beneficent  effect  on  Presbyterian  orthodoxy.'     All 

this  led  to  a  gradual  cleavage  of  the  Church  into  an 

OTHER    PKES-  , .        ,  .  ....  - 

byterian  evangelical,  progressive,  semi-Armmian  school  and  a 
conservative,  consistent,  Calvinistic  school.  Signs  of 
this  division  were  the  trials  of  Albert  Barnes  and  of  Lyman  Beecher 
(1835)  for  heterodoxy.  The  crisis  came  in  1837  when  the  Church 
divided  into  two  sections,  the  Old  School  and  the  New  School, 
which  continued  until  1870.  On  account  of  the  strong  antislavery 
sentiment  in  the  New  School  presbyteries  in  the  North,  several 
Southern  presbyteries  withdrew  in  1857.  The  rest  followed  in  1862, 
and  united  to  form  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States. 
Both  Churches  have  done  magnificent  work  for  religion,  educa- 
tion, missions,  and  various  beneficent  causes.  There  are  two  Re- 
formed Presbyterian  Churches  in  the  United  States  which  repre- 
sent the  old  Covenanters,  and  take  higher  ground  in  regard  to  the 
recognition  of  God  by  the  State,  the  use  of  psalms  in  worship,  and 
other  matters.  The  United  Presbyterian  Church  has  also  had  a 
noble  history,  and,  with  the  two  last  named  Churches,  bears  a  strict 
and  uncompromising  testimony  on  various  ethical  and  religious 
matters. 

The  Baptists  made  good  beginnings  in  several  States  in  colonial 
days,  but  they  were  persecuted  so  bitterly,  especially  in  New  Eng- 
land, New  York,  and  Virginia,  that  large  growth  was 

THEREGC-  .  '  .  °  '  °        ° 

larbap-  impossible.     Since  the  establishment   of  the    Union 

TISTS 

they  have  grown  with  marvelous  rapidity,  and  have 
accomplished  a  work  in  evangelism,  education,  literature,  and  mis- 
sions which,  in  proportion  to  their  resources,  has  not  been  surpassed 
in  history.  On  account  of  a  refusal  of  the  American  Bible  Soci- 
ety to  circulate  versions  made  by  Baptists  which  translated  laptizo 
into  words  signifying  to  dip  or  to  immerse,  the  latter  formed  their 
own  Bible  Society  in  1837.  In  1865  they  issued  a  revised  New 
Testament  in  English,  a  faithful  and  accurate  translation,  but  dom- 
inated by  Baptist  interpretation  in  some  words.  This  version,  how- 
ever, was  received  with  no  enthusiasm  by  Baptists,  many  of  whom 

1  This  infusion  of  Congregational  blood  was  due  to  the  Plan  of  Union  of 
1801,  by  which  the  thousands  of  New  England  settlers  in  the  Eastern  and  Mid- 
dle States  were  gathered  wholesale  into  Presbyterian  churches.  This  accounts 
for  the  strength  of  Presbyterianism  in  New  York  and  Pennsylvania,  and  the 
meager  showing  of  Congregationalism  there.  Even  that  showing  is  a  thing  of 
recent  years.  The  Plan  of  Union  was  the  great  renunciation  of  Congregation- 
alism, a  self-effacement  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  Christianity. 


DENOMINATIONAL  DEVELOPMENT.  903 

have  never  heard  of  it.  The  Baptists  have  done  excellent  work  for 
education,  their  Brown  University  (1765,  at  Warren,  Rhode  Island, 
removed  to  Providence,  1770)  and  their  University  of  Chicago 
(1857,  endowed  in  1890  by  Mr.  John  D.  Rockefeller)  being  insti- 
tutions of  world-wide  distinction. 

Other  Baptist  Churches  are  the  Disciples  of  Christ,  founded  by 
Thomas  Campbell,  and  his  greater  son,  Alexander,  which  holds 
aloft  Christ  as  the  true  creed  and  unifying  center  of  OTHER  BAP. 
the  Church;  the  Christian  connection,  a  kind  of  evan-  TISTS- 
gelical  Baptist  Unitarianism  ;  the  Freewill  or  Free  Baptists,  who 
have  done  magnificent  work  in  Maine  as  well  as  elsewhere;  the  Free 
Communion  Baptists  ;  the  Cumberland  Baptists  ;  the  General  Bap- 
tists (in  the  West) ;  the  Anti-Mission  Baptists,  the  only  thoroughly 
consistent  Calvinists  in  the  world  ;  the  Seventh-Day  Baptists,  with 
their  headquarters  at  Alfred  Center,  New  York  ;  the  German  Sev- 
enth-Day Baptists ;  the  Six-Principle  Baptists  ;  and  two  bodies  of 
estimable  Christians  of  German  descent — the  Tunkers  (Dunkards, 
German  Baptists  or  Brethren)  and  the  Winebrennarians,  or  Church 
of  God,  which  last  is  an  offshoot  of  the  Reformed  German  Church 
on  account  of  opposition  to  revivals. 

The  Lutherans  have  had  a  rapid  development  in  the  national 
period.  Their  pre-revolutionary  period  was  not  specially  notable 
except  for  the  labors  of  Campanius  among  the  Indians,1  the  work 
of  Justus  Falkner  in  Montgomery  County,  Pennsyl- 

i  -i  •  n  Y  <•        t  LUTHERANS. 

vania,  after  1703,  and  the  splendid  results  of  the 
labors  of  Henry  Melchior  Muhlenberg,  the  Lutheran  Asbury,  1742- 
87.  For  a  considerable  time  their  growth  was  slow,  owing  to 
paucity  of  immigration,  and  to  their  attitude  toward  the  English 
language  on  the  one  hand  and  toward  the  Episcopal  Church  on 
the  other.  They  kept  the  use  of  German  in  public  worship,  and 
when  their  young  people  desired  services  in  English  they  sent 
them  to  the  Episcopal  Church,  which  they  regarded  as  the  Eng- 
lish Lutheran  Church,  a  fine  tribute  to  the  Protestant  com- 
plexion of  that  Church  under  White  and  his  coadjutors.  After 
1823,  however,  the  Lutheran  Church  entered  upon  an  era  of  per- 
manent growth.  Lutheranism  is  not  divided  into  sects  or  inde- 
pendent Churches,  but  into  parallel  sections,  if  they  might  be  so 
called,  which  have  no  relation  one  to  another.  These  are  :  (1)  the 
General  Synod,  organized  1820,  the  most  evangelical  of  the  sections, 
(2)  the    General  Council,   1866,   High  Church,  (3)  the   Synodical 

1  In  1649  Campanius  translated  Luther's  Small  Catechism  into  the  language 

of  the  Indians.     The  book  was  jmnted  inUpsala,  Sweden. 

i 

—  ,Aujj.a*.  f**-[vt  f^H^-.  £*o,_  A-vvW^^^viv-  1 


904  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Conference,  or  "  Missourians,"  1847,  very  High  Church,  and 
(4)  the  United  Synod  of  the  South,  1886,  which  agrees  substantially 
with  the  General  Council.     There  are  also  independent  synods. 

The  German  Eeformed  Church,  which  changed  its  name  in  1869 
into  the  Eeformed  Church  in  the  United  States,  is  composed  mostly 
reformed  °^  the  descendants  of  the  Palatinate  immigration  and 
theottm)  other  Reformed  (as  distinguished  from  Lutheran) 
states.  Christians  of    Central     Germany   and    Switzerland. 

Their  great  organizer  and  missionary  was  Michael  Schlatter,  who 
came  to  America  in  1746  and  died  in  1790.  Their  great  theologian 
was  John  Williamson  Nevin,  who  was  professor  in  their  theological 
seminary  at  Mercersburg  from  1840  to  1851,  and  editor  of  the  Mer- 
cersburg  Review  from  1849  to  1853,  and  labored  with  prodigious 
industry  to  blend  a  modified  Catholicism  with  the  Reformed 
theology.  This  Church  has  made  a  notable  contribution  to 
American  thought  in  its  Christo-centric  idea,  from  which  all  doc- 
trines are  to  be  developed  and  by  which  all  are  to  be  judged.  It 
is  less  Calvinistic  than  the  Reformed  Dutch  and  Presbyterian 
Churches,  and  freer  in  spirit  and  more  Protestant  in  doctrine  than 
most  sections  of  the  Lutheran  Church. 

The  Reformed  Protestant  Dutch  Church,  known  since  1867  as 
the  Reformed  Church  in  America,  has  had  a  large  and  notable  his- 
tory. To  this  body  American  civilization,  especially 
church  in  in  New  York  and  New  Jersey,  owes  a  great  debt.  It 
has  always  stood  for  sound  doctrine  and  a  dignified 
church  life,  and  has  not  been  behind  in  benevolent,  missionary, 
and  educational  work.  It  is  the  most  conservative  Protestant 
Church  in  Christendom.  It  holds  five,  or  rather  six,  creeds — the 
Apostles',  the  Nicene,  the  (so-called)  Athanasian,  which  pronounces 
damnation  on  all  who  do  not  accept  its  highly  metaphysical  state- 
ments on  the  Trinity,  the  Belgic  Confession,  the  Canons  of  Dort, 
and  the  Heidelberg  Catechism,  which  last  it  requires  to  be  taught 
in  schools  and  families,  and  to  be  regularly  expounded  from  the 
pulpit.  This  conservatism  exists,  however,  with  a  tolerant  spirit 
and  a  large  charity  for  all  other  Christians. 

Perhaps  for  self-sacrifice  and  a  constant  manifestation  of  the  true 
Christian  spirit,  no  Church  has  excelled  the  Unitas  Fratrum,  or 
the  moravi-  United  Brethren,  commonly  called  the  Moravian 
ANS-  Church.     Nitschmann  and  Peter  Boehler,  the  spirit- 

ual fathers  of  Wesley,  Spangenberg,  Zinzendorf — what  splendid 
heroisms  do  these  names  recall !  Zinzendorf 's  brief  work  in  Amer- 
ica is  perhaps  unparalleled  for  its  unsectarian  spirit  and  devotion 


DENOMINATIONAL  DEVELOPMENT.  905 

to  Christ  alone.1  The  Moravians  have  been  abundant  in  mission- 
ary toil,  in  which  they  have  carried  a  zeal  and  self-abnegation 
which  spring  from  the  cross  of  Christ. 

Otterbein  was   the  Wesley  of  the   German   Keformed   Church. 
While  pastor  at  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania,  between   1752  and  1758, 
he  experienced  a    change  similar  to  Wesley's.     This      UNITED 
led  him  out  into  similar  activities,  holding  evangelis-       brethren 

#  IN  CHRIST. 

tic  services,  instituting  prayer  meetings,  appointing 
laymen  as  leaders,  and  standing  in  close  fellowship  with  Asbury, 
whom  he,  with  Coke,  ordained  bishop.  In  1800  his  societies  were 
organized  into  the  United  Brethren  in  Christ.  The  polity  and 
theology  of  this  Church  are  Methodist,  and  it  has  always  main- 
tained an  earnest  apostolic  spirit. 

Another  Methodist  Church  of  Americo-German  origin  is  the 
Evangelical  Association,  founded  by  Jacob  Albright  in  1800.  He 
was  a  German  Pennsylvanian  Lutheran  who  was  con-  evangelical 
verted  among  the  Methodists,  and  began  and  carried  AbS0CIATI01< 
forward  with  noble  perseverance  an  evangelistic  work  among  the 
Germans  in  Pennsylvania.  If  the  Methodists  themselves  had  been 
doing  German  work,  as  they  did  after  1836,  under  that  great 
saint,  scholar,  and  theologian,  William  Nast,  who  died  in  1899,  aged 
ninety-two,  Albright's  converts  would  have  been  enrolled  as 
Methodists.  This  excellent  body  of  Christians,  well  called  "  evan- 
gelical," were  unfortunately  divided  into  two  denominations  in 
1891,  after  long  and  acrimonious  disputes  over  matters  of  compar- 
atively trifling  importance.  The  larger  body,  which  the  courts 
have  decided  represents  the  original  Church,  retains  the  old  name  ; 
the  smaller  body  has  adopted  the  name  of  the  United  Evangelical 
Church. 

The  history  of  the  Friends  of  America  in  the  national  period 
presents  nothing  of  special  note.  They  have  spread  widely  in  all 
the  older  portions  of  the  country,  and  have  built 
schools,  colleges,  and  benevolent  institutions,  have 
been  foremost  in  all  reform  movements,  and  have  been  true  to  their 
noble  Christian  altruism.  In  1827  they  divided  into  two  bodies, 
the  Orthodox  and  Hicksite,  each  claiming  to  represent  original 
Quakerism.  The  Orthodox,  on  the  whole,  most  truly  represents 
Fox,  though  both  have  not  been  untouched  by  that  current  which 
bears  all  living  institutions  beyond  the  boundaries  first  settled. 

1  See  the  fitting  tribute  paid  him  by  L.  W.  Bacon,  Hist,  of  American  Chris- 
tianity, pp.  189-193. 


906  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


MISSIONS  TO 
THE 


CHAPTER  IV. 

MISSIONS    AND    REFORMS. 

The  American  Churches  were  by  no  means  unmindful  of  their 
duty  to  evangelize  the  aborigines,  efforts  toward  which  have 
already  been  mentioned.  The  founder  and  greatest  missionary 
was  John  Eliot,  who  while  pastor  at  Roxbury  began  his  work  in 
1646,  and  continued  it  with  unabated  courage  and  zeal  until  his 
death  in  1690.  He  formed  several  churches  and 
Indians,  towns  of  praying  Indians,  and  lived  to  see  twenty-four 
Indian  preachers.  His  noble  enthusiasm  touched  the  hearts  of 
many  in  England,  and  led  to  the  formation  of  the  Society  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  New  England  in  1649,  which  aided  him 
with  £50  per  annum.  This  help,  supplemented  by  his  salary  of  £60 
at  Roxbury,  enabled  him  in  part  to  carry  on  his  work  of  translat- 
ing the  Bible  into  the  native  language,  a  work  which  he  achieved 
in  1661  (New  Testament;  Old,  1663),  the  first  Bible  printed  in 
America.  He  wrote  various  other  books,  and  thus  began  a  native 
Christian  literature.  Eliot  was  a  man  who  richly  deserved  the 
encomium  of  Edward  Everett,  who  said  of  him,  "  The  history  of  the 
Christian  Church  does  not  contain  an  example  of  resolute,  untir- 
ing, successful  labor  superior,"  and  that  of  Richard  Baxter,  who  said, 
"  There  is  no  man  on  earth  whom  I  honor  above  him.  "  '  Mission 
work  among  the  Indians  has  been  carried  on  in  the  national  period 
by  various  Churches  with  moderate  success.  Perhaps  the  most 
enduring  work  is  that  conducted  with  splendid  devotion  at  Hamp- 
ton, Virginia,  where  that  knight  of  Jesus  Christ,  Samuel  C.  Arm- 
strong, the  founder  and  for  twenty-five  years  the  principal  of 
Hampton  Institute,  closed  his  noble  life  May  11,  1893. 2 

It  was  fitting  that  the  Church  of  Eliot  should  be  the  first  to 
preach  the  Sun  of  righteousness  to  the  heathen,  even  although  she 
waited  until  the  night  was  far  spent.     The  birth  of  foreign  mis- 

1  The  latest  authority  on  Eliot  is  Ezra  Hoyt  Byington  in  The  Puritan  as  a 
Colonist  and  Reformer,  Bost.,  1899.  See  the  same  author's  article  in  papers  of 
Amer.  Soc.  of  Church  History,  1897,  pp.  Ill  ff.  Daniel  Dorchester  is  at  work 
on  a  History  of  Missions  among  the  Indians,  the  publication  of  which  is  to  be 
devoutly  wished. 

2  See  Samuel  Chapman  Armstrong,  a  sketch  by  Robert  C.  Ogden,  N.  Y.,  1894. 


MISSIONS  AND   REFORMS.  907 

sions  in  the  United  States  may  be  placed  in  a  humble  Congrega- 
tional parsonage  at  Torringford,  Connecticut,  in  the  prayers  and 
teachings  of  a  minister's  wife,  who  said  of  her  son,  Samuel  John 
Mills  (born  1783),  "  I  have  consecrated  this  child  to  the  service  of 
God  as  a  missionary. "  When  this  boy  entered  Williams  FOKEIGN 
College  in  1806,  he  formed  a  band  of  students  for  missions. 
prayer  and  conference.  It  was  a  veritable  Oxford  Holy  Club  in  its 
world-wide  influence.  Its  meeting  place  was  a  grove  near  by. 
One  day  a  thunderstorm  drove  the  students  to  take  shelter  under 
the  favoring  lee  of  a  haystack,  and  while  there  young  Mills  first 
suggested  the  idea  of  evangelizing  the  heathen.  "  We  can  and 
ought  to  send  them  the  Gospel,"  he  said.  They  formed  a  society 
whose  object  it  was  "  to  effect  in  the  persons  of  its  members  a 
mission  to  the  heathen."  When  the  great  preacher  and  revivalist, 
Edward  Dorr  Griffin,  was  president  of  Williams  College,  1821-36, 
he  said  this  of  the  influence  of  Mills's  praying  band  :  "  I  have  been 
in  situations  to  know  that  from  the  counsels  formed  in  that  sacred 
conclave,  or  from  the  mind  of  Mills  himself,  arose  the  American 
Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  the  American  Bible 
Society,  the  United  Foreign  Missionary  Society  [supported  for  a 
time  by  the  Presbyterians, Eeformed  Dutch,  and  Associate  Reformed 
Churches],  and  the  African  school  under  the  care  of  the  synod  of 
New  York  and  New  Jersey,  besides  all  the  impetus  given  to  domes- 
tic missions,  to  the  Colonization  Society,  and  to  the  general  cause 
of  benevolence  in  both  hemispheres."  He  then  adds  :  "  If  I  had 
any  instrumentality  in  originating  any  of  these  measures,  I  here 
publicly  declare  that  in  every  instance  I  received  the  first  impulse 
from  Samuel  John  Mills."  ' 

In  1810  Mills  entered  Andover  Theological  Seminary,  where  he 
found  like-minded  spirits  in  Gordon  Hall,  Samuel  Nott,  Samuel 
Newell — the  first  American  missionaries  to  India  (1812) — James 
Richards,  the  first  to  Ceylon,  and  Adoniram  Judson,     m_  ._„,, 

*  J  '  7         THE    AMERI- 

the  first  to  Burma  and  the  illustrious  founder  of  CAN  board. 
American  Baptist  Missions  to  the  East — a  company  of  men  who  in 
spirit  formed  a  veritable  apostolic  college.  In  the  parlor  of  Pro- 
fessor Moses  Stuart  these  students  met  a  number  of  clergymen, 
and  in  response  to  their  appeal  to  be  sent  to  the  heathen  they  re- 
ceived the  noble  response,  "  Go  in  the  name  of  the  Lord,  and  we 
will  help."  On  the  next  day  two  of  those  ministers,  Samuel  Spring 
and  Samuel  Worcester,  while  on  their  way  to  the  General  Associa- 
tion of  Massachusetts,  at  Bradford,  formed  the  plan  of  the  Ameri- 
1  Art.  Mills,  Samuel  John,  in  Bliss,  Encyclop.  of  Missions,  ii,  103. 


908  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

can  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  which  was 
adopted  by  the  Association  three  days  later,  Jnne  29,  1810.  This 
is  therefore  the  oldest  missionary  society  in  the  United  States. 
Marvelous  results  have  been  achieved  in  India,  China,  Africa, 
Turkey,  Syria,  and  Hawaii,  and  strong  foundations  laid  in  Roman 
Catholic  lands.  Various  sections  have  been  substantially  Chris- 
tianized. The  work  for  literature,  science,  and  scholarship  has 
been  commensurate  with  the  work  for  religion.  If  the  twentieth 
century  sees  a  new  Turkey,  it  will  be  due  in  no  small  degree  to 
the  work  of  Robert  College,  Constantinople.  It  was  the  Congre- 
gational missionaries  that  made  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  which  were 
annexed  to  the  United  States  in  1899. '  During  the  Turkish  massa- 
cres of  the  Armenians  in  1895  the  heroism  of  the  missionaries,  whose 
schools  and  churches  were  a  house  of  refuge,  was  beyond  praise. 

The  Presbyterians  also  began  their  work  among  the  Indians, 
one  of  their  first  missionaries  being  the  holy  David  Brainerd 
(d.  1780),  and  they  have  carried  on  extensive  operations  among 
presbyteki-  various  tribes  during  the  national  period.  Perhaps 
an  missions.  tjie  mogt  ceiei3rate(i  0f  their  missions  is  that  to  Syria, 
where  they  have  done  some  notable  work,  especially  the  Arabic 
translation  of  the  Bible  performed  by  two  celebrated  scholars,  Eli 
Smith  and  C.  A.  Van  Dyck.  The  latter  has  written  several  scien- 
tific works  in  Arabic.  The  beginning  of  their  work  in  Laos  was, 
like  that  of  the  early  Church,  baptized  in  blood.  Substantial  prog- 
ress has  been  made  in  China  and  Japan,  in  which  latter  country 
James  C.  Hepburn  made  all  inquirers  his  debtor  by  publishing 
(1867)  his  Japanese-English  Dictionary.  The  works  on  compara- 
tive religion  by  the  late  lamented  S.  H.  Kellogg  and  by  Francis  F. 
Ellinwood,  as  well  as  the  wonderful  quickening  to  Christian  life 
and  service  by  the  activities  of  their  young  secretary,  Robert  E. 
Speer,  are  worthy  of  special  mention. 

Among  the  offerings  of  Andover  to  foreign  missions  in  the 
Mills  band  were  Adoniram  Judson  and  Luther  Rice.  They  sailed 
on  separate  vessels  for  India,  but  both,  without  knowledge  of  each 
other's  studies  or  collusion,  reached  Baptist  conclusions  on  their 

1  The  work  of  missions  for  civilization  has  been  specially  treated  by  Thomas 
Laurie,  Contributions  of  Foreign  Missions  to  Science  and  Human  Well-Being 
(the  Ely  volume),  Bost.,  1881,  2d  ed.  1887 ;  W.  D.  Mackenzie,  Christianity  and  the 
Progress  of  Man  :  a  Study  of  Contemporary  Evolution  in  Connection  with  the 
Work  of  Modern  Missions,  N.  Y.,  1898;  and  especially  in  the  monumental 
work  of  James  S.  Dennis,  Christian  Missions  and  Social  Progress,  3  vols., 
N.  Y.,  1898-1900. 


MISSIONS   AND   REFORMS.  009 

voyage.  This  was  the  beginning  of  American  Baptist  foreign 
missionary  work,  a  society  being  formed  in  1814  to  support  Jud- 
eon  and  Kice  and  send  more  workers.  Judson  and  baptist 
his  devoted  wives  are  among  the  brightest  names  in  missions. 
the  history  of  missions,  and  the  reading  of  their  memoirs  has 
done  much  to  stimulate  missionary  zeal.  He  was  the  father  of 
Christian  Burma  in  his  twofold  work  for  missions  and  literature. 
The  American  Baptists  have  done  a  work  of  inestimable  im- 
portance for  civilization  in  Burma,  not  to  speak  of  their  evangel- 
ism. The  Burman  Baptist  Church,  too,  had  its  martyr  periods. 
The  sufferings  of  Judson  and  the  martyrdom  of  native  Christians 
are  not  eclipsed  in  the  records  of  heroism.  The  history  of  the 
Telugu  (Madras  presidency)  mission  is  most  interesting  as  an  illus- 
tration of  long-delayed  success.  With  magnificent  faith  and  self- 
devotion  the  Baptists  kept  their  missionaries  on  the  ground,  with 
few  or  no  converts,  from  1836  to  1865.  In  the  latter  year  there 
were  no  more  than  twenty-five  Christians  as  a  reward  for  their 
thirty  years'  work.  But  in  1867,  after  the  long  sowing,  a  harvest 
was  begun.  The  converts  gradually  increased  until  in  1876  there 
were  1,394  members  reported.  In  1878,  8,691  were  baptized.  The 
marvelous  work  has  gone  on  until  in  1899,  50,735  members  are 
reported.  An  equally  interesting  work  in  a  far  different  country  is 
that  in  Sweden,  where  American  Baptist  missions  have  achieved 
a  notable  success.  In  1899  they  reported  40,905  members.  Most 
of  the  Baptist  mission  churches  in  Sweden  are  self-supporting,  and 
are  sending  their  own  missionaries  to  the  heathen. 

"  Despise  not  the  day  of  small  things  "  is  the  lesson  of  missionary 
history.  A  Virginian  free  mulatto  (with  Indian  blood)  converted 
in  Marietta,  Ohio,  under  the  preaching  of  a  zealous  Methodist 
preacher,  Marcus  Lindsey,  felt  it  his  duty  to  preach  the  Gospel  to 
the  Indians.  He  started  out  in  1814  and  journeyed  until  he  came 
to  the  Wyandot  reservation  at  Upper  Sandusky,  methodist 
where  he  told  the  simple  story  of  the  cross.  His  MISSIONS- 
labors  were  successful.  In  1817  a  revival  brought  a  multitude  to 
Christ.  This  zealous  Negro-Indian  evangelist,  John  Stewart, 
labored  on  until  he  saw  substantially  the  whole  Wyandot  nation 
Christianized.  His  labors  led  to  the  formation  of  the  Missionary 
Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  New  York  in  1819. 
No  foreign  work,  however,  was  undertaken  until  1833,  when  the 
consecrated  Melville  B.  Cox  was  sent  to  Liberia,  where  he  died  in 
four  months,  with  these  words  upon  his  lips,  "Let  a  thousand  fall 
before  Africa  is  given  up."    Since  that  time  flourishing  missions 


910  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

have  been  established  in  various  parts  of  Africa,  India,  China, 
Japan,  Mexico,  South  America,  and  several  nations  in  Europe.  In 
1898  the  English  Wesleyan  Methodist  missions  in  Germany  were 
handed  over  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Society  after  negotiations 
marked  with  special  tokens  of  the  divine  blessing.  William  Taylor, 
from  a  missionary  standpoint  the  modern  St.  Paul,  and  the  founder 
of  "  self-supporting  "  Methodist  missions  in  South  America,  India, 
and  Africa,  was  made  missionary  bishop  of  Africa  in  1884,  and 
founded  missions  up  the  Congo  and  in  other  strategic  points  on 
both  the  eastern  and  western  coasts  and  in  the  interior.  Another 
man  of  apostolic  spirit,  James  M.  Thoburn,  was  made  missionary 
bishop  of  India  and  Malaysia  in  1888,  and  has  seen  the  work  spread 
under  his  hands  in  a  way  that  recalls  the  early  triumphs  of  the 
Church.  In  North  India,  especially,  the  Baptist  history  among  the 
Telugus  has  been  repeated  with  the  Methodists.  Missions  have 
been  planted  in  different  parts  of  Malaysia,  at  Singapore,  and  in  the 
Philippine  Islands  (1900).  Among  the  founders  of  Methodist  mis- 
sions must  be  named  William  Butler,  who  laid  the  foundations  in 
India  (1856)  and  in  Mexico  (1873)  with  devotion  and  wisdom,  and, 
after  a  singularly  fruitful  and  beautiful  life,  died  in  1899,  full  of 
years  and  honors. 

All  the  Protestant  Churches  in  the  United  States  and  Canada 
have  done  noble  work  in  both  home  and  foreign  missions.  The 
following  statistics  of  American  foreign  missions  were  published 
in  1899  :  Ordained  missionaries,  1,249  ;  native  helpers  of  all  kinds, 
16,678;  communicants,  367,846;  income,  $5,549,340.' 

In  all  the  colonies  slavery  was  a  recognized  institution.  The 
Southern  colonists  differed  from  the  Northern  in  this,  however, 
that  in  them  slavery  was  a  part  of  their  social  and  industrial 
economy.  The  plantation  was  the  unit  of  their  system,  not  the 
town.8  Protests  against  slavery,  even  by  Southerners,  were  not 
uncommon  in  the  colonial  period,  and  in  the  North  those  protests 
sometimes  took  the  form  of  a  denunciation  of  the 

SLAVERY. 

thing  in  itself.  An  interesting  illustration  of  the  dif- 
ferent temper  of  the  two  eras  is  the  fact  that  when  Cotton  Mather's 
Essays  to  Do  Good,  in  which  he  took  grounds  against  the  justice 
of  slavery,  were  republished  by  the  American  Tract  Society,  the 
little  book  had  to  be  expurgated.  Nor  were  the  Churches  silent. 
The  Mennonites  and  Quakers  uniformly  opposed  the  institution, 
and  at  its  formation  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  took  high 

1  Missionary  Review,  Feb.,  1899,  p.  150. 

2  L.  W.  Bacon,  Hist,  of  American  Christianity,  p.  147. 


MISSIONS  AND   REFORMS.  911 

and  uncompromising  ground,  as  did  also  individual  churches  of 
other  denominations.  But  slavery  was  so  intrenched  in  the  South 
that  the  Churches  were  compelled  to  recognize  it.  Even  the  in- 
tense ethical  and  reforming  zeal  of  early  Methodism  was  powerless 
against  it,  as  witness  the  instructive  recessions  of  the  Methodist 
Discipline  from  its  first  position.1  But  this  recognition  was  always 
partial  and  tentative,  most  of  the  Churches  in  the  North  hearing 
testimony  as  to  the  evils  of  slavery  and  advising  various  measures 
of  relief.  There  were  always  persons,  however,  even  outside  of 
the  Friends  and  other  religious  societies,  who  bore  unflinching 
testimony  against  slavery.  Many  of  these  forsook  the  Churches 
entirely,  and  denounced  them  as  false  to  the  first  principles  of 
Christianity.  The  time  of  the  chief  activity  of  the  antislavery  re~ 
form,  the  third,  fourth,  and  fifth  decades  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, has  been  called  the  martyr  period  of  our  national  history,  on 
account  of  the  sufferings,  occasionally  unto  death,  of  these  heroic 
men.  One  of  the  greatest  of  them,  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  was 
mobbed  in  Boston  in  1835 — dragged  through  the  street  with  a 
rope  around  his  neck.  John  G.  Whittier,  Samuel  J.  May,  George 
Thompson,  Parker  Pillsbury,  and  other  brave  defenders  of  free- 
dom, were  in  riots  oft.  Elijah-- P.  Lovejoy,  who  published  an 
antislavery  paper  in  Cincinnati,  was  shot  by  a  mob  in  1837  and 
his  office  wrecked.  Among  the  forces  working  toward  emancipa- 
tion must  be  mentioned  the  influence  of  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin 
(1852),  a  powerful  and  dramatic  story  drawn  from  life.  The 
emancipation  of  the  negroes  as  the  result  of  the  civil  war 
(1861-5),  and  their  premature  enfranchisement  laid  upon  the 
Church  a  grave  responsibility.  This  has  been  met  by  THe  freed- 
a  Christian  patriotism  and  devotion  worthy  of  all  M£N* 
praise.  A  vast  deal  of  missionary  and  educational  work  has  been 
done  in  the  South  by  the  various  Protestant  denominations. 

Nowhere  has  the  temperance  reform  won  greater  triumphs  than 
in  the  United  States.  The  Church  and  a  multitude  of  temperance 
organizations  have  won  thousands  of  drinkers  to  so-  temper- 
briety,  and  legislation,  enforced  by  an  enlightened  ance. 
public  sentiment,  has  driven  the  public  traffic  out  of  many  regions. 
Kansas,  Maine,  and  North  Dakota  have  incorporated  prohibition 
into  their  constitutions,  and  Iowa,  New  Hampshire,  and  Vermont 

1  See  the  various  histories  of  Methodism  in  the  United  States ;  Elliott,  The 
Great  Secession,  Cin. ,  1855,  in  which  the  relation  of  Methodism  to  slavery  is 
treated  with  great  detail  (valuable  documents  in  appendices),  and  brief  con- 
spectus by  T.  O.  Summers,  in  McClintock  and  Strong,  Cyc,  vi,  182,  183. 


912  HISTORY  OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

have  passed  prohibitory  laws,  though  in  many  places  these  laws  are 
a  dead  letter.  South  Dakota  adopted  a  prohibitory  amendment  in 
1890  (with  its  northern  sister)  on  becoming  a  State,  but  in  1898 
the  people  swept  the  amendment  from  the  constitution,  and  in 
1899  put  into  effect  a  State  dispensary  law,  similar  to  that  adopted 
by  South  Carolina  in  1893.  Few  Churches  force  total  abstinence 
on  members,  although  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has  had  a 
rule  to  that  effect  from  the  beginning,  and  has  lived  up  to  it  with 
a  fair  degree  of  fidelity.  The  woman's  crusade  against  saloons  in 
Ohio  in  1873-4,  founded  on  a  profound  religious  impulse,  had 
notable  local  results,  besides  leading  to  the  formation  of  one  of  the 
most  influential  moral  agencies  in  the  world,  the  Woman's  Chris- 
tian Temperance  Union,  which  has  spread  into  many  lands,  and 
has  widened  its  scope  to  include  related  reforms  of  the  greatest 
consequence. 

Social  purity  deserves  to  be  the  next  world-reform  movement. 
The  Moloch  of  lust — brother-demon  of  drink — destroys  millions 
social  every  year,  and  yet  the  Church  has  not  in  any  general 

effective  way  attempted  to  abate  that  curse.  In  1885 
William  T.  Stead  uncovered  the  horrors  of  London  society  in  deal- 
ing with  unprotected  girls,  and  his  disclosures,  for  which  he  was 
imprisoned,  led  to  the  Criminal  Law  Amendment  Act  which  raised 
the  age  of  protection  to  sixteen.  In  the  same  year  the  Woman's 
Christian  Temperance  Union  took  up  this  cause  under  the  direc- 
tion of  Miss  Frances  E.  Willard,  and  in  1888  they  secured  the 
passage  by  Congress  of  an  act  raising  the  age  of  consent  to  sixteen. 
There  are  a  large  number  of  agencies  for  the  rescue  of  the  unfor- 
tunate and  the  reform  of  the  fallen  supported  by  Protestant  and 
Catholic  churches  and  by  independent  charity.1  In  this  con- 
nection no  society  has  done  a  nobler  and  more  necessary  work  than 
the  New  York  Society  for  the  Suppression  of  Vice  (1873),  through 
its  brave  and  indefatigable  secretary,  Mr.  Anthony  Comstock. 

Eescue  work  in  general  brings  before  us  two  great  societies,  the 
Salvation  Army,  and  its  daughter,  the  Volunteers  of  America. 
the  salva-  The  Salvation  Army  was  founded  by  William  Booth 
anjTthe1*  in  1878  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  the  masses  and  help 
"  the  helpless.  It  is  the  only  great  religious  society  in 
the  world  which  in  a  large,  determined,  practical  way  has  un- 
dertaken to  carry  out  Christ's  program  in  Luke  iv,  18,  and  it 

1  The  most  of  these — both  national  and  local — will  be  found  catalogued  with 
information  as  to  each,  in  that  invaluable  handbook,  New  York  Charities 
Directory,  7th  ed.,  N.  Y.,  1897,  p.  568. 


MISSIONS  AND   REFORMS.  913 

"has  done  this  in  its  twofold  ministries,  religious  and  social,  with  a 
zeal  and  heroism  worthy  of  apostolic  times.  It  also  has  had  its  age 
of  persecution,  but  in  Christian  lands  that  is  almost  passed.  It  is 
military  in  its  government,  Methodist  in  its  theology,  and  revivalis- 
tic  in  its  spirit.  It  does  work  for  the  poor  and  those  out  of  employ- 
ment, for  homeless  men  and  women,  for  children,  and  for  prison- 
ers. The  Volunteers  of  America  was  founded  by  William  Booth's 
son  Ballington  and  his  wife  in  1896  in  a  schism  from  the  Salvation 
Army  resulting  from  a  realization  in  their  own  persons  of  the 
tyrannical  organization  of  the  Army.  It  retains  military  organiza- 
tion, though  with  large  concessions  to  American  ideas.  Its  re- 
ligious and  philanthropic  aims  are  similar  to  those  of  the  Army, 
though  it  addresses  itself  also  to  the  wage-earning  class.  By  the 
devotion  and  consecrated  genius  of  Mrs.  Ballington  Booth,  who 
stands  with  Miss  Frances  E.  Willard  among  the  most  useful  women 
in  this  generation,  a  promising  field  of  hope  and  usefulness  has 
been  opened  up  for  prisoners  and  released  convicts. 

A  most  Christian  conception  of  philanthropy  is  the  Settlement, 
or  actual  residence  in  the  midst  of  slum  districts,  where,  by  reli- 
gious, educational,  and  physical  ministries,  an  attempt  is  made  to 
lift  up  the  whole  population.  This  is  indeed  but  a  greatly  needed 
enlargement  of  the  work  done  by  the  Churches.  The  founder  of 
the  Settlement  was  Arnold  Toynbee,  a  graduate  of  Oxford,  who 
came  under  the  influence  of  Ruskin's  socialistic  Christianity,  and 
believing  that  a  man  must,  so  to  speak,  incarnate  himself  among  the 
poor,  he  took  up  his  residence  in  Whitechapel,  London,  in  1875, 
and  associated  himself  with  that  enthusiastic  and  large-minded 
slum  worker,  the  Eev.  S.  A.  Barnett.  Toynbee  was  carried  off  by 
overwork  in  1883,  and  in  1885  Toynbee  Hall  was  organized  in 
Whitechapel  under  the  direction  of  Barnett.  Members  of  the 
Universities  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge  reside  there  and  labor  in 
ways  of  education,  relief,  and  spiritual  help,  as  well  as  minister  to 
the  poor  in  amusement  and  recreation,  and  thus,  by  first-hand  con- 
tact and  study  get  at  the  heart  of  the  problem  of  poverty  and 
crime.  A  similar  institution — The  Hull  House — was  established 
in  Chicago  in  1889,  the  College  Settlements  Association  was 
formed  the  next  year,  and  since  that  time  several  settlements  have 
been  established,  centers  of  light  and  healing,  by  our  colleges  and 
theological  seminaries. 
60 


914  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE    AMERICAN    CHURCH    IN    THE    TWENTIETH    CENTURY. 

What  shall  be  the  character  of  Christianity  in  the  twentieth 
century  ?  Judging  the  future  by  the  past  we  may  say  that  the 
historical  trend  clearly  indicates  the  following  important  features. 

The  American  Church  will  interpret  its  mission  in  larger  terms. 
It  has  already  taken  a  leaf  from  early  Methodism  and  the  Salva- 
tion Army,  which  have  taught  it  that  it  has  a  mission  to  society 
as  well  as  to  the  individual.1  This  accounts  for  that  notable  and 
hopeful  development  of  Christian  Avork,  the  Institutional  Church, 
the  insti-  a  conception  which  was  embodied  in  1890  independ- 
3;£™0^L         ently  and  almost  simultaneously  in  three  or  four  dif- 

CHURCH.  **  ** 

ferent  cities.  It  is  defined  by  the  Rev.  C.  A.  Dickin- 
son, of  the  Berkeley  Temple,  Boston,  in  these  words:  "It  is  an 
organization  which  aims  to  reach  all  of  the  man  and  all  men  by 
all  means.  In  other  words,  it  aims  to  represent  Christ  on  earth  in 
the  sense  of  representing  him  physically,  morally,  and  spiritually 
to  the  senses  of  the  men  and  women  who  live  in  the  present  age.  .  .  . 
Some  general  lines  will  be  friendliness  and  sociability,  charitable 
aid,  aid  to  self-help  ;  instruction,  intellectual  and  manual ;  the 
ministry  of  music  and  art ;  religion  pure  and  undefiled  ;  the  sim- 
ple and  urgent  preaching  of  the  deepest  and  most  inspiring  truth 
we  can  possibly  attain  to."*  The  institutional  idea,  making  the 
Church  minister,  as  Christ  did,  to  the  varied  life  of  man,  has  been 
widely  adopted,  sometimes  even  in  rural  places,  and  when  carried 
on  in  the  true  spirit  of  Christ  and  for  spiritual  ends,  has  attained 
remarkable  success.' 

The  precursor  of  the  Church  in  this  larger  interpretation  of  its 

1  On  the  socialistic  aspect  of  Wesley's  work  see  the  admirable  book  by  D.  D. 
Thompson,  John  Wesley  as  a  Social  Reformer,  Cincinnati  and  N.  Y.,  1899. 

2  Art.  Institutional  Churches  in  Bliss,  Encyc.  of  Social  Reform,  p.  735 ; 
Charles  J.  Mills,  The  Institutional  Church,  in  Bibliotheca  Sacra,  July,  1892, 
pp.  453  ff .  The  last  article  tells  of  results  as  well  as  of  methods.  A  valuable 
book  is  that  of  G.  W.  Mead,  Modern  Methods  in  Church  Work,  N.  Y.,  1896. 
See  also  Gladden,  The  Christian  Pastor  and  the  Working  Church,  N.  Y.,  1899. 

8  Some  Institutional  Churches  are :  Berkeley  Temple  (Congregational), 
Boston  ;  Fourth  Church,  Hartford  ;  Jersey  City  Tabernacle  •,  St.  George's,  New 
York  ;  the  Metropolitan  Temple  (Methodist  Episcopal),  New  York  ;  Plymouth 
Church,  Milwaukee  ;  and  the  Tabernacle,  Denver.     See  Bliss  as  above. 


AMERICAN   CHURCH   IN  THE   TWENTIETH   CENTURY.     915 

mission  is  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association.  This  was 
founded  in  1844  hy  George  Williams,  then  a  clerk  in  a  dry  goods 
store  in  London,  who  gathered  a  few  of  his  fellows 

'  b  ,  .        YOUNG    MEN'S 

together  for  prayer.     From  this  small  beginning  this  christian 

&  r       J  O  o  ASSOCIATION. 

organization  has  grown  until  it  has  5,075  associations 
and  465,902  members,  in  the  United  States,  Canada,  every  Euro- 
pean country,  and  in  various  places  in  Asia,  Africa,  and  Oceanica.1 
It  reaches  young  men  from  the  basis  of  the  physical,  as  well  as 
of  the  intellectual  and  spiritual.  Two  of  its  important  branches  are 
the  railroad  and  college  departments,  in  which  it  has  achieved 
notable  results.  The  Young  Women's  Christian  Association, 
founded  in  New  York  in  1873,  has  a  similar  aim,  and  has  achieved 
a  work  similarly  noble,  fruitful,  and  abiding. 

The  American  Church  will  organize  its  working  forces  for  more 
aggressive  service.  The  thought  is  taking  possession  of  the 
Church  that  it  exists  not  for  itself  but  for  the  world.  This  use  of 
its  members  for  the  Kingdom  in  a  large  way  is  a  recent  thing. 
The  organization  of  woman's  home  and  foreign  missionary  socie- 
ties is  one  of  the  most  important  events  in  Church  history,  and 
dates  only  from  1834 — the  most  of  them,  however,  ORGANIZA. 
within  the  last  third  of  the  century.  The  young  "^sICe°  and 
people's  societies  are  more  recent  still,  the  Christian  SOCIETY- 
Endeavor  Society  in  1881,  the  Brotherhood  of  St.  Andrew  in  1883, 
the  King's  Daughters  in  1886,  the  Epworth  League  in  1889,  the 
Young  People's  Christian  Union  (United  Brethren)  in  1890,  the 
Baptist  Young  People's  Union  in  1891,  and  the  Luther  League  in 
1888  (first  national  convention,  1895).  The  Brotherhood  of  Philip 
and  Andrew  (1888)  states  its  object  in  this  striking  sentence  : 
"  Any  man  can  belong  to  the  Brotherhood  who  will  promise  to 
pray  daily  for  the  spread  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  among  young 
men,  and  to  make  an  earnest  effort  each  week  to  bring  at  least  one 
young  man  within  the  hearing  of  the  Gospel."  Societies  for  men 
as  well  as  for  young  men  are  now  being  organized,  such  as  men's 
clubs  in  local  churches,  the  Brotherhood  of  St.  Paul,  and  the 
Brotherhood  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  both  in  1898. 
The  remarkably  rapid  growth  of  lodges  and  secret  societies  for  men, 
as  well  as  social  clubs,  is  not  only  from  the  point  of  view  of  the 
Church  one  of  the  most  alarming  facts  to  be  faced,  but  is  a  revela- 
tion of  a  demand  from  the  social,  fraternal,  and  intellectual  side  of 
human  nature  of  which  the  Church  must  take  account.  The 
Church  will  learn  from  its  early  history  that  attention  to  the  spir- 

1  Year  Book  of  the  International  Committee  of  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  1899,  p.  225. 

J 


-916  HISTORY   OF   THE  CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

itual  needs  of  men  should  not  be  divorced  from  ministries  to  their 
varied  life,  but  rather  logically  includes  those  ministries.  The  vain 
hope  of  men  to  realize  by  worldly  societies  that  brotherhood  which 
Christ  first  made  a  living  reality  accounts  for  these  organizations 
so  pathetically  numerous.  To  that  hope  and  feeling  the  Church 
must  appeal  in  its  work  for  men  and  by  men,  and  to  that  work  it 
must  address  itself  with  a  pulpit  intellectually  aggressive,  a  mem- 
bership spiritually  alive,  and  all  kinds  of  agencies  for  the  help  and 
healing  of  man's  manifold  nature.  To  her  come  the  golden  words 
of  her  minister  in  darkest  London  :  "  The  social  reformer  must  go 
alongside  the  Christian  missionary,  if  he  be  not  himself  the  Chris- 
tian missionary."1 

The  American  Church,  while  loyal  to  truth,  will  place  more  and 

more  emphasis  on  life.     The  loosening  of  dogmatic  bonds  is  one  of 

the  most  remarkable  legacies  which  the  nineteenth  century  leaves 

to  the  twentieth.     Even  the  Eoman  Catholic  Church 

EMPHASIS  ON 

living.  js  moved  by  this  age-spirit.     No  Church  has  escaped 

it,  or  can  escape  it.  Opinions  which  caused  heresy  trials  half  a 
century  ago  are  now  considered  conservative  indeed.  When  the 
Andover  professors  were  tried  for  heresy  in  1886-7  it  was  well  un- 
derstood by  all  that,  whatever  the  merits  of  that  special  contest, 
they  had  traveled  far  beyond  the  terms  of  the  old  Andover  creed, 
to  which  they  must  subscribe  every  five  years.2  But  although  the 
trial  did  not  decide  the  points  in  dispute  its  general  result  was  de- 
cidedly in  favor  of  the  professors.  Everywhere  the  tendency  is 
the  same.  Twenty-five  years  ago  the  acceptance  of  the  main  results 
of  the  literary  criticism  of  the  Old  Testament  would  have  been 
dangerous  to  one's  ecclesiastical  standing,  as  witness  the  removal 
of  Professor  W.  Robertson  Smith  from  the  chair  of  Hebrew  in  the 
Eree  Church  College,  Aberdeen,  in  1881 ;  but  to-day  the  great 
majority  of  scholars  in  all  evangelical  Churches  have  accepted  those 
results  to  a  greater  or  less  degree  and  with  perfect  impunity. 

The  main  conclusions  of  conservative  and  reverent  scholars  who 
are  working  from  the  facts  and  not  from  antisupernaturalistic  pre- 
possessions not  only  do  not  injure  but  rather  confirm  the  faith  of 

'The  Rev.  Samuel  A.  Barnett,  Practicable  Socialism,  rev.  and  enl.  ed., 
Lond.  andN.  Y.,  1894,  p.  195.  He  says  also  :  "The  one  satisfactory  method 
of  social  reform  is  that  which  tends  to  make  more  common  the  good  things 
which  wealth  has  gained  for  the  few.  The  nationalization  of  luxury  must  be 
the  object  of  social  reformers  "  (p.  65).  See  Art.  Barnett,  in  Bliss,  Encyc.  of 
Social  Reform,  p.  142. 

2  In  1899  the  Board  of  Visitors  set  forth  an  official  declaration  interpreting 
terms  of  subscription  to  the  creed  in  the  most  liberal  way. 


AMERICAN   CHURCH   IN  THE   TWENTIETH   CENTURY.    917 

the  Church  in  the  divine  authority  of  the  Old  Testament.  Church 
history  shows  on  every  page  that  the  standpoint  of  to-day  on  unim- 
portant theological  views  may  be  shifted  for  another  reverent 
to-morrow.  When  Professor  Beet  profoundly  modified  GKE.ssrvE 
the  traditional  Methodist  treatment  of  eschatology  in  scholarship. 
his  The  Last  Things,  in  1897,  the  matter  ended  in  a  quiet  investiga- 
tion, a  result  which  shows  that  one  of  the  most  conservative  sections 
of  Christendom  is  determined  to  preach  the  Gospel  and  not  waste 
its  strength  in  internecine  strife  over  nonessentials.  On  the  other 
hand,  a  young  Canadian  scholar,  Professor  George  C.  Workman, 
was  transferred  from  the  theological  to  the  arts  department  of 
Victoria  University  in  1891  on  account  of  his  views  of  Messianic 
Prophecy,  though  he  explained  that  they  were  entirely  consistent 
with  an  evangelical  interpretation,  and  was  refused  reinstatement 
by  a  small  majority  in  1892 — an.  interesting  instance  of  colonial 
conservatism.'  The  new  attitude  in  theological  science  at  once 
conservative  and  progressive,  holding  stanchly  to  the  Christian  foun- 
dations, but  with  open  vision  to  God's  ever-dawning  light,  is 
illustrated  in  two  or  three  recent  books. a 

The  twentieth  century  Church  will  seek  for  union  where  it  can 
be  had  without  prejudice  to  truth  or  to  effective  service.  As  has 
already  been  noted,  some  of  the  Scotch  Presbyterian  union  of 
Churches  have  united,  and  in  1869  the  "  New  School "  churches. 
and  "Old  School"  Presbyterian  Churches  in  the  United  States 
came  together.  All  the  Methodist  Churches  of  Canada  are  now 
under  the  title  of  The  Methodist  Church,  the  New  Connection 
uniting  with  Wesleyan  Methodists  in  1874,  and  the  Methodist 
Episcopal,  Primitive,  and  Bible  Christian  uniting  with  these  in 
1883.  Conferences  for  the  discussion  of  theological  and  practical 
questions  have  brought  the  various  Eeformed  Churches  into  fra- 
ternal communion,  which  has  issued  in  the  formation  of  the  Alli- 
ance of  Reformed  Churches  throughout  the  World  holding  the 
Presbyterian  System,  which  held  its  first  general  council  in  Edin- 
burgh in  1877,  and  its  last  in  Washington  in  1899.  A  like  friendly 
association  of  all  the  Methodist  Churches  in  the  world  has  been 
consummated,  of  which  the  fruit  is  the  first  ecumenical  confer- 

1  For  Professor  Workman's  contributions  to  Messianic  prophecy  see  the  Can- 
adian Methodist  Quarterly,  Oct.,  1890,  407  ff.,  Oct.,  1891,407  ft\,  and  Messianic 
Prophecy  Vindicated,  Toronto,  1899.  He  is  the  author  of  one  of  the  most  valu- 
able apologies  of  recent  times,  The  Old  Testament  Vindicated,  Toronto,  1897. 

2  M.  S.  Terry,  The  New  Apologetic,  N.  Y.  and  Cin.,  1897,  and  Christian 
Apocalyptics,  N.  Y.  and  Cin.,  1899,  andC.  W.  Eishell,  Foundations  of  the  Chris- 
tian Faith,  N.  Y.  and  Cin.,  1899. 


918  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

ence  in  London  in  1881,  the  second  in  Washington  in  1891,  and 
the  third  in  London  in  1901.  It  is  to  be  devoutly  hoped  that  these 
union  meetings  for  discussion  will  lead  to  an  organic  union  for 
work,  as  well  as  for  an  exhibition  of  that  real  brotherhood  and 
unity  of  spirit  which  form  one  of  the  essential  prerequisites  to  the 
conversion  of  the  world. 

In    1886    the   House  of   Bishops   of  the   Protestant   Episcopal 
Churches  laid  down  the  following  platform  for  the  organic  union 

or  confederation  of  all  Churches  :  1.  The  Holy  Scrip- 
church    '       tures  the  only  rule  of  faith.    2.  The  Apostles'  Creed  as 

the  baptismal  symbol,  and  the  Nicene  Creed  as  a  state- 
ment of  Christian  belief.  3.  The  two  sacraments,  baptism  and 
the  Lord's  Supper.  4.  The  historic  episcopate.  The  bishops  also 
sent  down  overtures  to  the  various  Protestant  Churches  asking  for 
their  response.  The  replies  they  received  were,  on  the  whole,  dis- 
tinctly unfavorable  to  the  project.  This  was  due  in  part  to  the 
fact  that  the  fourth  principle  had  been  interpreted  as  meaning  the 
practical  rejection  by  the  Protestant  Churches  of  the  validity  of 
their  ministry,  and  a  reordi nation  according  to  hierarchical  and 
unscriptural  assumption  underlying  the  Episcopal  theory.  It  is 
true  indeed  that  the  Committee  on  Christian  Union,  appointed  at 
the  Lambeth  Conference  of  Bishops  in  communion  with  the  Angli- 
can Church  which  met  in  London  in  1888,  recommended  that  the 
fourth  principle,  while  it  necessitates  the  threefold  ministry  as  the 
normal  rule  in  the  future,  does  not  mean  the  invalidity  of  a  presby- 
terially  ordained  ministry,  or  reordination.  Their  report,  however, 
was  so  far  from  meeting  the  approval  of  the  Conference  that  it  not 
only  voted  it  down  and  substituted  another  in  the  terms  of  the 
American  proposals  of  1886,  but  suppressed  its  publication.  Here 
\the  matter  rests.  It  is  evident  that  the  reunion  of  Protestant 
(Christendom,  if  it  comes  to  pass,  must  be  around  Christ  and  not 
jaround  the  episcopate.  History  has  demonstrated  that.  But  the 
love  of  God  in  the  heart  of  believers,  and  their  union  in  Christ, 
must  eventually  lead  to  a  manifestation  of  that  union  in  relation  to 
one  another.  One  hundred  and  fifty  independent  sects  is  not  an 
ideal  representation  of  the  Christian  Brotherhood.  The  problem 
of  Christian  Union  faces  the  Church  of  the  twentieth  century. 


INDEX. 


Abbot,  George,  ii,  639,  645,  802. 

Abbot  of  St.  Gall,  i,  504. 

Abel,  Thomas,  ii,  410,  413. 

Abelard,  P.,  i,  706,  831,873,881-884,944. 

Abelites,  i,  689. 

Abernethy,  i,  638. 

Abgar  Uchomo,  i,  400. 

Absolution,  i,  801  n.  4. 

Abu  Bekr,  i,  526. 

Abu  Taleb,  i,  525,  526. 

"  Abuse  of  the  Mass,"  Luther's,  ii,  173. 

Abyssinia,  i,  401,  402,  447. 

Acacians,  i,  437. 

Acacias,  i,  445,  731. 

Acesilaus,  i,  67. 

Acolytes,  i,  325. 

Acta  Sanctorum,  ii,  568. 

Acton,  Lord,  ii,  382,  415,  416. 

Adam  and  Eve,  Book  of,  i,  665. 

Adam  of  Bremen,  i,  40. 

Adam  of  St.  Victor,  i,  110,  919. 

Adamnan,  i,  621,  622,  626,  627,  665. 

Adams  (martyr),  ii,  414. 

Adams,  G.  B.,  i,  57. 

Addison,  J.,  i,  711. 

Adelbert,  i,  564. 

Adelchis,  i,476,  477,  479,  480. 

Adelmann  of  Augsburg,  ii,  167. 

Adiaphoristic  controversy,  ii,  502. 

Admonition  to  all  Christians,  ii,  173. 

Adrian  I,  477,  480,  520,  593. 

Adrian  II,  i,  746,  754. 

Adrian  IV,  i,  678,  ii,  490  ;  bull  of,  i,  678, 
679. 

Adrian  VI,  ii,  121  n.  22,  189,  190,  262,  599. 

Adventism,  Second,  i,  239, 

JEbli,  L,  ii,  265. 

yEdesius,  i,  401,  419. 

^Elian  Capitol,  i,  155. 

^Elred,  i,  619. 

^Eneas  Sylvius,  i,  786,  ii,  341,  342. 

^Ethelfrith,  i,  581,  584,  587. 

Aetians,  i,  437. 

-<Etius,  i,  728. 

Africa,  North,  Montanism  in,  i,  238,  239  ; 
school  of,  311-317  ;  Church  in,  400,  401, 
405  ;  Monothelites  in,  449 ;  Donatists  in, 
461, 462;  missions  in,  ii,832, 863, 909,  910. 

Agatha,  ii,  575. 

Agatho,  i,  741. 

Agilulf,  i,  561. 

Agricola,  i,  578. 

Agricola,  J.,  ii,  501. 

Agricola,  Rudolf,  ii,  95. 

Aidan,  i,  588,  629,  632,  633,  634. 

Aileran,  i,  672. 

Ailly,  Peter  d',  i,  784,  ii,  143,  144,  146,  246. 

Ainsworth,  Henry,  ii,  695. 

Aix-la-Chapelle,  i,  667. 


Alaric,  i,  730. 

Alban,  i,  578. 

Albanenses,  the,  i,  823, 824. 

Alber,  M.,  ii,  246,  247. 

Alberic,  i,  705, 

Albert  of  Brandenburg,  ii,  156, 158,  216. 

Albert  of  Mansfeld,  ii,  192. 

Albert  of  Mayence,  ii,160, 200,210, 212,215. 

Albert  of  Mecklenburg,  ii,  211. 

Albert  of  Ostia,  i,  780. 

Albert  of  Prussia,  ii,  192,  208. 

Albert  the  Great,  i,  817,  856, 886,  ii,  37. 

Albertino,  F.,  i,  384. 

Albigenses,  the,  i,  816,  828,  846,  ii,  591. 

Albret,  Jeanne  d\  ii,  324,  325. 

Albright,  Jacob,  ii,  905. 

Alchfrid,  i,  588. 

Alciati,  A.,  ii,  280. 

Alciati,  J.  P.,  ii,  562, 

Alcuin,  i,  481,  503,  520,  521,  672,  698,  871, 
940. 

Aldhelm,  St.,  i,  583  n.  5. 

Aldrich,  Henry,  ii,  831. 

Aleander,  Jerome,  ii,  121  n.  14,  168, 171. 

Alexander,  J.  A.,  i,  55. 

Alexander,  W.  L.,  i,  930. 

Alexander  of  Alexandria,  i,  431,  432,  433. 

Alexander  of  Hales,  i,  813,  ii,  37. 

Alexander  of  Parma,  ii,  334. 

Alexander  Severus,  i,  173. 

Alexander  III,  i,  612,  613,  679,  763,  764, 
832,  906,  907. 

Alexander  V,  i,  783. 

Alexauder  VI,  ii,  83,  84,  88,  343,  344,  345, 
371. 

Alexander  VII,  ii,  567. 

Alexandria,  a  Jewish  center,  i,  85  ;  pur- 
pose of,  216,  217 ;  Jews  of,  270 ;  school 
of,  299-308,  455, 937  ;  Origen  the  leader 
in,  303 ;  a  center  of  Gospel  power,  398, 
400,  401,  717. 

Alexius  Comnenus,  i,  553. 

Alfred  the  Great,  i,  502,  503,  595,  596,  676, 
690. 

Ali,  i,  526. 

Allen,  A.  V.  G.,  i,  460,  579,  870,  888. 

Allen,  J.  II.,  i,  57. 

Alliance  of  Scotch  and  English  Protes- 
tants, ii,  464. 

Allies,  T.  W.,  i,  577. 

Alogians,  the,  i,  261. 

Altar,  the,  ii,  649. 

Altenburg,  colloquy  at,  ii,  507. 

Altorf,  University  of,  ii,  524. 

Alva,  Duke  of,  ii,  334,  518. 

Alveld,  ii,  161. 

Alypius,  i,  689. 

Alzog,  J.,  i,  53,  775,  859,  ii,  69. 

Amandus,  i,  557,  558. 


920 


INDEX. 


Amboise,  conspiracy  of,  ii,  325. 
Ambrose,  i,  357,  457,  672,  693,  694,  843, 

874,  903,  911,  912,  ii,  108,  389. 
Amelia  of  Hesse  Cassel,  ii,  516. 
Amelineau,  i,  688. 
America,  ii,  346,  354  ;  Wesley  in,  817,  818 ; 

missions  in,  863;  the  Church  in,  872-918. 
American  historians,   i,  54-57 ;  Church, 

the,  ii,  872-918 ;  Protective  Association, 

897 ;    Board     of     Commissioners    for 

Foreign  Missions,  907,  908;  Bible  So- 
ciety, 907. 
Ames,  William,  ii,  711. 
Amherst  College,  ii,  898. 
Amnion,  i,  686. 
Ammonius,  i,  197,  303. 
Amos,  Andrew,  ii,  406. 
Amsdorf,  N.  von,  ii,  151,   154,  185,  210, 

214,  502,  504. 
Amsterdam,  ii,  676,  686,  695. 
Anabaptism,  i,  239. 
Anabaptists,  the,  i,  829,  ii,  183.  196,  199, 

254,  292,  293.  333,  459,  557,  560,  561,  656, 

694,  707. 
Anacletus,  i,  496. 
Analogy,  Butler's,  ii,  810. 
Anastasius,  i,  40,  511,  898. 
Anatolius,  i,  730. 
Andersen,  Lawrence,  ii,  359,  786. 
Andover  Theological  Seminary,  ii,897,898. 
Andragathias,  i,  939. 
Andreas,  Jacob,  ii.  508,  509,  801. 
Andrea?,  J.  V.,  ii,  527,  574. 
Andrew,  Brotherhood  of  St.,  ii,  915. 
Andrew,  James  O.,  ii,  894. 
Andrew  of  Brod,  ii,  54. 
Andrew  of  Crete,  i,  554. 
Andrew  the  apostle,  ii,  117,  398. 
Andrew  the  monk,  i,  517. 
Andrews,  E.  B.,  i,  411  n.  1. 
Andrews,  St.,  i,  638,  ii,  452,  463. 
Angillert,  i,  504. 
Angles,  the,  i,  585,  586. 
Anglican  crisis  of  1898-99,  ii,  807. 
Anglicanism,  ii,  675, 739 ;  in  Scotland,  721- 

732. 
Anglicans  and  Puritans,  ii,  621,  622,  632, 

634-642,  653. 
Anglo-Catholic  Movement,    ii,  806,   807, 

840,  895. 
Anglo-Saxon  Church,  i,  593  ;  Chronicle, 

596. 
Anhalt,  ii,  509,  514,  515. 
Annales  Ecclesiastici,  ii,  568. 
Anne,  Queen,  ii,  733-739. 
Anne  of  Cleves,  ii,  427,  428. 
Anne  of  Luxemburg,  ii,  54. 
Annesley,  Samuel,  ii,  814. 
Anomoeans,  i,  437. 
Anselm,  St.,  i,  599-605,  872,  873,  886. 
Anskar,  i,  570-572. 
Anthemus,  i,  666. 

Anthropology,  aute-Nicene,  i,  288,  289. 
Anti-mission  Baptists,  ii,  903. 
Antioch,  Christians  at,  i,  102;  school  of, 

311,  455 ;  a  center  of  propagation,  398, 

717 ;  council  of,  717,  724  ;  capture  of, 

795. 
Antitrinitarians,  the,  ii,  561. 
Anton,  Franz,  ii,  765. 


Anton,  Leopold,  ii,  765. 

Anton  of  Bourbon,  ii,  324,  325. 

Antonine,  Archbishop,  i,  40. 

Antoninus  Pius,  Christians  under,  i,  170. 

Antony,  St.,  i,  683,  685,  693. 

Antwerp,  ii,  331. 

Aosta,  i,  599. 

Apelles,  i,  230. 

Apiarius,  i,  724,  725. 

Apocryphal  literature,  i,  318-323. 

Apollinaris,  i,  439,  440. 

Apollonius,  i,  191,  195,  237. 

Apologia  pro  Sua  Vita,  ii,  854. 

Apologists,  the,  i,  15] ,  190-206 ;  Greek  and 

Latin,  contrasted,  191,    192 ;  infirmity 

of  method  of,  205 ;  use  of  Old  Testa- 
ment by,  269,  270. 
Apology  of  Aristides,  i,  193,  194. 
Apostates,  i,  344. 
Apostles,  i,  125,  126 ;  scenes  of  labors  of. 

101-119. 
Apostles'  creed,  i,  138,  ii,  791,  904,  918. 
Apostolic    period,     i,    95-100 ;     Church, 

crisis  in,  103;  officers  of,  125-131;  one 

current  of  faith  in,  136, 137. 
Apostolical  canons,  i,  323  ;  constitutions, 

323,  363. 
Apparebit  repentina,  i,  916. 
Appeal  from  pope,  Luther's,  ii,  162,  163  ; 

to  the  rulers,  Luther's,  164,  175  ;  Irish,. 

to  the  pope,  482,  483. 
Appell,  P.  E.,  i,  934. 
Appellate  power  of  Rome,  i,  485,  486. 
Aquila,  Caspar,  ii,  502. 
Aquileia,  i,  404,  405. 
Aquinas,  Thomas,  i,  467,  549,   697,    770, 

775,  813,  817,  845,  849,  854,  857,  870,  877, 

879-888,  900,  905,  945,  ii,  37,  77,  79,  88. 

340,  343,  371,  372. 
Aquaviva,  C,  ii,  548. 
Arabians,  i,  443,  444,  469,  536,  798. 
Aragon,  ii,  353. 
Arber,  Edward,  ii,  685. 
Arbitration,  ii,  860. 
Arcadius,  bishop,  i,  727. 
Arcadius,  emperor,  i,  700. 
Arcadius  Charidius,  i,  128. 
Archaeology,  Christian,  i,  31. 
Archer,  Thomas,  ii,  731. 
Archeteles,  ii,  231. 
Architecture,    ecclesiastical,    i,   352-354 ; 

mediaeval,  468,  666,  667. 
Arden,  Edward,  ii,  442. 
Arden,  Mary,  ii,  442. 
Arevalus,  i,  913. 
Arevurdi,  i,  552. 
Arians,  the,  i,  249,  260,  403,  430-438,  451,. 

ii,  694. 
Arigiso,  i,  4S0. 
Ariniinum,  council  of,  i,  578. 
Ariosto,  i,  707. 
Aristides,  i,  191,  193. 
Aristo,  i,  191,  193. 
Aristobulus,  i,  575,  576. 
Aristotle,  i,  65,  73,  ii,  154,  370,  485. 
Arius,  i,  285,  430-438. 
Aries,  council  of,  i,  578,  579. 
Armada,  the,  ii,  440. 
Armagh,   Book  of,  i,  643,  656,  673,   676;. 

province  of,  desolation  in,  ii,  490. 


INDEX. 


921 


Armenia,  i,  398,  399,  443,  447,  537. 

Arminians,  ii,  335,  336,  622,  667. 

Arminius,  James,  ii,  330,  335,  475. 

Armstrong,  S.  C,  ii,  906. 

Arnauld,  Anton,  ii,  567,  568. 

Arndt,  John,  ii,  515,  528,  575. 

Arnobius,  i,  191,  199,  282,  289,  312,  316, 
556,  578. 

Arnold,  G.,  i,  43,  44. 

Arnold,  Thomas,  i,  21,  307,  743,  ii,  94, 
839,  852. 

Arnold  of  Brescia,  i,  706,  830,  831,  833, 
ii,  692,  784. 

Arnoldi.  B.,  ii,  136. 

Arnulf,  i,  749,  750. 

Aroux,  Eugene,  i,  896. 

Arrian,  i,  182. 

Art  in  catacombs,  i,  377,  384,  385  ;  icono- 
clasm  and,  520  ;  in  Ireland,  674-676 ; 
in  Middle  Ages,  928-934. 

Artaud  de  Montor,  i,  900. 

Artemonites,  i,  262,  263,  431. 

Arthur,  Prince,  ii,  369,  377. 

Arthur,  William,  ii,  871. 

Articles  of  Religion,  ii,  367 ;  the  Ten, 
392-395  ;  the  Six,  396 ;  the  Thirty-nine; 
396,  434,  620,  630,  638,  646,  647,  659; 
Westminster,  669. 

Arundel,  Thomas,  ii,  15,  28,  48. 

Asbury,  Francis,  ii,  894,  905. 

Ascherham,  ii,  692. 

Asia  and  Europe,  conflict  of,  i,  215 ; 
Western,  mixed  mythology  of,  216 ; 
missions  in,  ii,  862. 

Asia  Minor,  school  of,  i,  308-311 ;  Gospel 
in,  398. 

Askew,  Anne,  ii,  414. 

Assembly,  Westminster,  ii,  665-674 ;  Gen- 
eral, of  1576,  722  ;  of  1638,  728,  729. 

Asser,  i,  595. 

Associated  Presbytery,  the,  ii,  867. 

Astolph,  i,  475. 

Athanasian  creed,  ii,  904. 

Athanasius,  i,  282,  285,  292,  308,  373,  397, 
433-435,  441,  452,  548,  556,  693,  700,  871, 
872,  ii,  589. 

Athelstau,  i,  676. 

Athenagoras,  i,  191, 195,  294,  300,  314, 317, 
364. 

Atkinson,  J.,  i,  57. 

Atmore,  Charles,  ii,  828. 

Atomists,  the,  i,  64. 

Atonement,  doctrine  of,  in  Middle  Ages, 
i,  872,  873. 

Aubigne,  M.  d',  i,  51. 

Audland,  John,  ii,  711,  712. 

Audley,  Thomas,  ii,  408. 

Augsburg,  diet  of,  ii,  122  n.  26,  195,  218, 
531 ;  Confession,  122  u.  27,  177,  198,  204, 
218,  358,  359,  394,  505,  506,  515,  516,  560, 
585,  801 ;  recess  of,  196,  197,  198,  205, 
217,  501;  city  of,  210;  peace  of,  218. 

Augusta,  Johann,  ii,  560. 

Augustine,  i,  93,  107,  114,  255,  256,  257, 
273,  281,  289,  290,  292,  295,  363,  456-461, 
578,  651,  672,  673,  683,  686,  693,  712,  725, 
757,  842,  843,  845,  869,  87'0,  871,  873,  874, 
877,  881,  886,  903,  911,  922,  931,  937,  941, 
ii,  52, 108, 143,  144, 146,  153,  154,  349, 412, 
452,  567,  590. 


Augustine  of  Ireland,  i,  672. 

Augustine  the  missionary,  i,  581,  585,  586, 

587. 
Augustinianism,  influence  of,  i,  457,  458. 
Augustinians,  the,  i,  712,  713,  807,  ii,  21, 

173, 331  ;  Luther  joins,  ii,  140-145. 
Augustus  of  Saxony,  ii,  214,  507,  508,  509. 
Aurelian,  i,  175. 
Aurelian,  the  abbot,  i,  662. 
Aurelius,  i,  256. 
Aurora,  ii,  527. 
Ausculta  fili,  bull,  i,  773, 774. 
Ausonius,  i,  694. 
Australia,  ii,  832. 
Austria,  ii,  760-773. 
Autbert,  i,  571. 
Autcar,  i,  499,  500. 
Authorized  Version,  ii,  616,617,  642. 
Auto-da-fe,  ii,  354,  597. 
Avignon,  popes  at,  i,  778-780 ;  Jews  in, 

906. 
Axton,  ii,  628. 
Aytoun,  W.  E.,  ii,  731. 
Azara,  Jose  N.,  ii,  763. 

Babington,  Antony,  ii,  442,  443. 

Babylon,  John  in,  i,  114. 

Babylonian  captivity  of  the  papacy,  i, 
778-780. 

"  Babylonish  Captivity,"  Luther's,  ii, 
165,  246. 

Bacon,  Francis,  ii,  498. 

Bacon,  Leonard,  i,  57. 

Bacon,  Leonard  W,  ii,  876,  877. 

Bacon,  Roger,  i,  813,  ii,  37. 

Badby,  John,  ii,  47. 

Baden,  ii,  517 ;  disputation,  263. 

Bahrdt,  C.  F.,  ii,  743. 

Baillie,  Robert,  ii,  668,  708. 

Bainham  (martyr),  ii,  415. 

Baird,  H.  M.,  i,  56,  778,  780. 

Bajus,  Michael,  ii,  566. 

Balboa,  Vasco  N.,  ii,  875. 

Baldwin  of  Flanders,  i,  795. 

Baldwin  II,  i,  799. 

Ball,  John,  i,  926,  ii,  493,  494. 

Baltimore,  Lord,  ii,  881,  882. 

Bancroft,  George,  i.  55. 

Bancroft,  Richard,  ii,  637,  638. 

Bangor  Seminary,  ii,  898. 

Bangorian  controversy,  ii,  661,  662. 

Bangs,  Nathan,  i,  57. 

Baptism,  in  early  Church,  i,  144;  by  schis- 
matics, 246,  247 ;  in  patristic  Church, 
290-292,  343,  344;  in  British  Church, 
583  ;  of  heretics,  720  ;  in  Middle  Ages, 
874,  875  ;  in  Anglican  Church,  ii,  392, 
393 

Baptists,  ii,  608,  674,  691-704, 707, 708, 713, 
715,  788,  792,  848-850,  879,  884,  887,  889, 
902,  903,  909. 

Bar  Cocheba,  i,  154,  155. 

Barclay,  Robert,  ii,  711,  712. 

Bardas  i  542 

Bardesan'es,  i,'  191,  195,  222,  400. 

Bargrave,  Isaac,  ii,  645. 

Barlaam,  i,  551. 

Barlow,  William,  ii,  392,  436,  437. 

Barnabas,  i,  270,  2S5,  293,  348 ;  Epistle  of, 
323. 


922 


INDEX. 


Barnabites,  ii,  541. 

Barnes,  Albert,  ii,  902. 

Barnes,  Robert,  ii,  413. 

Barnett,  S.  A.,  ii,  913,  916. 

Barnevekl,  John  v.  Olden,  ii,  336. 

Baronius,  Csesar,    i,  42,  52,  723,  751,  ii, 

568. 
Barrow,  Isaac,  i,  711,  ii,  8. 
Barrowe,  Henry,  ii,  678-680,  681,  684,  686. 
Bartholomew  of  Lucca,  i,  40. 
Bartholomew  the  apostle,  i,  117. 
Barton,  Elizabeth,  ii,  406. 
Basedow,  J.  B.,  ii,  742. 
Basel,  council  of,  i,  785,  786,  ii,  69,  93, 

341 ;  Reformation  in,  ii,  221,  235,  264, 

283,  617 ;  Calvin  at,  290,  295 ;  and  the 

Formula  Consensus,  773. 
Basil,  i,  305,  359,  441,  683,  690,  871,  938, 

ii,  106. 
Basil,  emperor,  i,  542. 
Basil  the  Bogomile,  i,  553. 
Basilides,  i,  220,  221. 
Basnage,  J.,  i,  52. 
Basnage,  S.,  i,  52. 
Battle,  John,  ii,  697. 
Baur,  Bruno,  ii,  749. 
Baur,  F.  C,  i,  44,  48,  49,  89,  466,  ii,  748, 

749. 
Bavaria,  ii,  524,  753,  755,  764. 
Baworinsky,  B.,  ii,  560. 
Baxter,  Richard,  ii,  575,  613, 654,  666,  688, 

707,  906. 
Bayfield  (martyr),  ii,  415. 
Bayly,  Lewis,  ii,  575,  576. 
Bayne,  P.,  ii,  119  n.  20. 
Bearne,  ii,  353. 

Beaton,  D.,  i,  645,  ii,  450,  454. 
Beatrice  Portinari,  i,  893. 
Beatus  Rhenanus,  ii,  241. 
Becket,  Thomas,  i,  606-616. 
Beda,  Noel,  ii,  286,  315. 
Beddoes,  Thomas,  ii,  858. 
Bede,  Venerable,  i,  40,  503,  577,  578,  581, 

585,  587,  58S,  596,  619,  628,  629,  632,  633, 

637,  660,  662,  916. 
Bedell,  William,  ii,  737. 
Bedford,  ii,  700,  702,  703. 
Beecher,  H.  W.,  ii,  81. 
Beecher,  Lyman,  ii,  902. 
Beet,  Joseph  Agar,  ii,  917. 
Beghards,  i,  855,  888. 
Belenian  (martyr),  ii,  414. 
Belgic  Confession,  ii,  330,  333,  518,  904. 
Belgium,  ii,  334,  774. 
Bellarmine,  R.,  i,  448,  877,  ii,  568. 
Bellenden.  J.,  i,  641. 
Bellesheim,  A.,  i,  54,  620. 
Bembo,  Pietro,  ii,  341. 
Benedetto  Gaetani,  i,  768-777. 
Benedict  Biscop,  i,  594. 
Benedict  of  Aniane,  i,  701. 
Benedict  of  Nursia,  i,  694-699,  701,  702, 

ii,  106. 
Benedict  III,  i,  746,  748. 
Benedict  IX,  i,  755. 
Benedict  XI,  i,  778. 
Benedict  XII,  i,  779. 
Benedict  XIII,  i,  783,  784,  ii,  765. 
Benedict  XIV.  ii.  344,  798. 
Benedictines,  i,  804,  ii,  783. 


Benedictns  Levita,  i,  499. 

Beneficio  di  Christo,  ii,350. 

Bennett,  C.  W.,  i,  353. 

Bennett,  James,  ii,-847. 

Benson,  Joseph,  ii,  831. 

Bentham,  Jeremy,  ii,  839. 

Berault-Bercastle,  A.  H.,  i.  53. 

Berchtold,  L.,  i,  775. 

Berengar,  i,  876. 

Bergen,  ii,  518  ;  Book,  ii,  509. 

Berger,  A.  E.,  ii,  125  n.  1,  126  n.  1. 

Berkeley,  William,  ii,  886. 

Bernadottes,  the,  ii,  789. 

Bernard  de  Gaillac,  i,  818. 

Bernard  of  Clairvaux,  i,  705,  775,  795, 
826,  828,  830,  831,  843,  853,  854,  883,  884, 
900,  919,  ii,  149. 

Bernardone,Giovanni  Francesco,  807-814. 

Berne,  Reformation  in,  ii,  221,  236,  264, 
267,  273,  287,  289,  290, 319 ;  and  the  For- 
mula Consensus,  773. 

Bernis,  Cardinal,  ii,  763. 

Berno,  i,  703,  704. 

Berquin,  Louis  de,  ii,  111,  112,  315,  318. 

Berridge,  John,  ii,  827. 

Bertha,  i,  476. 

Bertha,  wife  of  Ethelbert,  i,  586. 

Berthelsdorf,  ii,  582,  583. 

Berthold,  i,  711. 

Berulle,  Pierre  de,  ii,  549. 

Beryll,  i,  265,  304. 

Bessarion,  i,  544. 

Bethlehem  Chapel,  ii,  54,  56. 

Bevan,  Frances,  i,  860. 

Beveridge,  Friar,  ii,  447. 

Beza,  Theodore,  ii,  272,  305  n.  1,  325,  441, 
721. 

Bible,  the  Armenian,  i,  398  ;  Gothic,  404 ; 
restoration  of,  949 ;  Wyclif's,  ii,  23,  24, 
50,  615 ;  Wyclif  and,  36,  37 ;  Erasmus 
and,  108 ;  Luther's  study  of,  144,  153, 
154  ;  appeal  to,  169,  170  ;  Luther's  Ger- 
man, 172 ;  English,  367,  615,  616,  617  ; 
Tyndale's,  413,  445,  446,  615,  616  ;  Mat- 
thew's, 421,  616;  Genevan,  458,  616, 
617,  641;  Great,  616,  642  n.  2;  Cranmer's, 
616 ;  Bishops',  617,  641 ;  James's,  641, 
642,  820 ;  in  Ireland,  497,  498  ;  a  free, 
675 ;  Christians,  830  ;  Eliot's,  906. 

Biblical  exegesis,  i,  25,  ii,  108. 

Biel,  Gabriel,  ii,  143,  144,  146. 

Bigelow,  J.,  i,  57. 

Bilderdyk,  Wilhelm,  ii,  772. 

Bilmark,  i,  86. 

Bilney,  Thomas,  ii,  415. 

Binns,  i.  922. 

Binzli,  G.,  ii,  224. 

Biot,  E.  C,  i,  147. 

Bird,  Frederic  M.,  ii,  823. 

Birinus,  i,  588. 

Birrell,  A.,  ii,  819  n.  3. 

Bishop,  George,  ii,  711. 

Bishops,  i,  127, 128, 129,  327,  328,  329,  331- 
334,  ii,  623;  appointed  by  Charles  the 
Great,  i,  488 ;  appointed  by  other  em- 
perors, 489,  490,  491 ;  secularism  of, 
607  ;  in  Celtic  Church,  629 ;  in  Sweden, 
ii,  787. 

Bismarck,  Otto  E.  L.,  ii,  758. 

Blacklock,  ii,  697. 


INDEX. 


923 


Blackstone,  William,  i,  711,  ii,  812. 

Blaikie,  W.  G.,  i,  647,  ii,  870. 

Blair,  Hugh,  ii,  865. 

Blair,  James,  ii,  883. 

Blandrata,  George,  ii,  562. 

Blesilla,  i,  693. 

Blondel,  David,  i,  747. 

Blount,  Charles,  ii,  809. 

Blund,  Widow  le,  ii,  479. 

Blunt,  J.  H.,  ii,  393,  397,  428. 

Blunt,  Richard,  ii,  697. 

Boardinan,  Richard,  ii,  871. 

Bobadilla,  Nicolas,  ii,  542. 

Bobbio,  monastery  of,  i,  561. 

Boccaccio,  G.,  i,  468,  891,  893, 

Bocher,  Joan,  ii,  414,  425,  429. 

Booking  (martyr),  ii,  406. 

Bodeustein,  A.,  ii,  151, 154. 

Bodley,  John,  ii,  616. 

Boece,  Hector,  i,  637,  645. 

Boethins,  i,  596,  941. 

Boetius,  Gisbert,  ii,  772. 

Bogardus,  Everard,  ii,  881. 

Bogomiles,  the,  i,  552,  553,  824,  827. 

Bogue,  David,  ii,  847. 

Bohemia,  the  dogmatic  prelude  in,  ii,  52- 
60 ;  reform  in,  65,  66 ;  friction  in,  553  ; 

Bohemian  Brethren,  i,  835,  ii,  361,  557, 
559,  692  ;  war,  ii,  553. 

Bohler,  Peter,  ii,  818,  904. 

Bohme,  Jacob,  ii,  520,  526,  527. 

Boileau,  J.,  i,  875. 

Boissard,  J.  J.,  i,  900. 

Bolevn,  Anne,  ii,  201,  377,  378,  379,  381, 
382,  388,  406,  425,  427. 

Bolingbroke,  H.  S.  J.,  ii,  739,  809,  813. 

Bologna,  University  of,  i,  943, 944 ;  coun- 
cil at,  ii,  216,  533. 

Bolsec,  Jerome,  ii,  280,  302. 

Bonaparte,  N.,  ii,  781,  784. 

Bonaventura,  i,  813,  855,  877,  ii,  143,  144. 

Boniface,  apostle  of  Germany,  i,  486, 489, 
491,  566-569,  636,  673,  941. 

Boniface  I,  i,  724. 

Boniface  III,  i,  737,  740. 

Boniface  IV,  i,  740. 

Boniface  VIII,  i,  768,  777,  800,  897. 

Bonnechose,  E.  de,  i,  803. 

Bonner,  Edmund,  ii,  413, 424, 428, 429,  430. 

Book  of  Common  Order,  ii,  725. 

Book  of  Common  Prayer,  ii,  367,  430-433, 
493,  496,  498,  653,  654. 

Book  of  Martyrs,  ii,  617,  618. 

Booth,  Ballington,  ii,  913. 

Booth,  William,  ii,  912. 

Bora,  Katharine  von,  ii,  121  n.  20, 182. 

Borgeaud,  Charles,  ii,  879. 

Borgia,  Cresar,  ii,  785. 

Borgia,  Rodrigo,  ii,  79,  83,  343. 

Borromeo,  Carl,  ii,  534. 

Bosio,  A.,  i,  381,  382,  388,  ii,  568. 

Boskoi,  the,  i,  689. 

Bossuet,  J.  B.,  i,  52,  776,  777. 

Bostwick,  ii,  650. 

Boswell,  James,  ii,  819. 

Bourbon  reforms,  ii,  598-604. 

Bourne,  Hugh,  ii,  829. 

Boutaric,  F.,  i,  802. 

Bowdoin  College,  ii,  898. 

Bower,  A.,  i,  645. 


Brabancons,  the,  i,  824. 

Brabant,  ii,  331. 

Brace,  C.  L.,  i,  57. 

Bracton,  H.  de,  ii,  385. 

Bradburn,  Samuel,  ii,  833. 

Bradford,  John,  ii,  423. 

Bradford,  Joseph,  ii,  826. 

Bradford,  William,  ii,  678,  695,  881. 

Bradshaw,  EL,  i,  644. 

Bradwardine,  T.,  ii,  8,  9,  37. 

Brady,  ii,  497. 

Brainerd,  David,  ii,  848,  891,  908. 

Bramante,  Donato,  ii,  344,  345. 

Bran,  i,  575. 

Brandenburg,  ii,  211,  212,  516,  517. 

Brandes  Brothers,  ii,  792. 

Braunau,  ii,  553. 

Bray,  Thomas,  ii,  883. 

Brehon  code  of  law,  i,  669,  670,  671,  ii, 

481. 
Bremen,  ii,  210,  514. 
Brendan,  i,  621. 
Breslau,  ii,  211,  517,  745. 
Brethren  of  the  Free  Spirit,  i,  855 ;  of  the 

Common  Life,  862,  863. 
Breviarv,  ii,  536,  601. 
Brewer,"  J.  S.,  ii,  381,  382,  416. 
Brewster,  William,  ii,  695. 
Brigonnet,  G.,  ii,  271,  272,  309,  311,  312, 

313,  317. 
Bridge,  William,  ii,  666. 
Bridget,  St.,  i,  662,  674. 
Bridgett,  T.  E.,  i,  54. 
Brieg,  ii,  517. 

Briesemann,  John,  ii,  208. 
Briggs,  C.  A.,  i,  57,  ii,  667,  668,  900. 
Bright,  ii,  880. 
Bright,  W.,i,  18,  474,580. 
Brigitta  of  Sweden,  i,  780. 
Brisnauo  of  Bari,  i,  781. 
Britain,  i,  405,  407,  408,  575-589. 
British  Church,  i,  580,  582,  587. 
British  Quarterlv  Review,  ii,  847. 
Brito,  Reginald,  i,  614. 
Brittinians,  the,  i,  712. 
Broglie,  J.  V.  A.  Due  de,  i,  723. 
Brook,  B.,  ii,  847. 

Brotherhood  of  early  Church,  i,  367. 
Brotherhoods,  modern,  ii,  915. 
Brothers  of  Mercy,  ii,  549. 
Brothers  of  the  Common  Life,  ii,  133. 
Brougham,  Henry,  ii,  839. 
Brown,  Anthony,  ii,  410. 
Brown,  Daniel,  ii,  897. 
Brown,  G.  B.,  i,  353. 
Brown,  John,  ii,  702,  847. 
Brown,  John  (martyr),  ii,  730. 
Brown,  P.  Hume,  ii,  456,  457. 
Brown,  Thomas,  ii,  865. 
Brown  University,  ii,  903. 
Browne,  George,  ii,  491,  492. 
Browne,  John,  ii,  686. 
Browne,  Robert,  ii,  675,  676,  677,  680,  695. 
Browning,  Robert,  i,  549. 
Brownrigge,  Ralph,  ii,  666. 
Bruce,  A.  B.,  ii,  870. 
Bruce,  Edward,  ii,  482,  483. 
Brace,  J.,  i,  321. 
Bruce,  Robert,  ii,  482. 
Brucioli,  A.,  ii,  349. 


924 


INDEX. 


Brude,  i,  623. 

Brunehilde,  i,  560,  561,  737. 

Brunelleschi,  F.,  ii,  370. 

Brunetto  Latini,  i,  891. 

Bruno  Giordano,  ii,  96. 

Bruno  of  Cologne,  i,  709. 

Bruno  of  Toul,  i,  753. 

Bryce,  James,  i,  410,  487  n.  1,  ii,  346. 

Bryennios,  P.,  i,  718. 

Bsathyrians,  i,  437. 

Bucer,  Martin,  ii,  202,  203,  210,  247,  258, 

291,  349,  431,  559,  625. 
Buchanan,  C,  i,  119. 
Buchanan,  G.,  i,  641,  ii,  634. 
Buchanan,  James,  ii,  869. 
Buckingham,  Duke  of,  ii,  643. 
Buckle,  H.  T.,  i,  18,  19. 
Buddensieg,  R.,  ii,  17, 19,  29. 
Bugenhagen,  J.,  ii,  210,  248,  358. 
Bull  of  excommunication  against  Luther, 

ii,  166,  167. 
Bullinger,  Henry,  ii,  221,  243,  244,  504. 
Bunsen,  C.  C.  J.,  i,  145, 148,  310  n.  4,  362. 
Bunting,  Jabez,  ii,  830,  832. 
Bunyan,  John,  ii,  613,  700-704,  847. 
Buonarroti,  ii,  345. 
Burce,  Salons,  i,  824  n.  1. 
Bure,  Idelette  de,  ii,  293. 
Biiren,  Daniel  von,  ii,  514. 
Burgess,  G.,  i,  57. 
Burgess,  H.,  i,  576. 
Burghers,  the,  ii,  867. 
Burgogne,  Duke  of,  i,  792. 
Burgon,  J.  W.,  i,  929. 
Burgundians,  i,  438. 
Burial  in  catacombs,  i,  377,  378. 
Burial  places  sacred,  i,  379,  380. 
Burke,  Edmund,  ii,  846,  859. 
Burleigh,  Lord,  ii,  631,  676,  682. 
Burma,  ii,  909. 

Burnet,  G.,  i,  382,  ii,  418,  736,  811,  812. 
Burning,  punishment  by,  i,  844,  845,  846 ; 

at  Smithfield,  ii,  410-416  ;  of  pope's  bull 

by  Luther,  ii,  166,  167. 
Burns,  Robert,  ii,  477,  S66. 
Burrage,  H.  S.,  i,57. 
Burroughs,  Jeremiah,  ii,  666. 
Burrows,  M.,  ii,  18. 
Burton,  Henry,  ii,  650. 
Burton,  J.  H.,  i,  630. 
Bury  St,  Edmunds,  ii,  678. 
Butler,  C.  M.,  i,  57. 
Butler,  Joseph,  ii,  810,  812,  813. 
Butler,  William,  ii,  910. 
Bylield,  Richard,  ii,  668. 
Byrom,  John,  ii,  813. 
Byzantine  historians,  i,  39. 
Bzovius,  A.,  i,  42. 

Cabot,  Sebastian,  ii,  370. 
Cadijah,  i,  525,  526. 
Cadoc,  i,  660. 
Caecilian,  i,  250-252, 461. 
Ctecilius,  i,  188. 
Cassarea,  school  at,  i,  937. 
Cahorsines,  the,  i,  908. 
Cainites,  the,  i,  224. 
Cajetan,  G.  T.,  ii,  161,  162. 
Calaber,  ii,  562. 
Calamy,  Edmund,  ii,  847. 


Calderon,  Pedro,  ii,  605. 

Calixtus,  George,  ii,  528. 

Callistians,  i,  264. 

Callistus,  i,  264,  265,  266,  719  ;  catacomb 

of  St.,  384,  388,  930,  931. 
Calpornius.  i,  653. 
Calvin,  Antoine,  ii,  286. 
Calvin,  John,  i,  599,  869,  870,  ii,  83  n.  1, 
128,  177,  271,  273,  274,  275,  276-304,  328, 
333,  350,  361,  431,  467,  504,  514,  536,  618, 
625,  721. 
Calvinism,  strength  of,  ii,  335 ;  in  Scot- 
land, 476 ;  of  Frederick  III,  506 ;  in  Ger- 
many, 511-518  ;  Laud's  attempt  to  sup- 
press, 645,  646 ;  and  Greek  Church,  801 
-804  ;  reaction  from,  844. 
Camaldolites,  the,  i,  707. 
Cambridge,  University  of,  ii,  404,  837  ; 

Synod,  676. 
Camden,  William,  ii,  418,  498. 
Camerarius,  J.,  ii,  210. 
Cameron,  Richard,  ii,  732. 
Cameronians,  ii,  868. 
Camisards,  i,  239,  778,  779. 
Camm,  John,  ii,  712. 
Campanius,  J.,  ii,  881,  903. 
Campanus,  J.,  ii,  561. 
Campbell,  Alexander,  ii,  903. 
Campbell,  D.,  ii,  619  n.  3. 
Campbell,  George,  ii,  865. 
Campbell,  John  M.,  ii,  869. 
Campbell,  Thomas,  ii,  903. 
Campeggi,  Cardinal,  ii,  190,  378,  379. 
Campion,  Edmund,  ii,  440,  441. 
Canada,  Methodists  of,  ii,  917. 
Candida  Casa,  i,  619. 
Candidates,  i,  342. 
Caudlish,  R.  S.,  ii,  869. 
Canisius,  Petrus,  ii,  560,  568. 
Cannes,  Cardinal  le,  ii,  777. 
Canon  of  Scripture,  i,  268,  269,  271,  385. 
Canons  of  Charles  I,  ii,  725. 
Canossa,  Henry  IV  at,  i,  759,  760. 
Canterbury,  i,  593,  594 ;  given  to  Augus- 
tine, 586  ;  and  Constantinople,  ii,  804. 
Cantu,  C,  i,803. 
Canute,  i,  572. 

Capadose,  Abraham,  ii,  772. 
Capecelatro,  A.,  ii,  344,  345. 

Capito,  W.  F.,  ii,  210,  235,  247,  297. 

Capnio,  ii,  103. 

Cappadocia,  i,  398. 

Cappel,  peace  of,  ii,  265,  266 ;  wars  at, 
265,  266,  268,  269. 

Capua,  synod  of,  i,  723. 

Capuchins,  ii,  541. 

Caracalla,  i,  173. 

Caraccioli,  G.,  ii,  351. 

Caradog,  i,  575. 

Caraffa,  J.  P.,  ii,  350,  351,  533. 

Carcoricii,  the,  i,  824. 

Carey,  William,  ii,  848,  849. 

Carl  of  Baden,  ii,  505. 

Carl  Theodor,  ii,  755,  764. 

Carleton,  E.,  ii,  640. 

Carleton,  W.,  i,  669. 

Carloraan,  i,  473,  476,  477,  941. 

Carlstadt,  A.  B.,  ii,  121  n.  12, 151, 154, 163, 
167,  172,  173,  174,  179,  180,  187,  246,  247, 
248,  253,  357. 


INDEX. 


925 


Carlvle,  Thomas,  i,  56,  531,  697,  896  n.  2, 

897,  898,  917,  ii,  185,  476,  477,  715,  865. 
Carmelites,  the,  i,  711,  712,  807,  ii,  21. 
Carneades,  i,  66. 
Carnesseehi,  P.,  351. 
Caroli,  Pierre,  ii,  286,  287,  292,  314. 
Caroline  Books,  i,  506,  520. 
Caroline,  Queen,  ii,  839. 
Carolingians,  i.  474,  484-493, 501,  502,  505, 

506. 
Carpocrates,  i,  225,  508. 
Carranza,  B.,  ii.  353. 
Carstares,  William,  ii,  732. 
Carte,  Thomas,  ii,  735. 
Cartesians,  ii,  772. 
Carthage  and  Rome,  i,  246  ;  a  center,  401; 

council  of,  582,  720,  724. 
Carthusians,  the,  i,  709-711,  ii,  138,  409, 

410. 
Cartwright,  Thomas,  ii,  621,  664,  680. 
Carvosso,  William,  ii,  832. 
Cary,  ii,  640. 
Casanova,  J.,  ii,  75. 

Casas,  B.  de  las,  i,  817,  ii,  569,  600,  604. 
Casaubon,  I.,  i,  42. 
Casimir  of  Brandenburg,  ii,  211. 
Cassianus,  i,  460,  688. 
Cassiodorus,  i,  38,  502,  698. 
Castellio,  Sebastian,  ii,  301. 
Castelnau,  Cardinal,  i,  816,  828. 
Castlehaven,  Lord,  ii,  735. 
Catacombs,  Church  in  the,  i,  375-395,  930. 
Catalogue  of  Saints  in  Ireland,  i,  663. 
Catechisms,  Luther's,  ii,  188. 
Catechismus  Romanus,  ii,  536. 
Catechists,  i,  326. 
Catechumens,  i,  342,  343. 
Catesby,  Robert,  ii,  720. 
Cathari,  i,  246,  706,  823-829,  843. 
Catharine  of  Aragon,  ii,  201,  377-383,  384, 

387,  388,  389,  402,  406,  425. 
Cathcart,  W.,  i,  67. 

Cathedral,  Christ  Church,  Dublin,  i,  677. 
Catherine  de'  Medici,  ii,  324,  325,  326. 
Catherine  of  Siena,  i,  780. 
Catherine  of  Sweden,  ii,  359. 
Catholic  Apostolic  Church,  ii,  869. 
Causa  Dei,  de,  ii,  9. 
Cavalier,  Jean,  ii,  778,  779. 
Cave,  W.,  i,  576. 
Cavendish,  G.,  ii,  381. 
Cazalla,  Augustine,  ii,  353. 
Cecil,  William,  ii,  418,  432,  463. 
Cecil's  (Richard)  Remains,  ii,  836. 
Ceillier,  D.  R.,  i,  53. 
Celano,  Thomas  of,  i,  813. 
Celestine,  i,  442,  651,  660,  724,  727,  728. 
Celestine  III,  i,  765,  904. 
Celestine  V,  i,  769,  777. 
Celibacy,  i,  393,  754,  755. 
Celidonius,  i,  728. 
Cellarius,  M..  i,  865. 
Celsus,  i,  86,  183,  185,  187,  188,  364. 
Celtic  Church,  i,  559,  580,  581,  582,  628, 
629,  630,  636,  638,  640,  641,  676-678,680; 
monasteries,  940. 
Cenobites,  i,  684,  686. 
Cerdo,  i,  229. 

Ceremonies,  doctrines  as  to,  in  Church  of 
England,  ii,  393,  394. 


Cerinthus,  i,  220. 

Cervantes,  M.  de,  ii,  604. 

Cesara,  Michael,  i,  779. 

Cesarasa,  Origen  in,  i,  304  ;  school  of,  308. 

Chalcedon,   council  of,  i,  445,  485,  716, 

729,  730,  ii,  392,  796. 
Challoner,  Richard,  ii,  720. 
Chalmers,  Thomas,  ii,  868,  869. 
Chalon,  Duke  of,  i,  792. 
Chanforans,  synod  of,  i,  836,  ii,  559. 
Channing,  William  E.,  ii,  898. 
Chapuys,  Claude,  ii,  388. 
Charibert,  i,  586. 
Charity,  ii,  519. 

Charles  Martel,  i,  474,  490,  533,  566. 
Charles  of  Anjou,  i,  769. 
Charles  of  Munsterberg,  ii,  211. 
Charles  of  Savoy,  ii,  274. 
Charles  of  Valois,  i,  777. 
Charles  the  Bald,  i,  672,  746,  852,  913. 
Charles  the  Bold,  ii,  598. 
Charles  the  Fat,  i,  493. 
Charles  the  Great,  i,  470,  502,  520, 521,  570, 

698,  743, 744, 913  n.  3,  933,  ii,  796 ;  from, 

to   the    Reformation,  i,  463-949  ;   rela- 
'     tion  of,  to  the  Church,  472-483 ;  Church 

and  State  under,  484-492 ;  interest  of, 

in  education,  503-506,  940. 
Charles  I,  ii,  643-648,  657,  664,  724,  725, 

726,  728,  729,  732,  879. 
Charles  II,  ii,  390,  652-654,  674,  725,  729, 

738,  814,  879. 
Charles  II  of  Spain,  ii,  602. 
Charles  III,  ii,  603. 
Charles  IV,  i,  846,  905. 
Charles  V,  ii,  67,  99,  121  n.  13,  168,  171, 

191, 196,  215,  216,  217,  218,  258,  284,  320, 

323.  331,  332,  352,  353,  358,  517,  531,  532, 

593,  598,  599,  600. 
Charles  VIII,  ii,  83,  84. 
Charles  IX,  ii,  324,  325,  326,  327. 
Charles  XII,  of  Sweden,  ii,  767. 
Charney,  Geoffrey  de,  i,  801. 
Charter  House  School,  i,  709,  711. 
Chartreuse,  i,  709. 
Chastel,E.,  i,  51. 
Chaucer,  G.,  ii,  24. 
Chelickv,  Peter,  ii,  692. 
Chemnitz,  M.,  i,  43,  ii,  508. 
Chesterfield,  Lord,  ii,  811,  825. 
Chicago,  University  of,  ii,  903. 
Childeric,  i,  489. 

Childhood,  pagan  disregard  of,  i,  72,  75. 
Children's  crusade,  i,  797. 
Chiliasm,  i,  293. 

Chillingworth,  William,  ii,  666,  667. 
China,    Xavier    in,    ii,    569;    Ricci   in, 

570. 
Choisy,  F.  T.,  i,  53. 
Chorepiscopos,  i,  331. 
Christ,  Jesus  the,  i,  87-89;  divinity  of, 

285,    286,    431,   432;   pictures  of,   355; 

symbols  of,  388,  389 ;  person  of,  439- 

450  ;  images  of,  510  ;  portraits  of,  931, 

932 ;  restoration  of,  949. 
Christian  of  Braunschweig,  ii,  554. 
Christian  I,  ii,  510. 
Christian  II,  ii,  357. 
Christian  III,  ii,  357,  358. 
Christian  IV,  ii,  554. 


926 


INDEX. 


Christian  worship,  early,  i,  142,  143,  201 ; 
life,  purity  of,  201 ;  literature,  perma- 
nence of  early,  205 ;  life  and  usages, 
358-374 ;  art  in  catacombs,  377-379, 
385-395;  "science,"  823,  852  n.  1  ;  art, 
928-934 ;  life  under  Reformation,  ii, 
518-528 ;  Connection,  the,  903  ;  Union, 
918. 

Christianity,  historical  preparation  for, 
i,  61-77,  88;  Platonism  and,  64,  65; 
Peter  and  Jewish,  101-106 ;  spiritual 
force  of,  132 ;  hostile  to  slavery,  147 ; 
triumph  of,  over  paganism,  147,  148, 
359,  423-426 ;  hostile  to  paganism,  162 ; 
in  contrast  with  mythology,  203,  204  ; 
Gnosticism  and,  230,  331 ;  solidification 
of,  241;  spread  of,  396-409;  and  the 
State,  410-412;  in  Scotland,  617-647; 
and  culture,  937-946. 

Christians,  Thomas,  i,  118, 444  ;  fraternity 
of,  145 ;  increase  of,  149 ;  hated  by- 
Jews,  153, 154  ;  charged  with  disloyalty, 
161 ;  charges  against,  164,  184  ;  litera- 
ture of  early,  180  ;  loyalty  of,  to  State, 
185,  200 ;  abstinence  of,  from  political 
life,  186 ;  charged  with  immorality,  188, 
189  ;  of  ante-Nicene  period,  297. 

Christmas,  i,  350. 

Christology  of  the  apologists,  i,  202,  203  ; 
ante-Nicene,  283-286 ;  controversies  on, 
430-450. 

Christopher  of  Wiirtemberg,  ii,  505,  506, 
508. 

Chronology,  i,  33. 

Chrysanthius,  i,  419. 

Chrysostom,  J.,  i,  273,  311,  437,  438,  452, 
455,  508, 554, 683,  690,  727,  842,  921,  939, 
ii,  81,  108,  708,  796. 

Chrytrasus,  D.,  ii,  508. 

Chubb,  Thomas,  ii,  S09. 

Church,  definition  of  the,  i,  15  ;  original, 
16 ;  universal,  17 ;  productive  of  re- 
formers, 19  ;  mission  of,  20 ;  Hegel  on, 
20  ;  divine  element  of,  21 ;  early,  lit- 
erature of,  58,  60  ;  organization  of,  93, 
94 ;  coustitution  of  early,  120-134  ;  doc- 
trine and  literature  of  early,  135-141 ; 
worship  and  life  in  early,  142-148 ; 
schisms  in  early,  241-258 ;  benefits  to, 
from  schisms,  256-258.;  value  of  tradi- 
tion in  early,  276 ;  doctrine  of,  289,  290, 
874  ;  and  school,  299 ;  early,  a  compact 
organism,  367;  in  the  catacombs, 
375-395  ;  of  Middle  Ages,  463-949 ;  rela- 
tion of  Islam  to,  535-537 ;  of  England, 
593-598 ;  system  in  Scotland,  first,  628- 
631 ;  and  education,  935-946 ;  Wyclif 
on,  ii,  32-35. 

Church  and  State,  i,  21,  257,  258,  410-462, 
484-493,  495,  407,  554,  593,  602-605,  607- 
616,  748,  756-762,  763-767,  770-777,  840- 
849,  S99,  948,  ii,  8  n.  1,  19,  35,  36,  245, 
287,  297,  387,  388, 468,  548,  676,  717,  742, 
864,  892. 

Church.  K.  W.,  i,  19,  487  n.  2,  599,  604, 
733,  895. 

Cibrario,  L.,  i,  803. 

Cicero,  i.  128,  698,  891,  ii,  370. 

Cilian,  i,  564. 

Circumcellions,  i,  253,  254, 255,  842,  ii,  590. 


Cistercians,  the,  i,  705,  706. 

Citeaux,  i,  705. 

Cities  as  Christian  centers,  i,  330. 

City  of  God,  Augustine's,  i,  757,  842. 

Civili  Domiuio,  de,  ii,  5,  19,  39. 

Clapham  group,  the,  ii,  836. 

Clarendon,  Edward  H.,  ii,  639,  650,  738. 

Clarendon  constitutions,  i,  610,  611,  613, 
616. 

Clark,  W.,  i,  56,  ii,  86. 

Clarke,  Adam,  ii,  831,  871. 

Clarke,  John,  ii,  698. 

Clarke,  R.  H.,  i,  57. 

Clarkson,  Thomas,  ii,  856. 

Classic  culture,  i,  947,  948. 

Claudius  Apollinaris,  i,  191,  195,  237,  368. 

Claverhouse,  ii,  730,  731. 

Clement  of  Alexandria,  i,  191,  196,  197, 
272,  277,  282,  289,  291,  292,  294,  301,  302, 
303,  307,  322,  355,  366,  373,  508,  872,  930, 
931,  937. 

Clement  of  Rome,  i.  211,  285,  294,  295,  323, 
327,  337,  496,  575,  715,  718. 

Clement  the  Scott,  i,  941. 

Clement  III,  i,  603,  907. 

Clement  V,  i,  778,  779,  800,  907. 

Clement  VI,  i,  779,  846. 

Clement  VII,  i,  778,  781,  782,  ii,  31, 121  n. 
21,  190,  191,  199,  317,  319,  324,  378,  385, 
3S9. 

Clement  VIII,  ii.  536. 

Clement  XIII,  ii,  762. 

Clement  XIV,  ii,  753,  754. 

Clementia,  de,  of  Calvin,  ii,  281. 

Clementine  Recognitions,  i,  337,  715. 

Clementines,  the,  i,  210-213. 

Cleomenes,  i,  264. 

Clergy,  represented  in  general  assemblies, 
i,  492 ;  ignorance  of,  502, 503  ;  marriage 
of,  583,  584,  754,  755 ;  in  Ireland,  663,  ii, 
485,  499,  734,  735;  taxation  of,  i,  770, 
771 ;  education  of,  945,  ii,  770  ;  indicted 
by  Henry  VIII,  ii,  383;  deficient,  573; 
Puritan  effort  to  improve,  629  ;  degen- 
erate, 639,  640,  811,  812 ;  nonconform- 
ing, 655  ;  new  type  of,  835. 

Clermont,  council  of,  i,  792,  793. 

Cleves,  h\518. 

Clifford,  John,  ii,  850. 

Clive,  Robert,  ii,  819. 

Clodimir,  i,  489. 

Clonmacnois,  i,  664,  ii,  490. 

Clotaire  II,  i,  558,  561. 

Clotilda,  Queen,  i,  489. 

Clovis,  i,  489. 

Clowes,  William,  ii,  829. 

Clugny,  i,  703-705,  753,  754. 

Cobbett,  William,  ii,  839. 

Cobham,  Lord,  ii,  47-49. 

Cocceius,  John,  ii,  772. 

Cochlaeus,  J.,  ii,  178. 

Cochran,  J.,  ii,  266 n.  1. 

Cock,  Hendrik  de,  ii,  772. 

Codex,  Arsenteus,  i,  404 ;  Rossanensis, 
675 ;  Teplensis,  834. 

Coelestius,  i,  458,  459,  651. 

Cognac,  League  of,  ii,  191,  192,  193,  194, 
319. 

Coke,  Edward,  ii,  385,  406. 

Coke,  Thomas,  ii,  828,  832,  833,  905. 


INDEX. 


927 


Colasanza,  J.,  ii,  459. 

Colchis,  i,  398. 

Colcu,  i,  673. 

Cole,  Henry,  ii,  496. 

Coleman,  Thomas,  ii,  666. 

Coleridge,  Derwent,  ii,  737. 

Coleridge,  II.  T.,  i,  54. 

Coles,  A.,  i,  918. 

Col  >t,  John,  ii,  103,  339,  369,  376. 

Colgan,  J.,  i,  653,  674. 

Colitruy,  Francis  de,  ii,  324. 

Coli?ny,  Gaspard  de,  ii,  307,  324,  325, 
326. 

Collatio  cum  Donatistis,  i,  462. 

Collections  of  money,  i,  360. 

College  Settlements  Association,  ii,  913. 

Collegia  pietatis,  ii,  576,  578. 

Collegiants,  the,  ii,  336,  706. 

Collegium  philobiblicum,  ii,  578. 

Collegium  Urbanum,  ii,  571. 

Colley,  Henry,  ii,  814. 

Collier,  Jeremy,  ii,  663. 

Collins,  Anthony,  ii,  809. 

Cologne,  i,  407. 

Colonies,  religious  development  of,  ii, 
873,  883-891. 

Colonnas,  the,  i,  769, 776,  777,  778,  784,  900 
n.  2. 

Colquhoun,  J.  C,  ii,  836. 

Columba,  St.,  i,  621-627,  643,  661,  662,  673, 
674,  ii,  488. 

Columban,  i,  559-563,  630,  661,  ii,  488. 

Columbus,  Christopher,  ii,  369,  604. 

Colville,  Alexander,  ii,  724. 

Comba,  Emilio,  i,  835. 

Combefis,  F.,  i,  511. 

Comenius,  Amos,  ii,  560. 

Commedia,  Divina,  i,  889,  890,  891,  894, 
895-901. 

Commines,  Philip  de,  ii,  85,  370. 

Commission  of  Inquisition,  ii,  316,  317. 

Commodianus,  i,  316. 

Commodus,  Christians  under,  i,  172. 

Company  of  Jesus,  ii,  542. 

Compayre,  G.,  i,  944. 

Comstock,  Anthony,  ii,  912. 

Comte,  A.,  i,  422  n.  2. 

"  Conclusions,"  the  Lollard,  ii,  44,  45. 

Concordat  of  Worms,  i,  763  ;  of  Bona- 
parte, ii,  781. 

Confession,  the  Belgic,  ii,  330 ;  Gallican, 
328;  Scotch,  472-476;  Westminster, 
472,  670  ;  of  Cyril  Lucar,  803  ;  of  Luther, 
long,  252 ;  short,  259,  501 ;  of  Knox, 
453,  454;  of  Particular  Baptists,  698, 
699 ;  of  St.  Patrick,  i,  652,  653,  654,  655, 
660. 

Confessional,  the,  ii,  546. 

Confessions  of  Augustine,  i,  457. 

Congregation  de  Fide  Catholica  Propa- 
ganda, ii,  570, 571. 

Congregationalists,  the,  ii,  443,  607,  674, 
675-690,  695,  707,  708,  713,  846-848,  879, 
888,  897,  898,  901,  902  n.  1. 

Connecte,  Thomas,  i,  712. 

Connecticut,  ii,  885,  888. 

Couoa,  i,  446,  447. 

<  Conrad  III,  i,  795. 

Conrad  IV,  i,  905. 

Consenus  Tigurinus,  ii,  504. 


Consistory,  the,  in  Geneva,  ii,  300,  303 ;  in 
France;  328. 

Constance,  council  of,  i,  783-785, 786, 846, 
ii,  54,  56,  83,  88,  93,  169 ;  Hus  and,  61- 
74,  164  ;  city  of,  254. 

Constuns,  i,  417. 

Constaus  II,  i,  449,  511,  546,  741. 

Constantia,  i,  931. 

Coustantine,  i,  176,  484,  496,  594,  791  ; 
edict  of  toleration  by,  177,  415  ;  and 
Donatists,  252, 253,  461 ;  Church  under, 
325,  410-116  ;  and  council  of  Nicasa,  433, 
721. 

Constantine  Chrysomalus,  i,  555. 

Constantine  Copronymus,  i,  517,  520. 

Constantine  of  Mananalis,  i,  551,  552. 

Constantine,  pope,  i,  743. 

Constantine  II,  i,  417,  435. 

Constantine  VI,  i,  518. 

Constantine  IX,  i,  544. 

Constantinople,  corruption  in,  i,  340,  428; 
capital  of  empire,  416,  716,  717 ;  coun- 
cils of,  436,  446,  448,  449,  517,  538,  542, 
723,  724,  ii,  392,  796  ;  Arianism  in,  i,  437, 
438,  440 ;  fall  of,  544,  ii,  370 ;  captured 
by  crusaders,  i,  795,  796. 

Constantius,  i,  254,  417,  419,  435,  437, 
720. 

Constantius  Chlorus,  i,  176,  177,  413. 

Constantius  Pogonatus,  i,  449. 

Constituent  Assembly,  ii,  781. 

Constitution  of  the  Church,  i,  120-134. 

Consubstantiation,  ii,  246,  247. 

Contari  (Patriarch),  ii,  804, 

Contarini,  Gaspare,  ii,  112,  204,  350. 

Contemptu  Mundi,  de,  i,  765. 

Conti,  house  of,  i,  764. 

Continent,  Reformation  on  the,  ii,  115-363; 
intermediate  period  on,  500-604 ;  Bap- 
tists on,  692,  693 ;  recent  period  on,  741- 
808. 

Controversy  on  Trinity,  i,  259-267 ;  bene- 
fits of,  259;  Easter,  349,  350;  age  of, 
410-462 ;  of  Luther  with  opponents,  ii, 
178-183 ;  in  Lutheran  Church,  501-510 ; 
Mar-Prelate,  011,  684-686  ;  Bangorian, 
661,  662;  in  Sweden,  788;  Calvinistic, 
826. 

Conventicle  acts,  ii,  656,  657,  702. 

Converts,  training  of,  i,  341-343. 

Convocation  of  1562,  ii,  621 ;  suppression 
of,  662  n.  2. 

Conybeare,  F.  C,  i,  150,  195. 

Cooke  (martyr),  ii,  410. 

Cooke,  Henry,  ii,  871. 

Cooke,  R.  J.,  ii,  435,  437. 

Cooke,  Sophia,  ii,  833. 

Cop,  Rector,  ii,  281. 

Copernicus,  N.,  ii,  96,  369. 

Coppen,  John,  ii,  678. 

Copts  of  Egypt,  i,  447,  535. 

Cordier,  M.,  ii,  286. 

Corey,  Giles,  ii,  888. 

Corinth  as  a  center,  i,  404. 

Corinthians,  Armenian  Epistle  to,  i,  323; 
Clement's  letter  to,  718. 

Coronation  of  Charles  the  Great,  i,  482. 

Coroticus,  i,  652,  653. 

Corporation  act,  ii,  659. 

Corpus  Philippicum,  ii,  517. 


928 


INDEX 


Correspondence  of  patristic  period,   i, 

367-369. 
Corteiz  (Carriere),  ii,  779. 
Cortez,  Hernando,  ii,  604. 
Corvinus,  i,  41. 
Corwin,  E.  T.,  i,  57. 
Cosmas  of  Jerusalem,  i,  554. 
Cossa,  Balthasar,  i,  783. 
Costanders,  i,  346. 
Cotereaux,  the,  i,  824. 
Cotta,  Ursula,  ii,  134,  135. 
Coucy,  declaration  of,  ii,  322. 
Council,  the,  i,  335,  336,  785,  786,  ii,  386; 

general,  infallibility  of,  ii,  68 ;  of  Re- 
gency, 189. 
Councils,  the  healing,  i,  783-786. 
Counter-Reformation,  the,  ii,  529-537, 601. 
Courault,  ii,  286. 
Court,  Antoine,  ii,  779,  780. 
Court  de  Gebelin,  ii,  780. 
Courtenay,  Will;ani,  ii,  20,  26,  40. 
Cousin,  V.,  i,  883. 
Covenant  in  Scotland,  ii,  460,  727, 728 ;  of 

Salt,  765,  766. 
Covenanters,  ii,  729,  868,  902. 
Coverdale,  Miles,  ii,  398,  615,  616,  627. 
Cowper,  William,  ii,  823,  835. 
Cox,  Melville  B.,  ii,  909. 
Cox,  Richard,  ii,  631. 
Cracow,  ii,  507. 
Cranme'r,  Thomas,  ii,  367,  382,  384,  386, 

387,  388,  392,  395,  401,  419,  425-428,  625; 

from  Wyclif  to,  ii,  43-51. 
Craw,  Paul,  ii,  445. 
Creagh,  Richard,  ii,  733. 
Creasy,  E.  S.,  ii,  49. 
Creation,  doctrine  of,  i,  288. 
Creighton,  M.,  i,  769,  781,  783,  840,  841, 

849,  895,  ii,  43. 
Cremation  of  the  dead,  i,  378. 
Cristofani,  i,  809. 
Croagh  Patrick,  i?  657,  658,  ii,  486. 
Crofts  (martyr),  ii,  410. 
Crom  Cruach,  i,  656. 
Cromer,  George,  ii,  491. 
Cromwell,  Oliver,  ii,  477,  612, 674, 687-690, 

700,  707,  738. 
Cromwell,  Thomas,  ii,  386,  399,  403,  407, 

409,  413,  427,  616. 
Crook,  John,  ii,  711. 
Cross  as  a  symbol,  i,  366,  930 ;  Constan- 

tine's  vision  of  the,  413,  414. 
Crotus  Rubianus,  ii,  137,  155. 
Crowe,  J.  A.,  and  Cavalcaselle,  G.  B.,  i, 

933. 
Crusades,   the,  i,  468,  471,  535,  543,  787- 

798,  ii,  798. 
Crusius,  Martin,  ii,  801. 
Crypt,  the,  i,  383. 
C'rypto-Calvimsts,  ii,  504,  508,  510. 
Cudworth,  Ralph,  ii,  666. 
Culdees,  i,  637,  638,  641. 
Culture,  the  restoration  of,  i,  947;  the 

Reformation  and,  ii,  523. 
Cumberland    Baptists,  ii,  903;   Presby- 
terians, 901. 
Cummene,  i,  621. 
Cummins,  George  D.,  ii,  895. 
Curci,  C.  M.,  ii,  344. 
Curio,  Caelio  S.,  ii,  351. 


Curteis,  G.  H.,  ii,  685. 

Curtius,  E.,  i,  24. 

Curwin,  Hugh,  ii,  497. 

Curzon,  H.  de,  i,  802. 

Cuthbert,  St.,  i,  634-636,  637. 

Cutler,  Timothy,  ii,  897. 

Cutts,  E.  L.,  i,  417  n.  1. 

Cybele,  worship  of,  i,  234,  235. 

Cyllinus,  i,  575. 

Cyprian,  i,  182,  191, 197, 198, 199,  242-244, 
247,  248,  277,  278,  282,  290,  291,  292,  295, 
311,  312,  314,  315,  316,  328,  329,  335,  337, 
338,  359,  360,  368,  653,  720,  839. 

Cyril  Apollinaris,  i,  311. 

Cyril  Lucar,  ii,  802-804. 

Cyril  of  Alexandria,  i,  424,  441,  442,  446, 
548,  727,  730. 

Cyril  of  Jerusalem,  i,  937. 

Dacia,  i,  402. 

Da  Costa,  Isaac,  ii,  772. 

D'Agincourt,  J.  B.  L.  S.,  i,  933. 

Dagobert  I,  i,  489,  557,  668. 

Dale,  A.  W.  W.,  i,  507,  508. 

Dale,  R.  W.,  ii,  847,  848. 

Dale,  Thomas,  ii,  878. 

Dalgairns,  John  D.,  ii,  841. 

Dalian  Forgail,  i,  627. 

Damasius,  i,  425,  550. 

Damasus,  i,  619,  693,  723. 

Damiani,  Peter,  i,  707. 

Danegeld  tax,  i,  610. 

Danes  in  England  and  Scotland,  i,  502, 

503,  595,  596,  634,  638  ;  in  Iceland,  670  ; 

in  Ireland,  676. 
Daniel,  H.  A.,  i,  918. 
Daniel  the  pillar-saint,  i,  689, 690. 
Danish  Church,  ii,  790-792. 
Dankbrand,  i,  574. 
Dante  Alighieri,  i,  468,  776,  777,  827,  877, 

889-901,  ii,  340,  783. 
Danz,  J.  T.  L.,  i,  45. 
Dareste,  A.  E.  C,  i,  802. 
Dartmouth  College,  ii,  898. 
Darwin,  Erasmus,  ii,  858. 
Dauphiny,  ii,  559. 
Davenport,  John,  ii,  885. 
David,  Christian,  ii,  583. 
David,  King,  i,  640,  641. 
David,  St.,  581. 
Davids,  T.  W.,  ii,  847. 
Davidson,  T.,  i,  57,  896  n.  1  and  2. 
Dawson,  William,  ii,  832. 
Days,  sacred,  i,  348-352. 
Deaconesses,  i,  130,  131,  ii,  749,  750. 
Deacons,  i,  129,  130,  326,  327. 
Decius,  persecutions  by,  i,  174,  315. 
De  Costa.  B.  F.,  ii,  896. 
Decrees  of  council  of  Trent,  ii,  536, 537. 
Decretals,   pseudo-Isidorian,  i,  494-501, 

745,  ii,  95. 
Deer,  Book  of,  i,  644. 
Defensive  League,  ii,  200. 
Defensor  Pacis,  i,  849. 
Dehio,  i,  353. 
Deism,  ii,  742,  809,  810. 
Delaware,  ii,  881. 

Deluge,  miracle  play  of  the,  i,  924,  925. 
Demarest,  D.  D.,  i,  57. 
Demetrian,  i,  198. 


INDEX. 


929 


Demetrius,  i,  359. 

Democritus,  i,  64. 

Denifle,  H.,  i,  812,  857,  860. 

Denk,  Johann,  ii,  561,  692. 

Denmark,  i,  572,  ii,  356-358,  790,  792. 

Denominational  development,  ii,  873, 874, 

892-905. 
Dering  (martyr),  ii,  406. 
Descartes,  R.,  i,  600. 
Desert,  Church  of  the,  ii,  779,  780. 
Desiderius,  i,  476,  477,  478,  479. 
Deutsch,  E.,  i,  529,  530. 
Devay,  M.  B..  ii,  362. 
Deventer,  school  at,  ii,  93,  95,  103. 
De  Vinne,  D.,  i,  57,  653. 
De  Wette,  W.  M.  L.,  ii,  773. 
Dexter,  H.  M.,  i,  57,  ii,  676,  684,  685,  686, 

687,  698. 
Diarmaid,  i,  622,  625. 
Diatessaron  of  Tatian,  i,  229. 
Diaz,  John,  ii,  353. 
Dickinson,  C.  A.,  ii,  914. 
Dickinson,  Jonathan,  ii,  890. 
Dicuil,  i,  672. 

Didache,  the,  i,  104  n.  1, 145  n.  1, 291  n.  12. 
Didier  of  Cahors,  i,  489. 
Didier  of  Vienne,  i,  940. 
Didymus,  i,  301. 

Dieppe,  Mystery  play  of,  i,  925,  926. 
Dies  Ira3,  i,  915-918. 
Dietenberger,  J.,  ii,  178. 
Dio  Cassius,  i,  161,  162. 
Diocletian,  persecutions  by,  i,  175,  461, 

578 ;  edicts  of,  175, 176. 
Diodorus  of  Tarsus,  i,  311,  938. 
Dionysius,  Count,  i,  484. 
Dionysius  Exiguus,  i,  496,  499. 
Dionysius  of  Alexandria,  i,  266,  294,  301, 

308,  317,  359,  ii,  589. 
Dionysius  of  Corinth,  i,  359. 
Dionysius  of  Tours,  i,  489. 
Dionysius,  pseudo,  the  Areopagite,  i,  548- 

550,  ii,  371,  373. 
Dioscurus,  i,  729. 
Diplomatics,  i,  34. 
Directory,  Westminster,  ii,  669 ;  French, 

iol. 
Discalceati,  the,  i,  712. 
Disciples  of  Christ,  ii,  903. 
Discipline  of  Church,  i,  341-347;  differ- 
ences of,  in  Greek  and  Roman  Churches, 

539,  540 ;  Book  of  (Scotch),  ii,  467,  468  ; 

crowded  out  by  doctrine,  573. 
Disraeli,  Benjamin,  ii,  857. 
Disraeli,  Isaac,  i,  156. 
Divina  Commedia,    the,  i,  889,  890,  891, 

894,  895-901,  ii,  783. 
Divine  nature,  doctrine  of,  i,  282,  283. 
Divorce  of  Henry  VIII,  ii,  377-383,  384. 
Dixon,  James,  ii,  832. 
Dixon,  R.  W.,  ii,  407,  420,  421,  423,  428. 
Dober,  L.,  ii,  587. 
Docetism,  i,  440,  514. 
Doctrinal    differences    of    Eastern   and 

Western  Churches,  i,  538,  539 ;  results 

of  council  of  Trent,  ii,  534,  535. 
Doctrine  of  Church  of  England,  ii,  391- 

398. 
Doddridge,  Philip,  ii,  823. 
Dodweil,  Henry,  ii,  663. 
61 


Dollinger,  J.  J.  I.  von,  i,  53,  87,  265,  448, 

800,  802,  823,  825,  829,  848,  903,  904,  905, 

906,  907,  908,  ii,  86,  759,  777,  795. 
Domeuica,  Fra,  ii,  84. 
Domestic  life  of  Christians,  i,  365. 
Dominic,  St.,  i,  805,  815-818,  828,  ii,  590. 
Dominicans,  the,   i,  807,  813,  S47,  ii,  21, 

331,  344,  569,  592. 
Domitian  persecution,  i,  166. 
Domitilla,  catacomb  of  St.,   i,  388,  390, 

930. 
Domnus,  i,  445. 
Don  John,  ii,  598. 
Donald,  i,  619. 
Donation  of  Constantine,  i,  496,  501,  899, 

ii,  34,  95,  175. 
Donatism,  i,  239,  249-258,   290,  461,  462, 

720,  842,  843. 
Donatists,  ii,  590. 
Donatus,  i,  461,  945. 
Donauworth,  ii,  551,  552. 
Doncaster  (martyr),  ii,  410. 
Donna  Joanna,  ii,  598,  599. 
Donne,  John,  ii,  640. 
Doorkeepers,  i,  327. 
Dorner,  I.  A.,  i,  439. 
Dorotheus,  i,  311,  576. 
Dort,  synod  of,  ii,  330,  366 ;  canons  of, 

904. 
Dositheus,  i,  159. 
Douai,  seminary  at,  ii,  440. 
Douglas,  Gavin,  i,  645. 
Dowden,  Bishop,  i,  583. 
Drama,  the  sacred,  i,  920-927. 
Drane,  A.  T.,  i,  54,  815,  816,  825. 
Draper,  J.  W.,  i,  19. 
Dresden,  ii,  212,  582. 
Druids,  the,  and  Patrick,  i,  656. 
Drumceatt,  synod  of,  i,  623. 
Drummond,  Henry,  ii,  870. 
Dualism,  i   823,  824,827. 
Dubbs,  J.  H.,  i,  57. 
Dublin,  i,  676. 
Ducreux,  G.  M.,  i,  53. 
Duff,  Alexander,  ii,  868. 
Duffield,  S.  W.,  i,  914,  915. 
Dunan,  i,  677. 

Dunbar,  Archbishop,  i,  646. 
Dunkeld,  i,  638. 
Dunn,  Samuel,  ii,  830. 
Dunnottar  Castle,  ii,  731. 
Dunraven,  Lord,  i,  665. 
Duns  Scotus.  J.,  i,  467,  645,  813,  887,  888, 

ii,  37,  372,  373,  565. 
Dunstan,  St.,  i,  596,  597,  697. 
Du  Pin,  L.  E.,  i,  53,  729. 
Durand,  G.,  i,  53. 
Durer,  Albrecht,  ii,  171,  172,  208. 
Durham,  cathedral  of,  i,  635. 
Dury,  John,  ii,  528,  574,  724. 
Durrow,  Book  of,  i,  676. 
Dutch,   the,   ii,  619,  64S,   881;  Baptists. 

694,  695. 
Dyke,  Daniel,  ii,  575. 

Eadburga,  i,  567. 
Eadmer^  i,  600,  601,  604. 
Earthquake  council,  the,  ii,  40. 
Easter,  i,  349,  350,    582,   638,  639,    718, 
719. 


930 


INDEX. 


Eastern  Church,  resists  Roman  primacy, 
i,  339 ;  questions  iu,  455 ;  division  be- 
tween, and  Western,  538-545 ;  theology, 
worship,  and  life  in,  546-555. 

Ebenezer,  ii,  7G6. 

Eberhard  of  Mecklenburg,  ii,  505. 

Ebionism,  i,  207-209,  320,  431. 

Ebo,  i,  571. 

Ebrard,  J.  H.  A.,  i,  562,  568,  580,  629,  630. 

Ecclesia,  de,  ii,  56,  58,  65. 

Ecebolius,  i,  345. 

Echard,  Jacques,  i,  816. 

Eck,  Johann  von,  ii,  169. 

Eck  John,  ii,  121  n.  12,  160,  161,  163,  164, 
165,  167,  178,  195,  203,  204,  224,  240,  250, 
263,  264. 

Eckhart,  John  (Master),  i,  817,  856-858, 
860,  861,  866. 

Eclectic  Review,  ii,  850. 

Edessa,  i,  400,  442,  443,  795. 

Edgar  the  Atheling,  i,  638. 

Edgar  the  Pacific,  i,  594,  596. 

Edict  of  toleration,  Constantine's,  i,  177- 
179,  415 ;  of  Theodosius,  423 ;  of  Leo 
the  Isaurian,  513  ;  of  Constans  II,  449, 
546;  of  Valentinian  III,  728,  729;  of 
Nantes,  ii,  308,  324, 327, 328  ;  of  Nismes, 
327,  328;  of  Restitution,  554;  Louis 
XVI's,  of  toleration,  781. 

Edinburgh,  Knox  at,  ii,  463. 

Education  under  paganism,  i,73;  Chris- 
tian, 362,  363  ;  under  Charles  the  Great, 
503-506 ;  in  Middle  Ages,  935-946 ;  in- 
jured by  Henry  VIII,  ii,  404 ;  in  Scottish 
Church,  470,  471 ;  and  Reformation, 
519 ;  of  Roman  Catholics  in  Germany, 
754,  755,  758,  759  ;  in  Netherlands,  774  ; 
in  Sweden,  7S9;  and  Methodism,  830, 
831 ;  in  America,  886,  898. 

Edward  the  Confessor,  i,  594,  638. 

Edward  the  Martyr,  i,  596. 

Edward  III,  ii,  8,  19,  3S5,  619. 

Edward  VI,  ii,  390,  402,  410,  417,  418,  419, 
421,  425,  430,  431,  433,  434,  457,  493,  496, 
624,  627,  635. 

Edwards,  Jonathan,  ii,  708,  848,  890. 

Edwards,  Thomas,  ii,  673. 

Edwin,  king  of  Northumbria,  i,  587,  588. 

Edwin  the  Fair,  i,  596. 

Egbert,  St.,  i,  564. 

Egidius,  John,  ii,  352,  353,  354. 

Egilbert,  i,  754. 

Eginhard,  i,  478,  480,  482,  502,  504. 

Egmout,  Lamoral,  ii,  334. 

Egranus,  ii,  167. 

Egypt,  Mouophysites  in,  i,  446  ;  and  Ire- 
land, 665  ;  monks  in,  681. 

Ehrle,  i,  779,  811  n.  5. 

Eighteenth  centurv,  ii,  805,  809-813. 

"  Ein'  feste  Burg,'"'  ii,  185, 186,  266. 

Einem,  J.  J.  von,  i,  45. 

Einsiedeln,  ii,  228,  243. 

Eisenach,  ii,  129,  134,  135,  138. 

Eisleben,  ii,  130,  131. 

Ekkehard,  i,  913. 

Ekthesis,  the,  i,  449,  546. 

Elagabalus,  i,  173. 

Eleatic  philosophy,  i,  63. 

Election,  doctrine  of,  In  Scottish  Confes- 
sion, ii,  475. 


Eleutherius,  i,  575,  577,  579. 

Elgiva,  i,  596. 

Eligius,  i,  558. 

Eliot,  John,  ii,  906. 

Eliot,  Sir  John,  ii,  614. 

Elipandus,  i,  871. 

Elizabeth  of  Hungary,  i,  855,  856. 

Elizabeth,  Queen,  ii,  390, 410, 415,  421, 429, 
430-443,  461,  496,  497,  498,  617,  620,  624- 
633,  634,  635,  636,  648,  657,  675, 682,  683, 
684,  694,  733,  855. 

Elkesaites,  i,  209,  210. 

Ellinwood,  F.  F.,  ii,  908. 

Ellis,  G.  E.,  i,  57. 

Elvira,  synod  of,  i,  507. 

Emancipation  Bill,  Catholic,  ii,  854. 

Emden,  synod  of,  ii,  518. 

Emerton,  E.,  i,  57,  753. 

Emory,  Robert,  ii,  708. 

Emperor  and  pope,  i,  757-767,  ii,  217. 

Ems,  Congress  of,  ii,  760,  764. 

Emser,  H.,  ii,  121  n.  18,  136,  167,  172, 178. 

Encratites,  i,  228. 

Endicott,  John,  ii,  880. 

England,  conversion  of,  i,  575-589; 
Church  of,  590-598,  ii,  390-398,  427,  605, 
643-651,  652-663,  835-843 ;  and  Bohemia, 
ii,  54  ;  Erasmus  and,  109  ;  under  Eliza- 
beth, 430-443  ;  Knox  in,  457,  458  ;  and 
Ireland,  480-484 ;  Post-Reformation, 
605-623;  and  Holland,  619;  Presby- 
terians in,  664-674 ;  Congregationalists 
in,  675-690 ;  Baptists  in,  691-704 ; 
Friends  in,  705-715;  Roman  Catholics 
in,  716-720 ;  of  eighteenth  century,  809- 
813. 

English  missionaries  in  Germany,  i,  564, 
565 ;  Church  in  Middle  Ages,  590-616 ; 
Bible,  ii,  367. 

Eunius  (legate),  ii,  262. 

Ennius  (poet),  i,  891,  895. 

Enoch,  Book  of,  i,  321. 

Entighern,  Bp.,  i,  669. 

Enzinas,  Francis,  ii,  352. 

Enzinas,  Jayme,  ii,  353. 

Ephesus,  John  in,  i,  114-116  ;  council  at, 
442,  445,  485,  539,  727,  ii,  392  ;  ecclesias- 
tical rank  of,  i,  717. 

Ephraem,  i,  311,  357. 

Epictetus,  i,  182. 

Epicurus,  i,  66. 

Epigonus,  i,  264. 

Epiphanes,  i,  225. 

Epiphany,  i,  37,  261,  320,  451,  507,  ii,  108. 

Epiphany  (day),  i,  350. 

Episcopacy,  purchase  of,  i,  489. 

Epicopalianism,  ii,  721,  883. 

Episcopate,  the  historic,  ii,  918. 

Episcopius,  Simon,  ii,  330,  336. 

Epistles,  Colet's  lectures  on  the,  ii,  371- 
373. 

Epistolae  Obscurorum  Virorum,  ii,  98, 
155 

Epitaphs,  i,  389-393. 

Epworth  League,  ii,  915. 

Equivocation,  ii,  7l9. 

Erasmus,  D.,  i,  645,  ii,  98, 101-114, 167, 176, 
178,  179,  182,  235,  241,  242,  244,  245,  246, 
273,  810,  331,  339,  369,  374,  416,  446,  521, 
559. 


INDEX. 


931 


Erchempertus,  i,  40. 

Erfurt,  University  of,  ii,  93,  94,  120  n.  6 ; 
Luther  at,  136-139,  152 ;  monastery  at, 
140-145. 

Erhard  of  Queiss,  ii,  208. 

Eric  of  Denmark,  i,  572. 

Eric  the  Red,  i,  574. 

Erich  of  Braunschweig,  ii,  192,  200,  216. 

Erigena,  Johannes  Scotus,  i,  672,  673, 851, 
852,  875,  877,  941. 

Ernst  Frederick,  ii,  517. 

Ernst  of  Braunschweig-Luneburg,  ii,  192, 
207,  254,  505. 

Ernst  of  Mansfeld,  ii,  553,  554. 

Ernesti,  J.  A.,  ii,  743,  772. 

Erskine,  Ebenezer,  ii,  866,  867. 

Eschatology,  i,  293,  294. 

Essen,  Johann  von,  ii,  332. 

Essenes,  the,  i,  83,  84,  681. 

Essex,  i,  588. 

Esslingen,  ii,  210. 

Estius,  G.,  ii,  5GS. 

Estrapade,  the,  ii,  322. 

Eternal  sonship  of  Christ,  i,  284. 

Ethelberga,  i,  587. 

Ethelbert,  i,  586,  587. 

Eucharistic  controversy,  ii,  244-260. 

Euchites,  i,  552,  553,  689. 

Eudokia,  i,  442. 

Eudoxia,  i,  452,  689. 

Eugenius  IV,  i,  544,  785,  786,  ii,  69. 

Eugippus,  i,  557. 

Eunomians,  i,  437. 

Europe,  Christianity  in,  i,  402-408  ;  con- 
version of,  947 ;  civilization  of,  947. 

Ensebians,  i,  437. 

Eusebius,  i,  36,  65,  116, 192, 194,  195,  237, 
265,  273,  292,  301,  308,  354,  414,  507,  549, 
576,  719,  721,  931. 

Eusebius  of  Emesa,  i,  311. 

Eustathius,  i,  555. 

Eustathius  of  Sebaste,  i,  689. 

Eutyches,  i,  444. 

Eutychius,  i,  39. 

Evagrius,  i,  37. 

Evangelical  historians,  i,  50;  revival,  ii, 
821-827,  835-838,  853,  856,  868 ;  Associ- 
ation, 905. 

Evangelism,  early,  i,  132  ;  Fox's,  ii,  710, 
711 ;  Wesley's,  819  ;  Whitefield's,  824, 
825. 

Evangelists,  i,  126,  127. 

Evelyn,  J.,  i,  381,  382. 

Everett,  Edward,  ii,  906. 

Everett,  James,  ii,  830. 

"  Every  man,"  i,  926. 

Exarchate,  the,  i,  475,  476,  479. 

Exemptions  of  crusaders,  i,  794. 

Exorcists,  i,  326. 

Extension  of  Christianity,  i,  396-409. 

Ezra,  Fourth  Book  of,  i,  821. 

Faber,  B.,  i,  41. 

Faber,  F.  W.,  i,  19,  ii,  841. 

Faber,  J.,  ii,  178,  221,  232,  240,  250,  263. 

Faber,  Peter,  ii,  542. 

Fabian,  i,  245  ;  chronicle  of,  ii,  403,  619. 

Fabricius,  Jacob,  ii,  787. 

Fairbairn,  A.  M.,  ii,  666,  667,  847. 

Falk,  Paul  L.  A.,  ii,  758,  759. 


Falk  Laws,  ii,  758,  759. 
Falkner,  Justus,  ii,  903. 
Farel,  William,  ii,  222,  247,  271,  272-275, 

279,  284,  286,  289,  290,  291,  292,  293,  295, 

302,  304,  309,  311,  312,  319. 
Faringdon  (martyr),  ii,  410. 
Farish,  William,  ii,  837. 
Farnese,  Julia,  ii,  79. 
Fasting  in  Greek  Church,  i,  555. 
Fathers,  travels  of  the,  i,  369. 
Faulkner,  J.  A.,  preface,  ix. 
Faust,  i,  917. 
Featley,  Daniel,  ii,  666. 
Febronius,  Justinus,  ii,  754,  761,  762. 
Fegosius,  Cardinal,  ii,  350. 
Felicissimus,  i,  242-244. 
Felix  of  Urgel,  i,  871. 
Felix  III,  i,  445,  724,  731. 
Female  Jesuits,  ii,  547. 
Fenelou,  F.  S.  Si.,  ii,  589,  776,  777. 
Ferdinand  of  Spain,  ii,  377,  541,  594,  595, 

598  599   604. 
Ferdinand  I,  ii,  176, 189, 190, 192, 193,  197, 

199,  200,  214,  218,  258,  264,  505,  531,  534, 

537,  598. 
Ferdinand  II,  ii,  551,  552,  553,  554. 
Ferguson,  Adam,  ii,  865. 
Ferrar,  Robert,  ii,  398. 
Ferrara,  ii,  77,  78,  95,  350 ;  council  of,  i, 

786. 
Ferrier,  Vincent,  i,  817. 
Festivals,  yearly,  i,  349,  350. 
Fetherstone  (martyr),  ii,  410,  413. 
Feuillans,  i,  706. 
Fiace,  St.,  i,  652. 
Fichte,  J.  G.,  i,  857. 
Field,  Theophilus,  ii,  640. 
Filioque  controversy,  i,  538. 
Filmer  (martyr),  ii,  414. 
Finlay,  G.,  i,  513. 
Finnian,  i,  622. 
Fire  act,  i,  844,  ii,  46. 
Firmilian,  i,  339,  720. 
Fish  symbol,  the,  i,  930. 
Fisher,  Edward,  ii,  866. 
Fisher,  George  P.,  i,  56,  ii,  862. 
Fisher,  John,  ii,  368,  407. 
Fisher,  Samuel,  ii,  711. 
Fitzjames,  Bishop,  ii,  374. 
Fitzralph,  Richard,  ii,  484,  485. 
Fitz-Urse,  Reginald,  i,  614,  615. 
Five-mile  act,  ii,  657. 
Flacianists,  the,  ii,  507,  508. 
Flacius,  M.,  i,  41,  834,  896,  ii,  502,  504, 

505,  568. 
Flaminius,  N.,  ii,  353. 
Flanders,  ii,  331. 
Flavia  Domitilla,  i,  166. 
Flavian,  i.  445,  690. 
Fleming,  Bishop,  ii,  15. 
Fleming,  Paul,  ii,  526. 
Flemings,  the,  ii,  561. 
Fletcher,  John  W.,  ii,  806,  826,  834. 
Fleury,  C,  i,  53. 
Fliedner,  Theodor,  ii,  749,  750. 
Florence,    council    of,  i,   539,   543,   544; 

Dante  and,   893 ;    Savonarola  and,  ii, 

80-83,  84 ;  literature  in,  370 ;  Union  of, 

798. 
Foliot,  Gilbert,  i,  609. 


932 


INDEX. 


Fontevraud,  order  of,  i,  708,  709. 

Forest  (martyr),  ii,  410. 

Forest  cantons  of  Switzerland,  ii,  264, 266, 

268. 
Forged  decretals,  i,  494-501. 
Forman,  Andrew,  i,  647. 
Formby,  i,  54. 
Formula  Consensus,  ii,  773. 
Formula  of  Concord,  ii,  358,  508,  509, 510, 

513,  514,  515,  526. 
Forrest,  Henry,  ii,  447. 
Forrest,  Thomas,  ii,  447-449. 
Forrester,  Robert,  ii,  447. 
Forster,  W.  E.,  ii,  852. 
Fortescue,  Sir  John,  i,  848,  ii,  370. 
Foster,  John,  ii,  850. 
"Four  P's,"i,  926. 
Fox,  Edward,  ii,  392. 
Fox,  George,  ii,  613,  708-714,  852,  905. 
Fox,  Norman,  ii,  691. 
Foxe,  John,  ii,  420,  422,  424,  428,  617,  628, 

675, 684,  694. 
France,  i,  405,  ii,  271,  776-781 ;  and  Ro- 
man Church,  769, 771,  772 ;  Reformation 
in,  305-328. 
Francis  Joseph,  ii,  771. 
Francis  of  Assisi,  i,  805-814,  815,  916,  ii, 

813. 
Francis  of  Avignon,  ii,  314. 
Francis  of   Braunschweig-Liineburg,   ii, 

192. 
Francis  of  Guise,  ii,  325. 
Francis  of  Osuna,  ii,  566. 
Francis  of  Paula,  ii,  88. 
Francis  of  Waldeck,  ii,  214. 
Francis  I,  ii,  168,  191,  195,  215,  274,  282, 
283,  284,  313,  314,  315,  318-323,  324,  333, 
464,  532,  559. 
Francis  I,  of  Austria,  ii,  755,  767,  771. 
Francis  II,  ii,  325,  464. 
Franciscans,  the,  i,  805-814,  ii,  21,  569. 
Francke,  A.  H.,  ii,  578,  579,  581. 
Franco-Austrian  War,  ii,  757. 
Franeker,  ii,  335,  524. 
Frankenhausen,  battle  of,  ii,  182. 
Frankfort,  council  of,  i,  521 ;  Religious 
Peace  of,  ii,  200,  506 ;  diet  of,  292 ;  re- 
cess, 505,  506. 
Frankfort-on-the-Main,  ii,  509,  576. 
Frankish   Church,   i,  580;   empire,  472- 

483. 
Franklin,  Benjamin,  ii,  825. 
Fredegar,  i,  467. 

Frederick  Barbarossa,  i,  763,  764,  795,  831. 
Frederick,  Count  Palatine,  ii,  204. 
Frederick,  Count  Palatine  II,  ii,  215. 
Frederick,   Count   Palatine   III,   ii,   506, 

513,  514. 
Frederick,  Count  Palatine  IV,  ii,  552. 
Frederick,  Count  Palatine  V,  ii,  553. 
Frederick,  Landgrave,  i,  926. 
Frederick,  missionary  to  Iceland,  i,  574. 
Frederick  of  Bohemia,  ii,  517. 
Frederick  I,  of  Denmark,  ii,  192,  357,  358. 
Frederick  II,  i,  765,  766,  767,  769,  796,  844, 

846,  ii,  513,  767. 
Frederick  the  Wise,  ii,  120  n.  5,  151,  158, 
162,  163.  166,  167,  168,  171, 176,  181,  190, 
262,  309! 
Frederick  William,  duke,  ii,  510. 


Frederick  William  I,  ii,  586,  766. 

Frederick  William  III,  ii„292,  745,  746. 

Frederick  William  IV,  ii,  749. 

Free  Church  of  Scotland,  ii,  868,  870. 

Free  Churches,  the,  ii,  844-852. 

Free  Communion  Baptists,  ii,  903. 

Free  Methodists,  ii,  894. 

Free  speech  and  free  press,  ii,  649. 

Free  Spirit,  Brethren  of,  i,  855,  861,  862. 

Free  worship,  ii,  681. 

Freedmen,  the,  ii,  911. 

Freedom  of  a  Christian  Man,  Luther's, 
ii,  165. 

Freeman,  E.  A.,  i,  411,  412,  530,  609,  616, 
739,  740,  744,  764  n.  2. 

Freeman,  James,  ii,  898. 

Freewill  Baptists,  ii,  903. 

French  Reformation,  ii,  271,  304,  305-328; 
Revolution,  476,  784  ;  Switzerland,  271- 
275 ;  influence  in  Spain,  604 ;  occupa- 
tion of  America,  876,  877. 

Friar  preachers,  i,  817. 

Friday,  i,  349. 

Fridolin,  i,  563. 

Friedliinder,  L.,  i,  69. 

Friendly  Exegesis  of  Zwingli,  ii,  250,  251. 

Friends,  the,  ii,  610,  705-715,  851,  852,  856, 
887,  888,  905. 

Friends  of  God,  i,  861,  862. 

Frisia,  i,  564,  566,  568. 

Frith,  John,  ii,  410,  411,  446.    • 

Froben,  J.,  ii,  104. 

Froment,  Antoine,  ii,  274. 

Frosch,  ii,  210. 

Froschover,  ii,  615. 

Froude,  J.  A.,  i,  24,  35,  615,  670,  803,  ii, 
43,  114,  379,  840,  843. 

Froude,  R.  H.,  ii,  840,  841,  843. 

Frumentius,  i,  401. 

Fry,  Elizabeth,  ii,  859. 

Fuenta,  Constantine  P.  de  la,  ii,  352,  354. 

Fuggers,  the,  ii,  156. 

Fulda,  monastery  at,  i,  568. 

Fulgentius,  i,  683. 

Fuller,  Andrew,  ii,  848,  849. 

Fuller,  T.,  ii,  16,  402,  404,  614,  666,  667, 
734. 

Fulton,  J.,  i,  57. 

Fumagalli,  Angelo,  i,  802. 

Funck,  J.,  ii,  503. 

Furbity,  Guy,  ii,  274. 

Galen,  ii,  369. 

Galerius,  i,  175,  413 ;  edict  of  toleration 

by,  176,  177. 
Galilee,  sea  of,  i,  112. 
Gall,  St.,  monastery  of,  i,  563,  667. 
Gallican  Confession,  ii,  328,  518. 
Gallicanism,  ii,  565. 
Gallienus,  rescript  of,  i,  174,  175. 
Gallus,  i,  174,  419. 
Gallus  (bishop),  i,  4S9. 
Gallus  the  missionary,  i,  561,  563. 
Gallus  the  reformer,  ii,  502. 
Gardiner,  S.  R.,  i,  605,  615,  616,  ii,  379, 

395,  402,  416,  440,  719. 
Gardiner,  Stephen,  ii,  378,  386,  392,  395, 

410,  419,  425,  437. 
Garnet,  Henry,  ii,  719. 
Garret,  Thomas,  ii,  413. 


INDEX. 


933 


Garrison,  William  Lloyd,  ii,  911. 

Gasquet,  F.  A.,  i,  54. 

Gaul,  i,  405,  406,  407. 

Gay,  Ebenezer,  ii,  898. 

Gaza,  Theodore,  ii,  95. 

Gebhard  of  Mansfeld,  ii,  193. 

Gelasius  I,  i,  715,  724,  731. 

Gelasius  of  Cyzicus,  i,  721. 

Gemma  Douati,  i,  893. 

General  Assembly  of  Scotland,  ii,  465, 
466. 

General  Baptists,  ii,  696,  697,  705,  706, 
833,  903. 

General  Council  Lutherans,  ii,  903. 

General  of  the  Jesuits,  ii,  544. 

General  Synod  Lutherans,  ii,  903. 

Geneva,  Reformation  in,  ii,  221,  222,  271, 
273,  274,  275,  276,  284,  285,  286-289,  290, 
291,  293,  294,  295,  296,  297-304,  522,  618  ; 
Knox  in,  458 ;  University  of,  524 ;  and 
the  Formula  Consensus,  773  ;  Meletius 
at,  802. 

Genevan  Catechism,  ii,  518;  Bible,  616, 
617. 

Genghis  Khan,  i,  796. 

Gennadius,  i,  38. 

Genseric,  i,  730. 

Gentile,  G.  V.,  ii,  562. 

Geoffroi  de  Saint  Nohimar,  i,  799. 

Geography,  i,  34. 

George,  bishop  of  Arabs,  i,  447. 

George,  Duke,  ii,  163,  164,  174,  182,  191, 
192,  194,  200,  201,  207,  212,  213. 

George  Eliot,  i,  863,  ii,  85. 

George  Ernst  of  Henneberg,  ii,  505. 

George  Frederick,  ii,  554. 

George  of  Anhalt,  ii,  214. 

George  of  Brandenburg,  ii,  211,  254. 

George  of  Constantinople,  i,  742. 

George  of  Polentz,  ii,  208. 

George  I,  ii,  739. 

George  III,  ii,  865. 

Georse  IV,  ii,  839. 

Georgia,  i,  39S,  ii,  766,  818, 821,  824. 

Gerard,  William,  ii,  719. 

Gerbel,  N.,  ii,  249. 

Gerbert,  i,  749,  792. 

Gerhard,  J.,  i,  43,  ii,  574. 

German  language  in  church  service,  ii, 
184 ;  Theology,  A,  i,  863,  864,  872,  ii, 
154;  Humanism,  ii,  90-100;  hymns, 
184-186;  Switzerland,  223-270;  Re- 
formed Church,  512,  517,  518,  904,  905  ; 
theology,  772 ;  Baptists,  903. 

Germans  and  Rome,  i,  739. 

Germanus  of  Auxerre,  i,  579,  654. 

Germanus  of  Constantinople,  i,  513,  514, 
520. 

Germany,  i,  405,  407,  ii,  618 ;  conversion 
of,  i,  556-569  ;  intolerance  in,  844  ;  new 
church  order  in,  ii,  184-188 ;  geograph- 
ical expansion  of  Reformation  in,  206- 
213  ;  Calvinism  in,  511-518 ;  Protestant, 
in  recent  times,  744-752 ;  Roman  Cath- 
olic Church  of,  753-759. 

Gerrards,  B.,  ii,  441. 

Gerson,  John,  i,  861,  ii,  69  n.  2,  143,  144, 
149,  386. 

Gesta  Christi,  i,  148  n.  1, 185  n.  1,  362  n.  4. 

Giles,  St.,  crisis  in,  ii,  725,  726. 


Ghent,  treaty  of,  ii,  334. 

Ghirlandajo,  D.  B.,  ii,  370. 

Gibbon,Edward,  i,  23,  45,  737, 869,  ii,  663. 

Gibson,  Edmond,  ii,  821. 

Giesebrecht,  W.,  i,  831. 

Giesela,  i,  476. 

Gieseler,  J.  C.  L.,  i,  46. 

Giessen,  ii,  510,  516,  524. 

Gietmann,  i,  900. 

Gifford,  John,  ii,  702,  703. 

Gifts,  miraculous,  i,  97,  98,  99,  100. 

Gilbert,  Bishop,  i,  677. 

Gilby,  Anthony,  ii,  616. 

Gildas,  i,  580. 

Gillespie,  George,  ii,  673  n.  5,  724,  725. 

Gillespie,  Thomas,  ii,  867. 

Gillett,  C.  R.,  preface,  ix. 

Gillett,  E.  H.,  i,  56,  57,  ii,  56,  57. 

Gillow,  J.,  i,  54. 

Gillpatrick,  Bishop,  i,  677. 

Gioberti,  v.,  ii,  783. 

Giraldus  Cambrensis,  i,  584,  658,  679. 

Gisborne,  Thomas,  ii,  836. 

Giuliani,  G.,  i,  900. 

Gladstone,  W.  E.,  i,  24,  ii,  398,  690,  848, 
855,  871. 

Glanasus,  J.,  ii,  514. 

Glareanus,  H.  L.,  ii,  221,  241. 

Glarus,  Zwingli  at,  ii,  225-227,  238,  239, 
242,  264. 

Glendalough,  i,  664. 

Gnosticism,  i,  214-219,  288,  290,  320,  371, 
455,  553, 843  ;  with  Jewish  background, 
220-223  ;  with  oriental  and  pagan  back- 
ground, 224-227;  independent,  228- 
232 ;  a  source  of  monasticism,  682. 

Gode,  Henning,  ii,  136. 

Godeau,  A.,  i,  52.     , 

Godfrey  de  Bouillon,  i,  799. 

Godoy,  Manuel  de,  ii,  604. 

Goerres,  F.,i,  399. 

Goeschel,  K.  F.,  i,  897. 

Goethe,  J.  W.,  i,  21,  ii,  238,  334,  820. 

Gold  (martyr),  ii,  406. 

Goll,  Jarosiaw,  ii,  70. 

Gomarus,  F.,  ii,  335. 

Gondran,  i,  559. 

Gongauf,  i,  870. 

Goodwin,  John,  ii,  666. 

Goodwin,  Thomas,  ii,  666. 

Gordianus,  i,  173. 

Gordon,  George,  ii,  853. 

Gospel,  spontaneous  propagation  of,  i, 
409. 

Gothenburg,  University  of,  ii,  789. 

Goths,  i,  402,  403,  726. 

Gottschalk  Fulgentius,  i,  461,  852, 873, 874. 

Gottschalk  the  priest,  i,  795. 

Gourlev  (martyr),  ii,  447. 

Government,  church,  i,  324-330. 

Gower,  J.,  i,  899  n.  2. 

Gozbert,  Duke,  i,  564. 

Griibner,  A.  L.,  i,  57. 

Grace,  sin  and,  i,  455-462,  ii,  8,  9. 

Grace  Abounding,  ii,  702. 

Grafton,  chronicle  of,  ii,  403 ;  Duke  of, 
810,  811. 

Graham,  John,  ii,  731. 

Grammont,  order  of,  i,  70S. 

Grand  Remonstrance,  the,  ii,  665. 


934 


INDEX. 


Grant,  A.,  i,  86. 

Granvella,  A.  P.,  ii,  204. 

Granvella,  Anton,  ii,  333,  334. 

Gras,  Louise  de  Iff.  C.,  ii,  549. 

Gratian,  i,  723. 

Graul,  K.,  i,  897. 

Gray,  G.  Z.,  i,  797. 

Great    Awakening,  the,  ii,  873,  889,  890, 

891,  901. 
Great  Britain,  intermediate  period  in,  ii, 

605-739  ;  recent  period  in,  805-871. 
Greece,  service  of,  to  Christianity,  i,  67  ; 

Church  in,  404. 
Greek  historians,  i,  37  ;  race,  61 ;  schools 

of  philosophy.  63  ;  language,  67 ;  apol- 
ogists, 191,  192,  193-198;  fathers,  272; 

theologians,   281,  291 ;   Church   favors 

Pelagius,  459 ;  and  Roman  Churches, 

538-545,  ii,  793-804  ;  theology  of,  i,  546- 

553 ;  Testament,  ii,  109,  110. 
Greeks,  the,  faith  and  philosophy  of,  i, 

61-67  ;  intellectual  achievements  of,  62  ; 

religious  belief  of,  62;   as  Christians, 

123,   124  ;  controversial   spirit  of,  427, 

428. 
Green,  J.  R.,  i,  51,  589,  ii,  369,  370.  381, 

389,  416. 
Greenway,  Oswald,  ii.  719. 
Greenwood,  John,  ii,  '678,  680,  681. 
Gregorovius  on  Rome,  i,  739. 
Gregory,  J.,  ii,  681. 
Gregory  Abulfaragius,  i,  447. 
Gregory  of  Nazianzum,  i,  291,  292.  305, 

428,  434,  938. 
Gregory  of  Nyssa,  i,  295,  548. 
Gregory  of  Tours,  i,  40,  581,  940. 
Gregory  Thaumaturgus,  i,  301. 
Greejorv  the  Great,  i,  100,  486,  493,  508, 

520,  557,  585,  586,  593,  596,  673,  724,  732- 

738,  740,  758,  877,  940,  941. 
Gresrorv  II,  i,  497,  511,  514,  515,  520,  566, 

743,  748. 
Gregory  III,  i,  474,  743. 
Gregory  IV,  i,  491,  769. 
Gregory  VI,  i,  751. 
Gregory  VII,  i,  470,  471, 597,  598,  640,  704, 

730,  731,  733,  740,  751,  752-762,  792,  ii, 

591 
Gregory  IX,  i,  796,  847,  ii,  592. 
Gregory  XI,  i,  780,  781,  847,  ii,  20,  33. 
Gregory  XII.  i,  783,  784. 
Gregory  XIII,  ii,  326,  353. 
Gregory  XIV,  ii,  536. 
Gregory  XV,  ii,  570. 
Gregory  XVI,  i,  707. 
Gresham,  Richard,  ii,  401. 
Gretser,  Jacob,  ii,  551. 
Gribaldi,  M.,  ii,  562. 
Griesin^er,  Th.,  ii,  539. 
Griffin,  Edward  D.,  ii,  907. 
Griffith,  Walter,  ii,  871. 
Griffith,  William,  ii,  830. 
Grim,  E.,  i,  610. 
Grimald,  i,  504. 
Grimbold,  i,  595. 
Grimshaw,  William,  ii,  827. 
Grindal,  Edmund,  ii,  631. 
Grocyn,  W.,  ii,  369. 
Groningen,  ii,  335,  524. 
Groot,  Gerard,  i,  862,  866. 


Gropper,  Johann,  ii,  203. 

Gross,  ii,  692. 

Grosseteste,  R.,  ii,  3-6. 

Grossgebauer,  ii,  574. 

Grotius,  Hugo,  i,  131,  ii,  336. 

Gruet,  Jacob,  ii,  301,  303. 

Grunberg,  W.,  ii,  574,  578. 

Grundtvig,  N.  F.  S.,  ii,  790-792. 

Grynams,  Simon,  ii,  282,  290. 

Gualbert,  John,  i,  707. 

Guericke,  H.  E.  F.,  i,  48. 

Guericke  (missionary),  ii,  849. 

Guernsey  and  Jersev,  ii,  664. 

Guest,  Edmund,  ii,  4*32. 

Guibert  of  Ravenna,  i,  761. 

Guicciardini,  F.,  ii,  86. 

Guido,  Novello  da  Polenta,  i,  893. 

Guigo,  i,  710. 

Guinness,  B.  L.,  i,  677  n.  1. 

Guiscard,  Robert,  i,  761. 

Guises,  the,  ii,  324,  325,  326,  441,  442. 

Guizot,  F.  P.  G.,  i,  797,  802. 

Gunpowder  Plot,  ii,  718-720. 

Gustavus    Adolphus,    ii,    355,    554,   555, 

600,  786,  787. 
Gustavus  Vasa,   ii,  192,  355,  358,  359,  786, 

787. 
Gustavus  III,  ii,  7S8,  789. 
Guthrum,  i,  595. 

Guzman,  Domingo  de,  i,  815-818. 
Gwatkin,  H.  M.,  i,  432,  438. 
Gwynne,  Sarah,  ii,  822. 

Hacket,  John,  ii,  650. 
Hackett,  John,  ii,  666. 
Hackston,  David,  ii,  732. 
Hacon,  i,  573. 
Haddan,  A.  W.,  i,  580. 
Hadrian,   Christians    under,  i,  169;  re- 
script of,  169,  170. 
Hadrian  II,  i,  754. 
Hadrian  IV,  i,  763. 
Hadrian  VI,  i,  778. 
Hagenau,  conference  at,  ii,  203,  292. 
Hagenbach,  K.  R.,  i,  47, 109,  428,  429. 
Hagenmeyer,  H.,  i,  793. 
Hague,  The,  ii,  861. 
Hahn,  August,  ii,  748. 
Hahn,  J.  M.,  ii,  746. 
Haklane,  Robert,  ii,  868. 
Haldanes,  the,  ii,  868. 
Hale,  (martyr),  ii,  409. 
Hales,  John,  ii,  666. 
Half-way  Covenant,  the,  ii,  888,  889. 
Halifax,  Lord,  ii,  658. 
Hall,  chronicle  of,  i,  403. 
Hall,  Gordon,  ii,  907. 
Hall,  Joseph,  ii,  614. 
Hall,  Robert,  ii,  849. 
Hallam,  II.,  i,  503,  ii,  427,  441,  442,  443. 
Halle,  University  of,  ii,  578,  579,  581,  5S3. 
Halley,  R.,  ii,  847. 
Haller,  B.,  ii,  236,  263. 
Hamburg,  ii,  210. 
Hamilton,  John,  i,  r>47. 
Hamilton,  Patrick,  ii,  446,  447. 
Hammer-Purgstall,  Joseph  v.,  i,  802. 
Hammett,  William,  ii,  828. 
Hammond,  Henry,  ii,  666. 
Hampden,  R.  D.,  ii,  389,  839. 


INDEX. 


935 


Hampton   Court,  conference  at,  ii,  636, 

638,  641,  723  ;  Institute,  906. 
Hanby,  Thomas,  ii,  828. 
Hapsburgs,  the,  ii,  602. 
Harbaugh,  H..  i,  57. 
Hardenberg,  Albert,  ii,  504. 
Harderwyk,  ii,  335,  524. 
Harding,  Stephen,  i,  705. 
Harding,  Thomas,  ii,  435,  436. 
Hardy,  Ii.  S.,  i,  681. 
Hare,  A.  J.  C.,  i,  31. 
Hare,  Julius,  ii,  839. 
Harmonius,  i,  222. 
Harms,  Claus,  ii,  748. 
Harnack,  Adolf,  i,  48,  183,  211,  240,  245, 

682,  ii,  590. 
Harold,  king  of  the  Jutes,  i,  570,  571, 

572. 
Harold  II,  king  of  Anglo-Saxons,  i,  597. 
Harris,  Howell,  ii,  827. 
Harris,  J.  R.,  i,  193,  194. 
Hartford,  ii,  885,  898. 
Hartley,  David,  ii,  811. 
Harvard,  John,  ii,  886. 
Harvard  University,  ii,  886,  898. 
Hase,  Karl,  i,  28,  46, 811. 
Hassan,  i,  533. 
Hatch,  E.,  on  constitution  of  the  Church, 

i,  133,  134,  aS6  n.  1. 
Hauck,  Albert,  i,  48. 
Haupt,  H.,  834,  855. 
Haymo,  Bishop,  i,  40. 
Headship  of  Church  of  England,  ii,  384, 

433. 
Hearers,  i,  342. 
Heath,  Archbishop,  ii,  497. 
Heber,  Reginald,  ii,  823. 
Hedge,  F.  H.,  ii,  185, 186. 
Hedio,  G.,  ii,  235. 
Heermann,  J.,  ii,  526. 
Hefele,  C.   J.,   i,  53,   721,  785,  ii,  67,  68, 

597. 
Hegel,  G.  W.  F.,  i,  20,  21,  ii,  748,  749. 
Hesesippus,  i,  36,  116,  309,  317,  372. 
Hegira,  the,  i,  526,  527. 
He;-ius,  Alexander,  ii,  93,  95. 
Heidegger,  Heinrich,  ii,  773. 
Heidelberg    Catechism,  ii,   511,  513,  514, 

515,  516,  517,  518,  769,  904  ;  University. 

769. 
Heilbrunner,  ii,  551. 
Heine,  H.,  ii,  185,  339. 
Heinrich  the  Pious,  ii,  212. 
Heinsius,  N.,  i,  913. 
Helena,  i,  791. 
Hell,  doctrine  of,  i,  877. 
Helladius,  i,  653. 
Helmstadt,  i,  524. 
Heloise,  i,  883. 
Helwys,  Thomas,  ii,  695,  696. 
Hemans,  C.  I.,  i,  31,  387  n.  3,  393. 
Hemphill,  S.,  i,  370. 
Henderson,  Alexander,  ii,  665,  725,  728. 
Hengstenberg,  E.  W.,  ii,  748. 
Henke,  H.  P.  K.,  i,  44. 
Hennessey,  W.  M.,  i,  674. 
Henrion,  M.  R.  A.,  i,  53. 
Henry,  Robert,  ii,  865. 
Henry,  Duke  of  Orleans,  ii,  320. 
Henry  Frederick,  ii,  336. 


Henry  of  Anjou,  ii,  325. 

Henry  of  Braunschweig,  ii,  192,  200,  214. 

Henry  of  Ghent,  ii,  37. 

Henry  of  Lausanne,  i,  829,  830,  ii,  692. 

Henry  of  Mecklenburg,  ii,  192,  211. 

Henry  of  Navarre,  ii,  325,  327. 

Henry  I,  i,  583,  604,  607. 

Henrv  II,  i,  607-616,  678,  679,  680,  760. 

Henry  II,   of  France,  ii,  217,   324,   325, 

326. 
Henry  III,  i,  753,  758,  760,  796,  ii,  480. 
Henry  III,  of  France,  ii,  327,  441,  548. 
Henry  IV,  i,  598,  758-762,   ii,    104,    385, 

399 
Henry  IV,  of  France,  ii,  441,  510,  565. 
Henry  V,  ii,  48,  399. 
Henry  VI,  i.  795,  848. 
Henry  VII,  i,  897,  ii,  462. 
Henry  VIII.  i,  711,  ii,  43,  50,  51,  178,  179, 

191,  201,  369,  377-416,  417,  419,  421,  425, 

426,  427,  428,  432,  437,  441,  489,  491,  493, 

497. 
Hepburn,  James  C,  ii,  908. 
Hepburn,  John,  i,  645,  ii,  450. 
Heracleon,  i,  222. 
Heracles,  i,  301. 
Heraclitus,  i,  63. 
Heraclius,  i.  447,  511,  741. 
Herberejer,  V.,  ii,  526,574. 
Herbert,  Edward,  ii,  809. 
Herbert,  George,  ii,  639. 
Herbert  of  Mayence,  ii,  192. 
Herborn,  ii,  514. 
Herder,  J.  G.,  i,  32,  306,  ii,  527. 
Hereford,  N.,  ii,  24,  43,  44. 
Heresy  in  the  East,  i,  551 ;  treatment  of, 

ii,  589-591. 
Hergenrother,  J.,  i,  53,  54. 
Herigar,  i,  875. 
Herlwin,  i,599. 
Hermann,  i,  41. 
Hermann  Contractus,  i,  915. 
Hermann  of  Cologne,  ii,  431. 
Hermann  of  Wied,  ii,  214,  215. 
Hernias,  i,  191, 196,  291,  317. 
Hermeneutie,  i,  326. 
Hermingard,  i,  476,  477. 
Hermit  life  in  Scotland,  i,  636,  637;  in 

Ireland.  664. 
Herod  Agrippa  I,  i,  153. 
Herodotus,  i,  369. 
Herrnhut,  ii,  581,  583,  584,  585. 
Herzog,  J.  J.,  i,  4S. 
Hess,  John,  ii,  211. 
Hesse,  i,  566,  567,  ii,  509,  515. 
Hesse-Darmstadt,  ii,  510. 
Hesshusius,  T.,  ii,  504. 
Hesychasts,  the,  i,  551. 
Hettinger,  F.,  i,  900. 
Hetzer,  Ludwig,  ii,  561. 
Heusenstamm,  S.  von,  ii,  215. 
Hewald,  i,  564. 
Heywood,  John,  i,  926. 
Hicksite  Quakers,  ii,  905. 
Hierocles,  i,  183, 184, 187,  364. 
Higgiuson,  Francis,  ii,  880. 
High  ecclesiastical  commission,  ii,  628. 
Hilarius,  i,  460,  694. 
Hilary  of  Aries,  i,  728,  729. 
Hilary  of  Chichester,  i,  611. 


936 


INDEX. 


Hilary  of  Pictavium,  i,  357,  722,  723,  911, 

ii,  108. 
Hildebrand,  i,  470,  471,  597,  598,  640,  704, 

730,  731,  733,  740,  748,  751,  752-762,  792, 

ii,  591. 
Hiklegard,  i,  477. 
Hildesheim,  ii,  214. 
Hill,  Rowland,  ii,  826,  827. 
Hilsey,  Bishop,  ii,  392. 
Hilton,  Johann,  ii,  135. 
Hilton,  Thomas,  ii,  415. 
Hincmar,  i,  499,  500,  745,  746. 
Hippo,  synod  of,  i,  273. 
Hippocrates,  i,  945. 
Hippolytus,  i,  191,  196,  264,  265,  309,  310, 

719,  934. 
Hirschau,  monks  of,  i,  708. 
Hirsche,  K.,  i,  863  n.  1. 
Hislop,  Andrew,  ii,  731. 
History,  General,  i,  35. 
Histrio-Mastix,  ii,  649. 
Hloigar,  i,  571. 
Hoadley,  Benjamin,  ii,  661. 
Hobbes,  Robert,  ii,  410. 
Hobbes,  Thomas,  i,  412  n.  2,  ii,  810. 
Hodder,  Edwin,  ii,  861. 
Hodge,  Charles,  i,  15,  57. 
Hofmann,  Melehior,  ii,  692. 
Hofstede  de  Groot,  P.,  i,  52. 
Hog,  James,  ii,  867. 
Hohenstaufen,  the,  i,  948. 
Holdsworth,  Richard,  ii,  666. 
Holinshed,  Raphael,  ii,  403. 
Holland,   ii,  619,  632,  639,  705,  772,  773, 

774. 
Holliman,  Ezekiel,  ii,  884. 
Holy  Living  and  Dying,  ii,  815  ;  Club,  ii, 

81G,  817,  824. 
Holy  Spirit,  descent  of  the,  i,  90-94  ;  doc- 
trine of,  286, 287. 
Holy  War,  ii,  702. 
Holzuter,  T.,  i,  41. 
Homburg,  synod  at,  ii,  207. 
Home,  John,  ii,  865. 
Homer,  ii,  370. 

Homilies,  Book  of,  ii,  435,  647,  817. 
Homoiousians,  i,  437. 
Honius,  C,  ii,  246. 
Honoratus,  i,  694. 

Honorius,  emperor,  i,  255,  425,  447,  462. 
Honorius,  pope,  i,  447,  448,  741,  742. 
Honorius  III,  i,  810,  852,  876. 
Hontheim,  J.  N.  von,  ii,  754,  761,  762. 
Hook,  W.  F.,  ii,  18,  379,  434. 
Hooker,  R.,  ii,  614,  620. 
Hooker,  T.,  ii,  83,  885. 
Hooper,  John,  ii,  422,  625. 
Hopital,  Michel  1',  ii,  325. 
Horace,  i,  185. 
Horn,  Johann,  ii,  560. 
Home,  Melville,  ii,  834. 
Hornejus,  K.,  ii,  574. 
Horsley,  Samuel,  ii,  813. 
Hosius,  i,  721. 

Hospitalers,  the,  i,  796,  799,  801,  804. 
Hottinger,  J.  II.,  i,  43. 
Hottinger,  Klaus,  ii,  244. 
Houghton  (martyr),  ii,  409. 
Hovesch,  N.,  ii,  525. 
Howard,  Charles,  ii,  441. 


Howard,  John,  ii,  858,  859. 

Howard,  Lord,  ii,  440. 

Howe,  John,  ii,  614,  654. 

Howgill,  Francis,  ii,  711. 

Hubberthorn,  Richard,  ii,  711. 

Huber,  Samuel,  ii,  510. 

Hubmaier,  B.,  ii,  180,  692,  693. 

Hughes,  Hugh  P.,  ii  834. 

Hughes,  Thomas,  i,  559. 

Hugo  of  St.  Victor,  i,  775,  854, 873. 

Huguenots,  ii,  271  n.  1,  325,  326,  327,  777, 
778,  878. 

Hugues  de  Payen,  i,  799. 

Hull  House,  ii,  913. 

Hulst,  F.  van  der,  ii,  331. 

Humanism,  i,  471,  ii,  3,  90-100,  101-114, 
127,  154,  224,  352,  523. 

Humanists,  the,  ii,  241,  242,  369. 

Humboldt,  A.  von,  i,  443,  444. 

Hume,  David,  i,  23,  45,  ii,  477,  865. 

Hungary,  ii,  360,  362,  766,  771. 

Hunnius,  ^Egidius,  ii,  510,  551,  575. 

Hunt,  J.,  i,  51. 

Hunt,  Robert,  ii,  878. 

Hunt,  W.,  i,  593. 

Huntingdon,  Lady,  ii,  806,  825  ;  Connec- 
tion, ii,  825,  826. 

Hus,  John,  i,  834,  835,  869,  874,  ii,  3,  5,37, 
42,  52-60,  127,  128,  134,  137,  583;  and 
the  council  of  Constance,  ii,  61-74, 164 ; 
Luther  and,  145. 

Husites,  the,  i,  843,  ii,  342,  765. 

Hutchinson,  Ann,  ii,  884,  885. 

Huther,  ii,  692. 

Hutten,  Ulrich  von,  ii,  91,  98,  99, 100, 175, 
176. 

Hyde,  Edward,  ii,  639,  650. 

Hydroparastians,  i,  228. 

Hymn,  St.  Patrick's,  i,  658-660 ;  Calvin's, 
ii,  304. 

Hymnology,  i,  909-919,  ii,  519. 

Hymns,  i,  357  ;  German,  ii,  184-186,  525 ; 
Charles  Weslev's,  821,  823 ;  Olney,  835. 

Hypatia,  i,  424,  425,  690. 

Hyperaspistis,  ii,  179. 

Hypostases,  i,  441. 

Hystaspes,  prophecies  of,  i,  321, 

Iberia,  i,  398. 

Iceland,  i,  574,  ii,  358. 

Iconoclasm,  i,  510-521 ;  in  Zurich,  ii,  244. 

Ignatius,  i,  285,  294,  327,  348,  718 ;  epistle 

of,  to  Mother  of  Jesus,  323. 
Ignatius,  pseudo-,  i,  284,  289. 
Ignatius  the  monk  and  patriarch,  i,  541, 

542.  745. 
Illuminati,  the,  ii,  566. 
Illyricum,  i,  402,  405. 
Image  worship,  i,  507-521. 
Images,  i,  354,  355,  365. 
Imitation  of  Christ,  the,  i,  863,  ii,  815. 
Immersion,  i,  144,  ii,  691,  698. 
Immortality,  doctrine  of,  i,  289. 
In  Cosna  Domini,  ii,  762. 
Independents,  ii,  707,  715. 
India,  Thomas  in,  i,  118 ;  Xavier  in,  ii, 

569  ;  Coke  and,  832,  853. 
Indians,  ii,  597,  875,  876,  877,  906,  908,  909. 
Indulgences,  i,  877,  S78,  ii,  120  n.  10,  156- 

160,  22S,  765. 


INDEX. 


937 


Industries,  pagan,  injured  by  Christian- 
ity, i,  163. 

Infallibility,  papal,  i,  447, 448, 775,  ii,  7,  G8, 
69,  89,  855. 

Infant  baptism,  i,  144,  292. 

Ingeburga,  i,  765. 

Inglis,  Charles,  ii,  894,  895. 

Ingram,  T.  D.,  i,  594. 

Injunctions  of  Elizabeth,  ii,  627. 

Inner  light,  the,  ii,  709. 

Inner  Mission,  ii,  750. 

Innes,  A.  Taylor,  ii,  453. 

Innes,  T.,  i,  620. 

Innocent  I,  i,  459,  556,726-728. 

Innocent  II,  i,  607,  923. 

Innocent  III,  i,  730,  731,  733,  757,764-766, 
796,  808,  816,  828,  834,  847,  904,  906,  907, 
ii,  345. 

Innocent  IV,  i,  713,  769,  ii,  4,  592. 

Innocent  VI,  i,  780. 

Innocent  VIII,  ii,  79,  342. 

Innocent  X,  ii,  556,  567. 

Inquisition,  the,  i,  800,  802,  816,  817,  827, 
828,  837,  847,  848,  946,  ii,  351,  353,  354, 
589-597,  602,  603. 

Inscriptions  in  catacombs,  i,  389-395. 

Inspiration,  verbal,  ii,  372. 

Institutes,  Calvin's,  ii,  177,  281,  282,  283, 
291,  292,  298. 

Institution  of  a  Christian  Man,  ii,  395, 
396. 

Institutional  Church,  the,  ii,  914. 

Instructions  to  preachers,  King  Charles's, 
ii,  647. 

Intemperance,  ii,  788. 

Interdict,  the  papal,  i,  765  n.  1. 

Interest  on  money,  i,  907,  908. 

Intermediate  period,  the,  ii,  500-739. 

Interpreters,  i,  326,  327. 

Intolerance,  i,  839-849,  ii,  648,  672. 

Investiture,  i,  757,  763. 

Iona,  i,  622,  623,  628,  631,  636,  638,  643,  662, 
664. 

Ionic  philosophy,  i,  63. 

Ireland,  i,  407,  559,  648-680,  ii,  711,  733- 
739;  Reformation  in,  ii,  478-499;  and 
Charles  I,  649. 

Irenteus,  i,  144,  191,  194,  272,  273,  275,276, 
280,  282,  285,  2S6,  289,  291,  292,  293,  295, 
309,  310,  320,  337,  338,  372,  407,  556,  717, 
719,  872,  931,  ii,  108. 

Irene,  i,  518. 

Irish  Church,  i,  562,  662-680,  ii,  870 ;  mis- 
sionaries in  Germany,  i,  559-564;  monks 
in  Scotland,  621 ;  scholars,  941  ;  Refor- 
mation, ii,  478-499;  reaction  of  1641, 737, 
738 ;  Wesleyans,  871. 

Irving,  Edward,  ii,  869. 

Irving,  W.,  i,  55,  ii,  87. 

Irvingism,  i,  239,  ii,  792. 

Isabella  of  Spain,  ii,  377,  593,  594,  595, 
598,  604,  783. 

Isaiah's  Ascension  to  Heaven,  i,  321. 

Isidore  of  Miletus,  i,  666. 

Isidore  of  Seville,  i,  495,  496,  672, 673, 911, 
922. 

Isidorian  decretals,  forged,  i,  494-501,  ii, 
764. 

Islam,  i,  522-537,  ii,  589. 

Islip,  Simon,  ii,  17. 


Italy,  i,  405,  ii,  283,  284,  370,  602;  the  Re- 
naissance in,  ii,  337-346 ;  the  Reforma- 
tion in,  347, 349-351 ;  antitriuitariaus  in, 
561, 562 ;  the  popes  and  united,  782-785* 

Itinerant  preachers,  Wyclif's,  ii,  26-30. 

Jablonski,  D.  E.,  ii,  585. 

Jackson,  Thomas,  ii,  822,  832. 

Jacob,  Henry,  ii,  697. 

Jacob  of  Baden,  ii,  551. 

Jacob  Zanzalus,  i,  447. 

Jacobi,  J.  L.,  i,  314. 

Jacobites,  i,  535,  ii,  21. 

Jacobs,  H.  E.,  i,  57, 131  n.  2,  ii,  119  n.  24, 
394. 

Jacobus,  papal  legate,  ii,  481. 

Jacobus  de  Benedictis,  i,  918. 

Jacobus  of  Armenia,  i,  552,  553. 

Jacopone,  i,  918. 

James,  brother  of  Jesus,  i,  117,  322. 

James,  brother  of  John,  i,  116,  575, 
576. 

James  I,  ii,  634-642,  648,  716,  717,  721,  723, 
724 ;  Bible  of,  ii,  24,  592,  641,  643. 

James  II,  pref.  x,  ii,  487,  657,  729,  732, 739. 

James  IV,  ii,  50,  445. 

James  V,  ii,  461. 

Jamestown,  ii,  878. 

Jamnia,  school  at,  i,  157,  158. 

Janow,  Mathias  of,  ii,  52,  53,  65,  66. 

Jan  sen,  C,  i,  874,  ii,  567. 

Jansenists,  the,  ii,  563,  567,  568. 

Janssen,  J.,  i,  54,  ii,  116  n.  14. 

Japan,  Xavier  in,  ii,  569. 

Japanese-English  Dictionary,  ii,  908. 

Jena,  ii,  507,  524. 

Jeremiah,  Patriarch,  ii,  801. 

Jerome,  i,  38,  192,  193,  316,  356,  373,  374, 
381,  3S6,  451,  556,  580,  582,  643,  651,  672, 
673,  683,  684,  685,  686, 687, 693,  941,  ii,  52, 
106,  108,  372,  623,  722. 

Jerome,  William,  ii,  413. 

Jerome  of  Prague,  ii,  54,  70-74. 

Jerusalem,  council  of,  i,  103 ;  Paul  in, 
107 ;  capture  of,  154  ;  ecclesiastical  sig- 
nificance of,  717  ;  siege  of,  795  ;  school 
at,  937. 

Jessopp,  A.,  809  n.  2. 

Jesuits,  the,  i,  448,  ii,  282, 538-549, 565, 566, 
567,  569,  570,  603,  719,  755,  761,  765,  766, 
769,  771,  774,  775,  777,  783,  803. 

Jesus  the  Christ,  i,  87-89  ;  divine  charac- 
ter of,  202;  apocryphal  accounts  of, 
322  323 

Jewel,  John,  ii,  398,  435,  436,  626,  694. 

Jewish  persecution,  i,  153-159 ;  impulse 
to  study,  156 ;  schools,  157 ;  writers 
against  Christianity,  157,  ii,  97,  98 ;  lit- 
erary attack,  182 ;  Christians  hold  to 
old  festivals,  348 ;  use  of  catacombs  in 
Rome,  378. 

Jews,  the,  in  Palestine,  i,  78-80, 270  ;  sum- 
mary history  of,  78,  79 ;  attempt  to 
Hellenize,  79 ;  the  dispersed,  84-86 ;  as 
Christians,  123  ;  in  Rome,  153  ;  prostra- 
tion of,  156;  Western,  210;  in  Egypt, 
270;  and  image  worship,  511,  512;  dur- 
ing Middle  Ages,  902-908 ;  in  Spain,  ii, 
592,  593,  596 ;  in  Austria,  771 ;  Milman's 
History  of,  839;  treatment  of,  857,  858. 


938 


INDEX. 


Joachim,  the  abbot,  i,  826. 

Joachim  and  Anna,  History  of,  i,  322. 

Joachim  Ernst,  ii,  515. 

Joachim  I,  ii,  168,  192,  200,  212. 

Joachim  II,  ii,  212. 

Joanna,  pope,  i,  747. 

Joanna  of  Sicily,  i,  779. 

Joanna  of  Spain,  ii,  598,  599. 

Joasaph  II,  ii,  800. 

Jocelyn,  i,  658,  ii,  486. 

Johann  Wilhelm,  ii,  769. 

John,  bishop  of  Jerusalem,  i,  451. 

John  Casimir,  ii,  513,  515. 

John  Cassian,  i,  637,  694. 

John  Christian,  ii,  517. 

John  de  Media,  ii,  345. 

John  di  Dio,  ii,  549. 

John,  elector,  ii,  182, 184, 187, 192, 194, 197, 

199,  214,  254,  255. 
John  Frederick,  ii,  199,  214,  216,  505,  506, 

507,  552. 
John  George  I,  ii,  515. 
John,  king  of  England,  i,  765,  766,  ii,  19. 
John,  Knights  of  St.,  i,  804. 
John  of  Brandenburg,  ii,  212. 
John  of  Damascus,  i,  508,  511,  514,  515, 

519,  548,  554,  933. 
John  of  Fordun,  i,  645. 
John  of  Gaunt,  ii,  18. 
John  of  Kustrin,  ii,  216. 
John  of  Ruysbroek,  i,  861,  862,  872. 
John  of  Syracuse,  i,  735. 
John  of  the  Cross,  ii,  566. 
John  the  apostle,   i,   575,  604 ;  and  the 

reconciliation,  109-116 ;  birthplace  of, 

111;  homes  of,  112;   and  Peter,  113; 

Gospel  of,  140,  141. 
John  II,  i,  778. 
John  III,  ii,  359. 
John  VII,  Paleologus,  i,  544. 
John  VIII,  i,  748. 
John  X,  i,  748. 
John  XI,  i,  748. 
John  XII,  i,  748,  749,  750. 
John  XXII,  i,  779,  856,  885. 
John  XXIII,  i,  783,  784,  ii,  15,  69  n.  2. 
John-Bonites,  i,  712. 
John  Tzmisces,  i,  552. 
John  William,  ii,  507. 
Johnson,  Francis,  ii,  695. 
Johnson,  Samuel,  i,  623,  917,  ii,  663,  819, 

820,  858. 
Jordan,  Mingo,  ii,  832. 
Joseph  of  Arimathea,  i,  575,  576,  577,  658. 
Joseph  the  Carpenter,  History  of,  i,  322. 
Joseph  I,  ii,  766. 
Joseph  II,  ii,  754,  755,  760-764,  767,  768, 

771. 
Josephus,  i,  684,  ii,  734. 
Journey  of  scholars,  i,  369-374. 
Jovian,  i,  423,  436. 
Jovinianus,  i,  687. 
Jowett,  Benjamin,  ii,  837. 
Jowett,  Joseph,  ii,  837. 
Jowett,  William,  ii,  837. 
Joyce,  P.  W.,  i,  657,  679, 
Jubilee  of  Boniface  VIII,  i,  776. 
Judaism  and  its  sects,  i,  78-86;  and  Chris- 
tianity, 207-213;  and  paganism,   218; 

and  Mohammedanism,  530. 


Judas  (Lebbagus),  i,  117. 

Judex,  M.,  i,  41,  ii,  502. 

Judson,  Adoniram,  ii,  907,  908,  909. 

Julian,  emperor,  i,  254,  418-422,  435,  436, 

462,  938. 
Julian  of  Alexandria,  i,  446. 
Julianus,  i,  236. 
Juliers,  ii,  518. 
Julius,  i,  722. 

Julius  II,  ii,  156,  344,  345,  784,  785. 
Julius  III,  ii,  533,  534. 
Julius  Africanus,  i,  272,  304,  309,  311,  373. 
Julius  Constantius,  i.  419. 
Julius  of  Braunschweig,  ii,  508,  509. 
Julius  Paulus,  i,  161. 
Julius  Severus,  i,  155. 
Junius,  Francis,  ii,  528. 
Jusserand,  J.  J.,  i,  595,  ii,  10. 
Justin  Martyr,  i,  157,  171,  182,  191,  194, 

202,  283,  284,  287,  288,  289,  291,  292,  293, 

294,  295,  300,  314,  322,  348,  356,  364,  372, 

397,  508,  556. 
Justinian,  i,  438,  446,  484,  666,  903,  945. 
Justinian  II,  i,  450,  743. 
Juterbock,  ii,  509. 
Jutes,  the,  i,  584. 
Juvenal,  i,  71,  86,  156  n.  2,  182,  313. 

Kaiser,  Jacob,  ii,  265,  266. 

Kaiser,  Leonard,  ii,  212. 

Karl  VI,  ii,  767. 

Katerkamp,  J.  T.  H.,  i,  53. 

Kaulen,  F..  i,  53. 

Kaunitz,  W.  A.,  ii,  763. 

Kautz,  Jacob,  ii,  692. 

Kawerau,  W.,  ii,  562. 

Keats,  John,  ii,  835. 

Keble,  John,  i,  50,  840. 

Keighley,  Joshua,  ii,  828. 

Keim,  K.  T.,  i,  83. 

Keller,  Ludwig,  i,  834,  860. 

Kellogg,  S.  H.,  ii,  908. 

Kells,  Book  of,  i,  673,  675. 

Kelly,  Archbishop,  ii,  485. 

Kempis,  Thomas  a,  i,  862,  863,  865,  866, 

949. 
Ken,  Thomas,  ii,  663. 
Kennedy,  of  Ayr,  ii,  449. 
Kentigern,  i,  660. 
Kerner,  Justus,  i,  918. 
Kessler,  John,  ii,  131,  237,  238. 
Kettlewell,  S.,  i,  863  n.  1. 
Khlobner,  ii,  362. 
Kilham,  Alexander,  ii,  829,  831. 
Kilkennv,  statute  of,  ii,  483. 
Killen,  W.  D.,  ii,  481,  733. 
"King  John,"  i,  926. 
King's  Daughters,  ii,  915. 
Kingsley,  Charles,  l,  424,  425,  ii,  838,  843, 

854. 
Kingston,  Sir  William,  ii,  380. 
Kingswood  school,  ii,  830,  831. 
Kirk,  J.  F.,  i.  55. 
Klirnesch,  i,  834. 
Klopstock,  F.  G.,  i,  900. 
Kneelers,  i,  342,  343. 
Knighton,  Henry,  ii,  16,  44. 
Knights,  Teutonic,  i,  799,  803;  Hospital, 

804  ;  of  St.  John,  804  ;  Templars,  i,  399. 
Knopfler,  i,  53. 


INDEX. 


939 


Knox,  John,  i,  646,  647,  ii,  441,  445,  447, 

450,  452-477,  693,  721,  725. 
Knut  of  Denmark,  i,  573. 
Koerner,  C,  ii,  508. 
Koestlin,  J.,  ii,  119  u.  9,  135. 
Kolde,  Th.,  ii,  135. 
Konigsbera;,  University  of,  ii,  524. 
Konrad  of  Marburg,  i,  829,  855,  856. 
Konrad  of  Waldhausen,  ii,  54,  65. 
Koran,  the,  i,  528,  530,  531,  532,  535,  536. 
Koreish,  family  of,  i,  525,  526,  535. 
Krantz,  A.,  i,  40. 
Kraus,  F.  H.,  i,  31,  53. 
Krell,  Nicholas,  ii,  510. 
Krishnu  Pal,  ii,  849. 
Kritopulos,  Metrophanes,  ii,  802. 
Kugler.  F.  T.,  i,  933. 
Kulturkampf,  the,  ii,  758,  759. 
Kunz,  ii,  289,  290. 
Kurtz,  J.  H.,  i,  48,  76,  77,  540. 
Kurz  of  Zwola,  ii,  54. 
Kylian,  i,  564. 
Kyller  (martyr),  ii,  447. 

Labarum,  the,  i,  414. 

Lacroix,  P.,  i,  53. 

Lactantius,  i,  179,  191,  199,  202,  274,  284, 
287,  312,  316,  354,  355,  356,  414,  507,  840. 

Laderchi,  i,  42. 

Lafayette,  ii,  781. 

Lainez,  Jacob,  ii,  542. 

Lake,  Sir  F.,  ii,  640. 

Lake,  John,  ii,  658. 

Lake,  J.  J.,  i,  532. 

Lambert,  Francis,  ii,  207,  247,  258. 

Lambert,  John,  ii,  412,  413,  446. 

Lambert  of  Hersfeld,  i,  41. 

Lambertini,  Prosper,  ii,  344. 

Lambeth  Conference,  ii,  918. 

Lamson,  A.,  i,  55. 

Lanfranc,  i,  594,  597,  599,  602,  603,  638, 
640,  677,  876. 

Lange,  Joachim,  i,  352,  ii,  579. 

Lange,  Johann,  ii,  137,  154. 

Langen,  Joseph,  i,  211. 

Langham,  Simon  of,  ii,  17. 

Langland,  W.,  ii,  9-11. 

Langton,  Stephen,  i,  765. 

Languedoc,  Dominic  in,  i,  816,  828  ;  Prot- 
estantism in,  ii,  778. 

Laodiceans,  Epistle  to,  i,  323,  644. 

Lapide,  Cornelius  a,  ii,  568. 

Lapsed  Christians,  i,  242-248,  323. 

Lardner,  Nathaniel,  ii,  810,  845. 

La  Rochelle,  ii,  327. 

Lascelles  (martyr),  ii,  414. 

Lasco,  John  a,  ii,  504. 

Lateran  Museum,  i,  385,  386,  389,  394,  934  ; 
councils,  846,  847,  876. 

Lathrop,  John,  ii,  697. 

Latimer.  Huch,  ii,  368,  369,  392,  401,  404, 
410,  418,  424,  625. 

Latin  historians,  i,  38;  apologists,  191; 
theologians,  281 ;  language  used  by  Ter- 
tullian,  313 ;  version  of  Bible,  584. 

Latomus,  Jacob,  ii,  331. 

Laud,  William,  ii,  611,  643-651,  664,  724, 
726,  738. 

Lausanne,  ii,  272,  287,  289,  524,  780. 

Lavigerie,  C.  M.  A.,  i,  531. 


Lavington,  George,  ii,  813. 

Lavocat,  Antoine,  i,  802. 

Law,  Edmund,  ii,  810. 

Law,  William,  ii,  663,  817,  837. 

Lawyers,  rise  of,  i,  771,  772. 

Lay  preaching,  ii,  707. 

Lazarists,  ii,  549. 

Lea,  H.  C,  i,  55,  485,  755,  803,  816,  825, 
826,  844,  846,  848,  946. 

Leaf,  John,  ii,  423. 

League,  Catholic,  ii,  552,  554. 

Leagues,  the,  ii,  122  n.  25,  190-193. 

Learning  in  Middle  Ages,  i,  502-506 ;  Al- 
fred's interest  in,  595, 596  ;  in  old  Scotch 
Church,  643-647;  and  art  in  Ireland,  672- 
677 ;  among  Benedictines,  698 ;  atti- 
tude of  Francis  of  Assisi  toward,  812; 
Dominic  and,  817,  818. 

Lechler,  G.  V.,  ii,  6,  18,  29,  31,  34,  39,  41, 
42,  49,  57,  66. 

Lecky,  W.  E.  H.,  i,  19,  840,  932,  ii,  739, 
811,  837,  853. 

Le  Clerc,  J.,  i,  52. 

Leclerc,  Jean,  ii,  317. 

Lectors,  i,  325,  326. 

Lee,  Edward,  ii,  386,  392. 

Lee  F  G    i  54 

Lefevre,  j'.  S.,  ii,  271,  272,  280,  309,  310, 
311,  312,  313,  314,  317,  318. 

Legislation  of  Church  controlled  by  em- 
perors, i,  491. 

Leif  the  Fortunate,  i,  574. 

Leigh,  Samuel,  ii,  832. 

Leighton,  Alexander,  ii,  649. 

Leinster,  Book  of,  i,  657. 

Leipzig,  University  of,  ii,  58,  212  ;  dispu- 
tation, 163,  164,  207,  235 ;  interim,  217, 
502 ;  colloquy,  528, 

Leith,  convention  of,  ii,  721. 

Le  Jeune,  ii,  802. 

Leland,  John,  ii,  810. 

Lentulus,  Epistle  of,  i,  323. 

Leo  of  Achrida,  i,  542. 

Leo  the  Armenian,  i,  518,  519. 

Leo  Judteus,  ii,  221,  243. 

Leo  the  Great,  i,  445,  485,  497,  593,  724, 
728-731,  733,  758,  843,  873,  ii,  796. 

Leo  the  Isaurian,  i,  511,  512,  513,  514,  515, 
516,  519. 

Leo  the  Philosopher,  i,  485. 

Leo  II,  i,  448.  450,  742. 

Leo  III,  i,  474,  480-483,  487,  538,  593,  689. 

Leo  IV,  i,  518,  746,  747,  748. 

Leo  VIII,  i,  749. 

Leo  IX,  i,  541,  753. 

Leo  X,  ii,  108,  109, 156,  166,  345,  346,  595, 
785. 

Leo  XIII,  i,  885,  ii,  435,  436,  438,  759,  795, 
798,  854. 

Leon,  Ponce  de,  ii,  875. 

Leonides,  i,  197,  303. 

Leontius,  i,  431,  508,  511. 

Leopold  I,  ii,  766. 

Leslie,  Charles,  ii,  663. 

Lessing,  G.  E.,  i,  276,  921,  ii,  743. 

L'Etoile,  Pierre  de,  ii,  280. 

Letronne,  J.  A.,  i,  672. 

Letter  to  Urban  VI,  Wyclif's,  ii,  41; 
Charles  IPs,  to  parliament,  652. 

Letters  of  Fraternity,  ii,  22. 


940 


INDEX. 


Lever,  C,  i,  669. 

Lewis,  Nicolas,  ii,  581. 

Lewis  of  Bavaria,  ii,  6. 

Leyden,  ii,  335,  534. 

Lezius,  F.,  ii,  114. 

Libanius,  i,  419,  939. 

Libellatics,  i,  243. 

Liberal  orthodox  historians,  i,  45,  46. 

Liberalism,  ii,  757,  772,  838,  839. 

Liberius,  i,  435,  722,  723. 

Libertines,  the,  ii,  302,  303. 

Liberty,  the  restoration  of,  i,  948. 

Lichtenberg,  convention  at,  ii,  508. 

Licinius,  i,  176,  413,  415. 

Liesveld,  Jacob,  ii,  332. 

Life,  Christian,  i,  358-374,  393. 

Lightfoot,  J.  B.,  i,  211,  466,  633. 

Lightfoot,  John,  ii,  666. 

Lights,  artificial,  i,  356. 

Liguge,  i,  693. 

Lilye,  William,  ii,  369. 

Linacre,  T.,  ii,  103,  369. 

Lincoln,  Heman,  i,  258  n.  2. 

Lindemann,  Marejarete,  ii,  129. 

Lindisfarne,  i,  632,  634. 

Lindsay,  David,  i,  646,  926. 

Lindsay,  Lord,  i,  31,  931,  932. 

Lindsay  of  Pitscottie,  i,  647. 

Lindsey,  Marcus,  ii,  909. 

Lindsey,  Theophilus,  ii,  845. 

Lingard,  J.,  i,  54,  577,  679,  ii,  395,  437. 

Link,  Winceslaus,  ii,  151,  154,  173,  210. 

Linus,  i,  575. 

Lipsius,  R.  A.,  i.,  211. 

Literary  attack  ou  Christianity,  i,  180-189; 
champions  of  Roman  Catholics,  ii,  568. 

Literature,  Christian,  i,  317 ;  apocryphal, 
318-323  ;  in  old  Scotch  Church,  643-647 ; 
the  Reformation  and,  ii,  519. 

Littledale,  R.  F.,  i,  685,  690,  715,  721  n.  4, 
730,  751. 

Liturgies,  ii,  519. 

Liturgy  of  British  Church,  i,  582 ;  of  Cel- 
tic Church,  629,  630. 

Llorente,  D.  J.  A.,  ii,  596,  597,  604. 

Lloyd,  William,  ii,  658. 

Locke,  John,  ii,  845. 

Lockhart,  J.  G.,  i,  917. 

Loescher,  V.  E.,  ii,  579. 

Loftus,  Adam,  ii,  733. 

Log  College,  ii,  891. 

Logos,  Philo's  view  of  the,  i,  218 ;  doc- 
trine of  the,  260,  262,  263,  284,  440. 

Lollards,  the,  i,  843,  ii,  43-51,  133,  134, 
ii,  374,  445,  615. 

Lombard,  Peter,  i,  873,  946,  ii,  153. 

Lombards,  the,  i,  438,  474,  475,  476,  477- 
479,  480,  743,  908. 

London,  University  of,  i,  943. 

Longfellow,  H.  W.,  i,  57,  477,  478,  899  n.  2. 

Lope  de  Vega,  ii,  604. 

Lord's  Day,  i,  348,  349,  639. 

Lord's  Supper  in  earlv  Church,  i.  143, 
144 ;  in  patristic  Church,  292,  293,  351, 
393;  in  Greek  Church,  554;  in  Celtic 
Church,  638,  639 ;  in  Middle  Ages,  874, 
875;  Wyclif  on,  ii,  39,  40;  Reformed 
method  of,  233 ;  controversy  over,  244- 
260,  292,  333 ;  in  Anglican  Church,  393, 
649  ;  Quakers  and,  714. 


Lorenzo  the  Magnificent,  ii,  80. 

Lorimer,  P.,  ii,  19. 

Loserth,  J.,  i,  54,  65,  66. 

Lothaire  II,  i,  745. 

Lotze,  H.  R.,  ii,  751. 

London,  Earl  of,  ii,  728. 

Lough  Derg,  i,  658,  ii,  486. 

Louis  le  Debonnaire,  i,  490,  701. 

Louis,  king  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia,  ii, 
193,  213. 

Louis  of  Bavaria,  i,  779. 

Louis  of  Conde,  ii,  324,  325. 

Louis,  Palatine,  ii,  200. 

Louis  VI,  Palatine,  ii,  513,  514. 

Louis  the  German,  i,  493. 

Louis  the  Pious,  i,  571,  572. 

Louis  II,  i,  746. 

Louis  IV,  ii,  515. 

Louis  V,  ii,  516. 

Louis  VII,  i,  795,  905. 

Louis  IX,  St.,  i,  760, 771, 772, 796, 797, 885. 

Louis  XIII,  ii,  327. 

Louis  XIV,  i,  926,  ii,  567,  602,  603,  769, 
777,  778,  878. 

Louis  XV,  ii,  602. 

Louis  XVI,  ii,  781. 

Louise  of  Savoy,  ii,  314,  315,  316,  318. 

Louvain,  University  of,  ii,  446,  566. 

Love,  the  restoration  of,  i,  949 ;  at  the 
front,  ii,  856. 

Lovejov,  Elijah  P.,  ii,  911. 

Loyola,  Ignatius,  ii,  281,  538, 541, 542,  601. 
604,  790,  813. 

Lubke,  W.,  i,  934. 

Lucar,  Mark,  ii,  698. 

Lucas,  bishop  of  Tuy,  i,  826. 

Lucas  of  Prague,  ii,  559,  560. 

Lucentius,  i,  729. 

Lucian,  i,  182,  183,  431. 

Lucianus,  i,  311. 

Lucilla  of  Carthage,  i,  250. 

Lucius,  i,  575,  577,  579. 

Lucius  III,  844,  846. 

Ludolph  of  Sagen,  ii,  54. 

Ludwig,  emperor,  i,  908. 

Ludwig  the  Brandenburger,  i,  908. 

Luitprand,  i,  474. 

Lukanus,  i,  230. 

Lull,  i,  568. 

Lund,  University  of,  ii,  789. 

Lun6ville,  treaty  of,  ii,  754. 

Lupin,  ii,  154. 

Lupulus,  ii,  224. 

Lupus,  Bishop,  i,  579,  694. 

Luther,  Hans,  ii,  128,  129,  131,  132,  140. 
143  n.  2. 

Luther,  Martin,  i,  357,  468,  713,  751,  859, 
864,  869,  870,  915,  945,  949,  ii,  7,  24,  38, 
65,  67,  77,  93,  96,  99,  100,  107,  108,  110, 
111,  112,  113,  114,  115-218,  235,  238,  246, 
247,  248,  302,  310,  313,  331,  332,  349,  352, 
357,  359,  391,  410,  417,  418,  431,  446,  461, 
501,  503,  504,  508,  521,  524,  525,  541,  559, 
819,  821 ;  and  Zwingli,  230, 231,  244-260, 
262,  269,  270,  292. 

Luther  League,  the,  ii,  915. 

Lutheran  Church,  controversies  in,  ii,  501- 
510. 

Lutheranism  in  Sweden,  ii,  788,  789 ;  in 
Denmark,  791,  792. 


INDEX. 


941 


Lutherans  and  Reformed,  union  of,  ii,745; 

and  Greek  Church,  801 ;  in  America, 

903,  904. 
Lutkemann,  Joachim,  ii,  574,  576. 
Lutzen,  battle  of,  ii,  554. 
Lycett,  Francis,  ii,  834. 
Lyons,  church  iu,  i,  171 ;  council  of,  543 ; 

Union  of,  ii,798. 

Mabillon,  J.,  i,  53. 

Macarius,  i,  686. 

Macarius  of  Antioch,  i,  742. 

Macaulav,  T.  B.,  i,  24,  35,  ii,  427,  602,634, 
658  n.  2,  701,  708  n.  2,  886. 

Macaulay,  Zachary,  ii,  837,  856. 

Macaulays,  the,  ii,  836. 

Maccabean  domination,  i,  80. 

MacCarwill,  Archbishop,  ii,  479. 

JVIcClintock,  John,  ii,  871. 

McConnell,  S.  D.,  i,  57. 

McCrie,  Thomas,  ii,  867,  868. 

Macedonia,  i,  402. 

McGiffert,  A.  C,  i,  240,  ii,  901. 

McGill,  William,  ii,  866. 

Machiavelli,  N.  d.  B.,  ii,  86,  340,  783. 

McKail,  Hugh,  ii,  731. 

Mackintosh,  James,  ii,  860. 

McLaughlin,  H.,  i,  57. 

MacLeod,  Norman,  ii,  869. 

Macrobius,  i,  698. 

McTyeire,  H.  N..  i,  57. 

Magdeburg  Centuries,  i,  41,  500,  ii,  568 ; 
Luther  at,  ii,  133,  134,  138 ;  city  of,  192, 
197,  210,  216,  502,  509,  554. 

Magna  Moralia  of  Gregory,  i,  738. 

Magnus  the  Good,  i,  573. 

Maguire,  Connor,  ii,  737. 

Mai,  A.,  i,  561. 

Mailles,  Cardinal  de,  ii,  777. 

Maimbourg,  L.,  ii,  144. 

Maintenon,  Madame  de,  ii,  777. 

Mainwaring,  Roger,  ii,  645. 

Maister,  Compte  Joseph  de,  i,  847. 

Maitland,  S.  R.,  i,  54,  384  n.  2,  390. 

Majolus,  i,  704. 

Major,  Georee,  ii,  502,  503. 

Major,  J.,  i,"645,  ii,  452. 

Majorinus,  i,  251,  252. 

Majoristic  controversy,  the,  ii,  502, 503. 

Malalas,  chronicle  of,  i,  672. 

Malcom  Canmore,  i,  638. 

Maldonatus,  J.,  ii,  568. 

Man,  Thomas,  ii,  50. 

Maui,  i,  225-227. 

Manichaeism,  i,  225-227,  288,  290, 457,  551, 
823,  826,  828  n.  2,  ii,  591. 

Manning,  H.  E.,  i,  876,  ii,  854,  855. 

Manresa,  ii,  541. 

Mansel,  H.  L.,  ii,  96. 

Mansfeld,  ii,  129,  130,  131,  133, 138. 

Mansfield,  W.  M.,  ii,  819,  853. 

Mansfield  College,  ii,  847. 

Marbeck,  ii,  692. 

Marburg  colloquy,  ii,  254-260;  articles, 
257,  259  ;  University  of,  524. 

Marchi,  G.,  i,  384. 

Marcian,  i,  445,  729. 

Marcion,  i,  229,  230,  231,  232. 

Marcus  Aurelius,  i,  938 ;  persecutions  un- 
der, 170-172, 182. 


Margaret,  St.,  i,  6&S-640. 

Margaret  of  Angoulene,  ii,  283,  313,  314. 
318,  319,  321,  324,  353. 

Margaret  of  Parma,  ii,  333,  334. 

Margaret  of  Savoy,  ii,  332. 

Margaret  of  Scotland,  ii,  402. 

Margaret  of  Sweden,  ii,  357. 

Margaret  of  Valois,  ii,  325. 

Margarete  of  Sala,  ii,  202. 

Maria  of  Hungarv,  ii,  332. 

Maria  Theresa,  ii,"  753,  754,  760,  762,  767. 

Marian  reaction,  the,  ii,  417-429. 

Mariana,  Juan,  ii,  548,  549,  604. 

Marie  Antoinette,  ii,  781. 

Marienburg,  ii,  586. 

Mariolatry,  i,  323,  391,  393,  876,  ii,  753. 

Marischal,  Earl  of,  ii,  464. 

Markos,  i,  222,  230. 

Marmonticr,  i,  693. 

Maronites,  i,  450. 

Marozia,  i,  748. 

Marriage  of  clerejv,  i,  583;  Luther's,  ii, 
182, 183  ;  of  Philip  of  Hesse,  201-205;  of 
Henry  VIII,  381,  382,  387,  388;  of  Mary 
and  Philip  II,  419,  420;  regulation  of, 
770 ;  among  Huguenots,  779. 

Marriot,  C,  i,  18. 

Marsh,  Adam,  ii,  37. 

Marsiglio  of  Padua,  i,  849. 

Martel,  Charles,  i,  474,  490,  533. 

Martene,  E.,  i,  53. 

Martensen,  H.  L.,  i,  17,  ii,  792. 

Martianus  Capella,  i,  940,  941  n.  2. 

Martigny,  J.  A.,  i,  931. 

Martin  Marprelate  controversy,  ii,  611, 
684-686. 

Martin  of  Tours,  i,  619,  644,  693,  694,  843, 
881,  ii.  624. 

Martin  I,  i,  449,  546,  547,  741,  743. 

Martin  V,  i,  784,  785,  ii,  69,  385,  386. 

Martineau,  James,  ii,  846. 

Martinus  Polanus,  i,  747,  748. 

Martyr,  Peter,  ii,  325,  351,  625. 

Martyrdom,  passion  for,  i,  461 ;  in  Eng- 
land, ii,  406-416. 

Martyrs,  reverence  for,  i,  350, 351, 352, 382, 
383;  in  the  Netherlands,  ii,  332;  in  Scot- 
land, 445-451. 

Mary,  John's  care  of,  i,  111 ;  Gospel  of 
Nativity  of  St.,  322  ;  History  of  Birth  of, 
and  the  Infant  Saviour,  322. 

Mary  of  Burgundy,  ii,  598. 

Mary  of  England,  ii,  353,  369, 418-429,  430, 
438,  494-496,  497,  504,  517,  600,  618. 

Mary  of  France,  ii,  402. 

Mary  of  Guise,  ii,  461,  462. 

Marv,  Queen  of  Scots,  ii,  442,  443,  461, 
462,  464,  465,  466  n.  1,  634. 

Maryland,  ii,  873,  878,  881,  882,  883,  886, 
888. 

Marys,  Lefevre's  view  of  the,  ii,  311,  314. 

Maskell,  W.,  ii,  685. 

Mass,  the,  i,  922  ;  placards  against,  ii,  320, 
321. 

Massachusetts  Bay  Colony,  ii,  878,  880, 
881,  883,  884,  886,  887. 

Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew's  Night,  ii, 
326. 

Massillon,  J.  B.,  ii,  776. 

Masson,  Peter,  ii,  559. 


942 


INDEX. 


Masters  (martyr),  ii,  406. 

Mather,  Alexander,  ii,  828. 

Mather,  Cotton,  ii,  880,  887,  888,  910. 

Mathias  of  Janow,  ii,  52,  53,  65,  66. 

Mathilde,  Princess,  i,  759. 

Matteo,  Cardinal,  ii,  106. 

Matter,  M.  J.,  i,  51. 

Matthew,  F.  D.,  ii,  17,  19. 

Matthew  of  Paris,  i,  41. 

Matthew  the  apostle,  i,  117. 

Matthias,  i,  117. 

Matthias  of  Austria,  ii,  552. 

Maulbronn,  colloquy  of,  ii,  506  ;  Formula, 
508. 

Maurice,  i,  736,  737,  740. 

Maurice,  F.  D.,  ii,  838,  843,  899. 

Maurice  of  Hesse,  ii,  515,  516. 

Maurice  of  the  Netherlands,  ii,  335,  336. 

Maurice  of  Saxony,  ii,  214,  216,  217,  501. 

Max  Joseph,  ii,  755. 

Maxentius,  i,  413,  414,  415. 

Maximian,  i,  175,  176,  413. 

Maximin  Daza,  i,  176, 177. 

Maximinus,  i,  173,  413,  415. 

Maximilian  Joseph,  ii,  755,  769. 

Maximilian  of  Bavaria,  ii,  551, 552,553,554. 

Maximilian  of  Cologne,  ii,  754. 

Maximilian  I,  ii,  168.  224,  506,  598,  599. 

Maximilian  II,  ii,  531,  537. 

Maximus  Confessor,  i,  547,  548. 

Maximus,  emperor,  i,  843,  903. 

Maximus  of  Salona,  i,  736. 

Maximus  the  monk,  i,  449. 

Maximus  the  philosopher,  i,  419. 

May,  Samuel  J.,  ii,  911. 

Mayer,  L.,  i,  57. 

Mayflower,  the,  ii,  879. 

Mayhew,  Jonathan,  ii,  898. 

Mazurier,  Martial,  ii,  312. 

Mazzalini,  Silvester,  ii,  162. 

Meaux,  ii,  310,  311,  312,  313,  317. 

Mechtild  of  Magdeburg,  i,  856. 

Mediaeval  Church,  the,  i,  463-949 ;  histo- 
rians, 467;  Ireland,  662-680;  theology, 
867-878. 

Mediatory  historians,  i,  47,  48. 

Medici,  the,  ii,  80,  82,  83,  84,  85. 

Medina,  i,  526,  527. 

Meier,  F.  K.,  ii,  86. 

Meinhold,  J.  W.,  i,  917. 

Meisner,  B.,  ii,  574. 

Meisterbuch,  i,  859,  860,  862. 

Mekius  (martyr),  ii,  413. 

Melauchthon,  Philip,  ii,  31, 103, 122  n.  28, 
128,  129,  173,  174,  176,  177,  182,  183,  188, 
194,  195,  202,  203,  207,  217,  235,  255,  256, 
258,  292,  298,  302,  339,  341,  349,  350,  353, 
431,  444,  452,  501,  502,  504,  505,  508,  514, 
560,  800,  801. 

Melchiades,  i,  496. 

Melchisedekians,  i,  262. 

Meletian  schism,  the,  i,  248,  249,  434. 

Meletius,  i,  724,  940,  ii,  796,  802. 

Meletius  Syrigus,  ii,  804. 

Melissander,  K.,  ii,  525. 

Melito,  i,  191,  195,  271,  272,  309,  368,  372. 

Melville,  Andrew,  ii,  721-724. 

Membership  in  Church,  i,  341-344. 

Memorial,  G-rosseteste's,  ii,  4,  5  ;  services, 
i,  351,  352. 


Menander,  i,  159. 

Mendelssohn,  Moses,  ii,  742. 

Mendicant  orders,  the,  i,  807,  ii,  20, 21, 484. 

Mening,  ii,  514. 

Menius,  Justus,  ii,  502. 

Menno  Simons,  ii,  560,  692. 

Mennonites,  ii,  336,  558,  560,  561,  705,  706, 

750,  882,  910. 
Mensurius,  i,  461. 
Mental  reservation,  ii,  546. 
Mercia,  i,  588. 
Merivale,  C,  i,  416  n.  1. 
Merswin,  Rulman,  i,  862. 
Metal  work  in  Ireland,  i,  676. 
Methodism,  ii,  705,  711,  712,  806,  814-820, 

851 ;  prelude  to,  809-813  ;  of  nineteenth 

centurv,  828-834,  844 ;  in  America,  892- 

894,  901. 
Methodists,  ii,  788,  792,  813,  892-894,  905 ; 

missions  of,  909. 
Metrophanes,  of  Alexandria,  ii,  804. 
Metropolitans,  i,  332,  333. 
Metz,  ii,  214. 
Meyer,  S.,  ii,  236. 
Meyfart,  J.  N.,  ii,  526. 
Mezieres,  F.  P.  de,  i,  847. 
Michael  Angelo,  ii,  344. 
Michael  Cerularius,  i,  541,  542,  543. 
Michael  Paleologus,  i,  543. 
Michael  the  Stammerer,  i,  518. 
Michael  I,  i,  541. 
Michael  III,  i,  518. 
Michaelius,  Jonas,  ii,  881. 
Michelet,  J.,  i,  562,  802. 
Michelians,  ii,  746. 
Middle   Ages,   historians   of,    i,    39-41 ; 

Church  of,  463-949. 
Middleburv  College,  ii,  898. 
Middleton,  C,  i,  100  n.  3. 
Mignet,  F.  A.  M.,  i,  802. 
Milchu,  i,  654,  655. 
Mildenius,  ii,  528. 
Milics,  John,  ii,  54,  65,  66. 
Mill,  James,  ii,  839. 
Mill,  John  Stuart,  ii,  839. 
Millenary  petition,  ii,  635. 
Mills,  Samuel  J.,  ii,  907. 
Milman,  H.  H.,  i,  50,  476,  519,  531,  571, 

609,  699,  766,  770,  773,  ii,  82,  113,  839. 
Milner,  Isaac,  ii,  836,  837. 
Milner,  John,  ii,  439. 
Milner,  Joseph,  ii,  836. 
Miltiades,  i,  191,  237,  720. 
Miltitz,  Karl  v.,  ii,  121  n.  12,  162, 163, 165. 
Milton,  John,  i,  707,  892,  900,  ii,  15,  612, 

613,  662,  666,  667,  672,  673,  690,  700,  845, 

879,  884. 
Ministry,  Wyclif  on  the,  ii,  33. 
Minorites,  i,  809,  ii,  21. 
Minucius  Felix,  i,  191,  197,  312,  314,  355, 

507,  508. 
Minucius  Fundanus,  Adrian's  letter  to, 

i,  170. 
Miracle  plays,  i,  923,  924,  ii,  494. 
Mirbt,  C,  i,  754. 
Mirisch,  ii,  210. 
Missal,  the,  ii,  536. 
Mission,  Inner,  ii,  750. 
Missionary  journeys,  Paul's,  i,  107-109 ; 

Patrick's,  656,  657. 


INDEX. 


943 


Missions,  Roman  Catholic,  m,  564,  569- 
571,  872 ;  Moravian,  586,  587 ;  Metho- 
dist, 832,  833 ;  Christian,  861-863,  874 ; 
Spanish,  875,  876  ;  to  Indians,  906 ;  for- 
eign, 906-910. 

Missourians,  ii,  904. 

Mitchell,  A.  F.,  i,  629. 

Mivart,  St.  George,  ii,  374. 

Mochta,  St.,  i,  663. 

Moderates,  the,  ii,  865,  868. 

Moerlin,  J.,  ii,  503. 

Mcesia,  i,  402. 

Moffat,  J.  C,  i,  57,  628. 

Mohammed,  i,  522-528,  535. 

Mohammed  II,  i,  544. 

Mohammedanism,  i,  522-537,  ii,  797. 

Mohammedans,  i,  471, 511,  512,  791,  ii,  593. 

Mohler,  J.  A.,  i,  500,  501,  748. 

Mohra,  ii,  129,  130,  134. 

Molaise,  St.,  i,  664. 

Molay,  Jacques  de,  i,  801. 

Molina,  Ludwig,  ii,  566,  567. 

Moller,  W.,  i,  858. 

Mombert,  J.  I.,  i,  56,  472,  487  n.  2. 

Mommsen,  T.,  i,  24,  930. 

Monarchia,  de,  i,  894,  897. 

Monarchianism,  i,  260-268. 

Monasteries,  schools  in,  i,  505,  628,  940, 
942 ;  suppression  of,  ii,  399-405. 

Monastic  government  in  Church,  i,  628, 
629,  662  ;  orders,  691-713. 

Monasticism,  i,  467,  471, 581,  663-665, 681- 
690. 

Monergism,  i,  456. 

Monica,  i,  456,  457. 

Monks  of  Nitrian  desert,  i,  451,  452 ;  of 
the  East,  681-690  ;  as  copyists,  947, 948 ; 
Erasmus  on,  ii,  104,  105,  106,  107;  Lu- 
ther joins,  140-145. 

Monologion  of  Anselm,  i,  600. 

Monophvsites,  i,  444-447,  510,  511,  548. 

Monothelites,  i,  447-450,  510,  511,  546,  741, 
742. 

Montague,  Richard,  ii,  645. 

Montafembert,  Count  de,  i,  559,  561,  626, 
627,  631,  632. 

Montanism,  i,  233-240,  290,  293,  312,  682, 
719. 

Montanus,  i,  233-240. 

Montauban,  ii,  524. 

Monte  Cassino,  i,  695,  699. 

Montfaucon,  B.  de,  i,  53. 

Montfort,  Simon  de,  i,  816,  827. 

Montgomery,  James,  ii,  823. 

Montjoy,  Lord,  ii,  103. 

Montmorency,  A.  de,  ii,  324. 

Moore,  Henry,  ii,  831,  871. 

Moors,  the,  i,  438,  792,  ii,  589,  592,  594, 
596,  601 ;  Jews  under,  i,  906. 

Moral  quality  of  Puritanism,  ii,  681. 

Moralities,  i,  923. 

Morality  of  Jesuits,  ii,  545. 

Morals  affected  by  Reformation,  ii,  521- 
523  ;  of  England  in  eighteenth  century, 
810,  Sll. 

Morata,  Olympia,  ii,  351. 

Moravian  Brethren,  ii,  557,  559,  584,  585. 

Moravians,  the,  ii,  581-587,  S17,  818,  821, 
828,  904,  905. 

More,  Hannah,  ii,  837. 


More,  Henry,  ii,  666,  667. 

More,  Thomas,  i,  849,  ii,  113, 368,  369,  370, 

373,  374,  375,  376,  386,  407,  408,  415,  416, 

667. 
Morel,  George,  i,  835,  ii,  559. 
Moreville,  Hugh  de,  i,  614. 
Morgan,  Thomas,  ii,  809,  810. 
Moriscoes,  ii,  594,  601. 
Mornay,  Du  Plessis,  ii,  724. 
Morone,  G.,  ii,  350,  353. 
Morris,  John,  i,  54,  ii,  720. 
Morris,  William,  i,  933. 
Morton,  James  D.,  ii,  722. 
Morton,  John,  ii,  695,  696. 
Moscorovius,  J.,  ii,  562. 
Moses,  leadership  of,  i,  78 ;  Apocalypse  of, 

321. 
Mosheim,  J.  L.,  i,  45,  46. 
Motley,  J.  L.,  i,  35,  55. 
Mozley,  J.  B.,  ii,  646,  647,  651. 
Muhlenberg,  Henry  M,  ii,  903. 
Milller,  Heinrich,  ii,  574. 
Miiller,  J.  von,  i,  77,  100. 
Miiller,  K.,  i,  834,  ii,  37,38. 
Miinster,  ii,  560,  887. 
Miinzer,  Th.,  ii,  121  n.  17,  173,   180,  182, 

692. 
Muirchu  Maccumaetheni,  i,  652. 
Mullinger,  J.  B.,  i,  605,  941. 
Munich,  ii.  755. 
Muratori,  L.  A.,  i,  561.  ii,  753. 
Muratori  fragment,  i,  272,  273. 
Murner,  Thomas,  ii,  178,  250,  263. 
Murray,  J.  S.,  ii,  722. 
Murray,  John,  ii,  899. 
Musaus,  J.,  ii,  574. 
Musculus,  Andreas,  ii,  503,  508. 
Music,  sacred,  i,  357. 
Muth,  Conrad,  ii,  93-95. 
Myconius,  F.,  ii,  159. 
Myconius,  0.,ii,221,  242. 
Myers,  F.  W.  II.,  i,  599. 
Myles,  John,  ii,  700. 
Mysius,  Demetrius,  ii,  800,  801. 
Mysteries,  i,  923,  924  ;  pagan,  i,  74. 
Mvsticism,  i,  301,  850-866,  ii,  746. 
Mystics,  the,  i,  850-866,  872,  877,  ii,  847  ; 

French  and  Spanish,  ii,  566. 
Mythology,  depraved,  i,  204, 
Nag's  Head  fable,  ii,  435. 
Naiton,  i,  636. 

Names  of  early  Christians,  i,  394,  395. 
Nantes,  edict  of,  ii,  308,  324,  327,  328. 
Naples,  ii,  350. 
Napoleon,  i,  804. 
Nardi,  J.,  ii,  86. 
Nassau,  ii,  514,  745. 
Nast,  William,  ii,  905. 
Natalis,  Alexander,  i,  52. 
Nathin,  J.,  ii,  144. 
Nationalities,    the    consolidation    of,    i, 

948. 
N;mmburg,  diet  of,  ii,  505,  506. 
Nazara?ans,  i,  207.  209. 
Neal,  Daniel,  ii,  628,  847. 
Neale,  J.  M.,  i,912,  916. 
Neander,  J.  A.'  W.,  i,  36,  47,  129,  307,  412, 

414,  415,  497,  500,  509,  884,  885,  ii,  53, 

748. 
Nectan,  i,  636. 


944 


INDEX. 


Nelson,  John,  ii,  827. 

Nelson,  Robert,  ii,  663. 

Neoplatonism,  i,  63,  183,  186,  216,  217, 
225,  260,  303,  307,  419,  422,  550. 

Neri,  Philip  de,  ii,  88,  338,  549. 

Nero,  persecutions  by,  i,  164,  165. 

Nesbitt,  A.,i,  353. 

Nestorians,  i,  400,  440-444,  459,  535. 

Ncstorius   i  737. 

Netherlands',  the,  ii,  329-336,  774. 

Netter,  T.,  ii,  18. 

Neuchatel,  ii,  273,  290,  292,  295. 

Neve,  M.  Felix,  i,  511. 

Nevin,  John  W.,  ii,  904. 

New  Connection  Methodists,  ii,  829, 834. 

New  England,  ii,  873,  898. 

New  Haven,  ii,  886,  887,  898. 

New  Jersey,  ii,  882. 

New  School  Presbyterians,  ii,  902,  917. 

New  Testament,  necessity  for,  i,  136; 
canon,  272-274  ;  Old  and,  274  ;  illustra- 
tions of,  in  catacombs,  386;  Erasmus's, 
ii,  108,  109,  110;  Zwingli's  sermons  on, 
229;  Lefevre's,  311 ;  the  Baptist,  902. 

New  York,  ii,  873,  881,  888. 

Newell,  Samuel,  ii,  907. 

Newman,  A.  II.,  ii,  691,  692. 

Newman,  F.  W.,  ii,  843. 

Newman,  J.  H.,  i,  24,  50,  54, 100  n.  3,  501, 
701,  702,  746,  871,  939,  ii,  397,  644,  839, 
840,  841    843,  854,  855. 

Newton,  Isaac,  ii,  845. 

Newton,  John,  ii,  835,  836. 

Newton,  Robert,  ii,  832. 

Nicam,  council  of,  i,  279,  415, 433,  717, 721, 
ii,  392  ;  second  council  of,  i,  518,  521. 

Nicene  creed,  i,  297,  ii,  904,  918. 

Nicephorus  Callistus,  i,  39,  116. 

Nicholas  of  Basel,  i,  859,  860,  862. 
Nicholas  of  Clemengis,  i,  782,  783. 
Nicholas  of  Cusa,  ii,  95,  96. 
Nicholas  I,  i,  500,  538,  541,  542,  745,  746, 

758. 
Nicholas  II,  i,  755. 
Nicholas  HI,  i,  897. 
Nicholas  V,  i,  786,  ii,  341. 
Nichols,  John,  ii,  819. 
Nicodemus,  Gospel  of,  i,  323. 
Nicolai,  Frederick,  ii,  742. 
Nicolai,  Philip,  ii,  526. 
Nicolas  Cabasilas,  i,  551. 
Nicoll,  ii,  866. 
Niebuhr,  B.  G.,  ii,  94,  840. 
Niedner,  C.  W.,  i,   48. 
Ninety-five  theses,  the,  ii,  120  n.  9, 156-161. 
Ninian,  St.,  i,  619,  620,  633. 
Niphon,  i,  555. 
Nippokl,  F.  W.  F.,  i,  49. 
Nismes,  edict  of,  ii,  327. 
Nitrian  desert,  i,  451,  686. 
Nitschmann,  D.,  ii,  585,  587,  904. 
Noailles,  L.  A.  de,  ii,  584. 
Nobili,  Robert,  ii,  570. 
Nobla  Leyczon,  i,  833. 
Noethen,  T.,  i,  57. 
Noetians,  i,  264,  265. 
Noetus,  i,  264. 

Nonconformists,  ii,  627,  628,  655,657,  848. 
Nonjurors,  ii,  611,  663. 


Non-Roman  Catholic  bodies,  smaller,  ii, 
557-562. 

Nordhausen,  ii,  509. 

Nordlingen,  ii,  555. 

Norman,  George,  ii,  786. 

Norman  conquest,  i,  597 ;  influence  in 
Ireland,  677. 

Norris,  Cardinal,  i,  870. 

Northmen,  the,  i,  570. 

Northumbria,  conversion  of,  i,  588. 

Norton,  C.  E.,  i,  57. 

Norton,  John,  ii,  676. 

Norway,  conversion  of,  i,  573 ;  Reforma- 
tion in,  ii,  356-358. 

Norwegians,  ii,  790 ;  in  Ireland,  i,  676. 

Notker  Teutonicus,  i,  913,  914,  915. 

Nott,  Samuel,  ii,  907. 

Novatian,  i,  245,  246. 

Novatianism,  i,  239,  290. 

Novatus,  i,  243,  244,  245. 

Nowell,  Alexander,  ii,  434. 

Nuns,  Erasmus  on,  ii,  104. 

Nuremberg,  diets  of,  ii,  122  n.  23,  189, 
190 ;  city  of,  193,  208,  254 ;  Religious 
Peace  of,  199,  205 ;  services,  431. 

Nye,  Philip,  ii,  666. 

Oakelev,  Frederick,  ii  841. 

Oates,  Titus,  ii,  720. 

Ober-Ammergau,  i,  926. 

O'Brvan,  William,  ii,  830. 

Occam,  William  of,  i,  779,  813,  ii,  6.  7, 
37,  143,  144,  146. 

Ochino,  Bernardino,  ii,  351. 

O'Connell,  Daniel,  ii,  854. 

O'Connor,  Thady,  ii,  487. 

O'Conor,  C,  ii,  735. 

"  Octavius,"  i,  314,  315,  355,  507. 

Odericus  Vitalis,  i,  40,  604. 

Odilo,  i,  704. 

Odo,  i,  704. 

Odo  of  Vienna,  i,  521. 

Odoacer,  i,  744. 

O'Donnell,  M.,  i,  626. 

O'Donovan,  J.,  i,  674. 

CEcolampadius,  J.,  ii,  221,  235,  248,  249, 
250,  251,  255,  256,  259,  263,  264,  297,  559. 

Oengus,  i,  668. 

Offa,  i,  578. 

Offerings,  i,  360. 

Officers  of  early  Church,  i,  125-131 ;  of 
Church  of  Scotland,  ii,  468-470. 

O'Hale,  Patrick,  ii,  733. 

O'Hedian,  Richard,  ii,  488. 

O'Kurley,  Dermot,  ii,  733. 

O'Kelly,  James,  ii,  894. 

Olaf  of  Sweden,  i,  572. 

Olaf  the  Fat,  i,  573,  574. 

Olaf  Tryggveson,  i,  573,  574. 

Old  Catholics,  ii,  756,  759. 

Old  Lutherans,  ii,  746. 

Old  School  Presbyterians,  ii,  902,  917. 

Old  Testament  used  by  apologists,  i,  269  ; 
canon,  271,  272 ;  and  New,  274 ;  illus- 
trated in  catacombs,  385,  386 ;  Lefevre's, 
ii,  311. 

Oldcastle,  Sir  John,  ii,  47-49. 

Olevianus,  Kaspar,  ii,  513,  514. 

Olger  the  Dane,  i,  478. 

Oliphant,  M.  O.,  i,  807. 


INDEX. 


945 


Olivetan,  Robert,  ii,  281, 286. 

Omar  Li,  533.  536,  791  ;  Mosque  of,  796. 

Omar  II,  i,  512. 

Omayah,  i,  535. 

Ommatius,  i,  489. 

O'More,  Connal,  ii,  496. 

O'Neill,  Donald,  ii,  482  n.  1,  492. 

O'Neill,  Phelim,  ii,  737. 

Oosterzee,  J.  J.  van,  i,  52. 

Ophites,  the,  i,  224,  225. 

Oratorium,  Fathers  of  the,  ii,  549. 

Oratory  of  the  Divine  Love,  ii,  349. 

Order  of  service,  i,  356,  357,  ii,  234. 

Orders,  monastic,i,  691-713 ;  military,  787, 
788,  799-804. 

Ordination  of  Parker,  ii,  435-438 ;  in 
Scottish  Church,  469  n.  1. 

Oriel  College,  ii,  839. 

Origen,  i,  191,  196,  197,  202,  265,  271,  272, 
273,  275,  281,  282,  284,  285,  286,  287,  289, 
290,  292,  293,  294,  295,  301,  303-308,  311, 
312,  338,  355,  361,  368,  373,  407,  431,  441, 
451,  452,  508,  578,  580,  673,  872,  877,  903, 
931,  937,  941,  ii,  108,  112,  589. 

Origenistic  controversies,  i,  451,  452. 

Origines  Liturgica?,  ii,  840. 

Orosius,  i,  596,  672. 

O'Rourke,  Brian,  ii,  733. 

Orpheus,  i,  931. 

Orsini,  house  of,  i,  765. 

Orthodox  Quakers,  ii,  905. 

Orthodoxy,  Feast  of,  i,  518. 

Ortwin,  ii,  154. 

Osborn,  Albert,  pref.  ix. 

Osiander,  A.,  ii,  210,  382,  503. 

Osrhoene,  i,  400. 

Ostiarii,  i,  327. 

Oswald,  i,  633. 

Othman,  i,  533. 

Otho,  Antony,  ii,  503. 

Otho  of  Braunschweig-Liineburg,  ii,  192. 

Otho  I,  i,  749,  751,  760. 

Otho  II,  i,  749,  760. 

Otho  IV,  i,  844. 

O'Toole,  St.  Lawrence,  i,  678. 

Otterbein,  P.  W.,  il,  905. 

Otto,  i,  41. 

Otto  Henry  of  Neuburs:,  ii,  214. 

Otto  of  Frisingen,  i,  831. 

Overton,  J.  H.,  ii,  812,  813. 

Ovid,  ii,  372. 

Owen,  John,  ii,  614. 

Oxenstiern,  Axel,  ii,  555. 

Oxford  Universitv,  i,  944,  ii,  40,  54,  369, 
371-373,  375,  404,  816,  817,  824;  move- 
ment, the,  ii,  840-843. 

Ozanam,  F.,  i,  900. 

Pack,  Otto  von,  ii,  193,  194. 

Pachomlus,  451,  686. 

Pagan  catacombs,  i,  378,  379 ;  schools,  938, 
939. 

Paganism,  moral  destitution  of,  i,  69-77  ; 
inhumauity  of,  146;  many  dependents 
of,  163;  decline  of,  181  ;  a  question  of 
existence  to,  181 ;  oblivion  of  writers 
of,  192;  impure  philosophy  of,  205; 
terms  of,  shunned,  354  ;  culture  of,  363; 
downfall  of,  423-426 ;  of  Italian  Renais- 
sance, ii,  339,  340. 
62 


Palatinate,  the,  ii,  513,  769,  878. 

Pale,  the,  ii,  481,  495,  497. 

Paleario,  Aonio,  ii,  351. 

Palestine  in  time  of  Christ,  i,  80 ;  under 

Persians,   791 ;   under  Mohammedans, 

791,  794. 
Paley,  William,  i,  316. 
Palgrave,  F.,  i,  570. 
Palladius,  i,  520,  651,  660. 
Palmer,  William,  ii,  840,  841. 
Paltz,  ii,  147. 
Pamphilus,  i,  301,  308. 
Pangilovo,  Arm  anno,  i,  827. 
Pantaenus,  i,  301,  302,  303. 
Pantheon,  the,  i,  740. 
Papacy,   the,    i,    324-340,    471,     714-786; 

Charles  the  Great  and,  474,  475,  486- 

488  ;  temporal  power  of,  476 ;  attempts 

to  strengthen,  495,  498 ;  at  its  highest 

power,  766;   Babylonian  captivity  of, 

778-780 ;  Wyclif  on,  ii,  31,  32 ;  Joseph  II 

and,  760-764. 
Papal  infallibility,  i,  447,  448,  775,  ii,  7, 

68,  69,  89,  855 ;  see,  removal  of,  i,  471 ; 

supremacy,  498,  535,  540,  541,  714-786; 

disruption,  781-786  ;  corruption,  ii,  79 ; 

rapacity,  481 ;  "aggression,"  854. 
Paparo,  Cardinal,  i,  677. 
Papebroch,  D.,  i,  34,  712. 
Papias,  i,  293,  309,  370,  371. 
Paracelsus,  P.  A.  T.  B.,  ii,  527. 
Pareus,  David,  ii,  528. 
Paris,  council  of,  i,  521  :  University  of, 

505,  782,  783,  784,  942,  943,  944,  946,  ii,  57. 
Park,  Edwards  A.,  ii,  890. 
Parker,  J.  H.,  i,  934. 
Parker,    Matthew,    ii,    434,  435-438,  617, 

626,  629,  633. 
Parker,  Theodore,  ii,  899. 
Parkraan,  F.,  i,  55. 
Parliament,  Scotch,  of  1560,  ii,  464 ;  the 

Dublin,  492,  493  ;  Laud's  opposition  to, 

644 ;  the  Long,  652. 
Parnell,  Charles  8.,  ii,  811. 
Parris,  G.  von,  ii,  414. 
Parris,  Samuel,  ii,  888. 
Parry,  William,  ii,  442. 
Particular  Baptists,  ii,  697-700. 
Pascal,  Blaise,  ii,  540,  568. 
Paschal  Chronicle,  the,  i,  39. 
Paschal  II,  i,  704,  705. 
Paschasinus,  i,  729. 
Pasehasius  Radbertus.  i,  875. 
Passau,  treaty  of,  ii,  218,  324,  556. 
Passion  Play,  the,  i,  926,  927. 
Pastoral  Rule  of  Gregory,  i,  738. 
Pastoralis,  Alfred's  translation  of,  i,  595, 

738. 
Pastorius,  Francis  Daniel,  ii,  882. 
Patarini,  the,  i,  827. 
Patmos,  John  in,  i,  115. 
Patriarchal  period,  the,  I,  78. 
Patriarchates,  i,  333 ;  of  Alexandria  and 

Constantinople,  442 ;  of  Constantinople 

and  Rome,  540. 
Patrick,  St.,  i,  643,  648-661,  663,  674,  il, 

4S6,  488. 
Patripassians,  i.  263,  264,  265,  285. 
Patristic  age,  the,  i,  149-409  ;  tradition  in, 

276 ;  advanced  knowledge  of,  296. 


946 


INDEX. 


Pattison,  Mark,  ii,  415,  812. 

Paul  Diaconus,  i,  40. 

Paul,  Vincent  de,  ii,  549. 

Paul  of  Sainosata,  i,  262. 

Paul  Orosius,  i,  3S. 

Paul  the  apostle,  i,  101 ;  Peter  and,  104, 
881  ;  and  Gentile  Christianity,  106-109 ; 
Epistles  of,  141 ;  correspondence  of, 
with  Seneca,  323;  ascension  of,  323; 
and  Rome,  336,  337 ;  use  of  epistles  by, 
368  ;  in  England,  575,  576. 

Paul  the  Hermit,  i,  684,  685. 

Paul  II,  ii,  79,  342. 

Paul  III,  ii,  113,  199,  350,  351,  532,  533. 

Paul  IV,  ii,  351,  531,  533. 

Paulet,  ii,  497. 

Paulicians,  the,  i,  551,  552. 

Paulinus,  i,  588. 

Paulinus  of  Nola,  i,  694,  933. 

Pauvan,  Jacques,  ii,  317. 

Pavia,  siege  of,  i,  477^479. 

Pawsou,  John,  ii,  828. 

Pazmany,  Peter,  ii,  362. 

Peace  measures,  ii,  860,  861. 

Peada,  i,  588. 

Pears,  E.,  i,  796. 

Pearson  (martyr),  ii,  414. 

Pearson,  Anthony,  ii,  711. 

Pearson,  J.,  i,  138,  ii,  831. 

Peasants'  War,  ii,  121  n.  19,  180-183,  191, 
192,  694. 

Peeock,  R.,  ii,  49. 

Pedro  II,  i,  843. 

Pelagianism,  i,  453-462. 

Pelagius,  i,  441,  442,  458-460, 578,  579,  651, 
673,  ii,  8,  9. 

Pelagius  II,  pope,  i,  724-734. 

Pellicanus,  K.  K.,  ii,  235,  273. 

Penwork  in  Ireland,  i,  674. 

Penal  laws,  reform  of,  ii,  860. 

Penance,  ii,  393,  597. 

Penda,  i,  588. 

Penitential  presbyters,  i,  346,  347. 

Penitents,  treatment  of,  i,  242,  344,  345, 
346   347 

Penn!  William,  ii,  613,  614,  882. 

Pennsylvania,  ii,  873,  878,  882,  896. 

Penry,  John,  ii,  682-684,  686. 

Pentecost  and  its  results,  i,  90-94 ;  trans- 
ferred to  Christian  Church,  350. 

Pepin,  i,  473,  474,  475,  479,  493,  501,  520, 
744,  ii,  783. 

Pepin  l'Heristal,  i,  564. 

Perceval,  A.  P.,  ii,  840,  841. 

Perez,  Juan,  ii,  352,  353. 

Periods  of  Middle  Ages,  i,  470,  471. 

Perkins,  Charles,  i,  934. 

Perrens,  F.  T.,  ii,  82. 

Perronet,  Charles,  ii,  827. 

Perronet,  Edward,  ii,  827. 

Perronet,  Vincent,  ii,  827. 

Perry,  G.  G..  i,  51,  ii,  414,  416,  430,  431, 
434,  638. 

Perry,  W.  S.,  i,  57. 

Persecutions  of  Christians,  first,  i,  101 ; 
period  of,  149-410 ;  number  of,  164 ; 
stages  of,  164 ;  Persian,  399 ;  use  of, 
837-849 ;  of  Jews,  903-908 ;  in  France, 
ii,  322-328;  in  Spain  and  Italy,  351, 
353,  354 ;  in  England,  406-429,  439 ;  in 


Scotland,  445-451,  729-732 ;  of  Quakers,. 
712,  713 ;  of  Roman  Catholics,  720 ;  in 
Ireland,  733,  734  ;  in  Austria,  765-768 ;. 
in  the  Palatinate,  769 ;  in  New  Eng- 
land, 887. 

Persia,  i,  399,  443,  533. 

Persius,  i,  71,  313. 

Person  of  Christ,  controversies  on,  i,  439- 
450. 

Personality  of  Luther,  ii,  206,  207. 

Petavius,  Dionysius,  ii,  568. 

Peter,  i,  575,  576,  881 ;  and  Jewish  Chris- 
tianity, 101, 106 ;  John  and,  113 ;  Apoca- 
lypse of,  323 ;  in  Rome,  715,  716 ;  in. 
Divina  Commedia,  898. 

Peter  Comestor,  i,  500. 

Peter  of  Alcantara,  ii,  566. 

Peter  of  Amiens,  i,  793,  795. 

Peter  of  Bruys,  i,  829,  ii,  691. 

Peter  of  Murrone,  i ,  769. 

Peter  the  Hermit,  i,  793,  795. 

Peter  the  Lombard,  i,  873,  946. 

Peter  the  Venerable,  i,  709,  829,  883,  884.. 

Petersen,  Lawrence,  ii,  359,  786. 

Petersen,  Olaf,  ii,  359,  786. 

Petilian,  i,  256,  842. 

Petition  of  Wyclif,  ii,  40,  41. 

Petitioners,  i,  343. 

Petrarch,  F.,  i,  468,  779. 

Petrie,  G.,  i,  665. 

Petronilla,  St.,  church  of,  i,  377,  384. 

Petrus,  i,  301. 

Petty,  William,  ii,  737. 

Peucer,  Kaspar,  ii,  507. 

Peutinger,  Conrad,  ii,  786. 

Pezel,  C,  ii,  514. 

Pfefferkorn,  J.,  ii,  97.    ' 

Pfeffiinger,  J.,  ii,  504. 

Pflug,  Julius  von,  ii,  203,  214,  217. 

Pharisees,  the,  i,  81,  82. 

Philalethes,  i,  900. 

Philargi,  Peter,  i,  783. 

Philip  and  Andrew,  Brotherhood  of,  ii,. 
915. 

Philip  Augustus,  i,  765,  795,  904. 

Philip  Bardanes,  i,  450. 

Philip  Ludwig,  ii.  551,  552. 

Philip  of  Braunschweig-Lilneburg,  ii,  192r 
505. 

Philip  of  Hesse,  ii,  122  n.  30,  182,  192, 
194,  195,  197,  199,  201-205,  207,  214,  215, 
216,  217,  250,  254,  255,  258,  505,  515,  560.. 

Philip  of  Marnix,  ii,  334. 

Philip  Sidetes,  i,  37. 

Philip  II,  ii,  325,  333,  334,  335,  353,  419, 
420,  428,  440,  600,  603,  865. 

Philip  III,  ii,  570,  600. 

Philip  IV,  i,  770,  771,  773-776,  778,  800, 
848,  ii,  601,  602. 

Philip  V,  ii,  602. 

Philip  the  apostle,  i,  117,  575,  576. 

Philip  the  Arab,  i,  173,  174,  304. 

Philip  the  Armenian,  i,  511. 

Philip  the  Handsome,  ii,  598. 

Philip  the  legate,  i,  727. 

Philipists,  the,  ii.  502, 504, 505, 507, 508, 513. 

Philippine  Islands,  ii,  910. 

Philippopolis,  council  of,  i,  722. 

Philo,  i,  217,  218,  684. 

Philology,  i,  32,  33. 


INDEX. 


947 


Phllostorgius,  i,  37. 

Philoxenus,  i,  511. 

Phocas,  1,  711,  737,  740. 

Photian  controversy,  the,  i,  541,  542. 

Photinus,  i,  898. 

Photius,  1,  452,  542,  548,  745. 

Phrygia,  home  of  Montanism,  i,  233,  234, 

236. 
Pia  Desideria,  ii,  576,  578. 
Piarists,  the,  ii,  549. 
Pichler,  A.,  ii,  804. 
Picts,  the,  i,  619, 621,  623,  625,  644. 
Piedmont,  ii,  559. 
Pierce,  Thomas,  ii,  666. 
Piers  Plowman,  Vision  of,  ii,  9-11. 
Pieters,  Jan,  ii,  649. 
Pietism,  i,  239,  ii,  519-528,  572-579,  741, 

743,  746,  757,  773. 
Pietistic  historians,  i,  43,  44. 
Pilate,  Acts  of,  i,  323. 
Pilate's  staircase,  Luther  at,  ii,  152. 
Pilgrimage  of  Grace,  ii,  400,  402. 
Pilgrimages  to  Holy  Land,  i,  791. 
Pilgrims,  ii,  872,  879. 
Pilgrim's  Progress,  ii,  702. 
Pilkington,  James,  ii,  626. 
Pillar  saints,  i,  689. 
Pillsburv,  Parker,  ii,  911. 
Piper,  K.  W.  F.,  i,  31. 
Pirkheimer,  W.,  ii,  163  n.  2,  167,  208. 
Pisa,  council  of,  i,  783. 
Piscator,  J.,  ii,  514. 
Pistorius,  John,  ii,204. 
Pithon,  Pierre,  ii,  565. 
Pitt,  William,  ii,  819, 857. 
Pius  II,  ii,  341. 

Pius  IV,  ii,  354,  531,  534,  536. 
Pius  V,  i,  885,  ii,  351, 353,439,  531,566,  785. 
Pius  VI,  ii,  760,  763. 
Pius  IX,  ii,  759, 855. 
Pizarro,  F.,ii,  604,  875. 
Placards,  French  Reformation  to  the  year 

of  the,  ii,  316-323. 
Plague,  the  Great,  ii,  656. 
Plan  of  Union,  ii,  902  n.  1. 
Planck,  G.  J.,  i,  46. 
Planting  of  the  Church  in  America,  ii, 

872,  875-882. 
Platina,  B.  B.,  i,  747. 
Plato,   i,  64,  71.  72,  307,  840.  841,  881,  ii, 

370,  373. 
Platonism  and  Christianity,  i,  550. 
Plegmund,  i,  595. 
Plessy  Marly,  P.  de  M.,  i,  897. 
Plimsoll,  Samuel,  ii,  858. 
Pliny  the  younger,  i,  32, 152, 672,  698 :  let- 
ter of,  to  Trajan,  167, 168,  188. 
Plitt,  G.  L.,i,  48. 
Plotinus,  ii,  373. 

Plots  against  Elizabeth,  ii,  441-443. 
Plutarch,  i,  71,  74. 

Plymouth  Colony,  ii,  878,  879,  880,  881. 
Pneumatics,  the,  i,  235, 236. 
Poach,  A.,  ii,  503. 
Poem  of  St.  Columba,  i,  623,  624. 
Poems  of  Zwingli,  ii,  229-231,  266  n.  1. 
Poissy,  colloquy  of,  ii,  325. 
Poitiers,  i,  533. 
Poland,  Reformation  in,  ii,  360,  361,  So- 

cinus  in,  562 ;  persecution  in,  768,  769. 


Pole.  Reginald,  ii,  112,  350,  420. 

Polentz,  G.  von,  ii,  122  n.  32. 

Poliander,  J.,  ii,  525. 

Politics  in  German  Reformation,  ii,  189- 
196  ;  in  Swiss  Reformation,  261-270  ;  in 
French  Reformation,  316-323  ;  and  Jes- 
uits, 548. 

Pollen,  J.  H.,  i,  54. 

Pollich,  Martin,  li,  151. 

Pollux,  i,  128. 

Polybius,  i,  71. 

Polycarp,  i,  171,  232,  275,  294,  309,  351, 
368,  371,  372,  718,  719. 

Polychronius,  i,  742. 

Polygamy  in  Mohammedanism,  i,  530. 

Pomerania,  ii,  509. 

Pomponius  Mela,  i,  672. 

Pontifical  Book,  the,  i,  39. 

Poole,  R.  L.,  ii,  18. 

Poor,  care  of,  i,  145,  146  360,  361 ;  Men 
of  Lyons,  833  ;  Men  of  Lombardy,  833, 
835. 

Pope,  William  B.,  ii,  832. 

Popes,  crimes  of,  i,  748,  749  ;  election  of, 

751,  761;  at  Avignon,  778-780  ;  spiritual 

•lordship   of,   ii,  386,387,388;   and  the 

Inquisition,  594-596;  and  Italian  unity, 

782-785. 

Porphvry,  i,  183,  184,  186,  364. 

Port  Royal,  ii,  567,  568. 

Porter,  John,  ii,  413. 

Porter,  T.  C,  ii,  185. 

Portiuncula  of  Francis  of  Assisi,  i,  808, 
815. 

Potter,  John,  ii,  586,  815,  821. 

Poujoulat,  J.  J.  F.,  ii,  590. 

Pounds,  John,  ii,  816. 

Powell,  Edward,  ii,  410,  413. 

Powell,  Vavasour,  ii,  700. 

Prasdestinatus,  i,  461. 

Praemunire,  statute  of,  ii,  380,  383,  388, 
389,  430,  491. 

Prastextatus,  catacomb  of,  i,  384. 

Prague,  University  of,  ii,  58  ;  treaty  of, 
555. 

Praxeas,  i,  263,  264,  719. 

Prayer  Book,  ii,  367,  430-433,  493,  496, 
498,  601,  624,  638,  646,  647,  648,  817. 

Preachers,  early,  i,  408  ;  Methodist,  ii, 
893. 

Preaching  of  apostles,  i,  95,  96, 100  ;  de- 
cay of,  647  ;  of  Savonarola,  ii,  80,  81  ;  in 
German  Reformation,  186,  187  ;  of 
Knox,  455,  463  ;  degenerate,  812,  813. 

Precentors,  i,  327. 

Predestination,  doctrine  of,  i,  873,  874,  ii, 
112,  335,  509,  510. 

Preger,  W.,  i,  860. 

Pregizerians,  ii,  746. 

Presbyterian  ascendency,  the,  ii,  664-674 ; 
missions,  908. 

Presbyterianism,  fall  of,  ii,  647;  local,  680  ; 
of  Scotland,  721-732;  English,  844, 
845;  Irish,  871. 

Presbyteriaus,  ii,  607,  707,  844,  845,  900- 
902. 

Presbyters,  i,  127,  327,  346,  ii,  623,  722. 

Presbvterv,  the,  ii,  470,  664. 
Prescott,  W.  IT.,  i,  a5.  55,  ii,  597. 
Pressense,  E.  de,  i,  51. 


948 


INDEX. 


Prester  John,  i,  444. 

Preston,  John,  ii,  736. 

Prierias,  ii,  162. 

Priestley,  J.,  i,  45,  ii,  845,  846. 

Primacy  of  Rome,  i,  246,  324-340,  540 ; 
Cyprian  against,  338. 

Prirnian,  i,  254,  256. 

Primitive  Methodists,  ii,  829  ;  of  Ireland, 
871. 

Princeton  College,  ii,  890,  891. 

Printing,  discovery  of,  ii,  206. 

Priscian,  i,  672,  854. 

Priscillianists,  i,  843. 

Prison  reform,  ii,  808,  859. 

Probabilism,  ii,  545,  546. 

Probst  (Spreng,  J.),  ii,  259. 

Procession  of  the  Spirit,  ii,  800. 

Proclus,  i,  550,  ii,  369. 

Proculus,  i,  489. 

Professed  Jesuits,  the,  ii,  543,  544. 

Prohibition,  ii,  911. 

Projectus,  i,  727. 

Proles,  Andreas,  ii,  134. 

Prophecy,  gift  of,  i,  98,  99. 

"  Prophesyings,"   ii,  470,  630,  631,  632. 

Prophets  of  early  Church,  i,  126  ;  of 
France,  ii,  778. 

Proslogion  of  Anselm,  i,  600. 

Prosper  Aquitanicus,  i,  460,  461,  651,  660. 

Prostitution  in  paganism,  i,  71. 

Protestant  historians,  i,  41-52  ;  Wyclif  as 
a,  ii,  31,  38  ;  the  term,  420  ;  Union,  552; 
Methodists,  830,  894;  Episcopal  Church, 
891,  895,  896. 

Protestantism,  i,  948,  ii,  89,  345,  346,  476, 
477  ;  in  England,  ii,  391  ;  in  Scotland, 
460-466  ;  and  culture,  523  ;  and  educa- 
tion, 524  ;  Laud  and,  651  ;  Greek 
Church  and,  799-804. 

Protestants,  name  of,  ii,  254,  255,  420. 

Provincial  Letters,  ii,  568. 

Provost,  Samuel,  ii,  895. 

Provosts,  Swedish,  ii,  787. 

Prudentius,  i,  912,  913. 

Prussia,  ii,  208. 

Prutz,  Hans,  i,  802. 

Pryce,  J.,  i,  583,  584. 

Prynne,  William,  ii,  649. 

Psalms  and  hymns  in  worship,  i,  142, 143. 

PtolemaBUs,  i,  222. 

Ptolemffius  de  Fiadonibio,  i,  776. 

Pucci,  F.,  ii,  261. 

Pulcheria,  i,  442. 

Punchard,  G.,  i,  57. 

Purcell,  Edmund  S.,  ii,  855. 

Purgatorv,  i,  294,  295,  539,  877  ;  St.  Pat- 
rick's, 658,  ii,  486,  487. 

Puritanism,  i,  239,  ii,  476,  477,  605,  615- 
642,  647,  681,  739,  845. 

Puritans,  the,  ii,  43,  51,  443,  457,  615-642, 
648,  650,  653,  654,  657,  715,  872. 

Purvey,  John,  ii,  24,  47. 

Pusey,  E.  B.,  i,  50,  ii,  842. 

Pym,  John,  ii,  651. 

Pynnar,  Nicholas,  ii,  735. 

Pyrrhus,  i,  449. 

Pythagoras,  i,  63, 64. 

Qoss,  i,  535. 
Ouadratus,  i,  191,  193. 


Quadrivium,  i,  941. 

Quakerism,  i,  239. 

Quakers,   ii,   610,  659,  705-715,  851,   852, 

856,  879,  882,  884,  887,  888,  905,  910. 
Quartodecimini,  i,  350,  582. 
Quenstedt,  J.  A.,  i,  43. 
Quietism,  i,  239,  ii,  563,  566. 
Quincy,  Josiah,  ii,  897. 
Quinisextan  Synod,  i,  743. 

Rabanus  Maurus,  i,  875,  913. 

Racovian  Catechism,  ii,  562. 

Radbod,  i,  565,  566. 

Ragged  schools,  ii,  816. 

Raikes,  Robert,  ii,  833. 

Rainer  libellus,  the,  i,  243,  244. 

Ramus,  P.,  i,  944. 

Ranke,  Leopold  von,  i,  466,  467,  802,  906, 
ii,  602. 

Ranulf  Flambard,  i,  602. 

Raphael  Santi,  ii,  344. 

Rapp,  George,  ii,  746. 

Rashdall,  H.,  i,  942  n.  1,  943, 944, 945, 946. 

Rathbresail,  synod  of.  i,  677. 

Rationalism,  ii,  740-743,  746,  747,  748. 

Rationalistic  historians,  i,  44,  45. 

Ratisbon  conference,  ii,  122  n.  31,  215, 
292 
295'  551 ;  interim,  204. 

Ratramnus,  i,  852,  875. 

Rautenstrauch,  Stephan,  ii,  754. 

Ravenna,  i,  667,  893. 

Rawliuson,  G.,  i,  23. 

Raymond  of  Toulouse,  i,  846. 

Ravnaldi,  O.,  i,  42. 

Raynourd,  F.  J.  M.,  i,  802. 

Realism,  spiritualism  and,  i,  451,  452. 

Recent  period,  the,  ii,  741-918. 

Redemptorists,  ii,  771. 

Reeves,  W.,  i,  625,  627,  637,  652,  674. 

Reformed  Church  in  France,  ii,  327,  328 ; 
in  the  Netherlands,  335 ;  in  the  United 
States,  904 ;  in  America,  904 ;  Presby- 
terians, 868, 902;  Episcopal  Church,  895, 
896;  Protestant  Dutch  Church,  904; 
Churches,  Alliance  of,  917. 

Reforms  in  Celtic  Church,  i,  638-641  ;  of 
Joseph  II,  ii,  762-764 ;  in  England,  856- 
861 ;  in  America,  874,  910-913. 

Reformation,  the,  ii,  115-499, 742 ;  histori- 
ans of,  i,  41,  42  ;  a  boundary,  471 ;  the 
Mystics  and,  864,  865,  866  ;  and  the  uni- 
versities. 946 ;  preparation  for,  i,  46S,  ii, 
3-11,  90-100,  110-114  ;  in  Germany,  115- 
218;  on  the  Continent,  115-363;  in 
Switzerland,  219-304  ;  in  France,  305- 
328;  in  the  Netherlands,  329-336;  in 
Italy  and  Spain,  347-354;  in  Scandi- 
navia, 355-359  :  in  Poland,  Hungary, 
Transylvania,  and  among  Southern 
Slavs,  360-363;  on  the  British  Isles, 
364-499  ;  the  English,  364-443  ;  in  Scot- 
land, 444-477  ;  "  in  Ireland,  478-499 ; 
magnitude  of,  531. 

Regensburg,  diet  at,  ii,  203,  552 ;  city  of, 
214;  colloquy  at,  215,  292,  295,  551. 

Regius,  i,  41. 

Reid,  James,  ii,  735. 

Reid,  Thomas,  ii,  865. 

Reiley,  A.  C,  pref.  ix. 


INDEX. 


949 


Reimarus,  H.  S.,  ii,  743. 

Reina,  Cassiodoro  de,  ii,  353. 

Reink,  ii,  692. 

Relief  Synod,  ii,  867,  868. 

Relly,  James,  ii,  899. 

Remonstrants,  the,  ii,  336. 

Remusat,  J.  P.  A.,  i,  883. 

Renaissance,  the,  i,  946,  ii,  3,  93,  337-346, 

349,  369,  370,  561. 
Renan,  E.,  i,  52,  802. 
Renata  of  Este,  i,  599,  ii,  283,  350. 
Repressor   of    Overmuch    Blaming   the 

Clergy,  the,  ii,  49. 
Resby,  John,  ii,  47,  445. 
Reuchlin,  J.,  ii,  91,  97,  98,  103,  154,  155, 

160,  176,  310. 
Reunion      of     Eastern     and     Western 

Churches,  attempts  at,  i,  543-545  ;  of 

Roman  Catholics  and  Protestants,  ii, 

195,  196. 
Reuss,  E.,  i,  135,  137,  140. 
Revocation  of  edict  of  Nantes,  ii,  779. 
Revolutionary  War,  ii,  892. 
Revnolds,  Edward,  ii,  637. 
Reynolds,  Richard,  ii,  408,  409. 
Rhretia,  i,  407. 

Rhode  Island,  ii,  873,  884,  886. 
Ricci,  M.,  ii,  570. 
Rice,  Luther,  ii,  908,  909. 
Rich  (martyr),  ii,  406. 
Richard  of  Cornwall,  i,  796. 
Richard  of  St.  Victor,  i,  854,  855. 
Richard  the  Lion-Hearted,  i,  795. 
Richard  II,  ii,  54. 
Richards,  James,  ii,  907. 
Richardson,  i,  213. 

Richelieu,  Cardinal,  ii,  327,  534,  565,  600. 
Ricimer.  i,  744. 
Riculf,  i,  499. 

Ridley,  N.,  ii,  418,  419,  424. 
Rienzi,  Cola  di,  ii,  784. 
Rigg,  James  H.,  ii,  834. 
Rights,  Book  of,  i,  668. 
Rinal,  i,  42. 
Ringwaldt,  B.,  ii,  525. 
Rinteln,  ii,  524. 
Risby  (martyr),  ii,  406. 
Ritschl,  Albrecht,  ii,  744,  751,  752. 
Ritschlianism,  ii,  870. 
Ritter,  H. ,  i,  468,  469,  470. 
Rizzio,  David,  ii,  441. 
"  Robber  Synod,"  the,  i,  445,  690,  729. 
Robert  College,  ii,  908. 
Robert  of  Arbrisell,  i,  708,  709. 
Robert  of  Cambray,  i,  781. 
Robert  of  Citeaux,  i,  705. 
Robert  II,  i,  915. 

Robertson,  F.  W.,  i,  67  n.  4,  ii,  826,  843. 
Robertson,  J.  C,  i,  50,  424. 
Robertson,  William,  ii,  865. 
Robespierre,  M.  M.  I.,  ii,  781. 
Robiano,  i,  53. 
Robinson,  John,  ii,  687,  695. 
Bobinson  J.  A.,  i,  193. 
Rochette,  Francois,  ii,  7S0. 
Rockefeller,  John  D.,  ii,  903. 
Rodrigues,  Simon,  ii,  542. 
Rodwell,  J.,  i,  532. 
Rogatus,  i,  254. 
Rogers,  Henry,  ii,  113. 


Rogers,  John,  ii,  421,  615,  616. 

Rogers,  Thorold,  ii,  404. 

Rohrbacher,  R.  F.,  i,  53. 

Roma  Sotteranea,  i,  381,  ii,  568. 

Roman  Catholic  historians,  i,  52-54 ; 
Church,  278,  324-340,  ii,  563-571 ;  and 
British  Church,  i,  587  ;  Church  of  Ger- 
many, ii,  753,  759;  Church  in  Nether- 
lands and  Switzerland,  774,  775. 

Roman  Catholicism  in  Scotland,  i,  (144, 
645 ;  and  Protestantism,  ii,  799,  800  ;  in 
Great  Britain,  807,  808,  853-855;  in 
America,  896,  897. 

Roman  Catholics,  ii,  607,  716-720,  853- 
855. 

Roman  Empire,  i,  67-69;  influence  of,  on 
Church  polity,  325  ;  Church  in  union 
with,  410-462;  end  of,  726;  Freeman 
on,  744. 

Roman  persecutions,  i,  161-179 ;  writers 
against  Christianity,  182. 

Romans  as  organizers,  i,  67,  68  ;  as  road 
builders,  68;  depravity  of,  70;  as  Chris- 
tians, 123,  124 ;  images  in  houses  of, 
365,  366. 

Romanticism,  ii,  744,  746,  747,  748. 

Rome,  Jews  in,  i,  85,  86, 153,  378 ;  Church 
in,  and  Peter,  105,  336,  715,  716; 
Christianity  in,  162 ;  bishop  of,  336 ; 
alms  from,  336,  718 ;  steadiness  of 
Church  at,  340 ;  catacombs  of,  377-382 ; 
a  center  of  Christianity,  405,  716,  718 ; 
and  Constantinople,  rupture  between, 
516 ;  primacy  of,  715-786 ;  Luther  visits, 
ii,  152,  153 ;  pagan  magnificence  of, 
341;  Henry  VIII's  breach  with,  384- 
390 ;  Joseph  II's  visit  to,  763 ;  Greek 
Church  and,  795-798  ;  Arnold's  History 
of,  839 ;  Niebuhr's  History  of,  840. 

Rome's  Recruits,  ii,  843. 

Romilly,  Samuel,  ii,  860. 

Romola,  ii,  85. 

Romuald,  i,  707. 

Roscoe,  William,  i,  80,  82  n.  4. 

Roscommon,  Earl  of,  i,  917. 

Rose,  Hugh  James,  ii,  840,  841. 

Rose,  W.  S.,  i,  707  n.  1. 

Rosicrucians,  ii,  527. 

Rossetti,  Gabrielle,  i,  896. 

Rossi,  G.  B.  de,  i,  31,  377,  382,  384,  388, 
392,  676. 

Rothe,  R.,  i,  20,  21,  49,  125,  127,  130. 

Rothschild,  Lionel,  ii,  857. 

Roiibli,  ii,  692. 

Rough,  John,  ii,  454. 

Round  towers,  the,  i,  665,  666. 

Roussel,  Gerard,  ii,  312,  313,  317,  318. 

Row,  John,  ii,  467. 

Rubianus,  Crotus,  ii,  137. 

Rudbeck,  Olaus,  i,  86. 

Rudelbach,  A.  G.,  ii,  86. 

Rudolph  II,  i,  761,  ii,  362,  552.  553. 

Rufinus,  i.  38,  373,  414,  451,  693,  721. 

Ruinart,  T.,  i,  53. 

Rule  of  Benedict,  i,  695,  696. 

Rule,  W.  H.,  ii,  87. 

Rupertus,  ii,  528. 

Rural  bishops,  i,  331. 

Ruskin,  John,  ii,  913. 

Russell,  Jerome,  ii,  449. 


950 


INDEX. 


Russell,  Lord  John,  ii,  389. 

Russia,  ii,  797,  798. 

Rutherford,  S.,  ii,  673,  724. 

Rutherius,  i,  755. 

Ruvsbroek,  John  of,  i,  861,  862,  872. 

Ryder,  i,  824. 

Ryland,  John,  ii,  848. 

Ryswick,  peace  of,  ii,  769. 

Sabatier,  Paul,  i,  52,  766,  807,  808,  810,  811. 
Sabbath,  the  Christian,  i,  145,  ii,  524,  525. 
Sabellius,  i,  260,  265,  266,  267 ;  views  of, 

266,  267. 
Sacheverell,  II.,  ii,  660,  661. 
Sachs,  Hans,  ii,  123  n.  34,  208,  209,  525. 
Sacraments  in  patristic  Church,  i,  290-293. 
Sacred  seasons  and  public  worship,  i,  348- 

357,  ii,  524,  525. 
Sadducees,  the,  i,  82,  83. 
Sadolet,  J.,  ii,  112,  294,  350. 
Safe  conduct  of  Hus,  ii,  67,  68. 
Saint  Bartholomew's  Day,  ii,  307,  655 ; 

Night,  326. 
Sainte-Beuve,  J.  de,  i,  875. 
Saint  Gall,  Reformation  in,  ii,  221,  237, 

264. 
Saint  Peter's,  ii,  344. 
Saladin,  i,  795. 
Salamanca,  synod  of,  i,  905;  Loyola  at, 

ii,  542. 
Salerno,  University  of,  i,  943. 
Sales,  Francis  de,  ii,  549. 
Salesians,  the,  ii,  549. 
Sallust,  i,  698,  ii,  370. 
Salmeron.  Alphonso,  ii,  542. 
Salvation  Army,  ii,  912,  913. 
Salvian,  i,  921. 

Salzburg,  University  of,  ii,  753. 
Salzburgers,  the,  765,  767. 
Sam,  Konrad,  ii,  210. 
Samaritans,  the,  i,  80,  81,  158. 
Sampsseans,  i,  209,  210. 
Sampson,  Thomas,  ii,  616. 
Samson,  B.,  ii,  228,  241,  262. 
Sancroft,  William,  ii,  658. 
Sandys,  Edwin,  ii,  629. 
Sarabaites,  i,  637. 
Saracens,  the,  i,  533. 
Sardica,  council  of,  722,  725. 
Sarpi,  P.,  i,  52,  ii,  529,  530. 
Sattler,  ii,  692. 
Saturninus,  i,  228. 
"  Satyre  of  Three  Estates,"  i,  926. 
Saumur,  ii,  524. 
Saunier,  Matthew,  ii,  274,  286. 
Saussaye,  C.  de  la,  i,  52. 
Savile,  George,  ii,  853. 
Saviour,  Gospel  of  the  Infant,  i,  322. 
Savonarola,  J.,  i,  817,  ii,  3,  42,  75-89, 127, 

343-344,  371. 
Savoy  Conference,  ii,  653  n.  3. 
Sawtre,  William,  ii,  46,  47. 
Saxon  Chronicle,  i,  662. 
Saxony,  ii,  207,  507,  552. 
Scala,  Can  Grande  della,  i,  897. 
Scandinavia,  conversion  of,   i,  570-574 ; 

Reformation  in,  ii,  355-359. 
Scartazzini,  G.  A.,  i,  892,  900,  901. 
Scetic  desert,  i,  451,  686. 
Schade,  J.  C,  ii,  579. 


Schaff,  Philip,  i,  35,  43,  56,  113,  239,  587, 

869,  871,  900,  916,  ii,  165,  166,  177,  184, 

395 
Schaff er,  C.  W.,  i,  57. 
Schalbe,  Heinrich,  ii,  135. 
Schall,  Adam,  ii,  570. 
Schatzger,  ii,  178. 
Scheibel,  J.  G.,  ii,  745. 
Schenkel,  D.,  i,  49. 
Scheurl,  Christopher,  ii,  151,  154,  208. 
Schinner,  Matthew,  ii,  240. 
Schismatics,  baptism  by,  i,  246,  247. 
Schisms  of  early  Church,  i,  241-258. 
Schlatter,  Michael,  ii,  904. 
Schlegel,  K.  W.  F.,  i,  19,  ii,  747. 
Schleiermacher,  F.  D.  E.,  i,  47,  307,  ii,  743, 

744,  748,  840. 
Schleswig-Holstein,  ii,  509. 
Schleupner,  ii,  210. 
Schlottman,  C,  ii,  113. 
Schmalz,  V.,  ii,  562. 
Schmidt,  C,  i,  861. 
Schmidt,  J.  E.  C,  i,  45. 
Schmidt,  Karl,  i,  825,  827. 
Schmucker,  B.  M.,  i,  57. 
Schola  Palatini,  i,  504. 
Scholarship  in  modern  Church,  ii,  916, 917. 
Scholars,  travels  of,  i,  369. 
Scholastica,  i,  695. 
Scholasticism,  i,  471,  867-878,  ii,  154. 
Scholefield,  James,  ii,  837. 
Schools  of  early  Church,  i,  299-317;   in 

Middle  Ages,  504-506, 935-946,  Jesuit,  ii, 

Schottni  idler,  K.,  i,  802. 

Schroeckh,  J.  M.,  i,  46. 

Schrors,  J.  H.,  i,  499. 

Schupp,  J.  B.,  ii,  574. 

Schwartz,  C.  F.,  ii,  849. 

Schwartzerde,  ii,  103. 

Schwenkfeld,  K.,  ii,  211,  501,  527. 

Schhwenkfelders,  ii,  882. 

Science  and  literature  of  Middle  Ages,  i, 
467,  468. 

Scorv,  John,  ii,  435. 

Scotch  Church,  i,  617-647,  il,  467-477,  808, 
864-870 ;  scholars,  i,  941. 

Scotch-Irish,  ii,  878. 

Scotland,  Christianity  in,  i,  617-647  ;  King 
Edward  and,  772,  773 ;  Reformation  in, 
ii,  444-477 ;  and  Charles  1,649  ;  and  Eng- 
land, 664  ;  Quakers  in,  711 ;  Post-Ref- 
ormation, 721-732;  recent,  803,  864- 
870. 

Scott,  ii,  866. 

Scott,  Michael,  i,  645. 

Scott,  Thomas,  ii,  836. 

Scott,  Walter,  i,  632,  633,  917,  ii,  477,  729. 

Scottish  Church,  i,  617-647,  ii,  467-477; 
recent,  808,  864-870. 

Scriptures,  necessity  for  the,  i,  135  ;  high 
quality  of,  180  ;  use  of,  by  apologists, 
201,  202;  and  tradition,  268-278;  basis 
of  theology,  281 ;  copies  of,  in  MS.,  364 ; 
study  of,  in  the  home,  364  ;  illustrated 
in  catacombs,  385-388 ;  Wyclif  and,  ii, 
36,  37 ;  Zwingli's  appeal  to,  232  ;  Fox's 
views  of,  709,  710. 

Scriver,  Christian,  ii,  574. 

Scrooby,  ii,  6S6,  695,  879. 


INDEX. 


951 


Sculpture  in  Ireland,  i,  676  ;  in  early  and 

mediasval  Church,  933,  934. 
Scultetus,  A.,  ii,  553. 
Seaburv,  Samuel,  ii,  895. 
Sechnall,  St.,  i,  652. 
Seeker,  Thomas,  ii,  812. 
Sedan,  ii,  524. 
Sedulius,  i,  673. 
Seebohm,  F.,  ii,  371,  372. 
Selborne,  Lord,  i,  912. 
Seldeu,  John,  ii,  666. 
Selnecker,  N.,  ii,  507,  508,  525. 
Sembat,  i,  552. 
Semi-Pelagians,  i,  460,  461. 
Semisch,  K.,  i,  48. 
Semler,  J.  S.,  i,  44,  276,  ii,  743,  772. 
Sendomir,  consensus  of,  ii,  361. 
Seneca,  L.  A.,  i,  65,  66,  71,  76,  86. 
Sens,  council  of,  i,  883. 
Septimius  Severus,  i,  172,  173. 
Septuagint,  the,  i,  270. 
Sequences,  Notker's,  i,  914. 
Serapeum,  destruction  of  the,  i,  424. 
Serapion,  i,  237. 
Serenus,  i,  511. 
Sergius,  i,  447,  540,  743. 
Sergius  the  Paulician,  i,  551. 
Sergius  111,  i,  748. 
Serious  Call,  Law's,  ii,  663. 
Servetus,  Michael,  ii,  278,  297-300,561. 
Seth,  A.,  i,  864,  865. 
Sethites,  the,  i,  224,  225. 
Settlement,  the,  ii,  913. 
Seven  Years'  War,  the,  ii,  877. 
Seventh-Day  Baptists,  ii,  903. 
Severinus,  i,  556,  557,  578. 
Severus  of  Alexandria,  i,  446. 
Severus  of  Antioch,  i,  511. 
Seville,  Easter  at,  i,  922 ;  city  of,  ii,  352, 

353,  354. 
Shaftesbury,  A.  A.  C.  (third),  ii,  809, 810, 

(seventh),  861. 
Shahan,  T.  J.,  i,  391  n.  1. 
Shakespeare,  W.,  i,  791  n.  2,  ii,  24,  49, 

442,  865. 
Shamrock  legend,  the,  i,  657,  658. 
Sharp,  Granville,  ii,  856. 
Sharp.  James,  ii,  732. 
Shea,  J.  G.,  i,  57. 
Shedd,  W.  G.  T.,  i,  55. 
Sheldon,  Gilbert,  ii,  657. 
Sheldon,  H.  C,  i,  56. 
Sherburne,  Bishop,  ii,  392. 
Sherlock,  Thomas,  ii,  810,  812. 
Shipping  reform,  ii,  858. 
Shirley,  Selina,  ii,  825. 
Shirley,  Washington,  ii,  825. 
Shirley,  W.  W.,  ii,  17,  18,  30. 
Siam,  ii,  570. 
Sibthorp,  Robert,  ii,  645. 
Sibylline  oracles,  i,  322. 
Sic  et  non,  i,  882,  n.  2. 
Sicily,  i,  426. 

Sickingen,  Franz  von,  ii,  92, 175, 176. 
Sidney,  Henry,  ii,  499. 
Siegbert,  i,  41. 
Sigismund,  ii,  58,  66-68,  71. 
Sigismund,  John,  ii,  5l6. 
Sigismund  of  Sweden,  ii,  359. 
Sigismund  I,  ii,  361. 


Sigismund  II,  ii,  361. 

Sigismund  III,  ii,  361. 

Silesia,  ii,  211,  509,  767. 

Silvestro,  Fra,  ii,  84. 

Simcox,  i,  912. 

Simeon,  Charles,  ii,  837,  868. 

Simeon  Fulniinatus,  i,  689. 

Simeon  Stylites,  i,  689. 

Simon  Magus,  i,  158. 

Simon  Metaphrastes,  i,  576. 

Simon  Zelotes,  i,  117,575,  576. 

Simony,  i,  756. 

Simplicissimus,  i,  457. 

Simplicius,  i,  425. 

Simpson,  Duncan,  ii,  447. 

Simpson,  Sidrach,  ii,  666. 

Sin  and  grace,  i,  455-462. 

Singing,  i,  357. 

Siquis  door,  the,  ii,  640,  641. 

Siricius,  i,  451,  496,  723. 

Sirmium,  council  of,  i,  723. 

Sirmondus,  Jacques,  ii,  625. 

Sismondi,  J.  C.  L.  S.,  ii,  82  n.  4. 

Sisters  of  Charity,  ii,  549. 

Sitkovius,  Christian,  ii,  585. 

Sitric,  i,  676,  677. 

Six-Principle  Baptists,  ii,  903. 

Sixtus  IV,  ii,  79,  342,  344,  594,  595. 

Sixtus  V,  ii,  536,  551. 

Skeat,  Walter  W.,  ii,  619. 

Skelton,  Samuel,  ii,  880. 

Skene,  W.  F.,  i,  620,  627, 628,  638,  641, 642. 

Skeptics,  the,  i,  66. 

Slavery,  i,  75,  147,  531,  ii,  808,  856,  857, 

874,  910,  911. 
Slavery  of  the  Will,  ii,  179. 
Slaves  as  teachers,  i,  74 ;  sympathy  for, 

361,  362;  close  relatibn  of  clergy  with, 

493. 
Slavonians,  ii,  798. 
Slavs,  ii,  362. 
Smalcald,  convention  at,  ii,  509  ;  League, 

122  n.  29,  197-200,  201,  202,  214,  216; 

War,  216. 
Smith,  Eli,  ii,  908. 
Smith,  HenrvB.,  i,  54,  55. 
Smith,  Henry  P.,  ii,  900. 
Smith,  I.  G.,  i,  702. 
Smith,  Captain  John,  ii,  878. 
Smith,  Miles,  ii,  641. 
Smith,  R.  B.,  i,  525,  536. 
Smith,  Sydney,  ii,  836,  837. 
Smith,  Thomas,  i,  564. 
Smith,  W.  Robertson,  ii,  916. 
Smyth,  John,  ii,  695,  696,  706. 
Snorro-Sturluson,  i,  573. 
Soame,  II.,  i,  576. 
Social  purity,  ii,  912. 
Societies  for  service,  ii,  915. 
Socinianism,  ii,  845,  846. 
Socinians,  ii,  558. 
Socinus,  F.,  ii,  562. 
Socinus,  L.,  ii,  562. 
Socrates,  i,  37. 

Socrates  the  philosopher,  i,  64,  66,  73. 
Soissons,  council  of,  i,  883. 
Solemn  League  and  Covenant,  ii,  664, 

665.  726,  868. 
Solinus,  i,  658,  672. 
Solvman,  i,  804. 


952 


INDEX. 


Somerset,  Edward  Seymour,  duke  of,  ii, 

428. 
Sonierville,  John,  ii,  442. 
Sonderbund,  ii,  775. 
Sophia,  St.,  i,  666. 
Sophists,  the,  i,  64. 
Sophocles,  ii,  370. 
Sophronius,  i,  449. 
Sorbonne,  the,  ii,  281,  Sll,  313,  314,  316, 

318,  565,  567,  568. 
Soto,  H.  de,  ii,  875. 
South  America,  ii,  570. 
Southey,  Robert,  ii,  701,  826. 
Sozomen,  i,  37. 
Spain,   i,   405,   406;   Jews   in,  906,  908; 

Reformation  in,   ii,  347,   348,  352-354; 

Catholicism  of,  588-597 ;   Bourbon  re- 
forms in,  598-604. 
Spalatin,  G.,  ii,  137,  154,  170,  184. 
Spangeuberg,  M.  A.,  ii,  586,  817,  818,  904. 
Spanheim,  F.,  i,  42,  43,  52. 
Spanish  Catholicism,  ii,  588-597;  conquest, 

875  ;  Succession,  War  of,  603. 
Speculative  tendency,  the,  i,  151. 
Speer,  Robert  E.,  ii,  908. 
Spener,  P.  J.,  i,  43, 236,  ii,  572, 574, 575, 581. 
Spengler,  L.,  ii,  167,  208,  525. 
Spenser,  Edmund,  ii,  733,  734,  735. 
Speratus,  Paulus,  ii,  122  n.  33,  208,  525. 
Spiera,  Francis,  ii,  351. 
Spilsbury,  John,  ii,  697. 
Spires,  diets  of,  ii,  122  n.  24,  192,  194,  205, 

207,  254  ;  city  of,  509. 
Spiritualism,  i,  239 ;  and  realism,  451,  452. 
Spondanus,  H.,  i,  42.       t 
Sports,  James's  Book  of,  ii,  648. 
Spottiswood,  John,  ii,  726. 
Spreng,  Jacobus,  ii,  331. 
Sprenger,  A.,  i,  525,  535,  536. 
Spring,  Samuel,  ii,  907. 
Spurgeon,  C.  H.,  ii,  714,  715,  850. 
Stabat  mater  dolorosa,  i,  918. 
Stagnation  in  Greek  Church,  i,  553,  554. 
Stalker,  J.,  i,  863  n.  1. 
Stanley,  Arthur  P.,  i,  24,  50,  394,  425. 
Stark,"Henry,  ii,  449,  450. 
States  General,  i,  774,  775. 
States  of  the  Church,  ii,  784. 
Statistics,  i,  34. 
Statorius,  P.,  ii,  562. 
Statu  ecclesia\  ii,  754,  761,  762. 
Staudlin,  K.  F.,  i,  46. 
Staupitz,  J.,  i,  713,  864,  ii,  120  n.  4,  126, 

144,  149,  150,  151,  152,  162,  165,  210,  225. 
Stead,  W.  T.,  ii,  912. 
Steele,  Anne,  ii,  823. 
Steele,  Richard,  i,  711. 
Stekna,  ii,  54. 

Stephen,  i   101,  102 ;  Apocalypse  of,  323. 
Stephen,  James,  i,  760,  761,  837. 
Stephen,  bishop  of  Rome,  i,  246,  248,  339, 

720,  726. 
Stephen,  king  of  England,  i,  607,  608. 
Stephen  of  Dolein,  ii,  54. 
Stephen  of  Tigerno,  i,  708. 
Stephen  II,  i,  475. 
Stephen  III,  i,  476. 
Stephen  IV,  i,  487. 
Stephen  VI,  903. 
Stephen  the  boy,  i,  797. 


Stephen  the  monk,  i,  517. 

Stephens,  the,  ii,  836. 

Stephens,  W.  R.  W.,  i,  727  n.  8. 

Stephenson,  T.  B.,  ii,  834. 

Sterne,  Lawrence,  ii,  819. 

Stevens,  Abel,  i,  57. 

Stevenson,  J.,  ii,  18. 

Stewart,  Dugald,  ii,  865. 

Stewart,  John,  909. 

Stiefel,  Michael,  ii,  211. 

Stigmata  of  Francis,  i,  811. 

Stillingfleet,  E.,  i,  576. 

Stirrup  incident,  the,  i,  763. 

Stitny,  Thomas  of,  ii,  53,  65,  66. 

Stobart,  J.  W.  H.,  i,  525,  526. 

Stock,  Simon,  i,  712. 

Stoddard,  Solomon,  ii,  889. 

Stoessel,  J.,  ii,  507. 

Stoic  philosophy,  i,  65. 

Stokes,  G.  T.,  i,  664,  670,  674. 

Stokes,  M.,  i,  511,  520,  665,  667,  675. 

Stokes,  W.,  i,  652. 

Stokesley,  ii,  392. 

Stolberg,  F.  L.,  i,  53. 

Stoll,  Joachim,  ii,  575. 

Storch,  Nicholas,  ii,  692. 

Storder,  J.,  ii,  293. 

Storrs,  Richard  S.,  i,  56. 

Stoughton,  John,  i,  51,  ii,  844,  847. 

Stow,  chronicles  of,  ii,  403. 

Strafford,  Thomas  W.,  ii,  643,  649,  738. 

Straiton  (martyr),  ii,  447. 

Strasburg,  city  of,  ii,  193,  197,  210,  247, 
249,  254,  509 ;  Calvin  in,  290-296 ;  Uni- 
versity of,  524  ;  Spener  in,  575. 

Strauss,  D.  F.,  i,  49,  ii,  100  n.  1,  748,  749. 

Striegel,  V.,  ii,  504. 

Stromata  of  Clement,  i,  302,  303. 

Strype,  John,  ii,  402,  418. 

Stuart,  Adam,  ii,  673  n.  2. 

Stuart,  Moses,  ii,  907. 

Stuart,  Anglicans  and  Puritans  under  the 
first,  ii,  634-642. 

Stubbs,  W.,  i,  580,  597,  ii,  43. 

Studium  generale,  i,  942,  943. 

Suabian  Hall,  ii,  211. 

Subdeacons,  i,  325,  326. 

Suburban  churches,  i,  330,  331. 

Succession,  Act  of,  ii,  406. 

Suidas,  i,  424. 

Sullivan,  W.  R.,  i,  664. 

Sulpicius  Severus,  i,  38,  582,  644. 

Summa  Theologize,  i,  870,  945. 

Sunday,  i,  145,  348,  349, 356,  416,  639,  648  ; 
schools,  ii,  833. 

Supernaturalism,  ii,  744,  747,  748. 

Supremacy  of  king  in  England,  ii,  384, 
3S5,  620,  681. 

Svedberg,  Jasper,  ii,  789. 

Swabian  concordia,  ii,  508. 

Sweden,  conversion  of,  i,  571,  572 ;  Ref- 
ormation in,  ii,  355-359;  Church  in, 
786-789,  790 ;  Baptists  in,  909. 

Swedenborg,  Emmanuel,  ii,  789. 

Swedes,  the,  ii,  881. 

Swift,  Jonathan,  ii,  813. 

Swinburne,  A.  C,  ii,  689. 

Switzerland,  ii,  198,  759,  773,  775;  Ref- 
ormation in,  219-304,  312. 

Sybel,  H.  von,  i,  48,  793. 


INDEX. 


953 


Sylvester  I,  i,  497,  721. 
Sylvester  II,  i,  749,  792. 
Symbols,  Christian,  i,  366,387,388,389, 390. 
Symons,  J.  A.,  i,  895. 
Synergism,  i,  456. 

Synergistic  controversy,  ii,  503,  504. 
Synod,  the,  i,  334, 335;  of  the  Desert,  ii,  779. 
Synodical  epistles,  i,   335,  369;  Confer- 
ence Lutherans,  ii,  904. 
Syrian  architecture,  i,  666. 

Tableaux  vivants,  i,  922. 
Tacitus,  i,  71,  75,  182,  798. 
Talleyrand,  C.  M.,  i,  599. 
Tamerlane,  i,  444. 
Tanner,  Adam,  ii,  551. 
Tara,  Patrick  at,  i,  655,  656. 
Tarasius,  i,  518. 
Tarsus,  Paul  and,  i,  106. 

Tatian,  'i,  'l91,  193,  196,  228,  229,  284,  289, 
317,  364,  370. 

Tatto,  i,  504. 

Tauber,  Caspar,  ii,  213. 

Tauler,  John,  i,  817,  858-860,  862,  866,  872, 
949,  ii,  154,  868. 

Tausen,  Hans,  ii,  358. 

Taverner,  Richard,  ii,  616. 

Taylor,  Isaac,  i,  537. 

Taylor,  Jeremy,  ii,  614,  666,  667,  738,  815. 

Taylor,  Rowland,  ii,  422,  423,  625. 

Taylor,  Thomas,  ii,  828. 

Taylor,  William,  ii,  910. 

Taylor,  William  M.,  ii,  850. 

Teaching  of  the  Twelve  Apostles,  i,  104 
n.  1,  126,  144, 145  n.  1,  194,  291  n.  12. 

Teignmouths,  the,  ii,  836. 

Teisseire,  Jean,  i,  825. 

Telugu  mission,  ii,  909. 

Temperance,  ii,  808,  829,  858,  859,  874, 911, 
912. 

Templars,  the,  i,  796,  799-803,  848,  ii,  399. 

Temple,  Frederick,  ii,  843. 

Temporal  power  of  papacy,  i,  476,  ii,  783, 
784,  785. 

"  Ten  Virgins,"  Tragedy  of  the,  i,  926. 

Tennent,  Gilbert,  ii,  891,  901. 

Tennent,  William,  ii,  890,  891. 

Tennvson,  Alfred,  i,  689. 

Teoli,  i,  913. 

Terebinthus,  i,  226. 

Teresa,  i,  712. 

Teresa  de  Jesus,  ii,  566. 

Tertiaries,  i,  812. 

Tertullian,  i,  71, 144, 152, 157, 182, 186,  191, 
195,  197,  237,  238,  239,  264,  270,  272,  273, 
274,  278,  281,  682,  283,  284,  285,  286,  287, 
288,  289,  290,  292,  293,  294,  311-314,  316, 
326,  329,  337,  355,  360,  363,  398,  456,  556, 
577,  580,  719,  839,  931,  939,  ii,  435. 

Terwoort,  Hendrik,  ii,  694. 

Test  act,  ii,  659. 

Testament,  the  Old,  in  the  New,  i,  135 ; 
Old  and  New,  274 ;  the  New,  ii,  108-110. 

Testwood  (martyr),  ii,  414. 

Tetzel,  J.,ii,  120n.ll,  156-158, 160, 161,163. 

Teutonic  conquest  of  Britain,  i,  584 ; 
Knights,  799,  ii,  208. 

Tewkesbury  (martyr),  ii,  415. 

Texerant,  the,  i,  826. 


Thacher,  ii,  678. 

Thackeray,  W.  M.,  i,  711. 

Thames,  the,  i,  697,  698. 

Theater,  the,  i,  921,  922. 

Theatines,  the,  ii,  351,  541,  542. 

Theiner,  A.,  i,  42. 

Theobald  of  Canterbury,  i,  607,  608. 

Theodalf,  i,  697. 

Theodolind,  i,  561. 

Theodora,  i,  446,  518,  542,  552,  748. 

Theodore  of  Canterbury,  i,  589,  593. 

Theodore  of  Mopsuestia,  i,  311,  460. 

Theodore  of  Pharan,  i,  742. 

Theodore  of  the  Studium,  i,  519. 

Theodoret,  i,  37,  291,  442. 

Theodoret  of  Cyrrho,  i,  230. 

Theodoric,  i,  489,  502. 

Theodorus,  i,  311,  548. 

Theodorus,  bishop,  i,  489. 

Theodosian  code,  i,  843. 

Theodosius  the  Great,  i,  423,  430,  724. 

Theodosius  II,  i,  442,  445,  452,  484,  689, 
727,  903. 

Theodosius  of  Ephesus,  i,  517. 

Theodotians,  i,  262,  431. 

Theognetus,  i,  745. 

"Theological  Commonplaces,"  ii,  176, 
177,  349,  504. 

Theological  science,  ii,  753-755. 

Theology,  development  of,  i,  139,  140 ; 
before  Nicene  council,  279-298  ;  contro- 
versies in,  427-462  ;  in  Eastern  Church, 
546-554  ;  of  Patrick,  658-660  ;  mediaeval, 
867-878 ;  of  Abelard,  881-884  ;  of  Aqui- 
nas, 885-887 ;  of  Duns  Scotus,  887,  888 ; 
of  Dante,  900;  Anglican,  ii,  392-398; 
Spener's,  577;  Ritschl's,  751,  752;  Ger- 
man, in  Holland,  772. 

Theophanes  IV,  ii,  804. 

Theophilus,  emperor,  i,  518. 

Theophilus  of  Alexandria,  i,  452. 

Theophilus  of  Antioch,  i,  191,  196,  202, 
283,  284,  28S,  289,  294,  317,  364. 

Theotokos,  i,  441. 

Therapeutse,  the,  i,  681. 

Theresa,  St.,  ii,  601,  604. 

Theses,  the  ninetv-five,  ii,  120  n.  9,  156- 
162 ;  the  ten,  of  Haller,  236  n.  2. 

Thirlwall,  Connop,  ii,  839. 

Thirty  Years'  War,  ii,  362,  550-556,  589. 

Thirty-nine  Articles,  the,  ii,  396,  434,  620, 
630,  638,  646,  659. 

Thoburn,  James  M.,  ii,  910. 

Thodulph,  i,  505,  506. 

Tholuck,  F.  A.  G.,  i,  20,  29,  46  n.  1. 

Thomas,  John,  ii,  848. 

Thomas  the  apostle,  i,  117;  Christians, 
118,  444 ;  Gospel  of,  322 ;  Apocalypse  of, 
323 

Thomas  of  Celano,  i,  808  n.  1,  813,  915. 

Thomas  of  Stitny,  ii,  53,  65,  66. 

Thompson,  A.  C,  ii,  583. 

Thompson,  E.  M.,  ii,  18. 

Thompson,  George,  ii,  911. 

Thompson,  Peter,  ii,  834. 

Thompson,  R.  E.,  i,  57. 

Thompson,  R.  W.,  i,  56. 

Thomson,  Andrew,  ii,  868. 

Thondracians,  the,  i,  552,  553. 

Thorn,  ii,  768. 


954 


INDEX. 


Thorntons,  the,  ii,  836,  837. 

Thorp,  William,  ii,  38,  47. 

Thorwald,  i.  574. 

Thrace,  i,  402. 

Three  Chapters,  controversy  on,  i,  446. 

Throscmorton,  Nicholas,  ii,  442. 

Thundering  Legion,  the,  i,  171,  172. 

Tiberias,  school  at,  i,  158. 

Tieck,  Ludwig,  ii,  747. 

Tiffany,  C.  C,  i,  57. 

Tiffin  manuscript,  ii,  697. 

Tilenus,  Daniel,  ii,  724. 

Tillemont,  L.  S.,  i,  53. 

Tillot,  Louis  du,  ii,  281,  282,  284. 

Tilly,  J.  T.,ii,  553. 

Timann,  J.,  ii,  504. 

Tindal,  M.,  ii,  415,  809. 

Tirechan,  i,  652,  657  n.  2,  660  n.  4. 

Titus,  i,  154,  905. 

Todd,  J.  H.,  i,  657,  674. 

Toggenburg,  ii,  223,  238. 

Toland,  John,  ii,  809. 

Tolerance,  ii,  675,  676. 

Toleration  under  Constantino   and   his 

sons,  i,  413-417  ;  under  James  I,  ii,  716, 

717,  718  ;  in  America,  878. 
Tome,  Leo's,  i,  729,  730. 
Tongues,  eift  of,  i,  91,  98. 
Tonstal,  bishop,  ii,  392. 
Tonsure,  the,  i,  582,  583. 
Toplady,  A.  M.,  ii,  823,  826. 
Torgau,  League  of,  ii,  192 ;  articles,  508 ; 

Book,  508,  509. 
Torquemada,  i,  448,  ii,  604. 
Torture,  ii,  439,  596. 
Tosti,  Luigi,  ii,  783. 
Totila,  i,  695. 
Toynbee,  Arnold,  ii,  913. 
Tozer,  H.  F.,  i,  543. 
Tractarian  movement,  i,  495. 
Tracts  for  the  Times,  ii,  841. 
Tracts  of  Wyclif,  ii,  26,  27. 
Tracy,  William  de,  i,  614,  615. 
Tradition,  the   Scriptures    and,    i,  268- 

278. 
Trajan,  persecutions  by,  i,  166, 186 ;  letter 

of  Plinv  to,  167, 168 ;  reply  of,  to  Pliny, 

168 ;  mildness  of,  169. 
Transubstantiation,  i,  293,  876. 
Transylvania,  ii,  360,  362,  767,  771. 
Trappists,  the,  i,  706. 
Travel,  safety  of,  in  Roman  empire,  i,  69  ; 

a  feature  of  early  Christian  Church, 

368,  369  ;  of  scholars,  369-374 ;  of  Jus- 
tin, 372. 
Trebonius,  Johann,  ii,  135. 
Trelawnev,  Jonathan,  ii,  658. 
Trench,  R.  C,  i,  912,  915. 
Trent,  council  of,  ii,  216,  217,  334, 353, 423, 

476,  529,  530,  532-537,  549,  565,  673. 
Trevecca  College,  ii,  825. 
Trevelyn,  John,  ii,  814. 
Treves,  i,  406,  407,  556. 
Trialogues  of  Wyclif,  ii,  32,  39. 
Trinity,   controversy  on  the,  i,  259-268 ; 

doctrine  of,  282,  283 ;  College,  Dublin, 

ii,  734,  871. 
Tripartite  Life  of  Patrick,  i,  652, 674. 
Tritheists,  i,  446. 
Trivium,  i,  941. 


Trolliet,  ii,  301,  302. 

Trotter,  Thomas,  ii,  858. 

Truber,  Primus,  ii,  362. 

Trudbert,  563. 

True  Christianity,  ii,  528,  575. 

Trullan  council,  i,  449,  741,  742 ;  second, 

539,  540. 
Truttvetter,  Jodocus,  ii,  136,  151. 
Tschudis,  the  three,  ii,  238. 
Tubingen  historians,  the,  i,  48-50  ;  Book, 

ii,  508  :  theologians,  510,  585,  751. 
"  Tulchan  "  bishops,  ii,  721,  722. 
Tulloch,  J.,  i,  51. 
Tunkers,  ii,  882,  903. 
Turgot,  A.  R.  J.,  ii,  781. 
Turks,  i,  469,537,  544,  545,  791,  804,  ii,  193, 

195,  198,  199,  200,  204,  205,  342,  370,  797. 
Turner,  Francis,  ii,  658. 
Turretin,  Francis,  ii,  773. 
Tuscany,  Hermits  of,  i,  712. 
Twelve  Patriarchs,  Teaching  of,  i,  321. 
Twentieth  Century,  American  Church  in 

the,  ii,  914-918. 
Twisse,  William,  ii,  666. 
Tyburn,  ii,  406-409. 
Tyerman,  Luke,  ii,  832. 
Tylsworth,  William,  ii,  50. 
Tyndale,  William,  ii,  47,  51,  371,  372,  413, 

445,  446,  615,  616. 
Tyng,  Stephen  H.,  Jr.,  ii,  895. 
Typus,  the,  i,  449,  546,  741. 
Tyrone  and  Tyrconnel,  earls  of,  ii,  735. 
Tyrwhitt,  R.  St.  J.,  i,  931,  932. 
Tzschirner,  H.  G.,  i,  46,  426  n.  1. 

Ubaldini,  Roger,  i,  898. 

Uhland,  L.,  i,  858. 

Uhlhorn,  G.,  i,  426  n.  1. 

Ulfilas,  the  Gothic  apostle,  i,  403,  404, 

408,  409,  438,  556. 
Ullathorne,  William  B.,  ii,  854. 
Oilman,  K.,  ii,  37. 
Ulm,  city  of,  ii,  193,  197,  210,  254. 
Ulrich  of  Mecklenburg,  ii,  506. 
Ulrich  of  Wtirtemberg,  ii,  199,  211,  258. 
Ulster,  plantation  of,  ii,  735. 
Ultramontanism,  ii,  758,  774,  775. 
Ulysses,  i,  931. 

Unarn  sanctam,  bull,  i,  774,  775. 
Uniformity,  Act  of,  ii,  433,  624,  654,  655. 
Unigenitus,  ii,  762. 
Union  of  churches,  ii,  917,  918 ;  of  1817, 

745  ;  of  the  Valleys,  559. 
Unitarianism,  ii,  843,  844,  846,   848,  871, 

889,  897,  898,  899. 
Unitarians,  ii,  558,  610,  659,  674,  845,  900. 
Unitas  Fratrum,  i,  834,  ii,  583,  584,  585, 

586,  904. 
United  Brethren,  ii,  904  :  in  Christ,  905. 
United  Evangelical  Church,  ii,  905. 
United  Methodist  Free  Church,  ii,  830. 
United  Presbyterians  of  Scotland,  ii,  868  ; 

in  America,  902. 
United  Secession  Church,  ii,  867,  868,  869. 
United  Synod  of  the  South  (Lutherans), 

ii,  904. 
Unity  of  God,  principal  doctrine  of  Islam, 

i,  529,  536. 
Universalism,  ii,  848,  898. 
Universalists,  the,  ii,  899,  900. 


INDEX. 


955 


Universities,  in  Scotland,  i,  645  ;  rise  of, 

935-94(3,  ii,  93 ;  Henry  VIII's  appeal  to, 

ii,  382. 
Upsala,  ii,  359,  789. 
Urban  Rhegius,  ii,  207,  210.  247. 
Urban  II,  i,  603,  604,  704,  708,  792,  793. 
Urban  V,  i,  780,  ii,  17,  19,  25. 
Urban  VI,  i,  781,  782,  ii,  31,  41. 
Urban  VIII,  ii,  547,  571. 
Ursicinus,  i,  723. 
Ursinus,  Z.,  ii,  513,  514. 
Ursulines,  the,  ii,  549. 
Ussher,  J.,  i,  138,  576,  657,  679,  948,  ii, 

496,  614,  666,  736,  737. 
Utopia,  i,  849,  ii,  370,  376. 
Utraquists,  ii,  559. 
Utrecht,  union  of,  ii,  335 :  University  of, 

335,  524,  582. 
Uytenbogaert,  J.,  ii,  386. 

Vacarius,  i,  607. 
Vadian,  J.,  ii,  237. 
Vaisette,  J.,  i,  802. 
Valdes,  Juan,  ii,  350,  351. 
Valdez,  Fernando,  ii,  354. 
Valens,  i,  436,  690,  699. 
Valentine,  i,  221 ;  school  of,  222,  223,  320. 
Valentinian,  i,  425. 
Valentinian  HI,  i,  484,  485,  699,  728. 
Valerian,  i,  174. 
Valero,  Roderigo  de,  ii,  352. 
Valla,  Lorenzo,  ii,  108,  175. 
Valladolid,  ii,  352,  353,  354. 
Vallombrosa,  order  of,  i,  707. 
Vanantius  Fortunatus,  i,  576. 
Vandals,  i,  438,  726. 
Van  Dyck,  C.  A.,  ii,  908. 
Vane,  Harry,  ii,  614. 
Vargas,  Martin  de,  i,  706. 
Vasev,  Thomas,  ii,  828. 
Vater,  J.  S.,  i,  45. 
Vatican  council,  ii,  68,69,  758. 
Vaughan,  R.,  i,  50,  ii,  25 n.  1,  846,  847. 
Vaughan,  R.  A.,  i,  51,  857  n.  3,  ii,  847. 
Vaughan,  R.  B.,  i,  870  n.  4. 
Vazeille,  Widow,  ii,  822. 
Vedder,  H.  C,  ii,  691. 
Venables.  Edmund,  i,  929,  934. 
Venema,  H.,  i,  52. 
Veneration  of  relics,  i,  250,  352. 
Veni,  Creator  Spiritus,  i,  913,  914. 
Veni,  Sancte  Spiritus,  i,  915. 
Venice,  ii,  350. 
Venn,  Henry,  ii,  827. 
Venn,  John,  ii,  836. 
Vercelli,  svnod  of,  i,  875. 
Verererio,  P.  P.,  ii,  351,522. 
Vermigli,  Peter  Martyr,  ii,  325,  351. 
Vermont,  University  of,  ii,  898. 
Vespucci,  Amerigo,  ii,  370. 
Vestments,  ii,  624-626. 
Vickers,  R.  H.,  ii,  63. 
Victor,  St..  monastery  of,  i,  854. 
Victor,  bishop  of  Rome,  i,  339,  619,  719. 
Victor  IV,  i,  764. 
Victor  Emmanuel,  i,  476. 
Victoria,  Queen,  ii,  783  n.  2. 
Victorius  Aquitanus,  i,  582. 
Vienna,  council  of,  i,  905,  907  :  peace  of, 
ii,  362. 


Vienne,  church  in,  i,  171. 

Vigilantius,  i,  687,  688. 

Vigilius,  i,  724. 

Villani,  G.,  i,  778,891. 

Villaret,  Claude,  i,  802. 

Villari,  P.,  ii,  75,  76,  78,  84,  85,  87,  89. 

Villemain,  A.  F.,  i,  760. 

Vincent,  James,  ii,  656. 

Vincent  of  Beauvais,  i,  854. 

Vincent  of  Lerins,  i,  468. 

Vincentius,  i,  460. 

Vinci,  L.  da,  i,  931. 

Vine  in  art,  the,  i,  929,  930. 

Vini,  i,  802. 

Vipsanius  Agrippa,  i,  740. 

Viret,  Pierre,  ii,  222,  271,  272,  274,  286, 

302. 
Virgil,  bishop,  i,  673,  941. 
Virgin,  Holy,  Epistles  of,  to  Inhabitants 

of  Messina,  i,  323  ;  worship  of,  391,  393, 

876,  ii,  107. 
Virginia,  ii,  872,  873,  878,  879,  883,  888. 
Virves,  Alfonso  de,  ii,  353. 
Vischer,  F.  T.,  i,  115  n.  1. 
Vjtalian,  i,  593. 
Vitet,  L.,  i,  925. 
Vockinger,  Captain,  ii,  268. 
Voes,  Heinrich,  ii,  332. 
Vogel,  i,  705. 
Vogue,  Count  de,  i,  666. 
Voigt,  J.,  i,  785. 

Voltaire,  F.  M.  A.  C,  i,  883,  ii,  590. 
Voluntaryism,  i,  831,  867,  869. 
Volunteers  of  America,  ii,  912,  913. 
Vulgate,  the,  ii,  536. 

Wadding,  Luke,  i,  813. 

Waddington,  G.,  i,  50,  ii,  847. 

Waddy,  Richard  D.,  ii,  832. 

Wagner,  George,  ii,  212. 

Walafrid  Strabo,  i,  504,  638. 

Waldenses,  the,  i,  819-821,  825,  829,  831- 

836,  843,  ii,  559,  590,  765. 
Waldenstromians,  ii,  788. 
Waldhausen,  Konrad  of,  ii,  54,  65. 
Waldo,  Peter,  i,  831,  832. 
Walker,  N.  L.,  ii,  472  n.  1. 
Walker,  W.,  i,  57. 
Wallenstein,  A.  W.  E.,  ii,  554,  555. 
Walpole,  Horace,  ii,  810,  819. 
Walsh,  bishop,  ii,  498. 
Walsh,  Thomas,  ii,  831,  871. 
Walsh,  Walter,  ii,  842  n.  2. 
Walsingham,  Francis,  ii,  442,  443. 
Walsingham,  T.,  ii,  20. 
Walter  of  St.  Victor,  i,  855. 
Walter  the  Penniless,  i,  795. 
Walton,  Brian,  ii,  666. 
War  under  Mohammedanism,  i,  531,  535. 
Warburton,  William,  ii,  813,  816. 
Ward,  Mary,  ii,  547. 
Ward,  W.  G.,  ii,  841,  854. 
Ware,  Henry,  ii,  898. 
Ware,  W.,  i,  545. 
Warham,  ii,  S85. 

Warham,  William,  ii,  374,  412,  415. 
Warren,  George,  ii,  832. 
Warren,  Samuel,  ii,  830,  832. 
Warrener.  William,  ii,  828. 
Warsaw,  diet  of,  ii,  362. 


956 


INDEX. 


Wartburg,  ii,  121  n.  16,  171,  172. 

Washington,  George,  ii,  896. 

Wasserschleben,  F.  W.  H.,  i,499. 

Waterlanders,  ii,  561. 

Watson,  Robert,  ii,  865. 

Weber,  George,  i,  802. 

Webster,  R.,  i,  57. 

Wednesday,  i,  349. 

Wegele,  F.  X.,  i,  900. 

Weigel,  Valentine,  ii,  526. 

Weimar  confutation,  ii,  505;  education 

in,  524. 
Weingarten,  H.,  i.  812,  857. 
Weinmann,  Sebastian,  ii,  137. 
Weissenberg,  battle  of,  ii,  553,  559. 
Wellesleys,  the,  ii,  814. 
Wellington,  Duke  of,  ii,  814,  854. 
Welsh  Calvinistic  Church,  ii,  827. 
Wenceslas,  i,  846. 
Werenfrid,  i,  564. 
Werner.  F.  L.  Z.,  i,  917,  ii,  747. 
Wesel,  ii,  517,  518;  John  of,  93,  137. 
Wesley,  Bartholomew,  ii,  814. 
Wesley,  Charles,  ii,  806,  816,  821,  827,  828. 
Wesley,  Herbert,  ii,  814. 
Wesley,  John,  i,  46  n.  1,  239,  240,  459  n.  1, 

702,    709,    711,   809  n.  2,   812,  813,  853, 

863,  913  n.  1,  ii,  26,  38,  81,  375,  417,  458, 

470,  652,  663,  707,  710,  711,  712,  713,  743, 

790,  805,  813,  814-820,  821,  822,  823,  825, 

827,  828,  829,  830,  831,  834,  851,  856,  858, 

868,  871,  895,  904,  905. 
Wesley,  Samuel,  ii,  814,  821. 
Wesley,  Samuel,  Jr.,  ii,  824. 
Wesley,  Sarah,  ii,  824. 
Wesley,  Susannah,  ii,  814,  815. 
Wesleyan  Association,  ii,  830. 
Wessel,  John,  i,  869,  874,  ii,  95,  96. 
Wessex,  i,  588. 
West,  A.  F.,  i,  57. 
Westcott,  B.  F.,  i,  306,  307,  308,  452,  549, 

550. 
Western   Church,  questions   in,  i,   455 ; 

division  between  Eastern  and,  538-545. 
Western  Empire  of  Charles  the  Great,  i, 

483. 
Westfield,  Thomas,  ii,  666. 
Westminster  Confession,  ii,  422,  474,  670- 

672  ;   Assembly,   665-674  ;  Catechisms, 

670,  724 ;  Review,  839. 
Weston,  E.,  ii,  457. 
Westphal,  J.,  ii,  504. 
Westphalia,    ii,  518;   peace  of,  324-328, 

335,  555,  761,  766,  767,  769. 
Westwood,  J.  O.,  i,  675. 
Wetzer,  11.  J.  and  Welte,  B.,  i,  54. 
Weysse,  Michael,  ii,  525. 
Whatcoat,  Richard,  ii,  828. 
Whately,  Richard,  ii,  839. 
Whichcote,  Benjamin,  ii,  666,  667. 
Whitaker,  Alexander,  ii,  878. 
Whitby,  synod  of,  i,  589. 
White,  Blanco,  ii,  603. 
White,  John,  ii,  814. 
White,  Thomas,  ii,  658. 
White,  William,  i,  57,  ii,  895,  903. 
Whitefield,   George,  ii,  81,  711,  712,  766, 

806,  824,  825,  827,  830,  883,  889,  891,  899. 
Whitgift,  John,  ii,  633,  636,  638,  639,  694. 
Whithorn,  i,  619,  620. 


Whitman,  Walt,  i,  660  n.  1. 

Whitsitt,  William  H.,  ii,  691,  698. 

Whittier,  John  G.,  ii,  911. 

Whittingham,  W.,  ii,  616. 

Why  Poor  Priests  have  no  Benefices,  ii, 

27. 
Wichern,  Johann  H.,  ii,  750. 
Widebram,  ii,  514. 
Wiener,  Paul,  ii,  362,  363. 
Wigand,  J.,  i,  41,  ii,  135,  502,  503. 
Wilberforce,  William,  ii,  836, 856,  857, 868. 
Wildhaus,  ii,  223. 
Wilfrid,  i,  588,  589,  593,  594,  636. 
Wilhelm  of  Anhalt,  ii,  134,  138. 
Wilken,  F.,  i,  792,  793. 
Will,  doctrine  of  the,  i,  288,  289 ;  Augus- 
tine on  the,  457 ;  of  St.  Francis,  810, 

811 ;  Bradwardine  on,  ii,  8,  9 ;  Slavery 

of,  179. 
Willard,  Frances  E.,  ii,  912,  913. 
William  and  Mary  College,  ii,  883. 
William  of  Cleves,  ii,  202,  214,  215. 
William  of  Hesse,  ii,  508. 
William  of  Malmesbury,  i,  577,  794,  795. 
William  of  Nogaret,  i,  775,  776. 
William  of  Occam,  i,  779,  813,  ii,  6,  7,  37, 

143,  144,  146. 
William  of  Orange,  pref.  x,  ii,  334,  335, 

441,  658,  659,  663,  687,  690,  732,  738,  809, 

864. 
William  of  Tyre,  i,  793. 
William  the  Conqueror,  i,  597,  598,  602, 

608. 
William  the  Pious,  i,  703. 
Williams,  George,  ii,  915. 
Williams,  Roger,  ii,  675,  883,  884. 
Williams,  Rufus,  i,  602-604,  605. 
Williams  College,  ii,  898. 
Willibrord,  i,  564,  566,  570. 
Wilson,  Walter,  ii,  847. 
Wiltsch,  J.  E.  T.,i,  479  n.  1. 
Wimpffen,  ii,  211. 
Wimpina,  K.,  ii,  160. 
Winckelmann,  J.  J.,  i,  934. 
Winckler,  George,  ii,  212. 
Windthorst,  Ludwig,  ii,  759. 
Winebrennarians,  ii,  903. 
Winfrid,  i,  566-569. 
Wingfield,  Prior,  ii,  402. 
Winkworth,  S.,  i,  860. 
Winslow,  Edward,  ii,  687. 
Wiro,  i,  564. 

Wiseman,  N.  P.  S.,  i,  777,  ii,  854,  855. 
Wiseman,  L.  H.,  ii,  832. 
Wishart,  George,  i,  646,  ii,  450,  452,  454. 
Witch  superstition,  ii,  753,  789,  888. 
Withern,  i,  619,  620. 
Withrow,  W.  H.,  i,  393. 
Wittenberg,  University  of,  ii,  120  n.  6, 

361,  581,  582 ;  Luther  at,  151-155. 
Wittenbergers,  ii,  254,  255,  502,  505,  507. 
Wodeford,  ii,  18,  19. 
Wodrow,  Robert,  ii,  726. 
Wolf,  E.  J.,  i,  57. 
Wolfenbiiftel  fragments,  ii,  743. 
Wolff,  Christian,  ii,  579,  742. 
Wolfgang  of  Anhalt,    ii,   192,   197,  254, 

505,  506. 
Wollaston,  William,  ii,  809. 
Wolmar,  Melchior,  ii,  280,  281. 


INDEX. 


95' 


Wolaev,  Thomas,  ii,  368, 378, 380,  381,  382, 

399,  402,  410,  416,  643. 
Woman,   degradation  of,  under  pagan- 
ism, i,  70;  elevation  of,  146,  147  ;  under 

Mohammedanism,  530,  531. 
Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union, 

ii,  912. 
Women  as  Mystics,  i,  855 ;  as  preachers, 

ii,  707,  708. 
Wood,  i,  697. 
Wood,  Anthony,  ii,  404. 
Woolston,  Thomas,  ii,  809. 
Worcester,  Samuel,  ii,  907. 
Wordsworth,  W.,  i,  575,  686,  ii,  16,  424, 

655,  656. 
Workman,  George  C,  ii,  917. 
Worms,  synod  at,  i,  758,  759 ;  diet  of,  ii, 

121  n.  15,  168-171, 189, 190, 192, 194,  195, 

207,  254,  314,  331 ;  conference  at,  203, 

292,  531  ;  city  of,  211,  509. 
Wratislaw,  A.  H.,  ii,  60,  62,  70,  74. 
Wren,  Matthew,  ii,  645. 
Wright,  T.,  i,  579. 
Wriothesley,  ii,  403. 
Wulfram,  i,  565. 
Wulstan,  i,  594. 
Wiirtemberg,  ii,  524. 
Wyclif,  John,  i,  869,  ii,  3,  5,  6,  8,  9,  10, 

11,  12-42,  96, 127,  128,  371,  484,  615,  846 ; 

from,  to  Cranmer,  43-51 ;  postlude,  a, 

52-60  ;   Hus  and,  65,  66 ;   Jerome  and, 

70,  72,  73. 
Wyttenbach,  T.,  ii,  225,  243,  246. 

Xavier,  Francis,  ii,  542,  569. 
Xenias,  i,  511. 
Xenophon,  i,  74. 


Ximenes,  F.  de  C,  i,  813,  ii,  595,  598,  604. 

Yale  College,  ii,  886,  887. 

Young,  religious  education  of  the,  i,  362  ; 
Anselm's  treatment  of,  601,  602  ;  Men's 
Christian  Association,  915 ;  Women's 
Christian  Association,  915  ;  people's  so- 
cieties, 915. 

Zachary,  i,  474,  941. 

Zadoc,  i,  82. 

Zahn,  T.,  i,  48. 

Zanghino,  i,  848. 

Zayd,  i,  535. 

Zell,  Matthams,  ii,  210. 

Zeller,  E.,  i,  49. 

Zeno,  i,  65. 

Zenos,  A.  C,  i,  425. 

Zenobia  and  Paul  of  Samosata,  i,  263. 

Zephyrinus,  i,  262,  264,  339,  719. 

Ziegler,  Margarete,  ii,  129,  130,  131,  132. 

Zinzendorf,' Count,  ii,  580-586,  904. 

Zockler,  O.,  i,  687. 

Zoega,  i,  721. 

Zola,  Emile,  ii,  340. 

Zoroastrianism,  ii,  589;  used  by  Mani,  i, 

225. 
Zosimus,  i,  459,  651,  724,  725. 
Zurich,  Zwingli   at,  ii,  229-234,  242,  249, 

262,   267;   city  of,    289,   290,  295,  773; 

University  of,  524. 
Zutphen,  Heinrich  von,  ii,  210,  212,  331. 
Zwickau  prophets,  ii,  173,  174. 
Zwilling,  G.,  ii,  173,  174. 
Zwingli,  U.,  ii,  128,  176,  180,  183,  219-221, 

223-270,  349,  501,  561. 
Zwinglians,  ii,  196,  254,  259,  322,  506. 


THE   END. 


Date  Due 

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